Soultwater
New member
During builds like this I'm sure mistakes have been made... what have you encountered and how did you handle it?
Mountains of sawdust (360g plywood, LED, Arduino build)
- Thread starter der_wille_zur_macht
- Start date
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
The only thing I would consider a "mistake" that I would have done differently is using painter's tape to mask the plugs when I poured the bulkhead holes. The sticky side of painter's tape peels off epoxy cleanly, but I put it on the plugs sticky side in, so it stuck to the epoxy, and I had to sand the tape off the insides of the holes after I took the plugs out. This wasn't really a big deal - 15 minutes of sanding.
Knock on wood, I haven't had any other "dang, I wish I did that differently" moments YET, but the tank is still dry, so I've got plenty of opportunity.
I attribute my relative success so far to spending the last several months/years researching and planning, and lots of bugging other people who've built plywood tanks for info.
username in use
Sciencing Daily
Lets get some glass in this sucker and up on a stand!
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Yeah, yeah. :lol: I haven't touched it in a while. Sidetracked with pesky little electronics projects.
Hoping to have glass ordered within the week.
Hoping to have glass ordered within the week.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Got the "supply" side of the topoff and water change station set up over the weekend. Plumbing on this part of the rig is more complicated than some entire systems I've built. :lol: It's down in my dungeon basement but I'll see if I can get some photos at some point.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Time to bring this thread out of hibernation. I'm way behind schedule but I think I needed a breather to catch up on other efforts. Most of my little electronics experiments are wrapped up, I've got my spring cleaning done, built the kids a big playset outside, and am ready to get back to work.
Ordered glass today. It'll be ready next week, so looks like it'll go in next weekend. I was really shocked at the variances in prices from local glass shops, so if others are doing this: shop around! I'm talking like one place being more than twice the price of the shop down the street for the same order!
I already have the wood for the stand, so once glass is in and it's leak tested, it should "go up" quickly. Then there will probably be a few solid weeks of electrical and plumbing work to get the entire thing running, but that's the fun part.
Ordered glass today. It'll be ready next week, so looks like it'll go in next weekend. I was really shocked at the variances in prices from local glass shops, so if others are doing this: shop around! I'm talking like one place being more than twice the price of the shop down the street for the same order!
I already have the wood for the stand, so once glass is in and it's leak tested, it should "go up" quickly. Then there will probably be a few solid weeks of electrical and plumbing work to get the entire thing running, but that's the fun part.
username in use
Sciencing Daily
Nice, Im glad to see this still on track. Just out of curiosity, what were the sizes and thicknesses of the glass that you got?
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Three pieces of half inch thick plain old float glass, seamed edges (i.e. they're knocked down so you won't cut yourself, but not ground or polished to look pretty.) These dimensions:
1) 69" x 19 3/4" (font viewing panel)
2) 43 3/4" x 10 1/2" (end viewing panel)
3) 27" x 10 1/2" (back viewing panel)
1) 69" x 19 3/4" (font viewing panel)
2) 43 3/4" x 10 1/2" (end viewing panel)
3) 27" x 10 1/2" (back viewing panel)
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I'm one of those people who can't tell the difference unless you put the two types of glass right next to eachother. :lol:
username in use
Sciencing Daily
same here. Plus at 1/2" its not a real worry. 3/4 starts to be noticeable.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
FWIW I'm trying to be at least a little comical. I CAN tell a difference, I'm just not totally convinced it's in my budget as far as bang/buck ratio.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
High time for some photos. I mentioned the basement water change/topoff station. Here it is:
(warning: my basement is a 200-year-old dungeon)
Tank on the left is for RO/DI storage. There's a line from the RO unit (located on an opposite wall, maybe 8 feet away) running to that tank with a mechanical float valve. Will also have an electric float switch above the valve to alert me to valve failure.
Tank on the right is saltwater mixing/storage. I'm planning on many small changes (maybe 3 gallons/day). The changes will be automated, so all I'll have to do is keep that container full of saltwater.
There's a pump mounted in the stand below the tanks:
The pump has it's output running into the pipe you see going up over the top of the salt tank. Inside the tank, it goes down about a foot then hits a T splitting it to either side of the tank.
The input of the pump is connected to a T with one leg running to the bottom of the RO/DI container, and one leg running to the bottom of the saltwater container. There are valves on both legs of the T, and on the output. This way, I can operate the valves to "switch" the pump from pulling RO/DI water to pulling saltwater - so it can function as a transfer pump AND a mixing pump.
Basically, to make a batch of saltwater, I'll do the following:
1) With the pump off, open the intake valve from theRO/DI tank and close the intake valve from the saltwater tank.
2) Turn the pump on. This will drain the RO/DI tank and fill the saltwater tank with RO/DI water.
3) When the saltwater tank has filled to a pre-marked line, close the intake valve from the RO/DI tank and open the intake valve from the salt tank. This will close off the RO/DI tank and cause the pump to act as a mix pump for the saltwater tank.
4) Dump in a pre-measured bag of salt mix.
5) Walk away for a few hours, then check salinity and adjust as required.
I'm hoping I can do this in just a few minutes on a weekend. Then, the auto-change system will take care of the actual changes, and the ATO will topoff for evaporation from the RO/DI system, meaning little or no water maintenance will be required during the week.
Also, the RO/DI unit itself was mounted on plywood:
I left a good bit of room above the unit so I can attach a shelf for other equipment. Also have a lot of room inside the stand that the two waterchange containers are sitting on.
Calcium and alkalinity will likely be automated two-part dosing, so the containers for two-part will likely be down here, too. Or, perhaps, under the tank - since there's going to be a fair amount of "floor space" inside the stand.
Oh, and I snapped a picture of one of my "excuses" for being delayed over the last few weeks. I've been designing and building this:
Tonight the last few bits go on. I think I'm more excited to try that slide than my kids are. :lol:
(warning: my basement is a 200-year-old dungeon)
Tank on the left is for RO/DI storage. There's a line from the RO unit (located on an opposite wall, maybe 8 feet away) running to that tank with a mechanical float valve. Will also have an electric float switch above the valve to alert me to valve failure.
Tank on the right is saltwater mixing/storage. I'm planning on many small changes (maybe 3 gallons/day). The changes will be automated, so all I'll have to do is keep that container full of saltwater.
There's a pump mounted in the stand below the tanks:
The pump has it's output running into the pipe you see going up over the top of the salt tank. Inside the tank, it goes down about a foot then hits a T splitting it to either side of the tank.
The input of the pump is connected to a T with one leg running to the bottom of the RO/DI container, and one leg running to the bottom of the saltwater container. There are valves on both legs of the T, and on the output. This way, I can operate the valves to "switch" the pump from pulling RO/DI water to pulling saltwater - so it can function as a transfer pump AND a mixing pump.
Basically, to make a batch of saltwater, I'll do the following:
1) With the pump off, open the intake valve from theRO/DI tank and close the intake valve from the saltwater tank.
2) Turn the pump on. This will drain the RO/DI tank and fill the saltwater tank with RO/DI water.
3) When the saltwater tank has filled to a pre-marked line, close the intake valve from the RO/DI tank and open the intake valve from the salt tank. This will close off the RO/DI tank and cause the pump to act as a mix pump for the saltwater tank.
4) Dump in a pre-measured bag of salt mix.
5) Walk away for a few hours, then check salinity and adjust as required.
I'm hoping I can do this in just a few minutes on a weekend. Then, the auto-change system will take care of the actual changes, and the ATO will topoff for evaporation from the RO/DI system, meaning little or no water maintenance will be required during the week.
Also, the RO/DI unit itself was mounted on plywood:
I left a good bit of room above the unit so I can attach a shelf for other equipment. Also have a lot of room inside the stand that the two waterchange containers are sitting on.
Calcium and alkalinity will likely be automated two-part dosing, so the containers for two-part will likely be down here, too. Or, perhaps, under the tank - since there's going to be a fair amount of "floor space" inside the stand.
Oh, and I snapped a picture of one of my "excuses" for being delayed over the last few weeks. I've been designing and building this:
Tonight the last few bits go on. I think I'm more excited to try that slide than my kids are. :lol:
username in use
Sciencing Daily
You gotta have dreams:lol:
username in use
Sciencing Daily
Half the fun is watching the kids jump when they touch it.
fat-tony
New member
no kiddin. the static on those is vicious...
kcress
New member
I suspect you could turn down your lighting power by about 15% for the same view. To me that seems possibly worth the initial cost difference.
I can see a horrid difference with my 3/8". Just looking at it I really don't notice but as soon as I look DOWN into the tank at my fish I'm shocked - every time. They seem about 3x as brightly colored.
But yes, the stuff is a pain to find and much more costly for just a person doing a single project to find and buy.
It was expensive enough that I abandoned an almost complete plywood and steel tank build. The single front pane of glass was going to cost just about exactly $1K.
Opted out and paid $500 for a used tank the same size. :blown:
