MattGecko Posted September 16, 2003 Author Share Posted September 16, 2003 After a trip to OSH, I figured it out. (1) 1/2" cpvc coupling & (1) 1/2" x 6" nipple. Cut the threads off of the nipple, using the dremel I sanded out the inner stopper of the coupling, centered the nipple in the coupling & glued it in place. Now I can attach the rubber tube to both sides. Should have pics in a few day, everything is about gone. Link to comment
foo Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 I started glueing things up last week and I discovered that the bent wood I made with the plywood laminate has some springback to it. Springback is the tendency of the wood to resume it's normal shape. When I cut the wood about 3 weeks ago or so everything measured dead on but when I tried to set the glued up sides on top of the tank I noticed that the center of the curve has moved in about 1/8". Something for others to be aware of that they may need to compensate for if they attempt to use bentwood lamination like I did for the curved front of the tank. I ended up sanding down the center part of the curve on the inside, increasing the depth of the rabbit by about 1/8". Hopefully the wood is stable now and doesn't move anymore. Link to comment
MattGecko Posted September 22, 2003 Author Share Posted September 22, 2003 Looking good. I like the fan vent slots. I moved my tank on to the new stand & plummed the fuge, going to fire it up tonight. Link to comment
MattGecko Posted September 24, 2003 Author Share Posted September 24, 2003 The new canopy will be complete in a few days. Fuge/sump was a failure, I have to drill the tank to make it work. Link to comment
foo Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Matt - Was it the overflow you were trying to retrofit into a old HOB filter the problem? Is that the MH light? Link to comment
MattGecko Posted September 24, 2003 Author Share Posted September 24, 2003 The problem is once you start the Syphon to the fuge if the skimmer box gets to little water it will break the syphon The other problem is there's no way to match the water "in" with the "out". If I plum the tank to the skimmer box it will work perfect. I will be assembling the new MH hood tonight. I put one last coat of clear coat on it. Link to comment
MattGecko Posted October 21, 2003 Author Share Posted October 21, 2003 ralegen - Heres the pics of the canopy. I haven't installed the 32W aquatic yet. Link to comment
MattGecko Posted October 22, 2003 Author Share Posted October 22, 2003 Heres an old one, before the skin was added (I ended up not using the flip piece in the back). Link to comment
foo Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 ralegen - Those pictures you asked for... It's almost complete, I would have the tank running but I discovered the U-tube style overflow I made couldn't keep up with the return pump so I have to drill. Other things left to do are wiring the fans and adding a knob to the door on the hood. I painted my sheet metal pendant I made black and cut a hole in the top of the hood to stick it through. It should help with the heat but it looks kind of dorky. Oh well live and learn. Link to comment
dsb1829 Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Great woodworking projects guys. Hey Foo, I can't see the pictures you posted today. Link to comment
foo Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I tried to attach pictures but nano-reef was misbehaving last night and spitting out my posts with attachments so I tried something else. Sorry I'll try to delete the old posts and repost. Link to comment
foo Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Shot of the underside of the hood. I created a box inside the hood and cut holes on either side sandwiching two fans there, one blowing in and one blowing out. There's a piece of glass that acts as a shield keeping the bad rays and heat out. When the fans are on I should be getting very little heat transfer to the tank. I might add some more reflector material to clad the inside of the light well I've made but it may not be necessary, it's already pretty bright becuase of the reflector behind the lamp. One mistake I made here was that I didn't make the lightwell area long enough, it ended up only being 11" long so it's too short to add extra 32W PC lamps. The MH lamp is really bright already and I fear will burn some soft corals but I would prefer to have the flexibility of changing up the lights later. Next time. Link to comment
foo Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 The refugium on the back side of the tank. I'll need to drill another hole in the fuge and the tank for the return since my overflow idea didn't work out. Link to comment
foo Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Another shot of the front of the tank from the right side. The iceprobe is clearly visible. The sheet matal pendant, fans, shield and iceprobe should be able to deal with any heat problems. Link to comment
foo Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Ballast wiring. I have both the WPI and Aromat ballasts now so I wanted an easy way of swapping the ballasts out. This old ATX power supply makes a good enclosure since it was already wired for power. Link to comment
foo Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I just gutted it added a terminal block, drilled some holes and mounted the ballast. I have the WPI hooked for now but it's easily changed. Link to comment
ralegen Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Foo, Great progress and looking great. Thank you and MattGecko for posting the updated pics. IMO, both your guy's canopys look identical. Foo you went the whole 9 yards IMO, whereas Mattgecko did it a simpler way. (I'm talking about the front bend where he only used one sheet of the door skin). I want to do it the DIYnet way, like you did, but I think I'm in a position where my setup is very close to Mattgecko's. I just want to finish my canopy and stand, so that I can start doing the plumbing and START the CYCLE! Grrr.. I will post pics when I get the chance fellas. Midterms took away most of my time the last 2 weeks. :*( I want to hurry up and see some life in my tank..... Link to comment
ronl Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Foo, Can you explain why you put the ballast in an ATX power supply? Is it just to keep the ballast cool because the power supply has a fan? Or is there another reason? I am not an electronics or computer expert so I had to do a web search just to see what an ATX power supply is normally used for. I see that they come in all kinds of different wattages, but does that matter for what you are using it for? I had just planned on mounting my ballast somewhere in my stand until I saw your post. Thanks, Ron Link to comment
foo Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Originally posted by ronl...explain why you put the ballast in an ATX power supply?... Mounting the ballast in the stand is fine. I don't plan to have a stand, the tank and refugium will be sitting on my desk at work (eventually) and I won't have a stand. I'm using the ATX housing as a convenient enclosure to mount the electronics and distribute power. I gutted the case and removed the power supply to make room for my stuff. I don't trust the reliability/performance of the ballasts yet, I have 2 WPI eballasts and an Aromat eballast, mounting them in the ATX enclosure with mounting screws and a terminal block allows me to swap ballasts easily. The case already has the electrical plug built into it making wiring easier and the case itself is grounded too. I also plan to connect the hoods fan wiring inside the ATX case to receive power. My hood has 2 120VAC fans. The fan on these power supplies are all 12VDC so I can't use it since I discarded the power supply, but I suppose I could add a small 12VDC power supply to run the fan if I wanted to cool things off but I hadn't planned to initially. My particular case also has a power switch making it convenient to control power but I also will have the whole thing on a timer so this isn't really necessary for me. Link to comment
ralegen Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 I bought the door skin, and I plan on using that for the rest of my canopy and stand; less than $10 for a 4x8 sheet at HomeDepot. This stuff is great when it comes to bending. Just lookie here! Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Hello Foo, just a side note on something I noticed in your pictures. In the future you might want to mount the peltier closer to the surface where warmer water will naturally accumulate, as well as being in a higher flow area from what it looks like. Better flow and closer to the surface will make your peltire more effective. Link to comment
foo Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 wetworx101 - I think the flow should be okay, It's hard to see from the pictures but the return pump is right above the iceprobe but if I thought about it a little more I could have moved the probe up an inch, made the fuge an inch wider and mounted the return pump below the chiller giving even better water flow. Another thing for me to remember for next time. But one nice thing about having the hole placement so low is that it should be not too hard to replace the probe with a bulkhead if I wanted to add volume with a sump, that's what I was originally thinking. ralegen - Cool! You already have material for making the form and lots of heavy duty clamps? Post some pictures when you're done. Link to comment
MattGecko Posted November 4, 2003 Author Share Posted November 4, 2003 Canopy is finally done. Ow crap, please disregaurd the white trash tv show. ~L~ Heres the wiring mess. Sump is on hold until the tank gets drilled. Link to comment
el pez Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 LOL nice TV show that hood turned out really nice too Link to comment
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