Getting back in--- deep
- Thread starter BigDave
- Start date
That makes a lot of sense. I am actually considering a steel stand which is why I was asking. Didn't know if there is a special coat they put on or like you said just testing.
Thanks.
BigDave
Premium Member
Well. Got the plumbing all done and got the aquarium filled.
Running into a couple of problems that I'll have to work out.
1) Getting free used equipment usually means finding out what works and what doesn't. After getting everything hooked up I found out that the smaller pump and the ocean's motions both leak. Does anyone know if the ocean's motions devices have problems being mounted sideways? The device seems to be leaking out of a little hole on the side. Need to figure out what this is for and why it would be leaking out of there.
2) Some of my plumbing leaks. Not much. A drip every other minute or so. And the over flow box I bought has a little drip in the corner. about 1 drip per minutes.
The overflow box I can probably seal by draining it and putting a bead of silicone in it and running some more acrylic glue into the corner.
Not sure what to do for the other PVC fittings... re-do? silicone? put some glue on the outside and squeeze?
3) micro-bubbles. The main return is throwing micro-bubbles everywhere. I'm thinking it's probably because I forgot to put a bubble trap on the last overflow into the last section of the sump. I'll need to drain the sump and add one.
Good things?
1) The Beananimal overflow works. I threw a quick acrylic lid on the external box and there's only the slightest noise.
2) The main pump, while overkill, can easily be turned down with the ball valve and easily drives all the equipment in the sump as well as the main return. There is a decent hum, but I think once the sides are on the stand it will be much quieter. Most of the sound seems to come from the pump side and not the motor side. If the neighbor's AC is running (locate right by my garage), then I almost couldn't hear the pump.
3) The sump is more than adequate to hold all the water that drains back. I have about 4-5 inches left in the top of the sump when everything is off.
It also looks like I still have plenty of room under the stand for my controller. Adding a top-off tank is going to be tight.
Pictures from the day:
Oops:
Adding Water
Leaky Ocean's Motions:
Running into a couple of problems that I'll have to work out.
1) Getting free used equipment usually means finding out what works and what doesn't. After getting everything hooked up I found out that the smaller pump and the ocean's motions both leak. Does anyone know if the ocean's motions devices have problems being mounted sideways? The device seems to be leaking out of a little hole on the side. Need to figure out what this is for and why it would be leaking out of there.
2) Some of my plumbing leaks. Not much. A drip every other minute or so. And the over flow box I bought has a little drip in the corner. about 1 drip per minutes.
The overflow box I can probably seal by draining it and putting a bead of silicone in it and running some more acrylic glue into the corner.
Not sure what to do for the other PVC fittings... re-do? silicone? put some glue on the outside and squeeze?
3) micro-bubbles. The main return is throwing micro-bubbles everywhere. I'm thinking it's probably because I forgot to put a bubble trap on the last overflow into the last section of the sump. I'll need to drain the sump and add one.
Good things?
1) The Beananimal overflow works. I threw a quick acrylic lid on the external box and there's only the slightest noise.
2) The main pump, while overkill, can easily be turned down with the ball valve and easily drives all the equipment in the sump as well as the main return. There is a decent hum, but I think once the sides are on the stand it will be much quieter. Most of the sound seems to come from the pump side and not the motor side. If the neighbor's AC is running (locate right by my garage), then I almost couldn't hear the pump.
3) The sump is more than adequate to hold all the water that drains back. I have about 4-5 inches left in the top of the sump when everything is off.
It also looks like I still have plenty of room under the stand for my controller. Adding a top-off tank is going to be tight.
Pictures from the day:
Oops:
Adding Water
Leaky Ocean's Motions:
BigDave
Premium Member
I went ahead and ordered the mag-drive upgrade.
I also called up MDM and ordered a replacement O-ring and drive seal to fix the leak on the smaller pump.
One other item that I'll need to change is I'll be adding a ball-valve to the return from the main pump AFTER the T for the manifold. This should allow me to send some more pressure down the manifold line to increase flow through some of the equipment.
I created a quick youtube video with a little walk through. I've since quieted down the overflow quite a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpJtIJ560Jg
I also called up MDM and ordered a replacement O-ring and drive seal to fix the leak on the smaller pump.
One other item that I'll need to change is I'll be adding a ball-valve to the return from the main pump AFTER the T for the manifold. This should allow me to send some more pressure down the manifold line to increase flow through some of the equipment.
I created a quick youtube video with a little walk through. I've since quieted down the overflow quite a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpJtIJ560Jg
BigDave
Premium Member
The tank has been running since Sunday.
What I've learned so far is that running in my garage it's burning just under a gallon a day in evap. That should go down a little once in the house.
I've also learned that I think I want to replace the big return pump. I'm using a ball valve to run it at half power right now. It's really too big for the tank and the motor produces quite a bit of heat.
I'm thinking about getting one of the Jebao 12000's to replace it. I need to measure the return area in the sump to make sure it will fit first.
What I've learned so far is that running in my garage it's burning just under a gallon a day in evap. That should go down a little once in the house.
I've also learned that I think I want to replace the big return pump. I'm using a ball valve to run it at half power right now. It's really too big for the tank and the motor produces quite a bit of heat.
I'm thinking about getting one of the Jebao 12000's to replace it. I need to measure the return area in the sump to make sure it will fit first.
anbosu
New member
That should work pretty well. I'm running one at about half speed on my tank of this size and it's plenty. I have an MP40 and gyre in the tank, but I still get plenty of flow from my return.
BigDave
Premium Member
I went ahead and bought the pump. I'll need to move a baffle to make sure there's enough room for it to fit, but that shouldn't be too big of a deal. I was needing to modify the sump to reduce micro bubbles anyways.
This will also give me more 'floor' space for putting a top-off tank. So it's kinda a win-win-win for me in that regard. I'll have to pick up some plumbing to redo part of the return, but oh well.
This will also give me more 'floor' space for putting a top-off tank. So it's kinda a win-win-win for me in that regard. I'll have to pick up some plumbing to redo part of the return, but oh well.
BigDave
Premium Member
I'm still waiting for the new pump to come in, but I've been working on the aquarium controller.
I have the chiller/heater tested. I've been running the controller on the bench with pH probes, temp probe, pump and chiller in a 5 gallon bucket in the garage. Basically just a live test to make sure everything's working.
I have the chiller/heater tested. I've been running the controller on the bench with pH probes, temp probe, pump and chiller in a 5 gallon bucket in the garage. Basically just a live test to make sure everything's working.
BigDave
Premium Member
Another step closer.
I received the replacement seals for the smaller MDM pump, but after putting it back together it still leaked. Closer inspection revealed that the housing itself was cracked. Called MDM again and found out that they could sell me a replacement housing pretty cheap. I doubt it will get here by this weekend, but it should be easy for me to get it installed.
I'm hoping to have the tank re-filled by next Weekend to continue testing.
I was also able to figure out how to push firmware updates to the Arduino directly from the PI. It was the last piece of the puzzle I had for the controller before being able to finish the case. Now I can button it all up and get that finished.
I received the replacement seals for the smaller MDM pump, but after putting it back together it still leaked. Closer inspection revealed that the housing itself was cracked. Called MDM again and found out that they could sell me a replacement housing pretty cheap. I doubt it will get here by this weekend, but it should be easy for me to get it installed.
I'm hoping to have the tank re-filled by next Weekend to continue testing.
I was also able to figure out how to push firmware updates to the Arduino directly from the PI. It was the last piece of the puzzle I had for the controller before being able to finish the case. Now I can button it all up and get that finished.
BigDave
Premium Member
The wife gave me all day Saturday to myself to work in the garage. I was able to finish building the box for the controller. I also got the new pump installed. I'm running the pump at 90% to get enough flow for all the equipment and still have good flow through the tank.
My equipment that I'm running off of it are:
Chiller
Protein Skimmer
Carbon Reactor
CA Reactor
The first two devices take quite a bit of flow to run efficiently, which is why I'm probably having to run the pump so high.
The new pump is significantly quieter than the old huge one, although I do notice that it's a little louder the second day. We'll see what it sounds like in a week.
With everything still in the garage, it looks like it's taking about 4 hours for the tank to raise one degree and set off the chiller. Then the chiller runs about 2 hours to chill the tank back down one degree. I'm thinking about changing this to a half degree swing. Once inside, I think it will probably swing a lot slower due to the house temperature being significantly less than what the garage currently is (August in Texas).
Anyways, here's a few pictures
The controller as it sits now. Still need to glue it and paint it, but wanted to test first
new plumbing. Still missing the wavemaker and second pump
My equipment that I'm running off of it are:
Chiller
Protein Skimmer
Carbon Reactor
CA Reactor
The first two devices take quite a bit of flow to run efficiently, which is why I'm probably having to run the pump so high.
The new pump is significantly quieter than the old huge one, although I do notice that it's a little louder the second day. We'll see what it sounds like in a week.
With everything still in the garage, it looks like it's taking about 4 hours for the tank to raise one degree and set off the chiller. Then the chiller runs about 2 hours to chill the tank back down one degree. I'm thinking about changing this to a half degree swing. Once inside, I think it will probably swing a lot slower due to the house temperature being significantly less than what the garage currently is (August in Texas).
Anyways, here's a few pictures
The controller as it sits now. Still need to glue it and paint it, but wanted to test first
new plumbing. Still missing the wavemaker and second pump
BigDave
Premium Member
Sure. Just a few warnings... I'm not the best programmer, and I'm even worse at remembering to add comments. The Arduino code is probably a little better than the python code.
Getting the touchscreen to work was the hardest part of the hardware as I found documentation for those things extremely lacking. I'm also using fbcp to get the hdmi output to show on the TFT screen. I couldn't seem to get kivy to display on the TFT without it.
https://github.com/niget2002/AquaControl
The Arduino files have a bunch of little test scripts that I used during the initial testing phases. There's only one .ino file in the src directory that's the actual code. Let me know if you have any questions about the code.
Getting the touchscreen to work was the hardest part of the hardware as I found documentation for those things extremely lacking. I'm also using fbcp to get the hdmi output to show on the TFT screen. I couldn't seem to get kivy to display on the TFT without it.
https://github.com/niget2002/AquaControl
The Arduino files have a bunch of little test scripts that I used during the initial testing phases. There's only one .ino file in the src directory that's the actual code. Let me know if you have any questions about the code.
