Building Big Bertha: 800G
- Thread starter bbrantley
- Start date
Hi Ben,
You are right and I do not remember your face but stop by on the 31st. Here are a couple of pics for you. I am running a closed loop with 2-Hammerheads. Each pump has 6- inch and three quarter outlets. Hammerhead also running the return from the basement back up.
You are right and I do not remember your face but stop by on the 31st. Here are a couple of pics for you. I am running a closed loop with 2-Hammerheads. Each pump has 6- inch and three quarter outlets. Hammerhead also running the return from the basement back up.
Chihuahua6
Premium Member
$900 worth of Sanitred. I read most of this thread but I didn't see where you are using it exactly. Are you sealing the floor with it?
Well, it's been a busy few days. I'll take house pictures tomorrow so you can see what's happening: the floor joists are almost all in, the electrical is getting routed, and we're ready to weld the steel beam in downstairs. Only thing is, we're still waiting for the county to issue the permit! So we can't really go too much farther until we hear back from them, as there are some inspection points before we can close up the walls and floor.
I've been working with a steel welder to design and build a stand. We think this one will work:
It's 2" tubular steel all the way around. There are three "lips" on the top, if you look carefully. The two 5" lips are the ones that allow the tank to protrude through the walls to become flush with the living room wall. The 12" lip on the back is a "cat-walk" for me to stand on to make it easier to work in the tank.
Finally, there will be four diagonal elements in the shape of a diamond on both the top and bottom "panels," but I did not draw those in because (a) I am not a SketchUp expert yet and (b) they mostly just clutter the drawing.
I'm no mechanical engineer, but I think this stand will be plenty strong given some of the ones I've seen here and elsewhere. Anyone have any comments?
Oh, I also got the skimmer up and running on the stock tank in the garage, with a few goofs and newbie-isms.
Real pics to come, soon.
I've been working with a steel welder to design and build a stand. We think this one will work:
It's 2" tubular steel all the way around. There are three "lips" on the top, if you look carefully. The two 5" lips are the ones that allow the tank to protrude through the walls to become flush with the living room wall. The 12" lip on the back is a "cat-walk" for me to stand on to make it easier to work in the tank.
Finally, there will be four diagonal elements in the shape of a diamond on both the top and bottom "panels," but I did not draw those in because (a) I am not a SketchUp expert yet and (b) they mostly just clutter the drawing.
I'm no mechanical engineer, but I think this stand will be plenty strong given some of the ones I've seen here and elsewhere. Anyone have any comments?
Oh, I also got the skimmer up and running on the stock tank in the garage, with a few goofs and newbie-isms.
Real pics to come, soon.
Pictures and not thousands of words:
From James at Envision, birthing Bertha:
Newly-doubled-up floor joists, with insulation and even a little fresh PEX tubing for the radiant heat:
Here are the holes where the aquarium will mount into the wall, plus a couple of engineering assistants making sure I'm not damaging the floor:
New 18KW propane generator, freshly delivered on its freight pallet:
"The Bubbler," as the construction subs have taken to calling the Bubble King. (Not a bad name for it, really.) This thing still needs some tuning and dialing in, but it's nice to learn how it works out in the garage on the live rock tank instead of in my new fish room making a huge mess.
Special thanks to James at Envision and Scott at Aquarium Speciality for taking time to read this thread and continue to provide comments and suggestions... rockin'!
Ben
From James at Envision, birthing Bertha:
Newly-doubled-up floor joists, with insulation and even a little fresh PEX tubing for the radiant heat:
Here are the holes where the aquarium will mount into the wall, plus a couple of engineering assistants making sure I'm not damaging the floor:
New 18KW propane generator, freshly delivered on its freight pallet:
"The Bubbler," as the construction subs have taken to calling the Bubble King. (Not a bad name for it, really.) This thing still needs some tuning and dialing in, but it's nice to learn how it works out in the garage on the live rock tank instead of in my new fish room making a huge mess.
Special thanks to James at Envision and Scott at Aquarium Speciality for taking time to read this thread and continue to provide comments and suggestions... rockin'!
Ben
AquariumSpecialty
.Registered Member
It's getting interesting now. You are getting closer to the fun stuff. It's a pleasure to help out. You are a gentleman and have an eye for detail. Keep up the good work.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8012682#post8012682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by downset
LOL the bubbler
Looks great so far.Did you ever have a tank set up besides the one you think is too small I might have missed that,Going from no tank to an 800 monster is quite a step
Hey, another South Carolinian on the thread.
I had a 225G that I really never got started. That is, it had live rock and was well-cycled and ready for stocking, but I didn't really get around to stocking it before I decided I really wanted to control noise and have the right equipment to sustain a full tank in a fish room. Once I got started figuring out where to put the fish room, one thing led to another and my conclusion was that it was almost as easy to build a bigger tank, too. Sounds logical, right?
Ben
AquariumSpecialty
.Registered Member
The Carolina's rock! We are from Charlotte NC but live in SC now. Go Panthers, Cocks and Tigers!:bigeyes: :bigeyes: :bigeyes:<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8012826#post8012826 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bbrantley
Hey, another South Carolinian on the thread.
I had a 225G that I really never got started. That is, it had live rock and was well-cycled and ready for stocking, but I didn't really get around to stocking it before I decided I really wanted to control noise and have the right equipment to sustain a full tank in a fish room. Once I got started figuring out where to put the fish room, one thing led to another and my conclusion was that it was almost as easy to build a bigger tank, too. Sounds logical, right?
Ben
Untamed12
New member
I happen to be at Envision on the weekend (picking up my baby...), and I had a good look at Bertha.
She's coming along beautifully. You'll love it.
It was too funny, actually...I was looking at the tank and I saw that cutout corner. Right away I said "Hey, I know this tank. This is....Bertha!"
There were a lot of similarities in our designs. Bertha is larger (mine's only 6'x4'), but otherwise very similar.
Small world.
She's coming along beautifully. You'll love it.
It was too funny, actually...I was looking at the tank and I saw that cutout corner. Right away I said "Hey, I know this tank. This is....Bertha!"
There were a lot of similarities in our designs. Bertha is larger (mine's only 6'x4'), but otherwise very similar.
Small world.
Welp, I think Bertha's about due for a thread update. Jame at Envision says she's almost ready to ship out, which is great, except some permitting delays here at home have set us back a bit on having the floor ready in the fish room. That means Bertha will likely have to sit outside (or possibly in the garage) for at least a week until the house is ready.
My stand builder has been working up a storm; here are a few pictures of the work in progress:
I got a new RODI from AirWaterIce this week, an Eskimo, to help produce more clean water from our very cold well-water up here. It should produce maybe 150GPD, a nice step up from my 90GPD Spectrapure that actually manages to eke out about 50 with the chilly flow we get. I'll use them both in combination to fill the tank, since otherwise it will take weeks.
See ya!
My stand builder has been working up a storm; here are a few pictures of the work in progress:
I got a new RODI from AirWaterIce this week, an Eskimo, to help produce more clean water from our very cold well-water up here. It should produce maybe 150GPD, a nice step up from my 90GPD Spectrapure that actually manages to eke out about 50 with the chilly flow we get. I'll use them both in combination to fill the tank, since otherwise it will take weeks.
See ya!
jnarowe
New member
Nice stand...that is coming out great. Will you have it powder-coated?
On the cold water issue, I have fairly cold water here too at about 45F so what I do is have 200 ft of 1/4" supply line coiled up inside the holding tank, which I keep at 75F. This warms up the incoming water enough to get good production.
On the cold water issue, I have fairly cold water here too at about 45F so what I do is have 200 ft of 1/4" supply line coiled up inside the holding tank, which I keep at 75F. This warms up the incoming water enough to get good production.
