My rendition of 300

[Sisterlimonpot]

Today was a slow day, I ran some errands in the morning then I went and met a local reefer Sawcjack00, he's in the beginning stages of a new tank as well and it was a treat to see the start of something awesome! Here's his tank build thread, he has a lot of top of the line equipment... I'm extremely jealous!!

So what did I do after that???

When I bought the sound deadening insulation for around the plumbing, I had enough to do the wall around the tank... It was exactly enough!!

The goal is not to hear anything from the living room side of the tank, hopefully it does.

and I also brought in the drywall... Again I went with 5/8" drywall to help with sound deadening.

I'm still waiting on a few things before I can completely close up the walls, but I can do about 90% of it tomorrow.... Getting closer!!!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I don't know how many people are actually reading this, but I have a dilemma. This tank will not be accessible from outside the tank, meaning I can't poke around above or below the tank, all maintenance, feeding, cleaning will be done from behind the tank. This means that I can't paint the back of the tank like I normally would.

I don't want to be able to see through the tank into the equipment room... How do I create the illusion that there's a back to the tank but easily removed to conduct maintenance. Any suggestions to help solve this predicament would be greatly appreciated.

 

[leekevin]

i found a sheet of lite pvc like material at a sign shop .it was 1/8 to 3/16 thick very light weight i bent a few strips with a heat gun and glued them to the sheet and hung it on back of the tank . the material was flat black .your build is looking great .

 

[McPuff]

You don't want to have any access in the front of the tank? I think you may be too worried about sound deadening... if you have a full siphon overflow then the noise is so minimal, especially since your sump is in the basement. That's where all the noise will be. My tank is not in a wall but with the full siphon overflow I can hardly hear anything when I'm right next to the tank. The utility room is just on the other side of the wall (pipes run through wall) and if I have the door closed it's super quiet. My point is that even if you put an access panel (which I do suggest), it'll still be super quiet even with a cooling fan and overflow.

 

[fishguy597]

Check out copps 1300 gallon build in the sps section. He uses kydex for maintenance and its black. He just cycles through them every so often.

Btw depending on the size of the room and where its located the humistat will most likely run all the time at 30%. I'd play with it but my guess is you'd be better closer to 40%ish.

 

[fishguy597]

The kydex is on page 4

 

[kaxt]

I've heard of people using window tinting. You can't see through from the front, but with lights on the tank you can see in from the fish room.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

You don't want to have any access in the front of the tank? I think you may be too worried about sound deadening... if you have a full siphon overflow then the noise is so minimal, especially since your sump is in the basement. That's where all the noise will be. My tank is not in a wall but with the full siphon overflow I can hardly hear anything when I'm right next to the tank. The utility room is just on the other side of the wall (pipes run through wall) and if I have the door closed it's super quiet. My point is that even if you put an access panel (which I do suggest), it'll still be super quiet even with a cooling fan and overflow.

Ahh yes, I wasn't worried about water noise, I am more concerned with the humming of pumps and motors.

For aesthetics, my wife and I had many conversations about how the front of the tank should look and one of the things that we came to an agreement on was that there wouldn't be any doors on the front side of the tank. Yes definitely a challenge when maintenance is considered, at the time I though that doing it all from behind wasn't going to be an issue. The ship has sailed when it comes to accessing the tank from the front, now I have engineer my way out of this problem.

Check out copps 1300 gallon build in the sps section. He uses kydex for maintenance and its black. He just cycles through them every so often.

The kydex is on page 4

Yes, I saw that and I love that idea. Being able to only see the inhabitants rather than the life support is a great implementation of that material, however it seems that there's a lot of real estate that is lost from the curve of the kydex, and for what I would need it for, I would be disturbing the tank more often than not just for maintenance.

Btw depending on the size of the room and where its located the humistat will most likely run all the time at 30%. I'd play with it but my guess is you'd be better closer to 40%ish.

Thank you, I was hoping for testimony from someone with humidistat experience. Do you run yours at 40%? if so what's the atmosphere feel like when you enter the room does it feel muggy?

Based on your comment and from what I read, I can easily start at 40% and dial it in as I go along.

I've heard of people using window tinting. You can't see through from the front, but with lights on the tank you can see in from the fish room.

Now that'd something worth looking into. get the illusion of black walls but visible from the back side. I'd like to see pictures of this, of course it would be better to see it and or hear first hand knowledge of how it works.


McPuff,
I see that you inquired about this in earlier thread, did you ever do it?

 

[fishguy597]

Jimmy,
The way copps explained the the kydex is basically like cutting drywall. Measure the sides, score it with a razorblade, snap it, and you have clean edges. He only mentions bowing it to get around his colonies. He also uses magnets to keep in place. Once I have my 400 going I'm going to try it out.

As far as the exhaust fan , no I do not use one. However I'm a service fitter that's been doing commercial/industrial HVAC for 20 years. I have seen people trying to use exhaust fans for temp/ humidity in computer rooms and typically it doesn't work well. I'd say the average humidity controlled rooms are around 35%. How big is the area you are trying to exhaust? And where is the stat located?

 

[fishguy597]

Is your ceiling is still open? By looking at your pics I'd guess those are two 3 ton condensers sitting outside. You could run a return duct in the space and use what you have for dehum. Living in Az I bet those things run a lot through the year. Then you could use the ex fan as a second stage.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Jimmy,
The way copps explained the the kydex is basically like cutting drywall. Measure the sides, score it with a razorblade, snap it, and you have clean edges. He only mentions bowing it to get around his colonies. He also uses magnets to keep in place. Once I have my 400 going I'm going to try it out.

As far as the exhaust fan , no I do not use one. However I'm a service fitter that's been doing commercial/industrial HVAC for 20 years. I have seen people trying to use exhaust fans for temp/ humidity in computer rooms and typically it doesn't work well. I'd say the average humidity controlled rooms are around 35%. How big is the area you are trying to exhaust? And where is the stat located?

The room is 120 sq ft

Is your ceiling is still open? By looking at your pics I'd guess those are two 3 ton condensers sitting outside. You could run a return duct in the space and use what you have for dehum. Living in Az I bet those things run a lot through the year. Then you could use the ex fan as a second stage.

close, one is a 5 ton and the other is 3.5. The house is 2 story and both evap units are in the attic on the 2nd floor, and for what ever reason the return ducts are up there as well, although the one for downstairs is on the vaulted ceiling. I wouldn't have been able to put a return duct in there without some serious renovation. I did tie into the HVAC for that room, I put a 10x4 register up there roughly 2 feet behind where the back of the tank will sit. But after doing so I read that it wont make a difference because of how hot that room will get, if the house is 72 degrees the equipment room can still be 90.

But the good news is, after researching it a bit more I went ahead and piped an exhaust duct for a portable AC unit solely for that room. And the theory goes that in the summer, the AC will be running quite often keeping the humidity down, and in the cooler months rely on the exhaust fan.

The humidity sensor is in the most open space that I could put it to give me the best average which will be over past where the tank is going to sit, in the back side of the room.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

The last piece of the puzzle arrived in the mail on saturday which allowed me to move towards closing up the walls.

The piece I needed was for the air conditioning hook up, that little white plastic thing in the middle.

I made the box for it so that it will sit recessed in the wall enough in order for a door to close on it to cover it up when not in use.

On the inside of the wall, this is what will tie into the duct work that routes it to the outside

And I completed hanging the drywall, towards the end I wasn't too motivated to continue to measure and cut the pieces to fit... it started to become mundane

Tomorrow it's taping and mudding time... that's not going to be fun for me either...

 

[halmus]

Great progress. I don't envy the drywall work you have ahead of you.

 

[McPuff]

McPuff,
I see that you inquired about this in earlier thread, did you ever do it?

I actually just ended up painting the back of the tank. It was quick and easy. The problem I'm having now is a little salt creep along one corner that is actually causing the paint to bubble off. It's not really noticeable from the front but still kind of annoying.

 

[dwolson2]

Love the ro lines

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

A few more touch ups, sand it and texture!!

Once that's all done, I can paint and move on to the floor.

I discussed waterproofing with a reefer buddy of mine out in california (he's the same guy that has built an entire building dedicated to his obsession), because I was trying to make sense out of why I need to waterproof the entire room if there's a door way in which the water is going to run out anyway. I couldn't judge his demeanor when we text back and forth, but it sounded like he was questioning that too. He suggested that I seal the tile really well and be done with it.

That was pretty much the line of reasoning I was using as well. However, I'm going to take it step further, even though I sloped the concrete step to channel water away from the walls, the step is going to be right under the tank. I want to be assured that if water collects there, it's not going to soak in. I have some experience with this felt type water barrier that is used in showers made by a German company called schluter kerdi it's an amazing product, it's applied with unmodified thinset and once cured it can hold water like a container. I'm going to line the floor and wall with this stuff, all the way around where the tank sits. that way if/when a leak accurs, i'm ready for it. The bad news is, I was late to order it, so it will take 10 days to get to me....

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Progress is looking good. Even though you are in a dry climate, I think you are still going to have some humidity issues in that room. remember my tank, that was enclosed? I had the windows behind the tank I could open and air it out? Well I still had some humidity issues in there. With all of the water movement, you will get a bit of evaporation which will be your humidity issue.

Plan for Tonopah is in August, Vegas to Reno race. I'll keep in touch and let you know as we get closer.

I got a few text from Derrick last weekend as I was coming back from the Baja race. Looks like he's picking up a 220 to install in his new house out in Florida.

 

[Fylerb]

Looking awesome can't wait to see this complete

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Progress is looking good. Even though you are in a dry climate, I think you are still going to have some humidity issues in that room. remember my tank, that was enclosed? I had the windows behind the tank I could open and air it out? Well I still had some humidity issues in there. With all of the water movement, you will get a bit of evaporation which will be your humidity issue.

Plan for Tonopah is in August, Vegas to Reno race. I'll keep in touch and let you know as we get closer.

I got a few text from Derrick last weekend as I was coming back from the Baja race. Looks like he's picking up a 220 to install in his new house out in Florida.

Yeah, he sent me a text too. He's moving into his new house tomorrow and picking up the tank next week... it's good to see the old guys get back into it. Now we need the old old guy (you) to get back into it as well!!!:dance:

Looking awesome can't wait to see this complete

Thanks, me too!!!!

Painted

I still need to paint the ceiling, but I need to go purchase the paint, I thought I had some... After the all has been painted I get to move on to tiling the floor.

It's getting really close to moving the tank in. I'm going to start a thread in the DIY section, but maybe you guys can help as well, the tank is 96" long and I'm going to build a wooden stand for it. I want to be able to have ful access from the rear which means I don't want to have any upright supports in the middle, if there are any engineers reading.... what do I need for upper rails? Keep in mind the front is supported with uprights every 16". What do I need for the rear???

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Build a manufactured I beam out of a 2X6 or 2X8.

Every once in a while, I look on CL to see if there is a good deal on a set up. Then I go back and work on my off road toy and forget about it. Maybe one day.