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

[der_wille_zur_macht]

What about a small viewing window in the bathroom. With creative rock and coral placement, it could be obscured from the other panels so no one can see someone in the bathroom. Could be a great touch though. I know Ive always wanted an inwall in front of the toilet. better than a magazine.

That's a fascinating concept that, shockingly, I hadn't thought of yet. It seems so obvious and has a ton of "cool" potential. The toilet is actually right there on the other side of that wall so it would be perfect.

It would be really tough to implement though. For one thing, that drawing is a little inaccurate - the wall between the bathroom and the tank is about 26" thick - it's a wet wall for the bathroom upstairs. I'm going to open it up such that the overflow and tank plumbing can be run in it, too. The plumbing for upstairs is all off to one side, and I was going to use the other side for the tank's stuff. So in order to have a window into the bathroom, I'd need to plan that plumbing and electrical very carefully.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Okay, I pitched the bathroom window idea. My wife now officially thinks I'm crazy. :lol: We'll see. I may have her convinced that it's possible to totally wall it off with live rock. It would be a really cool little nook to put some offbeat corals, and seeing a fish swim by once in a while would be neat.

It's the kid's bathroom and I know they'd love it!

 

[Skeptic_07]

What about the fish though? Don't they have a say in this? I wouldn't want to be forced to look at people going to the bathroom all the time. you know fish don't have eyelids right? certainly an inconvenience :lol:

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Still on the fence about the bathroom thing, but did some more work on the tank last night. Like I said in the first picture, this is going to take a long time to finish.

In some of the other build threads, people quote old rules of thumb about measuring twice and cutting only once. I guess I like to take that a step farther:

1) Measure three times
2) Mock up the cut, check for square, etc.
3) Measure again
4) Make the cut
5) Measure two more times
6) Mock up the assembly
7) Adjust as required
8) Measure again
9) Mock up the assembly again
10) etc.

To show what I'm talking about, I was working on the tank itself last night. Rather than just glue and clamp then and drill/countersink/screw as I went, I tacked it together with a few screws, then measured out, drilled, and countersunk the rest of the screw holes. With just a few screws holding it together, it was easy to check and adjust alignment and square before drilling the rest of the holes, so I know when I do the real assembly it'll be as good as I can get it. Then, once it was all tacked together, I went back over and measured/marked the biscuit locations. My next work session will involve cutting the biscuit slots, then mocking up the assembly again with the biscuits in each joint.

Clearly there are faster ways to do this, but I'm trying to be methodical and precise.

Here are some photos.

Clamping a corner together so I can put in the temporary screws:

Obviously you can't see it because it's inside the tank, but I made 90 degree corner clamping blocks to facilitate this process.

I did all of these steps with the tank upside-down so I could check alignment on the bottom, and measure/mark/drill it:

Finally, the line of finished holes waiting to be countersunk:

I like these screws. They have a star bit which means you have to actually line up and insert the driver rather than just shoving it at the screw head, but the result is that I have yet to strip or damage one, and they go in without fuss.

 

[Flanders]

I can't wait to see this up and running, Nate. Let me know if you ever need a hand with lifting or something.

 

[widmer]

Love the built-in concept.

Regarding the end of the tank, couldn't you in theory make the viewing area on the end as large as you want, without having to worry about seeing through it into the next room, due to the way the light refracts off the glass at the right angles (ie try looking through the end of any tank that has water in it, and out the front or back, it's not possible).

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Love the built-in concept.

Regarding the end of the tank, couldn't you in theory make the viewing area on the end as large as you want, without having to worry about seeing through it into the next room, due to the way the light refracts off the glass at the right angles (ie try looking through the end of any tank that has water in it, and out the front or back, it's not possible).

Sure. Several people with plywood tanks have made "full size" viewing panels on multiple sides of the tank (see Kent's 1000g tank on fingerlakesreef). I purposely want the viewing panels to be far smaller than possible on the end and back of the tank, to add to the sense of curiosity and drama.

People are probably getting sick of hearing me talk about this, but imagine two scenarios. In one, you have a standard 75g tank with the 48" x 18" front panel exposed. In the other, you have the end panel of this tank - 360g, but only a 42" x 8" viewing panel.

When you look at the 75g, you'll be able to see the entire contents of the tank at once. Sure, there might be a fish hiding in the rockwork, but chances are, you'll see him after a few seconds. No surprises, no curiosity.

When you look in the end viewing panel of this tank, you'll have to stare and crane your neck around to see new things. Then after 15 minutes, a new fish will swim into view, catching you off guard! That's the effect I'm going for on the end and back. The sense that what's in the wall is vastly larger than what you can see. Instead of a fish tank, it's a window into a larger, mysterious world.

And I'll still have the full-size front viewing panel for people who want to see it all at once (though if I plan aquascaping correctly, you won't see it all even from the front!)

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I can't wait to see this up and running, Nate. Let me know if you ever need a hand with lifting or something.

Thanks - I'm sure I'll need help sooner or later. Once this thing gets screwed together it's gonna be more or less impossible to move on my own. Much less when it has epoxy and glass in it!

 

[Ericd000]

Another action shot today. This time to convey a sense of scale. This is my 4 year old daughter standing in front of the (cut to size!) bottom panel of the tank:

She's already asked if she can swim in the finished product. :lol:

Great build thread.

I saw this pic and just had to say Ghost in the Shell: SAC!!
W00t!

Ok,don't mind me I'm done now :fun4:

 

[username in use]

Any progress?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Nope. I said it was going to be slow, remember?

Tomorrow I'll have a few hours to work on it, hoping to get the biscuits cut on the tank, cut out the remaining two viewing panels, and hopefully glue/screw it together. That would be a pretty nice milestone.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Biscuited, glued, and screwed:

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Worth pointing out that it's upside-down in that pic. This is the "end" panel that'll face down the hallway, and of course the main viewing panel that'll face the living room. The back panel cutout is partially visible through the end cutout. I made it 8" tall by 24" long, so it basically goes a third of the way down that back side. Hence from the hallway side, you'll basically be presented with a 8" tall view that's 24" by 48".

I've got a much firmer grasp on aquascaping, might try to draw something up to show the ideas. I'm terrible at drawing on a computer though so maybe on paper & then scan it. Also finalized some thoughts about the lighting and the filtration. It's amazing the amount of thinking you can get done late at night if you don't mind not sleeping. :lol:

 

[username in use]

looking great, this is an awesome build. I like your design ideas so far, very original.

 

[Flanders]

that looks great, nate. one thing I was thinking about, if you do go with the sump underneath the main tank, have you thought about how you're going to do water changes?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I like your design ideas so far

Thanks. I've got plenty more where these came from.

In the end, as I've said many times, I'm trying to build this to meet some big-picture aesthetic goals, not just to keep some pretty corals alive.

IMHO the hobby right now is far too focused solely on growing colorful corals and parading them in front of viewers. I don't want that - I want to recreate the impact I remember from snorkeling on real reefs. The feeling that there's "stuff" out there in the distance beyond your field of vision. Besides all the points I've made several times about the small viewing panels, my aquascaping will tie in to this. There are some specific vistas I want to recreate in this tank.

I took a break from marine tanks a few years ago and spent some time focusing on planted FW tanks. The experience changed me - the planted FW hobby community seems to have a far better grasp on aquascaping and visual impact, instead of the neon fruitstand look that's so common in the reef hobby.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

that looks great, nate. one thing I was thinking about, if you do go with the sump underneath the main tank, have you thought about how you're going to do water changes?

Automated from a SW storage tank in the basement. Probably a gallon or two a day, or something like that. One pump to drain a fixed volume from the display each day, and another in the storage tank in the basement to replenish the water.

I'll have a supply line from the RODI unit and a mixing pump, so the work required to do water changes will basically be dumping salt in the storage tank once every month or two.

I'll probably use peristaltic pumps to get accurate volumes, and control it from the Arduino controller I'm building. That way I can tie it in to the ATO (i.e. turn the ATO off while water changes are occurring) and any alarm/notification I end up doing (i.e. send an email if a water change fails, or some undesireable condition is detected - empty storage tank, low water level in sump, etc.).

Randy Holmes-Farley of chemistry forum fame uses a similar approach and he's got me convinced that it's effective and easy.

Now that the tank is assembled, I have to brace the top. Hoping to have that done by Christmas, so I can do epoxy while I have a few days off around the holidays. Then get the glass in and hopefully have the tank itself finished by the end of January.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

No updates, but I did just stumble across a signature-worthy quote that helps sum up my approach to this tank:

It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be a thriving community of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely a collection of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae.

From this article:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Updates. Last night I got the bracing cut and laminated.

I had to move the tank on to the floor to make room and couldn't resist another size-perspective shot:

Instead of cutting a hole out of a big sheet and sticking a one-piece eurobrace on the top, I cut strips and laminated them so each side will have a double-thickness brace. Here are the braces stacked up awaiting glue:

Each side has a longer piece and a shorter piece, which are alternated so there's overlap in the corners.

Hoping to get a few hours to mark and drill pilot holes then screw and glue these braces in before Christmas. I ordered epoxy (7.5 gallons - 89 lbs shipped weight!) and it's supposed to be here on Christmas eve. I have vacation starting on that day and running till the 4th of Jan, so I'm hoping I get a good shot at epoxying during that timeframe, which would put me right on schedule - original target was to have the tank finished by Feb, if I get a good enough start on epoxy next week I can let it cure for a week or two and get glass in towards the end of the month.

Oh, and I've been refining my schedule for the remaining projects on this tank and I'm suddenly feeling overwhelmed. This is, by far, my most-DIY intense effort yet. I made a list of major systems/components that I will DIY vs. buy off the shelf:

DIY:
1) The tank itself
2) Stand & hood
3) LED lighting with "special effects"
4) VFD-controlled closed loop (thanks stugray for the inspiration!)
5) A turf scrubber
6) Sump
7) Automated RO/DI storage tank
8) Automated (small, daily) water changes
9) Some form of environmental control to adjust ventilation, etc. dependent on temperature, humidity, etc.
10) Arduino-based controller for all of the above, plus heater control, pH monitoring, and some degree of alarm/notification when critical conditions exist
11) (optional, down the road) heat-recovery system on my furnace exhaust to heat the tank. My furnace is old and puts A TON of heat out the chimney.

Off the shelf:
1) The return pump
2) Heaters

I better get cracking.

 

[WmTasker]

This is going to be nice once its all done.