DIY Rimless Starphire and Stainless Kiddy Pool (PICS!)

It's called a "Yaskawa VS Mini". I actually had planned this tank to have two of of the 3-phase barracuda pumps running from the same drive, each with 1/3hp motors, so I bought the 3/4hp model. If I didn't have the 16 eductor nozzles, I think I would have to go with 2-pumps to get this intensity of flow pulses that I wanted, but with the eductors I'm not even able to fully turn up the single pump system I'm using.

The cost between the 1/3hp (all you would need) and the 3/4hp was really small, so if you plan on running two or more pumps in the future (600gal tank? or multiple tanks?) you could run all the pumps from the same drive.

It has these very easy to use setting for telling it how quickly you wish it to ramp up to speed and ramp down, along with 3 (maybe more, I'm not looking at it right now) inputs for triggers to tell it to do different things.

On the kill-a-watt meter, it's average power consumption is under 80watts!!! This is because I turned the field current down on the drive right to the brink where the motor begins to slip phases, then turned it back up a whisker.

As you can see from the IR images, the motor stays very cool to the touch, much cooler than a regular sequence pump, and the drive stays less than luke-warm.

80watts average power use. No in tank powerheads or things hanging down in the the tank. Roughly 23,000gph of totally directable pulsed wave simulation flow.

I can't believe I played with the haywards and oceans motions and other stuff for so long before trying it. All I ever got with the other stuff was a blasting stream switching places where it enters. This is looks just like a building surge of a wave coming and passing. Anyone local to me is welcome to come by and take a look for themselves.
 
Simply outstanding!! The tank, the pump, everything is a work of art.

I think it should be a TOTM!!

Can't wait to see some pics showing off the livestock!!
 
Wow! I want to make one of your pumps/timers! Any possibility of doing a step-by-step on it? Stu, if you do the build can you document the steps? Thanks!
 
I apprecaite all the kind feedback! It feels good to have feedback from a group who actually knows the amount of work it requires to build these sorts of things all from scratch.

Talon4x4- I'm flattered about the TOTM suggestion, but unless a couple 5gal buckets filled with freshly dead skeletons gets a TOTM these days I'm afraid all I have is a basically empty tank :(. I like to grow my systems entirely from frags, so it will be a long time before I can share any worthy livestock photos. Sorry :(

Best Wishes,
-Luke
 
That motor will not work, the drive MAY work, but I have no idea if it has features to smoothly ramp between speeds. The motor needs to say 56J on it. The J means the motor is for a pump, and will have a threaded shaft end rather than a keyway. The threaded end is what the impeller on the pump threads onto.

Also, this is entirely personal preference, but for things that will be in my living room, I try to buy only the most quiet and reliable.

While any brand of 3 phase motor will be more reliable than the single phase motors that the pumps come with, I've found Blackmax, AO-smith and many brands other than Baldor to be make more noise and often run hotter. These things may or may not be a concern for your application.

Also, keep in mind, cheaper VFD's may require motors which are wound for "inverter spike resistance". The VS mini has this very cool wave smoothing ability to better simulate a sine wave. It also doesn't have the "whine" problems that many VFD's I've used at work always seem to have.

I'm sure there are dozens of other ways to do this and save money. I made silence a priority goal with this project, which is why I chose this combo of parts.
 
The drive listed above has no logic built in. It takes a voltage input to control the output. For example 20 volts on the control line would equate to 20 Hz on the drive. So you provide a reference voltage and control it with a digital or motorized pot (dallas 1-wire, etc).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10547636#post10547636 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by liveforphysics
That motor will not work, the drive MAY work, but I have no idea if it has features to smoothly ramp between speeds. The motor needs to say 56J on it. The J means the motor is for a pump, and will have a threaded shaft end rather than a keyway. The threaded end is what the impeller on the pump threads onto.

Also, this is entirely personal preference, but for things that will be in my living room, I try to buy only the most quiet and reliable.

While any brand of 3 phase motor will be more reliable than the single phase motors that the pumps come with, I've found Blackmax, AO-smith and many brands other than Baldor to be make more noise and often run hotter. These things may or may not be a concern for your application.

Also, keep in mind, cheaper VFD's may require motors which are wound for "inverter spike resistance". The VS mini has this very cool wave smoothing ability to better simulate a sine wave. It also doesn't have the "whine" problems that many VFD's I've used at work always seem to have.

I'm sure there are dozens of other ways to do this and save money. I made silence a priority goal with this project, which is why I chose this combo of parts.
Click to expand...


how much was the motor and VS mini that got?
 
These prices are accurate +-$100. I have a poor memory for costs on things.


Sequence pump - $325
3-phase motor - $300
VS-mini VFD - $400

The 16x eductors and plumbing was the expensive part. I think I have somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500 into the nozzles and other plumbing.
 
Hi Luke :wavehand:

That looks pretty nice :thumbsup: I'll have to read some of the posts.
 
wow luke. you have been really working hard on this tank. i would love to come over and check it out in person. give me a call sometime. all i can say is wow nice tank. talk to ya soon. chad
 
Hey Luke remember me from Chemistry at Puyallup, Mr. Parker's class? We were both t/a's at the time it's me Jayson Milsten. Anyway awesome tank and I see we have the same interests ,cars and reef tanks! I just broke down mine and want to do something quite similar to your setup. Chad how are the corals doing?:)

I'll be following this thread closely!

-Jayson
 
Now that is awesome! I, too, need to come down and see this!

Are you planning SPS for it?

Best,
Ilham
 
Hey Luke,

Congratulations on a fabulous build and on a successful experiment with the VFD wave-making. Tangee directed me to this thread and I am duly impressed. (Hi Ilham, Jayson, et all from RF...it's Jan from over there.)

Put me down on the list of people that would love to come see your tank in person. :D Nice looking stand, there, too. I'd love to see photos of your hickory one. ;)
 
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