Too much time - 90 gallon SPS "lab" build
- Thread starter Decadence
- Start date
Decadence
New member
We have a baby coming in January. This whole buildout has been an effort to automate most if the functions of my tank and baby-proof everything so that I can devote as little attention as possible to the reef and so that it can all remain in the main living area where the baby will play. She gets on me from time to time but at the end of the day, I have it easy compared to most other hobbyists because she is into it too. Part of this build is hooking up her tank on my filtration, lol. It's a good first step in weening her off LPS and onto SPS!:inlove:
Decadence
New member
The first coat of black is down. The second coat will go down after work tomorrow and then I should be working on permanently installing the dosing cabinet Wednesday.
The black is still wet in these pictures so it doesn't look satin. I will decide tomorrow if I like the satin or if I will add a semigloss polyurethane over top of it.
The black is still wet in these pictures so it doesn't look satin. I will decide tomorrow if I like the satin or if I will add a semigloss polyurethane over top of it.
Decadence
New member
Last coat. Installation begins after work today including running all of the electrical. This weekend I will be bringing the lab stand out to be stained as well. After that is all stained and installed, I will build the new glass sump and get the whole thing functional! After that I will build the doors for both pieces.
Decadence
New member
I have it in place now and have got the dosers completely set up. I have one free Bubble Magus doser which I'm not sure of a use for yet and I have one of the BRS dosers which will be used for lanthanum chloride in a few weeks when the sump is complete. Other than those two, everything is functional.
Got the dosers in place and drilled holes for cords
I hooked up a Tom's aqualifter inside of the cabinet. Each one of the dosers (minus lanthanum which will dose directly to its reactor) has the output line going into the T manifold which is all part of the suction line for the aqualifter pump. Basically, tank water is flowing in via the aqualifter and pulling the chemicals with it as they get fed by the dosing pump. This works out for me in a few ways. It eliminates six tubes from needing to be plumbed into the tank which makes it a little cleaner of an installation. It also makes every single fitting on the set-up a suction fitting. I don't have to worry about leaks from any of the lines because it would leak to either a doser or the aqualifter sucking air. It also makes the longest span of line and the aqualifter self-cleaning because 45ml of vinegar will be pumped through it daily.
This was a hanging bracket for a polyreactor. I cut off the attachment for grabbing the reactor and then drilled a couple holes in it for zip ties to hold the input and output lines. On the back, there is a hook while holds the lines in place. It gave the cluster of dosing lines that I used to have a nice, clean look.
I'm excited. It has been a long day but I'm going to sort through electrical until I can't keep my eyes open any more.
Got the dosers in place and drilled holes for cords
I hooked up a Tom's aqualifter inside of the cabinet. Each one of the dosers (minus lanthanum which will dose directly to its reactor) has the output line going into the T manifold which is all part of the suction line for the aqualifter pump. Basically, tank water is flowing in via the aqualifter and pulling the chemicals with it as they get fed by the dosing pump. This works out for me in a few ways. It eliminates six tubes from needing to be plumbed into the tank which makes it a little cleaner of an installation. It also makes every single fitting on the set-up a suction fitting. I don't have to worry about leaks from any of the lines because it would leak to either a doser or the aqualifter sucking air. It also makes the longest span of line and the aqualifter self-cleaning because 45ml of vinegar will be pumped through it daily.
This was a hanging bracket for a polyreactor. I cut off the attachment for grabbing the reactor and then drilled a couple holes in it for zip ties to hold the input and output lines. On the back, there is a hook while holds the lines in place. It gave the cluster of dosing lines that I used to have a nice, clean look.
I'm excited. It has been a long day but I'm going to sort through electrical until I can't keep my eyes open any more.
Decadence
New member
10/25
I'm slowly but sure getting everything transferred over to the elite. The fifth PC4 is currently running basic functions while the other systems are switched over. I hope to have the electrical done by the end of the weekend (minus the battery backups which won't be here for two weeks).
10/27
I started off today with a piece of plywood.
I cut some black velvet and wrapped it around. After stapling it in place, I trimmed it as sloppy as straight scissors would allow, then I screwed metal plates in each corner. These plates are part of a set for magnetic cabinet door fasteners.
It doesn't matter how sloppy the back was because this is the side you will see.
I missed a few photo opportunities because I got in a groove... but I screwed in the magnetic stops for all four corners, top and bottom. This piece is now easily removable but stays right where I want it. Most importantly, it can slide to the right a little if I need an extra 1/4" for the battery backups. I cut a sheet of acrylic and screwed it to the velvet board where I wanted my vortech WES drivers to go and then lined the acrylic with velcro. The backs of the vortechs got velcro as well and were mounted on the board and test fitted. Around this time, I also moved up my ATO from the ground and mounted those two white power strips behind the PC4 modules on the wall vertically. These strips are for the bank of heaters and for the vortechs and plug into the PC4s.
Next up was the power supplies for the vortechs which I routed to the left and mounted to the back of the board. I also moved up the CO2 PH controller for the calcium reactor. It took me a few days to get together a game plan on how to use the five PC4 modules (power strips) because only three will be on battery backups and each module has two relay-controlled outlets and two solid state triac switches. The triac switches can't be used for devices which pull too low of a current because they may stick on or too high of a current because they may burn out. As I ran the devices, each one was plugged into a predetermined outlet.
Wires were adding up quickly once I got to BUS cables. I tried routing them externally but was unhappy with the messy appearance so I wound up drilling slots behind each of the modules. As I plugged in cables, I folded them behind the module and routed them through the slots to wherever they needed to go.
This is the semi-complete product. The thing sitting next to the PH controller is a Trednet wifi adapter which works with the net module to put system data to my phone.
I took another picture to show the whole thing with the dosing pumps. To the left of the electrical area, you can see that all of the PC4 plugs are just going to a power strip. They will be plugged into the battery backups which will sit there, including the ones which won't actually be on batteries because they can make use of the surge protected non-battery outlets.
I'm extremely happy with the way this has all turned out. I should have an RKE compatible temperature probe tomorrow (or I guess today.. it's 5am) and will switch the remaining few components over to the new systems. I still have the heaters, skimmer pump and a few other things running off of a power strip.
I'm slowly but sure getting everything transferred over to the elite. The fifth PC4 is currently running basic functions while the other systems are switched over. I hope to have the electrical done by the end of the weekend (minus the battery backups which won't be here for two weeks).
10/27
I started off today with a piece of plywood.
I cut some black velvet and wrapped it around. After stapling it in place, I trimmed it as sloppy as straight scissors would allow, then I screwed metal plates in each corner. These plates are part of a set for magnetic cabinet door fasteners.
It doesn't matter how sloppy the back was because this is the side you will see.
I missed a few photo opportunities because I got in a groove... but I screwed in the magnetic stops for all four corners, top and bottom. This piece is now easily removable but stays right where I want it. Most importantly, it can slide to the right a little if I need an extra 1/4" for the battery backups. I cut a sheet of acrylic and screwed it to the velvet board where I wanted my vortech WES drivers to go and then lined the acrylic with velcro. The backs of the vortechs got velcro as well and were mounted on the board and test fitted. Around this time, I also moved up my ATO from the ground and mounted those two white power strips behind the PC4 modules on the wall vertically. These strips are for the bank of heaters and for the vortechs and plug into the PC4s.
Next up was the power supplies for the vortechs which I routed to the left and mounted to the back of the board. I also moved up the CO2 PH controller for the calcium reactor. It took me a few days to get together a game plan on how to use the five PC4 modules (power strips) because only three will be on battery backups and each module has two relay-controlled outlets and two solid state triac switches. The triac switches can't be used for devices which pull too low of a current because they may stick on or too high of a current because they may burn out. As I ran the devices, each one was plugged into a predetermined outlet.
Wires were adding up quickly once I got to BUS cables. I tried routing them externally but was unhappy with the messy appearance so I wound up drilling slots behind each of the modules. As I plugged in cables, I folded them behind the module and routed them through the slots to wherever they needed to go.
This is the semi-complete product. The thing sitting next to the PH controller is a Trednet wifi adapter which works with the net module to put system data to my phone.
I took another picture to show the whole thing with the dosing pumps. To the left of the electrical area, you can see that all of the PC4 plugs are just going to a power strip. They will be plugged into the battery backups which will sit there, including the ones which won't actually be on batteries because they can make use of the surge protected non-battery outlets.
I'm extremely happy with the way this has all turned out. I should have an RKE compatible temperature probe tomorrow (or I guess today.. it's 5am) and will switch the remaining few components over to the new systems. I still have the heaters, skimmer pump and a few other things running off of a power strip.
Decadence
New member
I got the reefkeeper all programmed last night. I was amazed to find that it kept my temperature stable to within 0.1 degrees even though it was a little warm in the room and I opened a window only to find it freezing in the morning. I have the heaters set to kick on at 77.9 and a fan set to kick on at 78.1. The temperature never deviated beyond those realms.
I didn't have a DA temp probe for the elite but I did have three temp probes for an RKL. I cut off the plug from the RKL and soldered on a molex connector. The remaining wires which were not running to the reef keeper before are now all hooked up. I'm pretty well ahead of schedule to get this all done before the baby comes. Next up is going to be staining the other stand which should be done by the end of next week. At that time I will build the new sump. Exciting!
I didn't have a DA temp probe for the elite but I did have three temp probes for an RKL. I cut off the plug from the RKL and soldered on a molex connector. The remaining wires which were not running to the reef keeper before are now all hooked up. I'm pretty well ahead of schedule to get this all done before the baby comes. Next up is going to be staining the other stand which should be done by the end of next week. At that time I will build the new sump. Exciting!
steevareno2002
New member
sweet tank! i like the T5\led combo.
joeman1881
Member
This is great. Gives me some good ideas for storing my equipment and filling my stand with the biggest sump I can fit, lol!
Decadence
New member
Thanks, the lights were actually very inexpensive compared to what a lot of other people are using and the have given me great results thus far.
Why fill one stand when you can fill two and an entire cabinet? :lolspin:
Decadence
New member
Of course. Thanks for checking it out! I didn't use a pocket jig because it would have been extra work for me to fill the holes since every one of them would be visible inside of the stand. By drilling long holes in the boards and using 4" screws, I was able to hide every hole with either the ground or the granite. I could have done the same thing by using biscuit joints but I didn't really want to spend the necessary time to allow the glue to dry. Using screws with the glue, I was able to assemble immediately.
I got the wood at Lowes and simply placed each one on the floor on all four sides to check straightness against the ground. Their floor is poured concrete which made it very easy.
I have some recent photos with some of the work that I have been doing lately on the setup. I just finally today was able to get help to remove the 250lb slab of granite from the lab stand so it should be stained this week. In the mean time, I have been able to get a lot of the electrical work done. Most of the recent work has been done on the lighting system where I swapped out most of the LEDs for more appropriate spectrums, swapped all of the drivers for Meanwell units and wired both D120 fixtures to power up off of one cord. All channels are now controlled by my ALC modules, including the new PAR38 lights which I built usin 3w LEDs.
I'm going to run the wires through the pipe so none are showing one day soon. I could have just bought something "better". I may do that in the future. I'm loving the sun-up, sun-down so far. If I had it to do over again, I think I would either do four T5s with AI SOLs, radians or A360ws... One of these options may take place in the future but I would want the T5s to be dimming as well.
Other than the LEDs, I have clean up all of the wiring and added my battery back-ups.
The battery back-ups will run almost the entire tank for up to an hour, though a few non-essential power consumers will shut off.
While I was setting up the battery back-ups, I had my skimmer go crazy randomly.... again... I lost two gallons of water from the tank. This time, I was smart and had my skimmate jug inside of a tub so that it would not hit the floor in the event of an overflow. I decided to do something about it and wound up building a waste collector using an old BRS GFO container and a float switch from JBJ.
When the float switch is activated, the skimmer pump shuts off, ensuring that the water won't wind up on the floor! I was able to get rid of the tub which was an eye-sore sitting next to the tank. Since I was messing with it, I also set up my JBJ ATO on the RKE as a controlled device. Now, the JBJ will lose power if my PH get above 8.4 in the event that the float switch fails.
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