A Whacked 40B Adventure

[Whacked]

Dang, I can see light at the end of this build. So I figured its time to get a thread going.

 

After much thinking, taking measurements, thinking, sketching, reading, thinking, researching, thinking, reading, more measurements, visiting all the LFS looking, thinking, more reading and researching I decided to go with a 40B and sump setup.

 

Last September I finally started sketching in AutoCAD some real designs. I went thru all kinds of different configurations, many edits, couple complete restarts, until I finally had a working sketch I could live with and within my DIY capabilities.

 

Last December I picked up the 40B tank, 65lb of base rock, and scored a 30g and two 15g tanks off craigslist ($13 for the 3 tanks, gotta like that).

 

It wasnt until Late Feb early March that I finally bought some lumber to start the build. I ended up completely redoing the stand and canopy twice. Later I bought the Icecap T5 retrofit kit from reef geeks, a hole saw and bulkheads from glass holes, and a quietone 3000 from DF&S

 

Its only been the last 3 weeks that I really made progress on it. Between school (hr drive each way to classes), family, work, life, just haven't had the time.

 

Originally I was going to use the 30g as a sump. But I had a giftcard to petco and not knowing what to buy there so I picked up a 20L to use as a sump instead. Less volume but it will be easier to clean/maintain the sump. the bottom of the 40B is 36" so clearance wasnt a issue.

 

Anyways, the canopy and stand is built. I used several coats of white latex paint on the inside and 3 coats of stain/poly for the outside. The lights will be mounted on drawer sliders. The sump has the baffles siliconed it along with the media rack. I'll be leak testing the baffles later tonite.

I marked where i'll drill the tank. I'll be going with the herbie style overflow. I just need to put in the overflow box.

I am almost done with the rock/foam wall. I ran out of epoxy but i'll get more tomorrow.

 

There is still a lot to be done, its just a lot of little stuff really. Since I ran out of epoxy its going to put the finish date back a bit. I was aiming for this weekend but realistically it will be more like sometime next week.

 

Anyhow, here are a few pics.

Sketchup ( I was bored)

Stand/canopy painting

stand staining

foam wall under construction. I just used Krylon and pained the eggcrate. cheaper then buying black eggcrate

Becketts foam really expands!

I had to hack off a ton of foam, so the 'ol epoxy and sand to get a firm surface again

 

Oh yea, one last thing.

I live in a tiny 1bdr apartment. I mean tiny.

The entire construction of this project was by hand tools. the only power tools I own is a jigsaw (didnt use), a 1/3sheet sander, dremel, and cordless drill.

Thats another reason why it took forever to build. I had to wait for a good day to drag the stuff outside to cut/assemble, sand. At least I have something that resembles a patio to do this.

I really wish I had a miter saw, the corners would been much better. And a table saw,... cutting 1/2" plywood with a handsaw sucks!

 

OK, thats it for now. gotta test the sump baffles now.

[TheStar]

Very Cool. Looking forward to tagging along.

[SpankythePyro]

Nice! I didn't use a 20l for my sump though because when you turn the return pump off you must be weary of the siphon, even if you do have a siphon break

[fewskillz]

Yeah, I've found 20 longs just don't make very good sumps. The 20 long is getting switched out from under my 125 next weekend.

 

For not having much space and hardly any tools, I'd say you've done an excellent job so far. Keep it up!

[Whacked]

The return will have a mini spraybar before the nozzles. At that point it will be just at, maybe slightly above the water line. So i'll have several "built in" siphon breaks.

 

Now I cant remember who had issues with Krylon sticking to acrylic. Anyways, Tap Plastics was out of 1/4" black when I ordered the baffles. So it get the paint to stick better, I sanded the side to be painted. That baffle is for the 'fuge. I figure less light to get into the return area, the less likely i'll have algae buildup there. Worth a shot anyhow.

 

I also picked up 2 very thin blue acrylic pieces from Tap Plastics scrap bin, and will paint black one side. I will use those instead if painting the back of the tank. They will be held in place with packing tape and the Koralia's. That way I can switch the color whenever I want. I can even buy weird colored acrylic and use those too hot rod red anyone? Ohhh black with 50's style flames!

 

Anyways, its been 24hrs on my sump baffle water test. All is good. My silicone job looks horrible but it works

[Whacked]

OK I found something interesting and potentially dangerous Thurs nite.

I was going to finish epoxy/sand whats left on my rock wall. So I dumped the entire contents of the epoxy and hardener into a throwaway tupperware container. I dont know if it was because it was around 100deg or what but as I was about 1/2 way thru the epoxy I noticed a white vapor from my container, and it was getting hot. I held it far away and picked up the pace. the epoxy in the container was already starting to harden. I ended up having just enough to finish but wasted about 1/4 of the epoxy. The tupperware was starting to deform and I put it on the sidewalk where it really started to put out the white vapor. I caught the barest of whiffs and yea, most definately not something I'd want a full snort.

 

So even tho the bottles was 4.5oz, dont use it all at once. Maybe even use it on a cooler day. Most definately use in WELL ventilated area. I was lucky there was a breeze 'else things could have gotten ugly fast.

 

This moring I drilled my tank. Talk about nerve wracking. Ive never drilled glass before. I have the overflow box siliconed in place now. Hopefully it will be cured enough for a leak test tomorrow.

 

Later tonite I think i'll start laying out the light placements and see about getting them installed.

 

Tomorrow i'll put in the rock wall and start plumbing. the tank will be on its side until the wall is firmly inplace so I cant finish it.

 

If all goes well and according to plan, I hope to start putting water in it on Wed. Gonna take a few trips to get the RODI but i'm definitely not going to use tap to get things started.

[Whacked]

Well, just have the rock wall installed.

At some point it started to bow. So after I put it in the tank I used 40lb dumbell weights and several chunks of base rock to hold it down.

 

After seeing my club president's 360g tank I made a trip to lowes and picked up some flex pipe. I'll use this for part of the drain.

 

Mostly just waiting for the silicone to dry. Its been pretty hot around here so I haven't done any drilling to install the lights.

[Mojorizn]

Nice setup.

 

best-o-luck

[Lalani]

I rather wacky adventures.... Wacked ones are no fun.

[Falcon_Punch]

Sweet! i need a rock wall

[Whacked]

a bit behind schedule but not much.

Tonite i'll finish the plumbing. Then i'll do leak tests on the fittings.

The return line I'll test in the bathtub. Talk about a perfect place to run water tests

I'll check to see how the spraybar works too. I got a little carried away in drilling holes. some of them will spray directly into the overflow box, about 4 actually. Think i'll figure out a way to plug 2 of them and use the other 2 as siphon breaks.

 

I really wish I had a 0-5psi gage to check pressure at the pump running with and without the spraybar.

Just running a quick calc with my boss yesterday we figure about 1.75psi at the top of tank before I reduce the 1" to 3/4". Mostly just to check how much backpressure there will be on the pump and to see if I really do have enough holes in the spraybar. Piece of mind anyways, i'm sure I have enough and a little backpressure is OK the pump should handle it fine.

[Whacked]

Picture time.

OK going back to drilling. Very nerve wracking, took several beers to calm me down

I didnt get them exactly inline top-bottom. By the time I realized my error it was too late. Ah well, cant see 'em and they work.

the backside plumbing. kind of a hack job but it works

The overflow box and spraybar return.

setup shot. canopy isnt attached. I was fitting it after shaving a bit down. the lights can be seen in the back

front view

Sump. yea my drain and 'fuge line needs to be shortened. I wanted to make sure they weren't too short. once I finish fiddling with everything I'll shorten them up and get the 2nd drain back to the media rack.

Tank shot with my jawfish house

 

I got things much quieter. right now the water level in the overflow is just at the bottom of the upper drain. So if I was to close the main drain gate valve a hair, drops will come out the top drain. I also adjusted to return feeding the 'fuge to a trickle. That put more gph to the display and kept things even. For some reason that helps. Right now the only water noise I get is from the overflow box, and even that is much quieter.

[Whacked]

OK a bit bummed.

I got the lights all wired and mounted. Attached the canopy so all that is done.

Plugged in the lights, tripped the GFCI.

OK so i'll need to run a extension cord from somewhere, more than likely my bedroom. Aint gonna be pretty but gotta do what I gotta do.

 

Anyhow, I had one bank of lights on. I went to close the canopy and POOF! SPARK! GFCI tripped.

Great I knew a bulb blew out.

 

So take a wild guess, I have 3 $20 bulbs and one $40 bulb, which one blew?

Yep the KZ Fiji Purple. Whats bad is that bulb is the reason why I chose that bulb configuration. Great color spectrum and PAR.

At least reefgeek.com ships fast.

 

Gonna go see if theres a discount code somewheres...

[glennr1978]

Great job so far. sorry about your bulb.

[Whacked]

in line with the awesomeness of reefgeeks.com, replacement bulb expected delivery date of 7/31

[Zo0k365]

Wow great work for having such minimal resources for tools.

[Whacked]

Wheee! Reef-Geeks.com rocks! Got the replacement bulb today, and some candy!!!

Light bulb pic time!

 

Top to Bottom:

ATI Blue Plus

ATI Aquablue Special

KZ Fiji Purple (weird photo, bulb is actually the middle purple the entire length. I suck at editing photos so I dont even bother)

ATI Blue Plus

Front, right and left side just using Blue Plus and Fiji

Now with all the bulbs lit up and pretty

 

like I said, I suck at editing photo's so didn't do it. the actual color is a bit more white. Dunno why it came out so blue. I really need to ditch this POS, err P&S and get a decent DSLR. that or learn how to use the camera properly

[Whacked]

OK I wasnt happy with the previous pics so I deleted them from photobucket.

 

I also figured out how to use my pos err p&s camera a bit better. A little something called white balance makes a world of difference lol. I had to use a custom setting and used coffee filters to tell the camera what white was inter the T5's. Also learning how to 'shop images and clean them up a bit

 

Anyhow, this pic is MUCH better and closer to the real deal. Lots of noise tho, dunno if its me or this cheap camera. I couldnt get a good shot of the sides. Also something else, the flash tends to turn everything yellowish.

 

[Weetabix7]

Looks cool, this has potential.

[Whacked]

Thanks weet

 

This morning I swapped the Fiji and Aquablue around so from front to back I now have

Blue +

Fiji Purple

Aquablue Special

Blue +

 

I like the way it looks. Less pinkish tint. I haven't taken a new FTS yet.

yesterday the tank was 2 weeks old. I've tested the water twice.

Day 7

Temp 80

PH 8.2

Sal 1.024

Am 1

ite 2

ate 20

 

Day 14

Temp 80

PH 8.2

Sal 1.024

Am 0.25

ite 2

ate 40

 

Today I did a 5g w/c to help bring the nitrates down a bit.

I'm also starting to get spots of diatoms.

 

This is the first time ive cycled a tank using 100% base rock and sand.

For a ammonia source I toss in a cube or 2 of frozen food my fish dont like (one way to get rid of it) every 2 days or so.

I know that since its all base when I finally do start adding livestock to take it slowly. That is acceptable for me. I start back in school on the 24th so my reefing funds will be reduced.

[MGDMIRAGE]

Looking good so far very nice stand/canopy.

[Falcon_Punch]

Mmm!

[Whacked]

new FTS with new bulb configuration

 

 

Ohhhh yea, Me Likey!

[Emilio84]

Very cool build. I like how you made the jawfish house.

 

 

Question though.. what blew the bulb and tripped your gfic? Is it still plugged into a gfic? The wording you used confused me a bit.

[Whacked]

Very cool build. I like how you made the jawfish house.

 

 

Question though.. what blew the bulb and tripped your gfic? Is it still plugged into a gfic? The wording you used confused me a bit.

Thanks

 

Still using the GFCI. Everyone should be using a GFCI with their aquariums. If you dont, you are asking for some serious, potentially life threatening trouble.

 

OK I'll fess up and explain what happened when the bulb blew.

I didnt have the power cord secured independent of the ballast. With my design that was a major oversight as lifting/closing the canopy moves the powercord. The lights are mounted on a shelf and the ballasts are mounted on the top of the shelf. If the ballast was mounted elsewhere on something non-moving, like the stand, it wouldnt have been a issue.

When I closed the canopy, it moved the powercord just enough to pull out of the ballast and have the bare wires touch. That caused the short, the spark, the blown bulb, and tripped the GFCI.

I had some scorch marks on the ballast and thankfully (I'm sure the GFCI played a big part) didnt burn it out. So I had to cut/trim new leads, clean out the copper strands in the ballast, and rewire it.

This time I secured the powercord with eyehooks and zip ties.

So far its working good. Opening/closing the canopy has the powercord work against the eyehook, not the ballast.

I still keep a close eye on things tho.