Our 375 Gallon project

I got to see this a couple weeks ago - it's pretty awesome. More thought has gone into this set-up than any that I've ever seen in person.

Buggle - glad to hear you set it up. Did you get your cabinetry figured out yet? I'm going with the Jeffbrig methond and ordering from Lowe's to face my stand/canopy. Costs less, get to design it with the wood/stain/trim type - plus feel like I did it myself. ;-)
 
Fliger said:
plus feel like I did it myself. ;-) [/B]
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"You can do it and we can help"....oh wait- that HD not Lowes oh well- I'm sure they can help as well :). Sounds close enough to a DIY if you ask me.
I am kind of anxious to see what both you and buggle are doing for your tank skinning as I am still a little undecided as to what material to use- I know how I want it done just not sure of material yet.

buggle said:
I'm still shaking my head thinking about the sale of your 748 ;-) [/B]
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Yes- it was a very sad day and I still miss it at times as well- trying not to kick myself about it any more cause it started hurting. I just can't get myself to take down my Ducati crate lids on the wall in the garage or my Ducati only parking sign :). Someday maybe there will be a nice 998 in it's place :D (not a big fan of the 999).

Our frag tank is actually almost done- we just have to polish a few edges and it done. Our frag tank is 36x18x9 and it will have an external durso so we should be able to run it at 8". A little taller was an idea but we just plan on setting them on the bottom as well- figure if they get to be 8" tall then they need to go into the big tank or be fragged anyway. It will just bne nice to have a seperate tank for such purposes.

Any yes- I am crazy, but I think thats why I fit into this hobby so well :)
 
Have you thought about the humid exhaust from your hood condesating during a 50-60' run? Why not just vent directly outside?

Matt
 
Wow great project Im tagging along on this one. I did have 3 thoughts
1) Are you planing on puting some kind of sink in your carport?

2) Consider making a small shelf infront of the frag tank so you will have somewhere to place things while you are working on the frags

3) Do you think you will need green board on the back wall where the setup sits?
 
Wow. That is like the best setup I have ever seen. The only thing I could think of that you dont have is an automatic salt mixer. Or do you?
 
matt & pam-
I did think about that but I think with 500 CFM of air flow, Arizona being as warm as it is and the fact that the air will be drawn thru a seperate AC system (which should remove some humidity) I should be alright. I will probably only do this during the summer and vent to the outside of the house for the other 8 months or so. Luckily this is not a major part of the system and I can always scrap the whole concept of the idea if I do run into problems down the line- I'm just trying to keep the hot canopy air out of the house as well as the noise and light. We'll see how it works :)

alpha0r-
1- I wanted to put a sink in the garage but the lack of a viable source for a drain made that idea not feasable. If I could have put one in there I definately would have- it would make things a lot easier. I probably would have put one in a few years ago if it was possible- a garage sink is always nice for more than just reef tanks.
2- There will be a small area (about 3 inches) in front of the frag tank to put stuff on. Bigger would have been nicer but I wanted to keep the cabinet as narrow as I could so as not to take up the entire garage.
3- I thought about putting greenboard on the back wall but what I think I will be doing is sealing it really well( silicone) and putting some good paint that will hopefully make my occasional water splashes a minor concern. I just didn't want to go and re-do the whole wall with drywall. I am thinking of putting a few pieces of plastic laminate on the back wall but have not decided 100% on this idea yet.

peterk731-
Actually... it will be a semi automatic water mixing tank :). This tank will be part of the total system water volume most of the time but when it's time to do a water change all I'll have to do is close the valve to remove that tank from the system, drain it, fill with the RO tank water (above it) add salt, turn on the pump, wait a day and slowly re-enter into the main system once the new water checks out OK. Should be pretty easy and effortless but not totally automatic. :)


Thanks for the input and ideas- If we have thought of them it's nice to triple and quadruple check our thinking just to make sure and if we haven't thought of it, it really helps- we've tried to cover all our bases while planning this, as we want to do it right the first time, but I'm sure we have missed a few things along the way so keep the ideas and suggestions coming.
 
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Sorry for not getting this up earlier and for not being a very good picture. This is the linear actuator I got that will be used to open the entire front of the canopy. As you can tell it is not installed yet but I have all the plans as to how it will go together- I just need to find the time to install it (something I don't seem to have enough of when it comes to this project).

The pad in the front of the picture has an up and down button for raising and lowering the actuator but I will probably modify this so it's just a up and down switch on the side of the canopy where you will barely see it. The way i have it designed the canopy should open in about 3-5 seconds- I'll have to figure out what timing works best and adjust the limit swiches but it should be fairly nice when it's installed. I put the coke bottles in for size reference .

peterk731-
Updated photo of which frame? I have not done any more work on the stand if that's what you mean. I do have some more work completed on the sump cabinet (maybe that framing). I will try to post more pics in the next few days.

Gerard Alba-
LOL- thanks for the inpiring post but I would hardly call myself "tha man". I don't even have water in the tank yet (well....maybe for a few days but not salt water).

linear.jpg
 
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speakeraddict said:
Just a warning, that acuator (from parts express) is SLOOOOOWWWWW.

speakeraddict
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Yeah- it is a bit slow if you need it to fully extend and retract. I think it takes about 30 seconds to go the full 12+ inches. Luckily I only need it to travel about 2 inches to full open the canopy- it's all dependant on where you place the actuator in relation to the hinge- I can have it take the full 30 seconds or 2 seconds if I wanted it to but I think about 4 seconds should be about right- I'll probably play around with it to find the sweet spot before making my final placement on the top of the canopy. When all is said and done you won't even see the actuator with the hood open or closed (unless you're 8' tall I guess and can look on top of the canopy). But you are correct- if you needed it to fully extend to perform it's job you would be waiting a while!
 
The wild thing about them is how strong they are.

We are using one right now to actuate a wheel chair ramp on the back of a cargo van that was converted to a handicap accessible camper.

So far, so good. The brackets are all welded up and the arms are done. Just need to mount the ramp to it.

They were on sale over the weekend. Wish i would have bought a couple more.

speakeraddict
 
There ya go :) I got mine off ebay but that looks easier. They are very powerful litttle devices - this one is rated at 1300 lbs- I've seen them a lot higher than that as well. This model just happend to be the right size, weight capability and had the cool up down control built in so I didn't have to figure it out and it was cheap. It should be pretty cool when it's installed.
 
sidewinder770 said:
There ya go :) I got mine off ebay but that looks easier. They are very powerful litttle devices - this one is rated at 1300 lbs- I've seen them a lot higher than that as well. This model just happend to be the right size, weight capability and had the cool up down control built in so I didn't have to figure it out and it was cheap. It should be pretty cool when it's installed.
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Yes it should be cool...Cant wait to see it work...love it...and then steal the idea :lol:
 
Okay, how does it connect? I dont' see any mounting holes or hardware. I want to raise a canopy door straight up about 10 to 12", then let it lower back down again.
 
melev-
You can't really see it in the picture but there is a mounting hole on the back- basically where the back of the piston would be. The gold colored eye on the front of the shaft (that you can see in the picture) is where you mount it in the front. In the picture above it is fully retracted and it had a 10" throw if I remember correctly. I think the whole unit is 18" retracted and 28" extended. HTH

NOLACLS-

Steal away- that's what it's up here for :). I'll be sure to post some pics of it when it's up and running.
 
OK I went ahead and got one to play with (if I ever get my stand) this will be a neat toy lol. they are on closeout so I do not know if that is good or bad.
 
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