252gal in wall construction diary
- Thread starter logans_daddy
- Start date
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logans_daddy
New member
updates, updates, updates.
the power box is finished and mounted. i also got my winch for my light rack mounted. here is a shot of the inside of the power box.
the two black DJ cords will plug into the single gangbox and the right. they are not plugged in because the liquid nails are not dry yet the slack on the lines are so that the inside door can open in case i ever need to reset the GFIs or do any other maintainence or upgrades.
i have found new appreciation for everyone who has built a powerbox and have had their outlets sit square and flush. as you can see, the outlets sit much more square than they did last night(still not perfect though
). i tell you, this was really a task and a half.
here is a picture of my new hoist/winch.
i got it off ebay for $40 new. we tested it out tonight and it worked well considering we have not leveled everything anything yet. i am waiting on my retrofits which i should get sometime this week. after i install them into the rack i will level the rack and pulley system and post more pictures. lastly, here is a pic of the unlevel, unfinished rack/pulley system.
shawn:bum:
the power box is finished and mounted. i also got my winch for my light rack mounted. here is a shot of the inside of the power box.
the two black DJ cords will plug into the single gangbox and the right. they are not plugged in because the liquid nails are not dry yet the slack on the lines are so that the inside door can open in case i ever need to reset the GFIs or do any other maintainence or upgrades.
i have found new appreciation for everyone who has built a powerbox and have had their outlets sit square and flush. as you can see, the outlets sit much more square than they did last night(still not perfect though
). i tell you, this was really a task and a half. here is a picture of my new hoist/winch.
i got it off ebay for $40 new. we tested it out tonight and it worked well considering we have not leveled everything anything yet. i am waiting on my retrofits which i should get sometime this week. after i install them into the rack i will level the rack and pulley system and post more pictures. lastly, here is a pic of the unlevel, unfinished rack/pulley system.
shawn:bum:
Gordonious
Active member
hoist/winch looks nice. I was thinking of doing a set up like this when I get my tank up and running well. My brother is supposed to help me build a hood when I am ready. I may have to bug you with questions when I get to that point, lol.
kaptken
New member
Nice hoist. but does it have a limit switch? you know in case it goes on, and keeps going beyond, ALL THE WAY UP? I'm sure it's manually operated. just wondering. I'm probably over nuke engineering things in my mind. we had to consider every possible malfunction. we had electrical motor driven valve operators that would drive the valve plate right through the valve case if you didnt have a travel or torque limit switch on it to make it stop. manual should work just fine. thats the only way you will be raising it. right?
no problemo!! looking spiffy!!
no problemo!! looking spiffy!!
logans_daddy
New member
kaptken- i will be using the motor to raise the rack. i dont think there is any sort of brake on the winch itself, but i have one installed on for foward and revers movement. if a cable comes loose the most the rack can fall is back to its original position. i do have a reverse brake as well so that no one can accidently pull the rack into the ceiling, but let me tell you, the winch is stronger than my rafters. i will only utilize the winch to lift the rack when i actually need to get into the tank to move things around, which hopefully wont be too often. i think wiring a kill switch right to the remote shouldnt be to hard. i will definitely try it when i permanently wire the winch.
dvlhzdu- the rack will weigh as much 12 linear feet of 2X4 and 8 T5 retrofit kits weigh, so im guessing probably 50-75lbs. the winch is rated for 220-440 lbs(the smallest they had)
shawn:bum:
dvlhzdu- the rack will weigh as much 12 linear feet of 2X4 and 8 T5 retrofit kits weigh, so im guessing probably 50-75lbs. the winch is rated for 220-440 lbs(the smallest they had)
shawn:bum:
Shnabbles
New member
Logans_Daddy:
Will you be able to keep SPS with the 8 T5 fixtures? What about clams? How deep is the tank?
I am in the process of planning a big tank for our house that will be finished in January and im looking at anyway possible to keep the electric bill down...
Our tank will be 24 inches deep and id like to keep everything from Clams, and Acros to shrooms.
Will you be able to keep SPS with the 8 T5 fixtures? What about clams? How deep is the tank?
I am in the process of planning a big tank for our house that will be finished in January and im looking at anyway possible to keep the electric bill down...
Our tank will be 24 inches deep and id like to keep everything from Clams, and Acros to shrooms.
logans_daddy
New member
Shnabbles
the tank is actually going to be a FOWLR for now. i am going to convert my current 75gal into a reef tank. my 75 already has a MH fixture with a T5 retro. once i get my 252 up and running i will break down my 75, install a CL, and a system to drip kalkwasser.
im almost looking as much foward to setting up my first reef as i am my big FOWLR.
i mainly want large angels, tangs, and triggers but havent decided on temperment yet. i dont know if i want to go with more docile fish(i.e., blue throat trigger, regal tang) so that i can add community fish, or if i will go all out with aggressive/semi-aggressive fish.
shawn:bum:
the tank is actually going to be a FOWLR for now. i am going to convert my current 75gal into a reef tank. my 75 already has a MH fixture with a T5 retro. once i get my 252 up and running i will break down my 75, install a CL, and a system to drip kalkwasser.
im almost looking as much foward to setting up my first reef as i am my big FOWLR.
i mainly want large angels, tangs, and triggers but havent decided on temperment yet. i dont know if i want to go with more docile fish(i.e., blue throat trigger, regal tang) so that i can add community fish, or if i will go all out with aggressive/semi-aggressive fish.
shawn:bum:
Gordonious
Active member
What about a French Angel? I have been putting up posting about this, but I need to sooner or later. I have a french angel that I would like to find a home for, but I won't give him up till he has a good home. Thing is I doubt if I find a good home they will want him because he has one eye. The only reason I ended up with him is because when it lost it's eye in a fight the owner gave up on him. (I tend to end up with a lot of misfit animals like my hamster with one ear, anorexic gecko, and the one eyed French Angel) I'm just thinking in the long run I probably won't be able to set up the FOWLR I was dreaming of before he gets too big. PM me if your interested or anyone else.
logans_daddy
New member
well, ive made quite a bit of progress. the light rack is finished. here is a picture of the winch control with an emergency cut off in case the winch gets stuck in the on position(thanks for the advice kaptken).
next was the 8 54watt T5 retro kits. the lights will produce a total of 432watts, which isnt bad for a FOWLR. i am using 4 blue, 2 aqua, and 2 daylight. im very happy with the color.
you can see in the pic that i left room for MH retros down the road in case i change my mind about the tank.
i decided to put the ballasts on the outside of my powerbox instead of inside. it would have been cleaner if i mounted them inside but i was worried about the heat even if i added fans. i decided that it was not worth mounting them inside.
you can see the general color that the lights produce in this pic.
her is a pic of the tenative layout for the skimmer, skimmer pump, sump, and return pump. the fuge will be on the opposite side of the sump.
lastly, here is a picture of my "water tower". the top barrell will contain RODI, and the second will be the mixing barrell for saltwater. as i get the tower plumbed i will post plenty of pics and details.
shawn:bum:
next was the 8 54watt T5 retro kits. the lights will produce a total of 432watts, which isnt bad for a FOWLR. i am using 4 blue, 2 aqua, and 2 daylight. im very happy with the color.
you can see in the pic that i left room for MH retros down the road in case i change my mind about the tank.
i decided to put the ballasts on the outside of my powerbox instead of inside. it would have been cleaner if i mounted them inside but i was worried about the heat even if i added fans. i decided that it was not worth mounting them inside.
you can see the general color that the lights produce in this pic.
her is a pic of the tenative layout for the skimmer, skimmer pump, sump, and return pump. the fuge will be on the opposite side of the sump.
lastly, here is a picture of my "water tower". the top barrell will contain RODI, and the second will be the mixing barrell for saltwater. as i get the tower plumbed i will post plenty of pics and details.
shawn:bum:
kaptken
New member
I like the water tower Idea, good use of space and gravity saves using one pump for water transfer to the mixing barrel.
the hoist kill switch sounds good. but I might have used a sand bag counter weight to balance the hood weight to neutral, instead of buying a power hoist. kinda like a sash window. then have a tie down at the up and down position to keep it in place. actually, make the couter weight just a little light and tie off in the up position. I like to keep costs down. But power hoists are cool!!
mounting the ballasts outside is a good idea, they last longer if kept cooler, and away from the humidity under the hood. Do those sump pumps have to draw from the bottom of the rubbermaid? I suppose so. well, back to worst case scenario of a spill. you could raise the sump and pumps off the floor a couple inches on bricks to prevent a possible short and hot foot when you hit the wet floor.
speaking of humidity, I always paint my hoods, inside and out with first an oil based primer, then a couple coats of oil based rustoleum glossy white. I see you are not using the individual T-5 bulb parabolic reflectors, I know, they are expensive. but if you paint the hood glossy white, you will protect the wood from discoloring and warping or delaminating from the humidity at night, AND you will get more reflective light into the tank. plain wood doesn't reflect much and remember, half of the wattage of light is going UP from the bulbs. glossy while oil based paint is a cheap, but pretty darn good reflector.
when you retro some halides later, they will make more heat, so you could drill or cut some 3-4 inch holes above them to let the heat rise out of the hood, so as not to over heat the paint or the tank. Natural convection, IE no fans to buy, run or replace. I like simple,when ever possible. If you mount the hood so that there is a 1 inch air gap between the tank and the hood, you will get better convection air flow to remove heat. a tight fit will keep it in.
Hey , speaking of retro fit HQI MH kits, have you seen the new ones on HELLOLIGHTS? they have a new HQI reflector that is just like a pendant, with UV glass, sockets, electronic ballast and power cord. these are perfect for retro.
http://www.hellolights.com/15hlmhrekith.html
for that future upgrade.
Hope this helps, you are doing a great job. And I hope my back seat engineer don't bother you too much. I like this post so we can all watch your progress. its going to be a nice set up.
the hoist kill switch sounds good. but I might have used a sand bag counter weight to balance the hood weight to neutral, instead of buying a power hoist. kinda like a sash window. then have a tie down at the up and down position to keep it in place. actually, make the couter weight just a little light and tie off in the up position. I like to keep costs down. But power hoists are cool!!
mounting the ballasts outside is a good idea, they last longer if kept cooler, and away from the humidity under the hood. Do those sump pumps have to draw from the bottom of the rubbermaid? I suppose so. well, back to worst case scenario of a spill. you could raise the sump and pumps off the floor a couple inches on bricks to prevent a possible short and hot foot when you hit the wet floor.
speaking of humidity, I always paint my hoods, inside and out with first an oil based primer, then a couple coats of oil based rustoleum glossy white. I see you are not using the individual T-5 bulb parabolic reflectors, I know, they are expensive. but if you paint the hood glossy white, you will protect the wood from discoloring and warping or delaminating from the humidity at night, AND you will get more reflective light into the tank. plain wood doesn't reflect much and remember, half of the wattage of light is going UP from the bulbs. glossy while oil based paint is a cheap, but pretty darn good reflector.
when you retro some halides later, they will make more heat, so you could drill or cut some 3-4 inch holes above them to let the heat rise out of the hood, so as not to over heat the paint or the tank. Natural convection, IE no fans to buy, run or replace. I like simple,when ever possible. If you mount the hood so that there is a 1 inch air gap between the tank and the hood, you will get better convection air flow to remove heat. a tight fit will keep it in.
Hey , speaking of retro fit HQI MH kits, have you seen the new ones on HELLOLIGHTS? they have a new HQI reflector that is just like a pendant, with UV glass, sockets, electronic ballast and power cord. these are perfect for retro.
http://www.hellolights.com/15hlmhrekith.html
for that future upgrade.
Hope this helps, you are doing a great job. And I hope my back seat engineer don't bother you too much. I like this post so we can all watch your progress. its going to be a nice set up.
logans_daddy
New member
way ahead of you Ken
we are both from the same school of thought when it comes to keeping it simple.
the picture was before i snapped the reflectors on. i was reading an article on the polished aluminum reflectors and i believe it said something like 60-70% more light will be directed to your tank with the reflectors. i would never install lights without reflectors. another great thing about them, is that i put all of my T5s towards the front of the rack and angled them slightly back so that i can cover the whole tank with out mounting them directly above the tank. the rack is completley open above and below so heating will never be an issue. if i ever upgrade to MH and heat becomes an issue i think i will run an exhaust before i use a chiller. as far as painting, i just didnt like the ideal of having chemicals of any sort directly above my tank. im sure it wouldnt really be an issue, but i still prefer to leave my wood raw. even though the wood will be unprotected it will surely last longer than i plan to be in the house and then some.
i was going to go with a manual winch but it would use up more space. you would need to mount the winding mechanism at waist height(ideally). with an electric winch it literally takes up zero usable space, just enough room for the width of the controller and receptacle mounted on the wall. besides, the winch was only $35 brand new on ebay.
im not sure i understand your comment about the sump. both pumps will be mounted externally and will draw water from the bottom of the sump. they will be approximately 2" of the floor. i have a pice of 1/2" foam glued to 3/4" plywood to support the pumps + the leg height. i really dont want to have them any higher because the numer of ideal bulkhead spots on the sump are limited, and the noise will be more pronounced the higher the pumps sit.
as far as spillage, i have a 100gal fuge and a 100gal sump. the nominal volume for each will be between 50 and 70% of total so that in case of pump failure the system will be able to contain between 60 and 100 gallons of overflow.
i also still plan to waterproof the perimeter in case of a catastrophic spill.
shawn:bum:
we are both from the same school of thought when it comes to keeping it simple.
the picture was before i snapped the reflectors on. i was reading an article on the polished aluminum reflectors and i believe it said something like 60-70% more light will be directed to your tank with the reflectors. i would never install lights without reflectors. another great thing about them, is that i put all of my T5s towards the front of the rack and angled them slightly back so that i can cover the whole tank with out mounting them directly above the tank. the rack is completley open above and below so heating will never be an issue. if i ever upgrade to MH and heat becomes an issue i think i will run an exhaust before i use a chiller. as far as painting, i just didnt like the ideal of having chemicals of any sort directly above my tank. im sure it wouldnt really be an issue, but i still prefer to leave my wood raw. even though the wood will be unprotected it will surely last longer than i plan to be in the house and then some.
i was going to go with a manual winch but it would use up more space. you would need to mount the winding mechanism at waist height(ideally). with an electric winch it literally takes up zero usable space, just enough room for the width of the controller and receptacle mounted on the wall. besides, the winch was only $35 brand new on ebay.
im not sure i understand your comment about the sump. both pumps will be mounted externally and will draw water from the bottom of the sump. they will be approximately 2" of the floor. i have a pice of 1/2" foam glued to 3/4" plywood to support the pumps + the leg height. i really dont want to have them any higher because the numer of ideal bulkhead spots on the sump are limited, and the noise will be more pronounced the higher the pumps sit.
as far as spillage, i have a 100gal fuge and a 100gal sump. the nominal volume for each will be between 50 and 70% of total so that in case of pump failure the system will be able to contain between 60 and 100 gallons of overflow.
i also still plan to waterproof the perimeter in case of a catastrophic spill.
shawn:bum:
logans_daddy
New member
ive had a real busy last couple of weeks so i havent made much progress with the tank. however, i did finally get the tank. ive also started to dry-fit all of the plumbing for the CL.
ive used tru-union ballvalves for all bulkheads. the two lower holes are my intakes for my CL that feed into 2" piping which will drain directly into my Dart. i have an OM 4way mounted directly on the output of my dart. my 4 return lines are directly plumbed to my OM4wasy using 90% rigid PVC and flexible PVC at the end for flexibility.
im going try and dry plumb the drains/returns for the tank itself and maybe cement everything this weekend if i can work up enough energy.
here is a pic of the tank.
[img=http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/7290/tankjournal034xu0.jpg]
the little marks are acrylic splinters and styrofoam not scratches. once everyting is done i will swiffer than tank out and then run RODI throught the tank for a week to wash out all the remaing debris and test for leaks.
as you can see in the pic, using a CL with a black background makes for a very clean look. there will be nothing in the tank equipment wise except for what you see. the extra two loc-lines in the top right and left corners are the returns from the sump.
will post more pictures when i make more progress.
shawn
ive used tru-union ballvalves for all bulkheads. the two lower holes are my intakes for my CL that feed into 2" piping which will drain directly into my Dart. i have an OM 4way mounted directly on the output of my dart. my 4 return lines are directly plumbed to my OM4wasy using 90% rigid PVC and flexible PVC at the end for flexibility.
im going try and dry plumb the drains/returns for the tank itself and maybe cement everything this weekend if i can work up enough energy.
here is a pic of the tank.
[img=http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/7290/tankjournal034xu0.jpg]
the little marks are acrylic splinters and styrofoam not scratches. once everyting is done i will swiffer than tank out and then run RODI throught the tank for a week to wash out all the remaing debris and test for leaks.
as you can see in the pic, using a CL with a black background makes for a very clean look. there will be nothing in the tank equipment wise except for what you see. the extra two loc-lines in the top right and left corners are the returns from the sump.
will post more pictures when i make more progress.
shawn
logans_daddy
New member
sorry...here is the second pic.
logans_daddy
New member
no. nothing to update. things have been really hectic at work lately. im pretty close, all i really need to do is finishing the plumbing and begin the rockwork. i just need to find the time to do it.
shawn:bum:
shawn:bum:
logans_daddy
New member
ok...so i figured i would bump this thread since i will be selling this tank soon. it looks exactly the way it does in the pics...the CL is dry plumbed only and i will include all plumbing(over $300 from salvkos). the 2 100g stock tanks and 2 55g drums are still around too if anyone is interested...both drums are drilled horizontally though...and one tank is drilled but near the very top for a sump...the tank still has the protective paper on the sides...flawless except for dust.
words can not describe how awesome this tank is...i know its a big step up for the average reefer...but if you know anyone please lmk...im asking $1000 for the tank $200 for the sequence dart and $300 for the oceans motions 4way...everything is in perfect condition and these prices are considerably lower than msrp. i will entertain all REASONABLE offers and will offer a package price...i will also throw in the plumbing wich includes all of the tru union ballvalves and spa flex for the CL.
shawn
words can not describe how awesome this tank is...i know its a big step up for the average reefer...but if you know anyone please lmk...im asking $1000 for the tank $200 for the sequence dart and $300 for the oceans motions 4way...everything is in perfect condition and these prices are considerably lower than msrp. i will entertain all REASONABLE offers and will offer a package price...i will also throw in the plumbing wich includes all of the tru union ballvalves and spa flex for the CL.
shawn
Gordonious
Active member
Selling any parts to that electrical panel?
