240 Inwall Construction (Image Intense)

[weatherson]

Jiddy, Thank you. If I were to have done anything differently, it would be the obvious... a larger tank. By this, I mean I would love to have a 6' or even an 8' depth (front to back) tank. The room size is as follows and you are welcome...

clekchau, I am currently running all my MH Ice Cap electronic ballasts (3 - 250's & 2 - 400's) on one of my DC8's. This one is by far the most taxed and can't power anything additionally without blowing the internal fuse. I'd previously also run my two IC 660's on this unit but it would blow the internal fuse after about 6-months of use. Keep in mind that all these ballasts are on a staggered on and off timing system. So... with just the MH ballasts, there's no fuse-blow incidents and I feel comfortable enough with this current load. It has run like this for I guess what has been a year now.

Joseph

 

[jnarowe]

Hey Joesph,

You know you can mod the DC8 with a water-proof push-button cicuit breaker! They are readily available through the boating industry.

 

[weatherson]

jnarowe, Thanks for the tip but I have three DC8's and it was just a matter of shifting some devices around. The other two other than the MH lighting one, are considerably under their rated limit and still have additional empty sockets not yet used.

Joseph.

 

[jnarowe]

Well, I have four DC4HD's and one DC8 and when I first configured my system I popped a couple fuses. I felt it was very annoying that in order to change the fuse, I had to take the whole thing apart.

Since then I have lost a couple individual plugs including one 2 days ago that one of my halides was runnning on. I have sent it for service but I cannot get the halide to fire using one of the other DC4HDs. No idea why, so I have it on a mechanical timer until I can figure it out.

I needled Curt about what I consider a bad design and he said that in the future they will be built with breakers.

 

[qwuintus]

Yo Joeseph its been a while. Got anything else you been building? Reef, speakers, whatever? I love your handiwork.

 

[mskohl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9642772#post9642772 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spleen93
To save Joseph the trouble of answering, from 2 pages back in the thread:



:lol:

Spleen

You should just add your camera information to your signature. It seems every time you post pics, you get this question at least twice. I don't want to be rude to the people asking, but I'm sure it gets old answering.

Btw, I've been tagging along for awhile and appreciate the updates.

 

[weatherson]

jnarowe, I agree on the design issue. At the very least, they should have installed an externally accessible fuse holder. But then again, we should be more weary of the load limitations and utilize them more conservatively.

qwuintus, It's nice to see you on here again. I've not done any large projects of recent but have helped work on a few for other local reef keepers. I do plan to incorporate an evaporative cooling device in my sump soon though. Basically, just a saltwater trickle device that my existing sump fan will blow air through. Even if I can gain a single degree, I can save a huge amount of electricity. We'll see. Also, at some point I plan to convert my existing skimmer to a recirculating needle wheel type. Again, in an effort to conserve that precious commodity we here in California call electricity and as a result, some monthly cash.

As an update, I did increase the frequency of air injection into my tank. Previously, I ran this twice a day at the mid point of the closed loop transitions. I since added three additional times for a total of five thoughout the day. My original design which included a solenoid valve to control the air flow, didn't work well over time. It would appear that the aluminum housing/valve of this solenoid would corrode and prevent a proper seal. So... I switched to an air pump that I had but these allow air to pass through when in an off state. I needed a way to only allow air to be pulled into the venturis on the pumps when the air pump was on but pull water when off. I also found that the existing air pump I had didn't move enough air so I picked up a second for a total of two. To achieve what I wanted in the design, I created a small cylinder chamber that mounts in one of the prefilter boxes just below the typical water level. Here's a shot of it...

The black line at the top feed the air to the closed loop pumps and the two white lines that connect to the elbows at the bottom are attached to the two air pumps each. The bottom is open and the top is sealed other than the outlet. When the air pumps are off, the venturis pull all the air from the cylinder and then simply pull water. When the air pumps are cycled on, they fill the cylinder with air and both closed loop pumps pull this air out and inject it into the tank. With both air pumps on at the same time, a small amount of air escapes from the open bottom ensuring the venturis never exceed the flow of available air. Problem solved.

mskohl, I've considered adding this to my signature but then reconsider as I don't want to become an enabler to those with the disease of photo scanning without reading. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Joseph.

 

[qwuintus]

Damn... you never cease to amaze me... What other hobbies are you into? I would love to see you build a turbo car or work on a bike.

 

[jnarowe]

Hey Joseph, where have you previoulsy discussed the air injection? I am curious as to why. I have considered this myself but have never pulled the trigger due to all the anti-air bubble sentiment. I have about 100 ltr/min. going into my skimmer, but I bet that if I "boiled" the inbound sump, that would have a positive affect on the reef tank.

 

[RGibson]

Joseph airwashers that are used in textile mills is what you need to drop the water tem in the sump. I will see if i have the design papers that tells how to make a very small one that will go in your sump.

 

[weatherson]

qwuintus, Thanks but I think you give me too much credit. Working on an aquarium is a few notches below working on a turbo-charged engine. Besides, I prefer the responsiveness of a normally aspirated car such as say a GT3.

jnarowe, I briefly discuss it on this page...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=553571&perpage=25&pagenumber=30

I don't have concerns with micro-bubble issues as they dissipate quickly once the injection ends. I would say they are completely gone and the tank returns to clear water within five minutes. There is a small amount of surface spray but again, it is brief and minimal.

My reasoning for utilizing air injection is based on several things. First, most of the SPS slime immediately after which I feel is beneficial by promoting waste management at the polyp level. It also helps to better oxygenate the water and basically works as an in-tank protein skimmer, moving waster to the surface to be skimmed off by the prefilter boxes and then sent to the sump/system skimmer. I have noticed greater growth rates since implementing air injection but as with everything in this hobby, it's difficult to know for sure if there is a direct correlation or not considering all the existing variables.

RGibson, You've got my attention. Looking forward to any input you can provide.

Joseph.

 

[qwuintus]

Yeah, I saw 2 GT3's at last weeks autocross I went to in San Diego.

With the quality of work you do, I'm sure you would make an excellent fabricator in other hobbies. I'd be in awe at all the welds you'd do on say a roll cage.

Just take the damn credit ok..

 

[jnarowe]

Thanks Joseph. I am very interested in that topic!

 

[Tigger240]

Joe, ive been a lurker for a while, at your site, and thread here on rc. im very impressed, and have been impressed with your unique ideas and implementation. I remembered you made a sweet Kalk reactor, and just happened to get lucky and find it around page 16 or 17 as you havnt updated your site with it. (tisk tisk ) ). I couldnt help but notice you had some troble with making the dome for it, and would like to point you to this thread, making perfect domes with some air pressure. Im not the thread poster nor am i experienced with making things out of acrylic, and im not trying to knock your work. From personal experience, if i knew of better methods, my end result would have been better, so just trying to pass some knoweldge around.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1080624

I admit i havent finished your entire thread, but i was curious to know how your blue polypd sea fan was doing. I also was exteremly impressed with your speaker work, and wanted to know if you had any other postings of them or about them, here or on another forum.

 

[weatherson]

Tigger240, Thanks for the kind words and link. That's a great way to create a symmetrical dome. The sea fan, unfortunately, didn't make it. As to the speakers, the photos and information posted on this thread are all that are out there. I hadn't documented this as I have the tank build.

Joseph.

 

[clekchau]

Joseph, if it's not too much trouble can you list your maintenance schedule daily weekly monthly etc ?

 

[weatherson]

Lucky for me, our local club had a thread detailing this very question. Here's my response with a tweaks here and there...

As far as what I do and when, yearly, I change out my bulbs. Just shy of a year, I have my 20 lb. CO2 tanks refilled.

Approximately every six months, I clean the existing and replenish the media within my calcium reactor/second chamber and acid clean the pumps, removable prefilter guards, Penductors, nozzles and the sinusoidal valve.

Every two or three months, I replace the calcium hydroxide in my Kalk-reactor.

Monthly, under normal situations (non-tank treatment), I do 50-gallon water changes, clean the calcium buildup off the two top support glass undersides, harvest Chaeto from the refugium and scrape stubborn algae from the tanks' glass that the magnet cleaners can't, empty the skimmers' collection container (sometimes sooner), replace the carbon in the carbon reactor and clean the acrylic covers on the light box.

Every couple of days, I clean the skimmer, replace the filter sock and use the cleaning magnets to "wipe down" the glass.

Daily, I feed the tank and gaze at it for hours in sheer wonderment and respect for the beauty of the living things within that makes all the work worthwhile.

I'm sure there's events I'm forgetting but that's the bulk of my maintenance regime.

Joseph.

 

[clekchau]

thanks! i was looking at your website and didn't see much information about your refugium. can you elaborate on how you set that up, lights, photoperiod etc?

 

[Bax]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9770461#post9770461 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by weatherson


Daily, I feed the tank and gaze at it for hours in sheer wonderment and respect for the beauty of the living things within that makes all the work worthwhile.



Joseph.

That's like poetry man! :artist:

 

[Emster]

Thats funny, I was just thinking the same thing! I know how you feel Joseph.