let the insanity begin

Looking really good amn. I've been getting my butt kicked trying to get my 58 gallon tank all set up. I cant imagine how much more complicated this must be!
How far is Roberts Il from St Louis Mo? I'd love to purchase some "local" frags from a farmer....
Nick
 
Thanks guys.
maxxII- I saw your thread at SEASL. Really a nice job setting up that 58. Good loking project and an "earthquake-proof" stand.
 
Thanks Rick,
Coming from someone of your DIY skills thats quite a compliment. I've already learned an enormous amount from watching threads like this, and then from building my stuff up. Nothing like experiance to teach you what you do in the future. Kinda like maybe using 2x4's next time so the stand doesnt require two people to move.
Thanks for the kind words and more importantly for the inspiration you provide to me and others by recording and sharing your awesome efforts here.
Nick
 
Thanks again for the comments. Glad to have you both along.
Really, my skills aren't anything special and were born out of necessity because I could never afford to have someone work on my car, fix the washing machine, install a ceiling fan, etc. I think that most of this project is within the abilities of anybody with a little DIY experience. Of course, some ego and a little arrogance doesn't hurt either. ;) Most of my energy and drive is just fueled by a sincere passion for reef conservation and I believe that captive propagation is one way to further that cause.


Here is the second time help was required. Lifting the exhaust fan in place proved to be more than I could handle alone.
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Once again, finishing up the day by moonlight. The north end wall has a dedicated GFI outlet for where the industrial air blower will sit (not the mini air blower to inflate the plastic), this will be used to power the skimmers and run airlifts for most of the circulation in the tanks. The north wall also has two other GFI outlets at the beginning of the two circuits that run down each side wall. West side wall is shown here. All circuits are run in EMT conduit. The plastic covering is not supposed to touch any kind of PVC which includes the plastic sheath in which electric wiring is enclosed. The outlets are high enough to make the possibility of water splashes very unlikely if not impossible. The poles laying down at an angle are snow gussets and will eventually be swung up and the upper end attached to the bows. They were purchased and added as an after thought. They add more strength to the entire structure but weren't necessary for a 20 foot wide building. The main reason I ordered them is because they will make a convenient and level place to run the pipes from the air blower and drip systems.
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Amerigas finally came and set my propane tank last Monday (11-8-2004). It had rained fairly heavy during the two weeks prior and the ground was just too wet for them to drive across. I have the mini air blower running for the first time today (11-13-2004) and you can see the end bulging out as it inflates.
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The east side wall with all of it's outlets. Fans are hung two on each side with the two on the east side pointing south and the two on the west side pointing north to make a racetrack effect inside the greenhouse. The snow gussets are all swung up and bolted into place now that the outlets are finished. Eventually, there will be outlets up towards the peak of the roof to plug the fans into.
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Rick,
I know why I'm up this early, (Off tonight, but working the awesome 6 pm to 6 am shift this month. I'm still trying keep my sleep patterns semi regular), but WHY IN NAME OF GOD ARE YOU UP THIS EARLY?????????

:D

This gonna be awesome when you have it all together.

Couple of questions....

The plastic covering is not supposed to touch any kind of PVC which includes the plastic sheath in which electric wiring is enclosed.

Just out of curiousity...why is this?


dedicated GFI outlet for where the industrial air blower will sit (not the mini air blower to inflate the plastic), this will be used to power the skimmers and run airlifts for most of the circulation in the tanks.
What sort of skimmers are you planning on running for this operation? WHy did you choose that particular skimmer?

How well insulated does the inflated plastic keep the green house? I dont know how your winters are up there, but I'm curious if the heater will be working overtime or not?

One last question, you seem to have really planned this out to a T...what do you have lined up for freak power losses? I dont recall reading that you had planned for a particular generator or not...but I'm kinda guessing you do.

Nick
 
Well, Nick, I'm actually still up this late. ;)
According to the manufacturer of the polyethylene plastic glazing, contact with PVC will cause a premature degradation of the covering. I don't know the chemistry behind it but assume there is some sort of chemical reaction between the two types of plastic.
I plan to DIY the skimmers (of course). They will be five feet tall, three inch diameter on some tanks and four inch on others. Plan to have two skimmers per tank and probably four or five on the live rock curing vats.
The heater will be working overtime on cloudy days and at night during the winter. On clear days, it has been over 100 inside the greenhouse when it is 40 outside. 4,000 gallons of water will also act like a big heat sink and will help to keep the temps more stable.
I do have plans for a generator, ideally one that will start automatically in the event of a power outage. Haven't decided on a particular brand yet.
 
Rick, More questions for you...

Are you planning on any supplemental lighting or will it even be necessary. When determining the PAR coming through your greenhouse, did you find that it was higher than a real reef or was it about equal. There is another greenhouse thread here...
Dendronepthya's GreenHouse Project
I just looked at it and the pics are missing for some reason.....but he discovered he had too much light coming through the greenhouse covering, and had to use shade cloths to lessen the intensity of the light. He is located in Wisconsin....
Nick
 
I have seen Dendro's thread on his greenhouse-back when the pics were still there. He has some really good ideas and a nice setup for air driven circulation.
There is also another greenhouse thread by Treeman who is building his second facility in Florida. It is over in the propagation and aquaculture forum.
Then, of course there was a thread by Scubadude a while back of his greenhouse also in Florida- which sadly was destroyed by that last hurricane. I have seen him brainstorming with others about how to hurricane-proof a greenhouse over in the"all things salty with Anthony Calfo" forum.
Judging by some discussions I've had with Anthony Calfo and by my own readings, what I'm expecting is for the need to use a shade cloth (actually planning on using regular old window screen) in the summer over tanks with mushrooms, zoanthids and other low light animals. Then in winter, I may need to use some supplemental lighting over the shallow water high light species to maintain color. The will live but may brown up.



Getting the flue pipe ran out for the furnace. This was a real PITA because the pipe coming off of the furnace was a strangely sized oval. I had to hunt for a pipe that was oval on one end to match the furnace and round on the other end to match the flue pipe. Finally found one at my old plumbing supply company which was a little longer and narrower, then beat it into the correct shape. Propane is all piped into the furnace so it will be ready to fire as soon as the electrical is finished.
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Out and up. All sealed inside and out with fire rated caulk.
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Now for the fun stuff. This here is what's commonly known as a fluster cluck. Starting from the bottom; the main breaker panel (big gray box with yellow wire hanging out). Out the lower left side is a single GFI outlet (that is where the industrial air blower will sit). The upper outlet out the left is a GFI and the first outlet in the circuit that runs down the east wall of the greenhouse. Going up from the top of the main panel is junction box 1. It carries power straight through and also out the left to thermostat one. Those are not everyday household thermostats, they are direct wired thermostatically controlled switches made by Johnson Controls and are rain tight. The thermostat then sends power back through box one and connects to the furnace with the flexible armored cable coming out the right of box 1. On up to junction box 2, again, power runs straight through and also out to the second thermostat and back, then up to the fifth junction box where it goes out to the left to control the shutter on the big exhaust fan, then will also travel up overhead to the opposite end of the greenhouse to control the shutters on that end. Junction box 3, same deal, power straight through, out to thermostat 3 and back. That will also run up overhead to outlets for the hanging fans seen back about three pictures. The fourth junction box, power straight through, out to the fourth thermostat and back, then connects to the motor inside that big exhaust fan via the flexible armored cable coming out the right of box 4. Out the top of the fifth junction box, there is one 120 volt cable to carry the power for the overhead lights, two single power wires from the thermostats for the hanging fans and for the shutters on the other end. When the 120 power gets to the other end, it will hit a switch by the door and the hot will have to run back almost the full length of the building to the outlets for the overhead lights. Took a little over six hours to tie this mess together. Now All that's left is to run the overhead- four thermostatically controlled outlets for the fans and two switched outlets for the lights with junction boxes at all six stops.
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I'm guessing there is no issue with heat transfer from the furnace exhaust flue to the greenhouse plastic covering?
Glad you explained the wiring.....cause I still got confused.
Speaking of hurricanes, what sort of wind strength can your greenhouse handle? I know it wont stand up to a tornado, but do you guys get them very often where your at? I'm thinking more along the lines of nasty midwest T storm....
Nick
 
The flue is boxed in with a 16" x 16" wooden frame and then the frame has a sheet metal insert through which the flue passes so the plastic is not close enough to the flue to have any concerns. There is actually two layers of the sheet metal, one inside and one outside.
I had to double, triple, quadruple... check every connection I made too, that portion of the wiring pushed my abilities to their limit, but that's how we get better at things.
The manufacturer didn't give a specific number for the wind rating, just that it is wind rated if certain parts are installed, which I did. I think the structure itself could handle about any amount of wind that we are likely to see here, as long as no flying trees or other big objects hit it. The plastic is likely to be torn to shreds in a tornado. I saw in another thread where people go out and cut the plastic to let wind flow through instead of grabbing it like a big sail. I read another suggestion of building wooden boxes to cover the tanks which could be screwed/ bolted down and then just remove the plastic or cut it loose. I think the latter sounds like a decent plan for me since my tanks will be built inside of wooden forms anyway, it will be a simple matter of screwing on four side panels and a top.
Welcome to you, Underwater Exotic
 
so, is there an electrical reason why you ran the thermostat controls BACK through the junction boxes?
it seems like its a series,
breaker panel -> junction box -> thermostat -> piece of equipment controlled by thermostat
with thermostat 1 controlling the furnace
2 controlling the shutters at either end
3 controls fans
4 controls big exhaust fan
then junction box 5 sends power to the lights, which obviously don't need a thermostat to control them

or am i thoroughly confused?

its probably that i'm thoroughly confused.

it seems like the way you did it would use less hard piping, but i was wondering if you could do it the way i just explained?

however, that wiring job looks good from here.
 
I'm guessing that today is the "acid test" for wind? The snow is just an added bonus!
 
Speaking of electricity, mine has gone out twice since I've been trying to reply, blah.
boxer85- I'm not sure exactly what you mean. :confused: Let me see if I can lay it out in a little more detail and let me know what you think. The thermostats are really just switches which turn on or off aotomatically according to the temp of the greenhouse. Coming from the breaker panel is a length of romex (white, black, ground) that runs into the first junction box. In the first box is also another length of romex which runs from the first box to the second box, the armored cable (white, black, ground) which runs out to the furnace, two single hot (black) wires which run out to the thermostat (one to take power to and one to carry power back) and a ground which runs out to the thermostat. OK, in the first box- all the grounds tie together (two from romex, one from furnace and one from thermostat). All the commons (white) tie together (two from romex, one from furnace). The hot (black) in the romex that comes from the breaker panel ties into the hot in the romex going to the second junction box AND the hot going out to the thermostat. The second hot (which is now switched on or off according to the temp of the greenhouse) comes back from the thermostat to the junction box where it ties into the hot for the furnace. Only the hot has to be switched (thermostatically controlled). Each junction box is the same as the first except for the piece(s) of equipment controlled by the thermostat(s). At the fifth junction box, the romex continues on to carry power for the overhead lights, also one black wire which is the switched (thermostatically controlled) wire for the circulating fans continues overhead, and another black wire which is the switched for the opposite end shutters (which is also tied to the exhaust fan shutter in that fifth box). I only ran the power back through the junction boxes because the boxes were right there already, the majority of the equipment was right there, there was enough room in the boxes, and I didn't want to run a separate conduit for just one wire coming from each thermostat to its' piece of equipment because then I would have had to offset the conduit to go around/ under/ over the other conduit already in place, plus set another junction box to tie the black wire from the thermostat to the piece of equipment (which would have its' white and ground in the other box anyway). So, I guess my answer is no, there was not an electrical reason why I ran the power back through the junction boxes, it was more aesthetics and convenience. I'm certain I have it right (or at least as right as I know how to make it) but if something doesn't sound right to you about the way I ran it, or my explanation still doesn't make sense, let me know soon before I start flipping the breaker on that circuit. Like I said, that little 4 square foot area really pushed my abilities to their limit and made my brain hurt. :)

w2- thanks for the easy post Bill. Yeah, wind gusting to 55 mph, rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow. All is standing proud with no damage thus far. The greenhouse is covered in snow though because I don't have that last circuit completed to be able to run the furnace :( , and probably wont go out and work on it tonight either. ;) Good night to stay in and cuddle up (read; get some brownie points)!
 
Let me start off by saying it looks like you are doing a great job. I look forward to seeing the project when you are completed.

What are your plans for dealing with the summer time heat in July/August. Are you planning on running chillers? If so what kind of capacity do you think you will need?
 
Amazing! Looks not only great but, truely thought out and fully functional, witch is the real important key element here... Don't know how many DIY's i've started only to modify due to that dreaded ID 10 T error, dhop! I just really want to know how you have all this time on your hands (what is your day job) and what you will have invested in this before water, when its done?
 
diyreefer- for now, I plan on just using the circulating fans, exhaust fan and shutters for cooling- combined with the evaporative cooling from the tanks. If neccessary, I can add salt bins on the outside of the shutters to dry the air and increase evap cooling. Salt can be bought for pennies oer ton from the right source-like from DOT (road salt). If more is needed above that, I have some 4 foot wide material (like those green kitchen scrubber pads) that can be placed on the inside of the shutters with the bottom end in one of those trays like is used to soak wallpaper and a simploe powerhead to circulate water for an evaporative cooling pad. With tanks of 210 gallon capacity, it will be more difficult, I'm expecting, to keep temps up than worry about cooling. My swimming pool almost never gets above 80 in direct sunlight when it's over 100 outside two or three days in a row.

DvBrien- I wish I had more time than I do. Work, family, in-laws all take allot of my time. My day job is I'm an R.N. I work 6 am to 2:30 pm and double shifts every other Saturday and Sunday. I have just been blessed with one of those bodies that can get by with three or four hours of sleep. Around $35,000 before water.
 
ok. it all makes sense, and what you did works perfectly.

i was just wondering about running the power back through the junction box. it looks better and works better the way you've done it, i was just making sure i had it all right in my head.

which, as most people say, i'm not all right in my head in the first place, so that was a bit tricky to do...

looking good.
 
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