DIY Rimless Starphire and Stainless Kiddy Pool (PICS!)
- Thread starter liveforphysics
- Start date
Luke,
Awesome build! Thanks for sharing.
A few ??s for you:
Did you install anything on the motor to bleed off bearing current, or is that phenomena not experienced (or minimized) on smaller motors? I installed a bunch of Mercotac rotating contacts on my motors at work to bleed the current to ground. (We use ABB drives and they have so much capability that they can almost replace some servomotors in manufacturing. VFDs keep getting better. Thanks for sharing your setup!)
Would love to see a pic of your control panel and timer.
What method of air injection do you use when you "wash" your corals? I cant imagine keeping up with the salt creep that results!!
Which silicone did you use? Any deflection on your glass panels, being unbraced?
Thanks,
Chris
Awesome build! Thanks for sharing.
A few ??s for you:
Did you install anything on the motor to bleed off bearing current, or is that phenomena not experienced (or minimized) on smaller motors? I installed a bunch of Mercotac rotating contacts on my motors at work to bleed the current to ground. (We use ABB drives and they have so much capability that they can almost replace some servomotors in manufacturing. VFDs keep getting better. Thanks for sharing your setup!)
Would love to see a pic of your control panel and timer.
What method of air injection do you use when you "wash" your corals? I cant imagine keeping up with the salt creep that results!!
Which silicone did you use? Any deflection on your glass panels, being unbraced?
Thanks,
Chris
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
White paper:
http://www.greenheck.com
Misc Info:
http://www.usmotors.com/default_products.htm
Solution:
http://www.est-aegis.com
Another solution:
applied-energy.us
AB has weighed in:
http://www.ab.com/drives/techpapers/ieee/IECON95_bearing.pdf
My understanding is that most of the problems are on larger (200HP or bigger) drives.
I am very interested in other informed opinions on this problem, as I am in teh process of tinkering with a few VFDs for the tank, drill press, etc.
http://www.greenheck.com
Misc Info:
http://www.usmotors.com/default_products.htm
Solution:
http://www.est-aegis.com
Another solution:
applied-energy.us
AB has weighed in:
http://www.ab.com/drives/techpapers/ieee/IECON95_bearing.pdf
My understanding is that most of the problems are on larger (200HP or bigger) drives.
I am very interested in other informed opinions on this problem, as I am in teh process of tinkering with a few VFDs for the tank, drill press, etc.
Last edited:
I've read the greenheck stuff. That AB link just makes my head hurt!
We had to ground our 50HP cooling tower motors, and I know of lots of other smallish HVAC applications where motors were replaced due to wiped bearings.
I know there are brush rings and other methods out there. Our Mercotacs are neat though. It was a pain center drilling our motor shafts though.
www.mercotac.com
We had to ground our 50HP cooling tower motors, and I know of lots of other smallish HVAC applications where motors were replaced due to wiped bearings.
I know there are brush rings and other methods out there. Our Mercotacs are neat though. It was a pain center drilling our motor shafts though.
www.mercotac.com
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
Sorry.. I just noted an error in my post.
The SOLUTION link should have been
http://www.est-aegis.com
No corrected
I will check out the mercotac link. Thanks.
The SOLUTION link should have been
http://www.est-aegis.com
No corrected
I will check out the mercotac link. Thanks.
JCTewks
In Memoriam
question about the VFD:
Could you use one of these to safely run a pump at higher RPM's by going to say 100hz or more?
just pondering the idea of using something like this on a very large protein skimmer, and turning up the RPM to get more airflow with a smaller pump. like making a pinwheel for a sequence 5000 and putting it on a 36"x72" skimmer body and bing able to put in 250+ scfh of air.
Could you use one of these to safely run a pump at higher RPM's by going to say 100hz or more?
just pondering the idea of using something like this on a very large protein skimmer, and turning up the RPM to get more airflow with a smaller pump. like making a pinwheel for a sequence 5000 and putting it on a 36"x72" skimmer body and bing able to put in 250+ scfh of air.
Walter Costa
New member
great tread!!
Beautiful build, thanks for thinking of taking build pictures.
As for aquascaping, with this footprint, I'd like to see a horseshoe island creating a front facing tidal pool. That way you can have tons of flow around and over, but a nice nook for things like stars and crabs to congregate.
Outstanding build.
As for aquascaping, with this footprint, I'd like to see a horseshoe island creating a front facing tidal pool. That way you can have tons of flow around and over, but a nice nook for things like stars and crabs to congregate.
Outstanding build.
Walter Costa
New member
Great thread! congratulations! again.
liveforphysics
New member
I really appreciate all the kind words guys!
I'm very glad to finally be able to say that the new-tank-syndrome phase is over. No more algae blooms, the few corals that survived are growing well again and having good colors finally. I think the most important stage of the tank progress has been the macrofauna fauna population. With the substrate having oxygenated water flowing through it, the entire crushed coral sandbed is a macrofauna habitat. When the lights turn off, it gets pretty crazy with hundreds of thousands of little animals comming out of the sandbed. I observe them fighting for every scrap of detritus available. I really enjoy watching as they stray too close to the sweeper tenticles of corals and get grabbed, pulled in and consumed. It's neat to see how the natural coral food capture methods work. Always amazes me at how large of prey they can make dissapear into the mouths.
I've made some changes to the lighting design and cooling design of the tank. I'm using LEDs, MH, and T5 lighting now. The MH and LED's are to provide the actinic supliment while the T5's provide the bulk of the lighting for coral growth. The lighting changes are really just there to play around and experiment, I think functionally I've gained nothing over the T5's alone.
Just playing around, I removed the buffer stage of my calcium reactor, and now dump the effulent tube right into the center of a ball of chaetomorpha in the fuge. I suppose the growth result could be called explosive. I'm pretty confident nutrient concentrations are lower now than I've ever had with any of my reefkeeping methods.
No waterchanges yet, but I did throw some carbon in a fluidized reactor. I've been switching between using ozone, stopping ozone, using ozone etc. When the tank was still young I think it had adverse effects, but now I think the tank can handle it a little better, though I'm not fully decided either way. Oddly, sometimes the ORP levels reach 350+mV with no Ozone added for weeks.
I'm just rambleing now... Thanks again for the kind words!
-Luke
I'm very glad to finally be able to say that the new-tank-syndrome phase is over. No more algae blooms, the few corals that survived are growing well again and having good colors finally. I think the most important stage of the tank progress has been the macrofauna fauna population. With the substrate having oxygenated water flowing through it, the entire crushed coral sandbed is a macrofauna habitat. When the lights turn off, it gets pretty crazy with hundreds of thousands of little animals comming out of the sandbed. I observe them fighting for every scrap of detritus available. I really enjoy watching as they stray too close to the sweeper tenticles of corals and get grabbed, pulled in and consumed. It's neat to see how the natural coral food capture methods work. Always amazes me at how large of prey they can make dissapear into the mouths.
I've made some changes to the lighting design and cooling design of the tank. I'm using LEDs, MH, and T5 lighting now. The MH and LED's are to provide the actinic supliment while the T5's provide the bulk of the lighting for coral growth. The lighting changes are really just there to play around and experiment, I think functionally I've gained nothing over the T5's alone.
Just playing around, I removed the buffer stage of my calcium reactor, and now dump the effulent tube right into the center of a ball of chaetomorpha in the fuge. I suppose the growth result could be called explosive. I'm pretty confident nutrient concentrations are lower now than I've ever had with any of my reefkeeping methods.
No waterchanges yet, but I did throw some carbon in a fluidized reactor. I've been switching between using ozone, stopping ozone, using ozone etc. When the tank was still young I think it had adverse effects, but now I think the tank can handle it a little better, though I'm not fully decided either way. Oddly, sometimes the ORP levels reach 350+mV with no Ozone added for weeks.
I'm just rambleing now... Thanks again for the kind words!
-Luke
kmacartney
New member
This project is profound! :eek1: Great work!:thumbsup:
andbigdaddy2
New member
Do you have a build thread for the light? I like the fact that you dont have a canopy im looking to do soemthing similar with MH (farther away fromthe water of course) if you dotn have a buildthread show us what pics you have of the light construction
liveforphysics
New member
andbigdaddy2- No need to get the MH up high off the water if you design things correctly. My current version sits the 4x MH bulbs just a few inches above the water.
They are 70w DE 20k bulbs driven by electronic ballasts. A 70w bulb a few inches off the surface of the water a whole lot more light actaully make it into the tank than a higher power bulb at a higher distance above the tank. The fixtues and reflectors are made from buying 4 quality reflector design 500w incan flood light fixtures, modding the sockets, harvesting the reflectors and mounting the bottom side of the T5 reflectors. I will try to dig up a picture for you. There are also 120W of blue LEDs thermal epoxyed to the bottom of the T5 reflectors. They don't really do much when the other lights are on, but they make a very nice actinic light for just relaxing at night watching the tank. The LED's make neat actinic shimmer lines, and the very high surface intensity enables very good penatration.
Just Dave- You are absolutely correct. I should have made it 6'x4', or even 7'x5' and just told her it was the size we agreed on. She never would have measured it.
Thank you for asking about the 510. Here is the link to the gallery of the datsun of terror build. Far more work went into this car than I put into the tank. It eats Evo's and craps Sti's.
http://www.ejlin.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album16
They are 70w DE 20k bulbs driven by electronic ballasts. A 70w bulb a few inches off the surface of the water a whole lot more light actaully make it into the tank than a higher power bulb at a higher distance above the tank. The fixtues and reflectors are made from buying 4 quality reflector design 500w incan flood light fixtures, modding the sockets, harvesting the reflectors and mounting the bottom side of the T5 reflectors. I will try to dig up a picture for you. There are also 120W of blue LEDs thermal epoxyed to the bottom of the T5 reflectors. They don't really do much when the other lights are on, but they make a very nice actinic light for just relaxing at night watching the tank. The LED's make neat actinic shimmer lines, and the very high surface intensity enables very good penatration.
Just Dave- You are absolutely correct. I should have made it 6'x4', or even 7'x5' and just told her it was the size we agreed on. She never would have measured it.
Thank you for asking about the 510. Here is the link to the gallery of the datsun of terror build. Far more work went into this car than I put into the tank. It eats Evo's and craps Sti's.
http://www.ejlin.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album16
liveforphysics
New member
Ok, here is a picture to the new tank lighting.
12x 54w T5HO
4x 70w 20k MH (actinic supliment)
460nm 53lumen CREE XR-E LED's for fun lights. (not on in the photo).
The MH's are totally splash proof, and the front sealed UV absorbing glass sits about 2" off the water.
Sorry the photo is so crappy. My cell phone does the best it can with an image sensor the size of a pinhead.
Best Wishes,
-Luke
12x 54w T5HO
4x 70w 20k MH (actinic supliment)
460nm 53lumen CREE XR-E LED's for fun lights. (not on in the photo).
The MH's are totally splash proof, and the front sealed UV absorbing glass sits about 2" off the water.
Sorry the photo is so crappy. My cell phone does the best it can with an image sensor the size of a pinhead.
Best Wishes,
-Luke
