Mountains of sawdust (360g plywood, LED, Arduino build)

[amcarrig]

Have you seen the magnetic child safety locks? I've had them on the inside of cabinet doors before. They're essentially locks that attach on the inside of the cabinet, which will release their hold when you hold a magnet up to the outside of the door where they're located. I'm confident you could make those work easily if you did want to go the direction of removable panels.

I use these and they work great. If you lose the "key", I believe that any magnet will open them. Or, you could just order a bunch of extra keys :lol:

These are the ones that I use (don't be fooled by the "adhesive" option-you'll want to screw them in):

http://www.amazon.com/Adhesive-Moun...ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1283429281&sr=8-4

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Have you seen the magnetic child safety locks? I've had them on the inside of cabinet doors before. They're essentially locks that attach on the inside of the cabinet, which will release their hold when you hold a magnet up to the outside of the door where they're located. I'm confident you could make those work easily if you did want to go the direction of removable panels.

Interesting concept. Though I've already ordered the hinges, and hinged doors are fine by me, so I'll stick with that. But I do like that concept.

I just found those exact same hinges for my cabinet doors. I was not looking forward to messing with barrel hinges and trying to get them exactly right. How do you like them so far?

Love the new system.

I like the hinges quite a bit on the cabinet that has them - haven't received the shipment for this tank yet. But they go on quick, adjust easily, and work just fine. My one comment though is that the "auto close" feature isn't very strong, so for these panel doors I'll probably have to put magnets on to hold them flat when closed.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

looking good

Glad to see its wet.

Thanks! I hope everyone realizes that this thing being wet is nowhere near "the end" of the project or the thread. To me it's like the beginning of the second stage. I figure I probably still have another solid year of work to do before my current plans are fulfilled.

For those of you that use Firefox or Chrome/Chromium web browsers, there is an extension called "Lazarus" that basically saves drafts of input boxes so if you goof up and close the tab/window, or navigate away, you can go back and pull up the draft again. (You can also specify some sites as exempt for security purposes, if you wish.)

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. I use Chrome most of the time and this sounds like it'll be a great extension.

 

[swenholz]

My one comment though is that the "auto close" feature isn't very strong, so for these panel doors I'll probably have to put magnets on to hold them flat when closed.

Good to know. Thanks

 

[TheFishMan65]

Foosinho,

You get IT support in the oddest places, I thought this was a tank design thread. Installed and seems like it works. Thanks.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Well, "disaster" struck last night. The RO/DI unit finally filled the system and I was having a good ol' time tweaking the standpipes and valves on the return pump, adjusting the flow rates. I was about to call it quits and shut the system down for the night (ATO isn't rigged yet and I didn't want evap to cause the return pump to run dry overnight) and I noticed a teeeeeeny tiny little puddle of water in the stand.

I've been checking for leaks like a maniac so I'm sure this was a new leak, and not just something I didn't notice until now. At any rate, it was dripping verrrrry slowly from a threaded fitting on the closed loop plumbing - like, a drip every 10 seconds or so. Talk about frustrating. Anyways, being stupid, I reached up and tried to crank the fitting tighter. Well, I managed to disturb the bulkhead that connected that section of plumbing to the BOTTOM OF THE TANK. Now I had a much faster dripping leak on my hands.

So last night I drained the whole thing, and fixed the leak this morning. Glad it was only RO/DI and not saltwater. I managed to save about 100 gallons so it should only take a few days to fill back up. Such is life.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the leak is fixed - it's dry so far but the tank is only a third full and it didn't start leaking until the tank was completely full last night.

 

[TheFishMan65]

You didn't plan very well. Isn't that where the sump was supposed to be. Glad you caught it now and not later. I also hope the "faster drip" did not make it outside of the vinyl (good planning here).

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

You didn't plan very well. Isn't that where the sump was supposed to be.

Yeah, it would have been convenient if the leak coulda just been right over the sump. :lol:

I also hope the "faster drip" did not make it outside of the vinyl (good planning here).

Nope. I put a bucket under the leak while the tank was draining. It collected maybe a quarter cup of water during the two hours it took to drain the tank. Even the "faster drip" was pretty slow.

 

[Flanders]

that sucks, but good that it's a minor thing and better now than later! did you leak test with tap water since you got the final closed loop plumbing done?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I did a full leak test on the "internal" plumbing (i.e. everything inside of the bulkheads) in the garage before moving it in. Did not test the plumbing outside the tank until just last week when I started filling it, because 90% of the outer plumbing can be disconnected via union ball valves without draining the tank. Plus, I was essentially able to test the external plumbing when the first 40 or 50 gallons were in the tank, because at that point it was all wet. Of course, this leak was in the other 10%, and it didn't start leaking until the tank was full.

Again though, I'm glad I was filling it with cheap RO/DI water and not expensive saltwater.

 

[username in use]

Ill start page 19 for you

Build is looking really great. I cant wait for some fish in there for a real sense of scale.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I'm thinking of putting the tetras from my 3 year old son's 10g planted tank in there just to have something to look at this week while it fills up. :lol: He already told me I could have one of them for my tank.

 

[TheFishMan65]

Children are so nice to share at that age. While it might give something to look this week - make sure you video tape catching it so we have something to look at

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

make sure you video tape catching it so we have something to look at

Easy. Big huge siphon tube with a net at the end. :lol:

Maybe I should put some mollies in instead. Then I can just leave them there and let them acclimate to the marine environment.

 

[TheFishMan65]

I thought the idea was to get water into the tank - no fair taking it out with a siphon. I almost said something about mollies - I have also heard they can be used to cycle the system. Their black bodies might contrast really well with the white sides, but they maybe so small they get lost.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

The way mollies breed, it would be a constant food source!

(before someone comes in here and chides me, I'm joking.)

 

[Blakeup295]

o man this tank is going to be something different good luck!!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Maybe I should have started the thread with this:

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

It's full! No leaks this time. Salt added, heaters in, coming up to temp.

I'd post more photos but my cellphone camera still refuses to work and - well, it looks pretty much like the last photos I posted. :lol:

Planning on adding the first livestock this weekend if all goes well. Then let things settle in while I finish the house renovations, the on to the next phase of the project.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

YAY! That's excellent news!

About those mollies. The tank at the hospital has several breeding mollies in it. It's neat to watch how the babies stay very near to the rockwork while the older ones swim about the tank. I think it's pretty cool. The adults, interestingly enough, spend their time sifting through the sand bed. The other tank inhabitants are a sailfin tang, a foxface, some firefish and a bunch of yellow tail damsels who spend their time harrassing the hell out of each other.