Jacob's 360 Gallon Build

[Jacob D]

Ran into my first technical problem last night....

I crawled under the house to wire up my air exchange and discovered saltwater dripping out of the pipe that will connect to our house drain for the auto water change to pump out (it's not tied in yet). It turns out that the 3-way valve is leaking around the seat. While water is being pumped through it back to the tank a trickle of water is also going the other way down the drain :mad2:

There is no way to fix the valve. I was hoping to just throw a union and cap on the back side of the valve since I'm not doing auto-water change anyway (another phase II item)... but the valve body takes a non-standard size union, so no luck with that idea. The only thing I could think of in a pinch was Reynolds Wrap. I doubled it up, wrapped it over the flange side of the union and screwed the nut back on. It seems to be working but there's no way to tell without going back under the house. Next I need to replace the valve.

This has me thinking now... how will I be able to tell if/when the next valve starts leaking at the seat? In theory they should last a long time, mine may have been a lemon to begin with. My salinity went from 1.027 to 1.023... that's a lot of salt.

 

[macfin]

Jake,
Man that's a bummer. But then the optimist in says better to find the problem now instead of down the road when you wondering why salinity issues keep occurring.
Mac

 

[Jacob D]

Yep. Better that I don't have a tank full of coral and fish... just another reason why taking it slow is good.

I do have a salinity monitor that will be connected to my controller in the future. It will give an alarm if salinity is high or low. I guess if this happens again I'll be getting salinity alarms pretty regular and will know to check the valve seat.

 

[ctripi]

Is there anyway you could pressurize that section of pipe (valve included) by isolating it and hooking it to an air compressor? Or could you pressurize the valve individually. Hopefully something with threads and teflon tape?
Could you take a picture of culprit valve?
The potential that it may leak will cause you to go bald !!!

 

[Jacob D]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14526848#post14526848 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ctripi
Is there anyway you could pressurize that section of pipe (valve included) by isolating it and hooking it to an air compressor? Or could you pressurize the valve individually. Hopefully something with threads and teflon tape?
Could you take a picture of culprit valve?
The potential that it may leak will cause you to go bald !!!

This is the valve:
http://www.nibco.com/assets/ST4551VE.pdf


I'm not following to what end I would pressurize the valve or piping? Valve seats wear over time, or (more likely) it could have been a quality issue with the valve as it came off the line. The other possibility is that the seat material was not compatible with saltwater... but I doubt that. I bought the valve surplus, it appeared to be new but I don't know for sure, and I don't know what the seat material is.

Replacing it will solve the issue, and pending any production issues it should work for years to come leak-free. I'm not overly concerned about it leaking, but I'm aware of it now.


...unfortunately it's about $150 for a new one.

 

[ctripi]

Sorry, I miss read you original statement. I intrepreted your comment regarding "how would I know" as how can I prove that the next valve (surplus or not) works correctly.

 

[Jacob D]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14527887#post14527887 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ctripi
Sorry, I miss read you original statement. I intrepreted your comment regarding "how would I know" as how can I prove that the next valve (surplus or not) works correctly.

Ah, gotcha now. Yes, for sure will pressure test the new valve. I think the easiest way is just to install it and leave the piping on the "back side" disconnected while running the pump. If it leaks... pull some hair out and send it back. If not, then all is well. I don't expect to get a leaker.


I just posted a couple of updates to the ol' blog. One regarding this issue and one about the air exchange.

My next mission is to finish my Herbie overflow, then I've gotta figure out my canopy-less design. I had a bizarre idea the other day, more on that later :bum:

 

[Jacob D]

Herbie overflow mod installed today!

Update with pics on the blog

 

[macfin]

Jake,
Just wondering if you've settled on a canopy design, or is it still on the down low?
Mac

 

[Jacob D]

I have... in a sense.

I actually built a canopy and it's been sitting in my garage for a few weeks. I was kicking around several ideas for raising and lowering it; what I wanted to do just wasn't feasible from a cost standpoint. My second option was to use a small gearmotor, pulleys and a very small cable - however it would have ran about $400 to build and I would have only had 22" of clearance from the top of the tank to the bottom of the canopy (when raised to max height). I decided that was going to be an issue I wouldn't want to live with.

I'm calling the new design 'canopy-less' although it still requires the top of the tank to be sealed off from the house in order for the air exchange to work. In brief, what I am doing is building a 'top sheet' that will sit on top of my tank and cover about 2" all the way around to hide the water line. The top sheet has openings where the tank has openings, but slightly larger. I will be building 3 air-tight 'light boxes' to house the reflectors. Each box will sit in an opening in the top sheet sealed by weather stripping all around their perimeter. With an electrical quick-disconnect I'll be able to individually remove them to access the tank, or without disconnecting them just move them to the side slightly. The air exchange will still work as before; it will remove the hot humid air and only a fraction of the heat from the lights will be conducted into the house.

Not as neat as a powered canopy, but in this case a lot more functional. I have the design modeled up and all ready to roll. I purchased some wood today, the rest is going to come from the canopy I already built. I think aesthetically it will look a lot better than a typical canopy, more contemporary I guess. I'm planning to laminate them with black counter top laminate. Next time I'm on my workstation I'll grab some screen shots to post.

 

[RiOnRoxXx]

Sounds neat Jake. Keep us posted.

 

[Jacob D]

Boxes of Light

I needed to come up with a better name for my design than "canopy-less"


The boxes are built. I need to prime them and I'm hunting around for some black counter top laminate to cover them with. The place I had planned to buy it from is now out of business... another victim of the economy I guess. I'm not going to post pictures until they are complete (as in laminated and wired up). I'll share a few details...

Each box is roughly 24x24x12" tall. With the reflector and bulb each one weighs about 20 lbs. The boxes are airtight and sit down into the recessed top sheet which sits on top of the tank and wraps down over the edges about 1 1/2 inches. All openings in the top of the tank are now either covered by the topsheet or enclosed by a light box. Each box will have 2 recessed handles for easy lifting. Surprisingly the only place I could find that had something close to what I wanted was a car audio store. Here's what they look like (on a speaker box):

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30740619@N08/3371440092/" title="box handle by Dinardi Family, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3371440092_17c8b34e2b.jpg" width="500" height="403" alt="box handle" style="border:2px solid #000;"/></a>


In order to fit a Lumenarc III inside each box I had to redesign the mounting bracket for the mogul base. The new brackets are essentially flush with the outside of the reflector - nothing protrudes other than a baseplate about 1/8" thick. I'm having the brackets made at a fab shop that I frequently work with; they're 100% stainless steel and should hold up well. They're not adjustable, but I don't need them to be. Here's an image of the model:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30740619@N08/3371452350/" title="light bracket by Dinardi Family, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3371452350_3beafb904f_o.jpg" width="754" height="528" alt="light bracket" style="border:2px solid #000;"/></a>


Lastly, the wiring. The Icecap ballasts come with "quick disconnects"... correction, they only come with the male end. Marine Depot sells the female receptacle (no cable included) for $12 each... ugh. I looked around a little and found that both www.McMasterCarr.com and www.CablesToGo.com had better prices - and they included cable too! For less than $6 from McMaster Carr you get the female receptacle and over 6 feet of 18 awg cable attached to it (part number 70355K22); I purchased 3 of them. I'll shorten the cable and wire them to the lights. I wanted to be able to quick disconnect both my ballasts and my lights in case either need to be removed, so I also purchased 3 complete 15 foot "computer power cord extensions" from Cables To Go for $14 ea.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30740619@N08/3371440214/" title="icecap cable by Dinardi Family, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3371440214_bacac4891a_o.jpg" width="212" height="212" alt="icecap cable" style="border:2px solid #000;" /></a>

I ordered a few strain reliefs and other odds and ends that I needed. Now I just need to find the black laminate and I'll be all set. At this rate it looks like my "boxes of light" will be completely finished long before the stand/skin is. That's fine though, once I have lights I can transfer all my corals from my Q tank into the display and get this show on the road!

 

[Paul B]

with the tank figured in I'm hitting the 300%+ bracket. At these rates the tank costs $4.76 a day to run (electricity only).

Thats why I installed Solar Electric on my home. I was the first one in my town to do so and I think I am still the only one.
I thought Solar was a big thing in California.



My system generates about $1,000 a year in electricity, which saves me $1,000 a year.

 

[Jacob D]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14660430#post14660430 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paul B
Thats why I installed Solar Electric on my home. I was the first one in my town to do so and I think I am still the only one.
I thought Solar was a big thing in California.



My system generates about $1,000 a year in electricity, which saves me $1,000 a year.

Solar would be nice, but the costs to install it are prohibitive. The ROI is about 10 years on a typical system. I'm keeping the door open to solar for just the tank as a Phase III of the project, but I'm still working on Phase I.

 

[Paul B]

Oh yeah I forgot, I am an electrician so I did it myself in 4 days.
My ROI is less than 3 years.
I received almost $14,000 back in a rebate and another $6,000 from the govt in a tax return, so for me anyway, it was a no brainer. But you are correct, If I had to pay someone to do it, It would be too high.

 

[Jacob D]

Today I started laminating the topsheet and will be moving to the light boxes next. So far so good. We're headed to Yosemite tomorrow so won't get much more done this weekend, but I think it's going to look pretty slick when all said and done. I'll get some pics when as it's coming along.

Oh, I also got my custom brackets for my Lumenarcs... they're so much more compact than the originals it's ridiculous. I've got them mounted up but can't wire them until I install the reflectors in the boxes. I'm getting pretty excited I'm actually going to have lights on the tank after only two years!

 

[friendorfoe]

2 yrs of looking at an empty Tank! WoW,I hope I can do this

 

[Jacob D]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14774804#post14774804 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by friendorfoe
2 yrs of looking at an empty Tank! WoW,I hope I can do this

I hope you don't have to!

 

[Jacob D]

So... been working on the canopy and lights. Everything is done. I went to fire up the lights the other day and they fired, but tripped my GFI within about 30 seconds. After doing some research and talking to Icecap it sounds like the electronic ballasts are known to sometimes fool the GFCI into seeing a short. After a bunch of troubleshooting I ran an extension cord down my hallway to the bathroom where I have a different type of GFCI installed. That one does not trip so I went out and bought another one of the same style and need to install it (maybe tonight after the kids go to bed).

Aside from that I found flatworms in my QT. They're not the orange ones, some different type that I haven't seen before. Looks like FW Exit tomorrow and then wait a few weeks and see if I got them all.

 

[jhuynh]

sorry to hear about the flatworms... at least they are in a QT and not in the main. keep us posted!