How not to build a 750/1500 gallon build thread-Khaosinc 3/5/71-8/30/11

[jeremyreef]

try

front
ati blue plus
uvl actinic white
ati blue plus
ge 6500k daylight
ati blue plus
uvl actinic white
ati blue plus
ati blue plus

on that fixture. thats what t5s i run and it looks great.

 

[khaosinc]

Those are some monster lights. How long are they?

they are only 4' long, but 2' wide.

 

[khaosinc]

played with a skimmer mod idea that came to me while desperatly trying not to be drawn in to a political discussion...

I have a Euroreef 750. Never liked the air flow controllers that come with them. Recently built an automatic can crusher for a guy and had some some speed controllers left over from the air cylinders.

got rid of the stock (icky metric) hoseand replaced it with some good old fashioned 3/8" tubing

Drilled and tapped a UHMW block I had kicking around and ran the 4 lines in to the speed controllers. I could have just used some plumbing fittings, but I figured this would make it easier to mount once I'm happy with it.

5 mins after turning it back on, not dialed in yet. As a side note, if you have an external skimmer, pulling the vacuum lines off when you have the pumps off does make a mess if you were to lazy to drain it..

 

[Dtronic]

played with a skimmer mod idea that came to me while desperatly trying not to be drawn in to a political discussion...

What could possibly go wrong in a political discussion :fun2:

Nice mod idea. And great find on the lights.

 

[melev]

Those look like brass fittings. Mixed with the salty environment, I worry that the corrosion could be sucked in the venturi and into the system.

 

[Doahh]

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[khaosinc]

they are brass, , but they are new and will work for a proof of concept test of them. If I see any corrosion on them, they will come off. I intend to replace them with 316l stainless, but at $60 a pop, that will have to wait.

Its funny that the brass issue came up in this thread, but the thread where I specifically asked about it, I got no response.

 

[cmoreland]

Just stopping by here to pay my homages *bows down chanting I'm not worthy a few times*

There, now that's over with...about this brass business, IMHO I don't think it'll make a lick of difference on a tank that size unless it's been there for a LONG time. Plus worrying about a bit of brass seems to grind against the whole feeling of this thread

Rock on!

 

[barnabus's gimp]

the thing you need to worry most about is dezincification, because then you will have high levels of ionized copper in your system killing all your stuff.

I was reading somewhere about certain types of bronze, and my Dad's boat propeller is made of an aluminum bronze alloy of some kind. I guess exposure of brass to seawater causes hardcore corrosion.

 

[khaosinc]

the thing is, that it's not really exposed to the water. It (will be) mounted on the side of the hood (on the outside) and away from all the water except whats in the air. Once I get a new dehumidifier, that should be dramatically reduced as well.

I'll watch it... see waht happens, and the next time I have a spare couple hundred bucks (insert hysterical laughter here) I will be getting the stainless ones.

 

[hoffy02]

68 pages and I am seeing crosseyed now!!! Just wanted to say hello and I am so glad you are ok.... A few times there I had a bad feeling... If I ever get a wild hair I am flying there just to have a beer on that couch!!! Thanks for a wonderful thread... Even though I never saw that Mermaid!!
Tell Tink thanks for hangin in there

 

[Seanile]

The Mermaid would be nice.......Tattoo the anchor you were lookin for..incorporate the scar as the 3d middle of the tat.

 

[khaosinc]

Well, I was hoping to be able to post photo updates of my (finally) finished hood and a couple other new mods, but apperently when you drop your camera off the top of the tank and it lands in the sump, they don't work anymore...

guess I was due for a new one soon anyway... LOL

 

[romanr]

I can almost hear the expletives flying of your tongue as the camera descended towards its doom!

 

[khaosinc]

I can almost hear the expletives flying of your tongue as the camera descended towards its doom!

that might be putting it mildly...

 

[sunnyday]

the thing is, that it's not really exposed to the water. It (will be) mounted on the side of the hood (on the outside) and away from all the water except whats in the air. Once I get a new dehumidifier, that should be dramatically reduced as well.

I'll watch it... see waht happens, and the next time I have a spare couple hundred bucks (insert hysterical laughter here) I will be getting the stainless ones.

K,

I'm going to go way out of my chemistry element here and make a suggestion on your design. Please try not to laugh too hard at my hair-brained ideas.

What about teflon fittings in place of the stainless or brass? I've seen this done for glasswork...could it work here?

 

[khaosinc]

I'm not aware of a teflon flow control device, but I'm sure they are out there. I do know of PVC/stainless ones but they are spendy and with the girlfriends 30th Bday next week, I need what little cash I can spare.

And don't worry about hair brained ideas in this thread. Most of mine arn't even that well formed...

 

[khaosinc]

sigh... Well, I guess one can feed to much air in to a skimmer. Burned up one of the 4 pumps on my Euroreef 750 last night (well, I found it last night anyway) gonna have to be a pump down for a while...

might be a good time to play with pump upgrades.. LOL

 

[sunnyday]

I'm not aware of a teflon flow control device, but I'm sure they are out there. I do know of PVC/stainless ones but they are spendy and with the girlfriends 30th Bday next week, I need what little cash I can spare.

And don't worry about hair brained ideas in this thread. Most of mine arn't even that well formed...

Yeah! The girlfriend hits the big 30th! Definitely wise not to skimp on the gift this year.


Good thing about the hair brained ideas being welcome here. Sometimes my husband just rolls his eyes at some of the things I come up with. Funny that two of my former employers now have some major processes based largely on my hair brained ideas. :dance: My ideas can't be all that bad, I figure.

Back in the mid-90s people said you couldn't grow corals or clams without halides and a fancy skimmer. I did it with foil-lined shoplights sitting directly on top of the tank, some Vita-light powertwist bulbs I use for growing orchids, and a Skilter. I'd still have that same setup with only minor upgrades were it not for my husband feeling sorry for my rusty, unsafe setup and handing me a chunk of change for Mother's Day last year. Today I'm still in the design stage of my double-tank in-wall build that he's going to build me if I can ever make up my mind how I want to arrange my wet room. For Christmas he bought me an architectual design program to go with the laptop (also new for my birthday) so the design phase is finally picking up speed.

Back to the flow controller you can't afford...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're basically hooking up a block of side-by-side needle valves? If so, would this work?

http://www.netmotion.com/htm_files/fh_controlvalves3.html

 

[khaosinc]

there are those, but again they are brass which eventually I want to get away from. They make those in stainless as well, but the price issue comes in to play. due to the air flow issue killing one of my pumps, I went back to the old tried and true lock collar with a 5/16" bolt in it.