Join me for a strange one...

[hebygb]

Where does this stand. At this rate he should have SPS growing .

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

hebygb, back a ways he commented that the progress and photos shown so far were condensed from two years of progress.

Speaking of going back in the thread, I want to comment on:

1) A stand that will have the tank centered on the average viewer's standing face height - like in a public aquarium.

Kudos for having this goal and actually carrying it out. I really hate stooping over to look at fish tanks in people's homes. Seems like 99% of fish tanks are at a height appropriate for viewing when seated, but aren't located close enough to anything to sit on - so 99% of the time, you're standing next to the tank, leaning over! Very frustrating.

 

[serpentman]

Kudos for having this goal and actually carrying it out. I really hate stooping over to look at fish tanks in people's homes. Seems like 99% of fish tanks are at a height appropriate for viewing when seated, but aren't located close enough to anything to sit on - so 99% of the time, you're standing next to the tank, leaning over! Very frustrating.

Plus one. All my stands are 42" tall. PITA to access the tank but well worth it when viewing.

 

[BeanAnimal]

My in-wall is 40" above the floor for the same reason. I would have gone even higher, except for the fact that I left room for a 110T in case I ever decide to upgrade.

...dad and the dog


I think 50" would have been even better, but the low basement ceilings made that impossible.

 

[hebygb]

LOL... I missed that... I thought it was incredible that he did all that demo, rebuild, as well as the stand and reengineering in about 10 days. But this is like being between seasons of a favorite drama.

 

[kcress]

Where does this stand. At this rate he should have SPS growing .

Some day! I hope...:lmao:

hebygb, back a ways he commented that the progress and photos shown so far were condensed from two years of progress.

Speaking of going back in the thread, I want to comment on:



Kudos for having this goal and actually carrying it out. I really hate stooping over to look at fish tanks in people's homes. Seems like 99% of fish tanks are at a height appropriate for viewing when seated, but aren't located close enough to anything to sit on - so 99% of the time, you're standing next to the tank, leaning over! Very frustrating.

Thanks DWZM. To be honest I never even thought about the bend-over issue. Because my old tank is right up against a couch and we always sit to look at it. That would be a pain bending-over-to-view!

This tank is essentially supposed to have about 8" above my eye plane when I view it. From about 6 inches this makes the top disappear from view and should give an "I'm floating in the water" feel.

Plus one. All my stands are 42" tall. PITA to access the tank but well worth it when viewing.

Yes!

But man this 36" is a capital pain in it's own rite! It's like OMG! I dropped a fitting in it. How am I going to retrieve it?

My in-wall is 40" above the floor for the same reason. I would have gone even higher, except for the fact that I left room for a 110T in case I ever decide to upgrade.

WOW Bean I don't think I've ever seen your tank from the front!
Always with the rear..
I hope mine looks that good someday.

I think 50" would have been even better, but the low basement ceilings made that impossible.

A perfect case for using a stand that goes up and down!! :lol2:

LOL... I missed that... I thought it was incredible that he did all that demo, rebuild, as well as the stand and reengineering in about 10 days. But this is like being between seasons of a favorite drama.

:bigeyes: Yes but much shorter than the usual hiatus. I'm here for you when Breaking Bad is on break.

 

[kcress]

Before the plumbing, there are a few important points of the build to add:

Since this tank "space" is going to be small and completely enclosed I have to insulate and ventilate the space to prevent a moisture disaster of epic proportion.

Imagine a 300 gallon tank in your large walk-in closet with the door shut. ARRRRRRGH as the mold ingests you while you're searching for your shoes.

The first important feature is to insulate the walls COMPLETELY. This keeps the moisture in the air instead of condensing on the walls to run down and grow things.

The second is to ventilate the space to carry away the moist air to outside.

Here's the insulation. If you recall this was a fireplace chase so it had no insulation. Notice the chase cap. See the condensation on it? That rained down about a drop every 20 seconds every evening when the house was closed up and cooking, people, dish-washing, 165g aquarium, and cold outside air all came together. Notice my Bed Bath and Beyond stack cap?

Here's the Low Vent. It's on the bottom left of the chase. There will be a high vent in the chase cap eventually. Because we're talking about 20 feet of stack I should have excellent stack effect which will cause the air to turn over well using just the heat in the air to drive the system.

Here's the finished insulated and sheet-rocked space.

Instead of the multi-day hassle of taping and texture I siliconed all the places one would normally tape and finish. This high area will be completely out of view and a mechanical place that didn't warrant the standard hassle. Then I painted it all. It was pretty funny as the silicone totally rejected any paint that tried to adhere to it.

Notice the insulation directly against the roof cap? What a huge difference that made. It instantly stopped the rain effect. There is never any condensation in the chase now that it's all insulated.

Eventually this roof cap will be yanked and a new one that provides the two solar ingresses and the vent egress will replace it. So you'd look up and see two big holes and a smaller hole.

 

[CJO]

You're using sheet rock rather than green board in there?

CJ

 

[kcress]

Up top. Not below. Not that it matters. If it's ever wet enough to be an issue I'd have much bigger problems.

 

[4adam12]

Few questions for you about the heliostats. Do you have them yet, what kind or brand are they and where did you get them? Very neat idea to incorporate into your build. How much do you expect to use the LEDs? Are they more or less supplemental to the solar or the other way around. I am really enjoying the technical aspects of this build, you are giving a lot of things to learn about and options to explore.

 

[Everyones Hero]

Awesome build so far.

How do you plan on dealing with any rust that will build up on the chains/sprockets (assuming you put a sump under the display)?

Will you run into any problems if the load in the tank isn't distributed perfectly? I'm assuming you'll have more rock in the back & middle of the tank than the front.

 

[nanonubey]

Those are some beautiful welds you threw down! Can't wait to see this when your're done!

 

[kcress]

Few questions for you about the heliostats. Do you have them yet, what kind or brand are they and where did you get them? Very neat idea to incorporate into your build. How much do you expect to use the LEDs? Are they more or less supplemental to the solar or the other way around. I am really enjoying the technical aspects of this build, you are giving a lot of things to learn about and options to explore.

I do not have them. That's down the road a bit. I will be building them from scratch. I need the LEDs for two reasons. One, to selectively punch down to the bottom of the tank without frying upper level creatures. And two, because the solar image will be cylindrical in the center of the two relatively small tank openings. (36" deep equals small accesses)

This means the LEDs will need to be densly spaced in a distorted circular partern around the cylindrical light beams from above. Convential lighting would have lots of issues avoiding the twin 12~14" beams.

For those of you who don't know what a heliostat is: It's a mirror that points a refection of the Sun at a fixed point and keeps it there during the entire day.

Here's a simple movie that shows a nice one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6EtY5ei4nU&feature=related

Awesome build so far.

How do you plan on dealing with any rust that will build up on the chains/sprockets (assuming you put a sump under the display)?

Will you run into any problems if the load in the tank isn't distributed perfectly? I'm assuming you'll have more rock in the back & middle of the tank than the front.

Umm. That's one of those things that you know can happen in the back of your mind but you just don't focus on it. That is where I'm at on that subject at the moment. You bring up a very good point. I am choosing to look the other way at the moment. :LOL
Hopefully there won't be any spray. :bigeyes:

Those are some beautiful welds you threw down! Can't wait to see this when your're done!

Thanks nano!

Here's me doing a weld.

A weld on what?

I actually embarked on this project which included a tank scratch built from plywood and steel. A steel frame with plywood panels. This is me welding it. I actually finished welding it.

I cut the plywood 3/4" (marine grade). I plywooded all five sides to test it. Lined it with plastic for the test.

The plan was to have the entire inside and out Line-X sprayed. Then add the glass. This allowed me to sheetrock the chase and build my stand to fit. The chase was 71-3/4" wide. So I went with a 71" tank and the 71" stand you see.

Well... I filled that tank up with water. The BOW was insane! RUN AWAY!! insane. The tank wanted to form into an oval with the front and back bow exceeding about 10" on each face. Wit visions of a wave cutting thru my office I drained it quickly. This bow meant I was going to have to put several yucky cross members on it... It also predicted more strange behavior once one face was glass and the others were plywood.

I then priced the glass at 6 locations - I'm in Silicon Valley. The cheapest price was just over a thousand dollars for low Iron.

I would not dream of using standard glass that thick.. Just the 3/8" of green filter on my present tank is a large downer for me. So after struggling with this plan for weeks I turned to Craigslist and started hunting a standard tank. DOH!!!! They only come in fat 72+" versions. But, I got one for only $500... And theoretically this meant no invention/development/disaster/failure.

But that meant the side walls of my chase were now TOO THICK. I had to cut out the two sheet rock sides and replace them with something thinner. GAAAHHHHH.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Umm. That's one of those things that you know can happen in the back of your mind but you just don't focus on it. That is where I'm at on that subject at the moment. You bring up a very good point. I am choosing to look the other way at the moment. :LOL
Hopefully there won't be any spray. :bigeyes:

I wouldn't worry about it! Referring back to the bicycle analogy above, those parts are available in stainless, aluminum, titanium, etc - and even when I've had plain steel chains on my bike, keeping them lubed prevented even surface rust from forming, when riding in rain/sleet/snow/etc. on a weekly basis for years at a time. Plus, rust on these components would be a slow failure type of thing that you could spot and remediate before it caused issues.

So after struggling with this plan for weeks I turned to Craigslist and started hunting a standard tank. DOH!!!! They only come in fat 72+" versions. But, I got one for only $500... And theoretically this meant no invention/development/disaster/failure.

As sweet as the wood tank would have been, this build is going to be pretty sweet without it!

 

[noahm]

I wouldn't worry about it! Referring back to the bicycle analogy above, those parts are available in stainless, aluminum, titanium, etc - and even when I've had plain steel chains on my bike, keeping them lubed prevented even surface rust from forming, when riding in rain/sleet/snow/etc. on a weekly basis for years at a time. Plus, rust on these components would be a slow failure type of thing that you could spot and remediate before it caused issues.

I agree. We use #25 drive chain regularly on some underwater (fw) equipment and have found that SS actually tends to be more of a problem than regular as it seems to either gall or form a rigid section due to slight surface crud if left for a while. The regular steel stays limber in all circumstances beside just solid rust. IMO silicone lube on the steel chain will last you as long as it is needed in this circumstance.

 

[kcress]

Any particular silicon lube? Most seems pretty watery.

 

[noahm]

Any particular silicon lube? Most seems pretty watery.

The aerosol silicone lubricants generally dry on the surface after a bit, but still offer the protection from oxidizing. Just trying to think of something that adds a little protection from rust without being messy or toxic. There may be some fancy stuff you can get at a bike shop, but I would tend to use whatever on more of a need basis. I don't think you really need the lubricating factor so much as protection from the elements.

 

[Everyones Hero]

I would think a thicker grease like lube would be a better option. Aerosol & fish tanks aren't a good combination. Plus I think that if you can really get everything covered you'll have a better chance of preventing rust.

Do you have a plan that will allow you to change sprockets if the need comes up?

Maybe it would be a good idea to build a chain guard. Moreso to protect the chain & sprockets than anything else.

I just know salt can be a real pita. My uncle had bought a grill for his house on the beach. Not even 6 months later & it looked like it was 20 years old.

 

[noahm]

Yeah, I didn't really think about spraying it while the tank was open. Silicone grease, like is used on o-rings and bulkheads, would be reef safe, and probably only necessary to reapply once a year at most.

 

[virginiadiver69]

Very impressed with your build so far.
How tall is the whole thing (tank & stand) gonna be when finished?