ReefWaters' 220 Sun Room Reef
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ReefWaters
Premium Member
I finally finished the base molding in the fish room. This is definitely one thing I would have done differently. I laid the tile and then ran standard wooden base molding around the room. There was a little gap left over between the tile and the base (which I planned). I closed this up with industrial rubber base molding. This was not easy and left tons of gaps for water to get through. So I ended up caulking the top and bottom edge to make it all water tight. I'm sure it will do the job, it just doesn't look as neat, or "clean", as I would like. If I had it to do over again, I would have made the base out of the same tile I used on the floor. Oh well. 
So, I'm on to some plumbing, and or lighting. I need to find a good local supplier of Sch 80 PVC. I refuse to waste even a minute in Home Depot or Lowe's when it comes to the wet side of this project. I'm going to stop in a Ferguson Express tomorrow. Has anyone been to one of these? I'm not sure they have anything I need but we'll try it anyway. Its between home and my office.
I picked up some single union ball valves the other day at Northern Tool. But I do have a question about them. I'm sure they are perfectly safe for aquarium use but I'll ask just in case. They are black with a blue handle. They says "Polypropylene EPDM Gasket Taiwan" on the side. So does anyone know for sure if they are aquarium safe. I kept the receipt just in case!
As for the lighting, I'm ready to wire up the display lighting. I just cant decide where to mount the ballasts. On one hand I want to mount them directly to the rack on one end. They would not be directly over the water but they would be in the vicinity. This would make it so I only have one wire (a power cord) running from the wall to the rack. Remember that this wire has to have enough slack to move the rack a full 5 feet left and right and not fall in the tank. I'm not sure how I'm going to do this yet. If I mount the ballasts to the wall, I would feel a lot safer about where they are mounted but then I will have an incomprehensible amount of wires that would have to find there way from the wall to the light rack and OF COURSE have 5 or more feet of slack. I'm a little lost on this subject so any suggestions would be great.
So, I'm on to some plumbing, and or lighting. I need to find a good local supplier of Sch 80 PVC. I refuse to waste even a minute in Home Depot or Lowe's when it comes to the wet side of this project. I'm going to stop in a Ferguson Express tomorrow. Has anyone been to one of these? I'm not sure they have anything I need but we'll try it anyway. Its between home and my office.
I picked up some single union ball valves the other day at Northern Tool. But I do have a question about them. I'm sure they are perfectly safe for aquarium use but I'll ask just in case. They are black with a blue handle. They says "Polypropylene EPDM Gasket Taiwan" on the side. So does anyone know for sure if they are aquarium safe. I kept the receipt just in case!
As for the lighting, I'm ready to wire up the display lighting. I just cant decide where to mount the ballasts. On one hand I want to mount them directly to the rack on one end. They would not be directly over the water but they would be in the vicinity. This would make it so I only have one wire (a power cord) running from the wall to the rack. Remember that this wire has to have enough slack to move the rack a full 5 feet left and right and not fall in the tank. I'm not sure how I'm going to do this yet. If I mount the ballasts to the wall, I would feel a lot safer about where they are mounted but then I will have an incomprehensible amount of wires that would have to find there way from the wall to the light rack and OF COURSE have 5 or more feet of slack. I'm a little lost on this subject so any suggestions would be great.
jnarowe
New member
most just mount the ballasts to the rack as well a enough power outlets to do the job. I would also consider ventillation for them. If you can mount them in a way to take advantage of room ventillation, or include a fan or two into the design, that would be good IMO.
There's nothing better than getting a huge box from SAVKO!
There's nothing better than getting a huge box from SAVKO!
ReefWaters
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12761680#post12761680 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
most just mount the ballasts to the rack as well a enough power outlets to do the job. I would also consider ventillation for them. If you can mount them in a way to take advantage of room ventillation, or include a fan or two into the design, that would be good IMO.
There's nothing better than getting a huge box from SAVKO!
I think I am going to mount them to the rack. Unless anyone else thinks its a BAD idea. I will have to reinforce the track a little and add a bracket of some sort. But that wont be hard. The ballasts will be just inches out of the path of the A/C rent and about 8 inches under the ceiling fan. So I think I should have more than enough ventilation. More so than on the wall.
ReefWaters
Premium Member
I was thinking about running an Aquacontroller heavy duty 4 plug direct connect from the wall plug and then mounting it on the rack. I believe that should run 4 Ice Cap ballasts just fine. Of course, that wont help if I add another MH or moon lights. Hmm. Gotta keep thinking.
ReefWaters
Premium Member
I'll definately figure out the max amp pull before doing anything. I just thought about this too, with the the DC4 and/or DC8 I would still have to use a lamp module for the moonlights wouldnt I? Or is that function built in to the DC's?
ReefWaters
Premium Member
I went to Lowe's yesterday to pick up a bunch of Sch 80 to get started on the plumbing. My plan was to plumb everything with Sch 80 PVC. Well, I obviously never took the time to really look at the prices of this stuff! :eek1: At up to four times the cost of Sch 40 I can live without the cool grey color. I mean, that was the only reason I wanted it anyway. :smokin: I just can't justify spending an additional several hundred dollars just for some color. So I picked up a bunch of Sch 40 90's and 1" thin wall pipe to get me started. This will be a lot better for maximizing flow through the drains anyway. I did pop for some 3/4" Sch 80 for the pump returns. I'm waiting on a bunch of pipe clips from Savko for attaching the pipe to the wall and then I can REALLY get started on some plumbing.
I worked on mounting the ballasts to the rack tonight. I should be able to finish it up tomorrow or the next day and start wiring the VHO's and MH's.
I just riveted two pieces of angle to the frame and will mount the other MH ballast above this one. I will add two more pieces of angle to the right of these and mount the two 660's to these.
At up to four times the cost of Sch 40 I can live without the cool grey color. I mean, that was the only reason I wanted it anyway. :smokin: I just can't justify spending an additional several hundred dollars just for some color. So I picked up a bunch of Sch 40 90's and 1" thin wall pipe to get me started. This will be a lot better for maximizing flow through the drains anyway. I did pop for some 3/4" Sch 80 for the pump returns. I'm waiting on a bunch of pipe clips from Savko for attaching the pipe to the wall and then I can REALLY get started on some plumbing. I worked on mounting the ballasts to the rack tonight. I should be able to finish it up tomorrow or the next day and start wiring the VHO's and MH's.
I just riveted two pieces of angle to the frame and will mount the other MH ballast above this one. I will add two more pieces of angle to the right of these and mount the two 660's to these.
ReefWaters
Premium Member
jnarowe, good suggestion. I'll pick some rubber gaskets up at the HD next time I'm in there.
tgunn, I actually ended up with WAY more access room than I ever expected. I am very excited about this. I currently have a 2' x 10" area to access my entire cube right now and it REALLY limits a lot of the maintenance/cleaning I would like to do on the tank.
I had to go out of town yesterday so nothing got done on the tank. I have to go out of town tomorrow afternoon for the weekend so nothing is getting done then either.
But business has slowed down a little during the dead heat of the summer so I should be able to make some time for the tank over the next month or so.
Thanks for the comments!
RW
tgunn, I actually ended up with WAY more access room than I ever expected. I am very excited about this. I currently have a 2' x 10" area to access my entire cube right now and it REALLY limits a lot of the maintenance/cleaning I would like to do on the tank.
I had to go out of town yesterday so nothing got done on the tank. I have to go out of town tomorrow afternoon for the weekend so nothing is getting done then either.
But business has slowed down a little during the dead heat of the summer so I should be able to make some time for the tank over the next month or so. Thanks for the comments!
RW
ReefWaters
Premium Member
Well, I woke up in a sweat thinking about this comment....yeah, I know, took a while. I used stainless steel rivets and bolts on the entire aluminum rack. I also used some mystery metal self tapping screws (probably zinc). I'm sure this wont corrode to the point of falling apart but do you think I'll have problems with flaking metal from corrosion of the dissimilar metals? I used the SS rivets because I was afraid that the aluminum ones would be too weak.
I'm diligently working away on the tank every moment I get. I had to go out of town all weekend and yesterday so I'm hoping to get some stuff done during the evenings this week. I'll keep you posted and probably post some pics in a day or so.
jnarowe
New member
never know what will happen, but the combination of steel (ferrous metal) and aluminum is not a good one, and it is even worse in a salt environment. You don't ever want to lose an iron based fastener in an aluminum boat.
My fisherman buddy just had to replace his pilothouse doors. They are marine grade aluminum on a steel boat and they literally fell apart.
If it were me, and I had the time, I would remove the SS rivets and put in aluminum ones. They should be plenty strong.I doubt you will have the kind of salty humidity that I have in my tank room, but looking down the road, it could cost you a lot more.
I would bet that the zinc fasteners will corrode to failure, and it might not take very long.
My fisherman buddy just had to replace his pilothouse doors. They are marine grade aluminum on a steel boat and they literally fell apart.
If it were me, and I had the time, I would remove the SS rivets and put in aluminum ones. They should be plenty strong.I doubt you will have the kind of salty humidity that I have in my tank room, but looking down the road, it could cost you a lot more.
I would bet that the zinc fasteners will corrode to failure, and it might not take very long.
ReefWaters
Premium Member
Okay, Im sure you are correct but Im a glutton for punishment and at this point, if I dont get some water in this thing soon, Im going to lose it. Im going to keep a close eye on it and pull it down later if I have to. I dont think it will be any more work if I have to pull it down later instead of now. :rolleye1: Yeah, Im lying to myself to keep this thing moving.
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