Our 375 Gallon project

[Northside Reef]

Tank looks great Sindwinder. I hope you don't mind but I completely ripped off your stand idea.
When I say completely lol I mean I printed a copy of yours redid the dimensions and handed it to my welder and said “make this�.

It is going to be done in about 2 weeks.

My build is being done opposite of yours though as I am getting the sump room done first.
I need to have a place to put all the livestock when I do the tank transfer, that seemed like a good place for it.

I have been a bit reluctant to start my own thread until there is a little more to look at but I will soon.

I can’t wait to see how you attach the skins to yours I gave a copy of the stand picture to a carpenter friend of mine he has some pretty cool ideas.

[loup]

I like your idea that you're building a sump room away from the tank. I would be watching this thread closely from now on as I'm going to build a room in the garage which would be 30-40 feet away from the main tank. How big of a sump room are you planning to build? I hope you don't mind i use your plumbing diagram to map out mine.

[sidewinder770]

NOLACLS & anthworks-

I thought about the same things and over the last week or so I have been coming up with a plan that will include a seperate QT tank. The diagram on the previous page has changed quite a bit and now also includes a seperate frag grow out tank as well as a seperate QT tank and seperate refugium.

Northside Reef & loup-

Isn't that what this is all about? By all means- feel free to use whatever ideas I have and let me know if you come up with improvements. This is very much a work in progress and it changes every day. I have revamped my plumbing quite a bit and added a few more tanks to the system but I don't have an updated diagram yet. I have been working on the layout of the sump room itself and have made a lot of improvements in there.

Sorry for not having much to report lately. I have been dealing with a permit issue with the city for the sump room build and it looks like I have to change directions a little bit. The sump room will be a little different and in a different location so I have been planning around that change lately. Hopefully there will be more pics and progress soon.

Thanks everyone for the compliments and your ideas are definately welcome- I try to think of everything to be sure to get it done correctly the first time and the only way to do that is to be open to changes and plan accordingly and your advice really helps.

All for now!

[MuskyM]

The city actually knows about your sump room?

How did that happen

[bassman57]

looks good. keep up the good work.

[sidewinder770]

MuskyM-
The city knows about the sump room because I was going to be getting a permit for the room I'm adding on the the garage. Since that time plans have changed a bit so I probably won't be needing a permit.

[ReefGrl2k5]

Wow that is amazing. People are so creative with their reefs sometimes. It must be torture to wait several months to get started.

[Northside Reef]

Sidewinder thanks for the ideas on the stand. I am going to make a couple of modification to it.

the front panel over the tank will hinge as well as the entire canopy.

not sure how on the canopy yet, but we are going to play with gas shocks. and see how that goes

here is mine in assembly lol kinda looks familiar eh?


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=6

[Northside Reef]

Hi Scott,

I noticed in your post on my thread that you are using a linear actuator to open the canopy. is this installed yet?

[NOLACLS]

Yeah I saw that too. Is this going to automatically open you hood and stand? If so that is Pimp

You could have it rigged to a controller to open it up if the water temp gets to high! Now that would be cool!

[sidewinder770]

Northside Reef-
No, unfortunately the linear actuator and canopy top are not installed yet. I have the actuator but have not started the top of the canopy yet- I've been busy building the sump room as well as the 6 tanks that will go in the sump room. I had to change a few of my plans due to the fact that a sump "room" wasn't going to be easily accomplished and have since changed it to a sump "cabinet" in the garage that will be 14' long, 2' wide and 8 feet tall.

NOLACLS-
That would be pretty cool but for my situation it wouldn't help much as I am only going to have the 2 closed loop pumps in my stand and there really won't be a need to get into the stand very often. But to help with the heat issue I have gotten a seperate AC system (not installed yet either) that will have ducting to the canopy from the sump cabinet that will flow 500CFM of air from the sump cabinet where the new AC unit will be.

Sorry for not keeping this post up to date- I have been busy cutting the 5 sheets of acrylis needed for the sump cabinet tanks as well as the trenching to get the 3- 2" PVC lines from the tank to the sump cabinet. I have just started the rough framing of the sump cabinet as well.

I will try and post some pics of what we've been up to in the next day or so.

Here is an updated sump room plumbing diagram to hold over the picture junkies till I can get some progress pics posted -

[NOLACLS]

WOW that is going to be a nice setup. I wish I had that much room. So with the linear actuator on the canopy door, you will just hit a switch to automaticly open you canopy door? Where did you get it from?

[melev]

Can you post a picture of your linear actuator or a link? I'm looking for a device to lift and lower and L-shaped canopy.

[sidewinder770]

NOLACLS-

Yeah- basically there is an up and down switch that will be on the side of the canopy and will open and close the whole front section of the canopy- or you can just open one of the 4 doors in the normal way for simple things like feeding. I got the actuator off ebay actually but there are many places to get them from if you can't find it on there.

melev-

I will try and get a picture of the actuator for ya this weekend. Sounds like it would work perfectly for what you are trying to do as it's exactly what I am planning on doing.

Here are a few progress pics for ya- nothing too exciting yet but lots of work none the less-

Here is a pic of part of the trench we had to dig to get from the house to the garage- it actually went under 2 sidewalks and a gate- about 50 feet of 3 x 2" PVC. It's about 2 feet deep.

Here is the plumbing coming out of the house- it will have a box around it painted to match the house so you really won't even notice it's there-

Here are a few pics of the cabinet framing- this was taken the first day and it's much farther along now but it will give you an idea of the size-


I'll try to take a few more updated pics this weekend.

[buggle]

Hey Scott-
Man you're crazy!!! I just had a hell of a time with my set up and it's only a 220! And everything is inside my house!!!! Looks like it's going to be an awesome set-up though. Can't wait to stop by to check it out. I finally moved all my livestock over. You and Erin need to stop by and pick out some frags. Judging by the sump you guys made me, I think everything will turn out beautifully. I have a suggestion on your frag tank though, I've got a similar one, 36x16x8, and really wished that it was taller. If you plan on putting any kind of eggcrate rack in there, that will take 1-2" plus you won't run the water to the very top so that takes out much of the height. Mine is glass so it's measured from the plastic frame so the actual height is really only 7". So I'm just going to set the frags on the glass without eggcrate.

I'm still shaking my head thinking about the sale of your 748. I sold my R6 two years ago and am still kicking myself!!

buggle

[Fliger]

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. ;-)

[sidewinder770]

Originally posted by Fliger
plus feel like I did it myself. ;-) [/B]

"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.

Originally posted by buggle
I'm still shaking my head thinking about the sale of your 748 ;-) [/B]

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 (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

[matt & pam]

Have you thought about the humid exhaust from your hood condesating during a 50-60' run? Why not just vent directly outside?

Matt

[alpha0r]

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?

[TheCoralReef731]

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?

[sidewinder770]

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.

[Gerard Alba]

10/10, Your tha man.

[TheCoralReef731]

do you have an updated photo of the frame?

[sidewinder770]

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).

[speakeraddict]

Just a warning, that acuator (from parts express) is SLOOOOOWWWWW.

It is a cool idea to use it though.

speakeraddict