North Dakota Mini-Ocean

[reef / aholic]

Thats' Cool!!!

 

[jnarowe]

fabulous presentation. did you do anything for sound abatement?

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

I have insulation in the walls for that room. I will also have to do some kind of insulating barrier on the pumps when the time comes. I actually don't mind the noise of falling water, but the noise of pumps would probably get annoying.

 

[jnarowe]

I installed a double wall in mine with the inside studs offset and not attached to the outside studs, so that the sound can't vibrate through. Using flexible PVC on your pump connections will help too.

I would definitely look into some kind of soft pad to rest the pumps on so that the vibration doesn't crawl through the stone floor. Did you install an isolation barrier in between the stone and the sub-floor? That can help some too.

 

[fefo23]

That's a tank, very nice, more pic

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

I do not have any barrier between the slate and the concrete. I will definately be putting a foam layer on the pumps and the flexible PVC will be a must. The tank is in the basement and is very isolated from the rest of the house.

As for pictures, I am not sure what else you want to see...let me know...

 

[jnarowe]

Well, no earhquakes in Fargo, so I suspect that it is not SOP to put in an isolation barrier. We use them here to isolate tile from the sub-floor so that cracks do not broadcast to the surface. Its a thin material with a rubbery side and a woven side.

Being in the basement is a huge plus, except for the trek down to see the tank! I use AquaNotes on my home office PC on the second floor to keep me informed of what is happening downstairs. There are some great wireless cams too.

I really like the simple, elegant manner in which you finished around the tank. It's peaceful yet solid.

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

Scott (Spazz) is coming to town Saturday and Sunday to discuss layout/design plans. I am hoping to get this tank project rolling soon afterword.

From the preliminary discussions we will have a couple surge tanks, a quarintine tank, a hospital tank, a sump (maybe 3 seperate sumps acting as one) under the tank, a couple closed loop systems, and most importantly a volcano skimmer!

One question i do have is should I be putting a bathroom type fan in the room? The room has its own temperature control and fans in the room, but I am wondering if i need some kind of moisture remover or can i just open the door to the room and let the rest of the house do the job of removing it (as i have humidifer/dehumidifer/geothermal/air exchanger). Just looking for some thoughts.

 

[jnarowe]

no. you don't want the humid air in your house. IMO, your tank room should be totally self contained. I even have an exterior steel door as my tank room entrance, with all the weatherstripping that goes with it.

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

So basically I could mount a bathroom fan on one of the walls and exit the air into a common area of the basement? I think that would work best other than the fact it might get a bit noisy outside of the tank...

 

[matt & pam]

I would suggest if you exhaust the humidity outside that you have a way to make up for this air. You don't want to have the makeup air come through a gas vent line or other CO2 producing system..

I have a panasonic whisperline in the wall behind my tank and it is very quiet.

matt

 

[jnarowe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11364259#post11364259 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefaquariumnut
So basically I could mount a bathroom fan on one of the walls and exit the air into a common area of the basement? I think that would work best other than the fact it might get a bit noisy outside of the tank...

I really think this is a mistake. As I said before, you don't want tank room air in any part of your house.

 

[spazz]

the best thing to do is add an air exchange to the room. it exausts old air out and brings in fresh air to the room. this will also keep the tempature of the room stable. the outgoing air heats up the incomming air with an air heat exchanger to keep the 2 types of air sepreate from each other. then if you conmtrol that on a hemostat (humidity controler) to keep the room at a low humidity level it will also aid in keeping the tempature of the tank lower.
you dont want to vent the fish room into the rest of the house for 2 reasons. 1st is the humidity will ruin your house. 2nd is the smells that come from the fish tank will be contained in the room and be blown outside. there is ways of installing air exchangers in rooms that are already built like yours is. the other nice thing about using an air exchanger is the rooms tempature in the summer will be cooler than it is outside becasue the exchanger cools down the incomming air to what ever the inside tempature of the room is. if you use some fans for the first stage of your cooling system this will everaproate water from the tank which will cool it down. that air will be sucked outside and replaced with fresh air. increasing the oxygen to the room and removing co2 from the room which can lower the ph levels in your system.

i hope that all makes sence. im tired and cant think straight today.

 

[Elliott]

spazz, would you happen to have a link for the heat exchanger you describe? are you recommending a heat exchanger in addition to an ac unit?

 

[spazz]

i would recomend a unit somethig like this one because it has a plastic exchanger in it so it wont rust from everaporated salt water.

http://www.getcozy.com/airtoairex.html

for aome one in the northern climate i would say the ac unit would be optional. but in your souther cliamte i think an ac unit would be needed to control room tempature. it get over 100 degs down ther for weeks at a time. it may get 100 deg in fargo for a day or so but not for weeks at a time.

it really depends on how big your system is and how much cooling you need.

 

[Elliott]

thank you

 

[Lunchbucket]

I never thought about and air exchanger but what a great idea! Will help the CO2 levels (pH) and would help get humid air out

Lunchbucket

 

[hahnmeister]

I just keep it simple and vent the hot & humid air outside. The new air is drawn in from the house, which is a good thing, since lower humidity air will allow for better evaporative cooling. Also, I run my skimmer air intake from outside as well... the O2 boost from fresh air keeps the pH higher in the tank.

 

[jnarowe]

I vent outside and allow passive replacement with fresh outside air as well. I don't have any problem with pH and in fact can set it at whatever I want using my top-off and Ca reactor, but I do think fresh air is good for the reef. The only problem I run into is that sometimes the outside air is very humid.

 

[Lunchbucket]

I think I'm going to do a passive return like hahnmeister and jnarowe do. I just need to find a fantech fan for cheap.

Lunchbucket