150 Redux

Her is what I did to split the 6' extensions into a Y connector that will go to the two tanks from one ballast.

I wont be needing power leads at the hood, so I started the work by removing the power leads (Black Green and White) from the female ends of the 6' extensions. I didn't have the Molex pin removal tool but a very thin jewelers screw driver slid in the sides of the pin to release the locking tabs worked fine.
molex2.jpg
molex1.jpg


The Ice Cap 660s wires are in paired sets Red Yellow and Brown is one set and Blue Orange and Purple is the other set. The Red, Yellow, Orange and Blue are power supply leads, The Brown and Purple are not really needed they are for the control and return signal in the event you use a dimmer. I don't plan on using a dimmer but will wire them up as if I was in the event I want to add one later.

Next I needed to remove half of the wires from the female ends of the 6' extensions. I chose the Blue Orange and Purple for removal only because of their position in the Molex connector and would be easier to get to. This left the Red Yellow and Brown in the Molex connectors.
molex3.jpg


Next was the hard part re-inserting the pins in their respective positions. I did break one of the pins on installation and will have to replace it. I separated the individual wire strands from the loom located their position on male end inspected the locking tabs on the pins and adjusted any bent tabs with the jewelers screw driver. Next I inserted the pin into the same position in the other harnesses female Molex connector. Then repeated this process 11 more times and tightened up the looms with zip ties.
Ballast.jpg

Harness1.jpg
 
I finished the light rack this weekend. I cut the T3 aluminum for the center fan support then laid out the final locations of the fans with a 120mm fan guard as a template then with a cutoff wheel on my Dremel tool I cut the holes for the fans and riveted them in place.
fan.jpg


With all the sheet metal finished, I gave the rack a quick polishing and sprayed it down with Aluma Guard aluminum protestant, wiped it all down and set it outside for a day to dry in the sun and then gave it a final wipe down.


I started to wire up the the Light fixture for the final time. All the places where the harness went through the rack I put a few inches of heat shrink over the wires to prevent chafing and installed wiring clamps to hold the wires in place at the end caps, I used heat shrink where the clamps were to give the wires a little more thickness so the clamps would hold better.
wireingrack.jpg


wireingrack2.jpg


After I was finished wiring the rack I installed the end caps and finished the final connections, then I plugged in the ballast fired it up to check for continuity. It fired up and then shut down, so I realigned the tubes and plugged it in again and it fired right up.

At first look the color and intensity looked fine but then I started to pay a little more attention to the blue lights and I'm not sure if I am going to like them, they look to much like neon blue and am not sure if they have any actinic phosphors in them. I think I'm going to have to get some true actinics to throw in the mix, To get the look I'm going for.
 
Looking good! When are you going to drill that thing?? Maybe Cooper will be old enough to help us by then..

:-P
 
Corey,

Thanks, I need a few strong types to come over and lift the tank off the stand (I'm not sure Cooper is up to it yet) and then to cheer me on with moral support because this really scares me. I talked to John at FOIS and he hooked me up with the secret of re-drilling the holes, I just gotta get the right type of hole saw that you can stack them inside of each other and have more than one on the mandrel at one time.
 
Hmm..sounds like a process. Are you sure you need to redrill the hole size? Let me know if there is anything I can do..

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!
 
Corey,

Yes the over flow has 2 1" drains and Ill need more than that to handle the flow of the Sequence Dart pump (2800). Still the question is will the 2 X 1 ½” Durso’s handle all the flow from a Sequence Dart, (or will the size of the overflow box be the limiting factor)?

I ran some numbers on the drain calculator and 1300gph will need a 20"overflow and a 1 ½” drain, that should be about half of what I should get from the dart at a 5' head. the only problem is my over flow is only 18" so Ill have to take out 75% of the teeth.


There is room for 2 X 1 ½” Durso’s in the overflow box, but I will probably only use one and have the1 ½ grain going to the propagation tank on a gate valve to control the flow and prevent the 2 X 1 ½” Durso’s from fighting for the flow and causing an up and down balance problem in the overflow box.
 
Let me know when you need the help to move the tank so you can drill it. I will come by and help move it. Lights look good. I am glad you got the MH's working.
Stephen
 
It’s been a while since I have had any real progress. The 120mm Vantec ThermoFlow fans came in so the light rack is finished. I got a power supply from an electronics salvage shop it was in a nice aluminum box with power cord and switch still, it supplies 12v at 1.5 amps and should work great driving the 5 fans drawing 0.18 amps. I tested the fans on the power supply and installed them in the rack, but I still have to make a wiring harness for it this weekend.

I picked up a Sequence Dart on Friday from Fish and Other Ichthy Stuff; you gotta love that place John had a better price than I have found anywhere else.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9100509#post9100509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boydx6
Let me know when you need the help to move the tank so you can drill it. I will come by and help move it. Stephen

Stephen, Thanks Ill need your help and a few others too. I have been looking for the right hole saws to do the job but haven't had much luck. Now that I have the pump and the lights finished I have only the plumbing and stand to finish.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9100319#post9100319 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mflamb
Nice wiring job!
Thanks Mike, I get a little too anal about it at times. now I gotta tear it all out of the loom and run the wires for the fans then zip tie it all back to gether
 
I finished the wiring harness for the fans and replaced the pin I broke on the IC 6’ extension harness so the lighting is 100% completed for the display tank. Next is the prop tank lighting but it should not be that difficult.

I have a few friends coming over in the morning to help with the re-drilling of the 150 I'm not sure how we are going to do it yet but Ill put up some pics of the process.

I took a few pics of some new additions, boy do I wish that I could take a decent picture, oh well this is as good as I get.

Zoas
zoas.jpg


Clavularia
clavularia.jpg
 
Jeff,

Yes I'm coming to the swap meet, I'm looking for someone to share the ride but either way Ill be there.

The 65 is getting pretty packed but there is still room for a RBTA. :)
I have only been able to get a few decent pics of the new stuff, there is still a lot left to show.

Like this new long nose hawk fish.
hawk2.jpg
 
I made some progress today and I hope it doesn’t catch on because I have a lot of work to do and I don’t want to over task myself.

Mflamb and poknsnok came by on their way to this nice new shop in Sarasota Aquarium Architecture to help me re-drill the 150.

I have been looking for some holesaws that would stack one inside the other but couldn’t find any. Well this morning I had to get something to do the job so I got 2 Lenox holesaws from the Lowes and wouldn’t you know there was a washer that went in-between the mandrel and the hole saw so I took it off and the two fit together.
holesaw.jpg


We took the tank off the stand and flipped it over, then we lined up and marked the holes with a nut from a 1 ½” bulkhead and it was going to be real tight getting 3 bulkheads to fit but I might have to shave a little off the fittings. To start we decided that it would be better if we drilled the center hole and checked for clearance of the ones on the side. The holesaw worked like a champ, but I was shaking with nerves of rubber. It was good to have someone there to console me if I screwed it up, Mike would let me know when I got the drill off kilter and I would try to straighten it up. The first hole came out nice and we tested it with the bulkhead and checked the outside hole with the nut, it was going to be close.

firsthole.jpg


Joe said that if he had to trim the bulkheads he would not think twice and that I should drill it. From there I just had to go on and do it. The outside holes went as shaky as the first but with guidance from Mike and moral support from Joe it went fine.

With the holes drilled and no more bulkheads to test the clearance we went to the LFS to get two more bulkheads and check out the corals. Chris the owner of Aquarium Architecture is very nice and knowledgeable with some of the best looking live stock around. After a few hours of drooling at the corals and fish I got the bulkheads and we went back to my place to see the fruits of our labor.

secondhole.jpg

Look at that it fits with no trimming; we couldn’t put the tank back on the stand because the holes in the stand was just big enough for the 1”bulkheads and needed to be enlarged to fit the 1 ½” bulkheads. We marked where the hole needed to be enlarged and it was time for them to drive home. Thanks Mike and Joe for the help I couldn’t have done it with out you.

As soon as we said good buy I was in the shop and out cane the router with a straight bit and in no time at all the hole is cut to accommodate my new bulk heads.

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Thanks for the tip John I couldn't have done it without you showing me the stacked holesaws. It was easy with the right tool but finding a holesaw that worked was the hard part.
 
I am interested in going to the swap meet myself. I can drive if others want to go. I have an 06' Sedona so room for 5-6 unless you guys are gonna be buying tons in which case room for 3 and gear :) gotta keep it clean so bring the tarps :)

Ha... married with kids /snicker
 
zen,

I might have to take you up on it. There has to be a few others to share the gas.

I have plenty of coolers for the wet stuff.:)
 
Friday I made up 25 gallons of water with Instant Ocean salt mix, mixed it to 1.027 or 35 ppt, added a mj 404 and a heater in anticipation of my normal Sunday maintenance routine.

Saturday night I tested the IO salt I mixed up for the up coming water change the Ca was 340 and the Alk was 4.0and the Mg was1200. I ran the #s on the calculator, in order to raise from 340 to 450 I needed to add 6oz of Randi’s Recipe 1 pt 2 or 1.6 oz of Dow Flake, to bring it the Mg from 1200 to 1400.add I had to add 10oz of Randi’s Recipe 1 pt 3 to the mix. I added the Dow Flake and Randi’s pt3 to the water and left it stirring for the night.

Sunday morning as usual I’m doing my normal Sunday maintenance; skimmer cleaning, filter sock washing, glass scraping, So as I’m scraping I see the little buggers I thought I had killed them Flat Worms ARGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!! So far I have been pretty lucky but did get some flat worms and treated them before... These are not the bad coral eating ones AEFW or the big red/green ones these were very small photosynthetic ones about 1mm and only a few of them, but they are an eye soar to me and have to go.

An Old Attack Pilot once told me “ you have to kill something everyday to remain proficient no matter how small” so knowing that I was about to do a large water change I pulled out the Salifert Flat Worm Exit and added a double dose, I wanted them dead!

After the water change and the Supper Bowl Party things were settling down and I finally got around to checking the #s and they are looking pretty good.

Alk 3.5 Dkh 10
Ca 455
Mg 1400

I try to keep Ca 450 alk 12 Dkh and Mg 1400, so Ill needed to add 2oz of Randi’s Recipe 1 pt 1 bring the alk up too 12Dkh.
 
I am o2 and my wife is Zen :)

The name is a mix but also how I view my diving. oxygen-zen or my form of meditation. Yeah, something like that :)
 
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