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

[der_wille_zur_macht]

For reference, I'm going to be in about $260 for all three pieces of glass.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

First panel is in!

I forgot to put tape around on the glass panel itself so there's some cleanup there. But I did do something smart - I hung this section of the tank off the side of the table, so I could get to both sides to work the silicone to a nice fillet and clean up the extra while it's still wet, which is MUCH easier than once it's dry!

Also, I came up with a solution ensuring the silicone is the correct thickness on the two heavier panels. (not worried about it on this panel since it wasn't heavy enough to squeeze the silicone out on it's own.) I made a little notched scraper with a scrap of plastic:

Then I put a few dabs of silicone around each other edge of other two panels, and used the scraper to scrape it down to the exact desired thickness. This way I didn't have to embed spacers of another material (acrylic, or those little cabinet door pads some people use.)

 

[fstar25]

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

Come on come on, we has needs to see this tanks completion!

 

[kcress]

What are we looking at? Tank upside down with your head in it taking a picture outwards?

 

[notjhh]

I've thought about that in theory, but not practice. Ideally I'd like the Arduino to "know" when certain things were on or off, regardless of whether or not that thing was controlled by the Arduino.

In other words, I'd like it to be able to know when the heater was on, or when the return pump was on, etc.

I'm sure there's an easy circuit for this, but I just haven't put the effort into finding it out yet.

Guess I should probably stop lurking and actually post something... If you haven't figured out the electrical stuff yet, give the APC PDUs a try, we use them in our datacenter and they:

1) Report amperage per socket (or total) with configurable threshold/alarms
2) Offer individual control of each socket
3) Can use SNMP/traps, telnet, ssh, and web/CGI for control

Make sure you read the documentation/specs for the specific one you want before you buy one, some of the models in the same family don't have all the features that other ones do. Here's the link for the metered switches: http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=136

They're not at all waterproof and humidity will damage them, they need to be mounted safely away from very humid areas and unused plugs need caps on them. I sealed my old MasterSwitch up with aquarium sealant but it never produced much heat; the newer ones do.

Before I switched to a Reefkeeper (which I generally dislike) I was using a APC MasterSwitch controlled via SNMP with a Mac Mini. Worked out pretty well, but I wanted PH monitoring/control.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Interesting info, I'll check those out.

For now, the controller is going on a small dedicated UPS that'll be able to report power outages, and I found some inductive sensors that'll let it know if the other circuits lose power, too.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

What are we looking at? Tank upside down with your head in it taking a picture outwards?

Yeah, that photo is disorienting, huh. :lol: The tank is on a table, "back" side down, and I stuck the camera in through the top opening. The bare-looking wood you can see there is the edge of the eurobrace, which is coated in epoxy that had very little tint in it.

 

[leonet]

good design, nice work.!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Glass #2 is in!

 

[kcress]

Looking good!

 

[tahiriqbal]

tagging along...... looks great and looking forward to see the rest. I was wondering if a PLC could be employed to do all the data logs and function controls?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Probably, but thanks to the Hydra project I'm going the custom Arduino route.

 

[dwd5813]

sweet build, dwzm. i really like the concepts you've started with here. the smaller viewing windows, the varied lighting, etc.. i have a feeling this is going to be a tank that, while great to see photos of, will truly shine for you and your family when you get to see it daily in person. i look forward to seeing the rest of the build and the inhabitant choices.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I'm at the point where I'm having lots of little "oh crap, I didn't think of that yet" moments. For instance - the glass will be done today or tomorrow, and cured by early next week. But I can't water test until there's an overflow box in there and/or something to block the bulkhead holes for the overflow. Much less the holes in the bottom for the closed loop!

Also, I've been building DIY rock, but there's not nearly enough of it, and I've just been tossing it in tupperware bins - I need to actually cure it!

And, I used like half the sand I bought for substrate in said DIY rock, so I don't have enough sand!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

PS - thanks for the kind words dwd. It's getting to the point where I can actually see some of the unique ideas (viewing panel sizes, white interior) enough to get really exited about the uniqueness of the finished product.

 

[chriscobb]

Looking Good!!!!!

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Thanks for the updates DWIZM! It's coming along nicely. The plus side of doing a project slowly is you can budget in your expenses so it's not a huge chunk of $$$$ coming out of your pocket at once.

Your kids are really going to enjoy that new playset!!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Bought roughly $300 in plumbing last night. I knew a 2" bulkhead or valve was costly, but then you realize you need lots of them and it adds up fast! Also, bought the following recently:

-heatsinks for the LEDs (thanks, fishman)
-power supplies for the LEDs
-wet end for the VFD closed loop
-motor for the VFD closed loop
-return pump
-acrylic to make the overflow box
-Five peristaltic pumps for auto water change, topoff, and 2-part dosing

Only major equipment left to buy is the LEDs themselves, which I'll likely order soon. Thanks to some creative purchasing, and buying stuff when I found a good deal vs. just going out and ordering it all at retail, it's looking like I'm going to come in under budget.

Hoping to get the last piece of glass in soon, but I need to coordinate to get some help because it's too heavy/bulky to do alone. Then I can sort out plumbing while the silicone is curing, and I should be ready to move and wet test on schedule next week/weekend.

 

[username in use]

nice, cant wait. You should get a couple of neon's for the freshwater test just to get a feel for it lol.

 

[TheFishMan65]

I guess you got them then. USPS says you did . I will be posting pictures of how I am modifying mine soon. It makes them a little smaller (maybe with better convective cooling), but limits the spacing.