CustomAquariumBx Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Now that that ugly cycle is clearing up I can post some pics of how the tank is going. 5 Quote Link to comment
Spiderguardnano Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 wow amazing! questions: how many GPH is your duel overflow rated at? 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 wow amazing! questions: how many GPH is your duel overflow rated at? Thanks! I'm not really sure I've only cranked up the DC 5500 about halfway so far due to some serious sandstorms and it was nowhere near overflowing. They're just simply two 1" bulkheads with screens on them. So I guess I could do a Google search on how much gph a 1" bulkhead can handle and guesstimate. Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Water change reservoir waiting to be filled with fresh saltwater. Here you can see the skimmer doing it's thing and the Wye to the float valve with the ATO line on the left and the Saltwater line on the right. 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Can't wait to see how it's going to look with a gen3 radion pro. The lil chromis is playing peek a boo! 3 Quote Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Love this build!!! Can u explain your water changing system? 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Love this build!!! Can u explain your water changing system?Sure! I'll be using the apex controller to switch on and off three solenoid valves. 1-ATO fresh water valve 2-water change fresh saltwater valve 3-sump drain valve (pumps out old SW) The two reservoirs will be gravity fed down to an eshopps float valve and the solenoid valves will control what water enters the float valve. On a weekly schedule I'll have the apex control small water changes. It should work something like this.....hopefully lol Step 1: ATO valve closes (stops flow from freshwater reservoir) Step 2: sump drain solenoid valve opens for a set amount of time. Not sure how long yet (Drains tank saltwater into a sewer drain nearby) Step 3: sump drain solenoid valve closes, WC reservoir solenoid opens and fresh saltwater flows through float valve and fills sump back to the water level that it was before draining. Step 4: WC reservoir valve closes after a preset time, not sure time yet. ATO reservoir valve opens and stays open to do it's job controlling evaporation. There are float switches involved but used only for: ATO reservoir level low WC reservoir level low Sump level high It's going to take me some time to get the programming and timing right but I think it should be relatively safe thanks to the apex. 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 Had a problem with the skimmer today, it shut down for a feed cycle and would not restart. Not even when plugged directly into a wall outlet. So I ended up taking the ESHOPPS S-120 cone off of my 10g quarantine tank. Hopefully it just needs a good cleaning, and it will restart consistently. Quote Link to comment
hey Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 This thing is so damn trippy, elegance meets science or something like that, keep it up man love the build. 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 This thing is so damn trippy, elegance meets science or something like that, keep it up man love the build. Thanks hey! Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Ok now I have the S-120 skimmer on the cube, and my temps are rising steadily, I think the pump is going bad and heating up the water. Damn!! Should I go with a new pump, or just get a whole new skimmer? Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment
hey Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Ok now I have the S-120 skimmer on the cube, and my temps are rising steadily, I think the pump is going bad and heating up the water. Damn!! Should I go with a new pump, or just get a whole new skimmer? Any suggestions? Try unplugging the airline on your other skimmer and blowing in it really hard before start up. Read this as a problem to some swc skimmers. 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Try unplugging the airline on your other skimmer and blowing in it really hard before start up. Read this as a problem to some swc skimmers. I have it on the qt tank for now, it's too much of a pain to get out of the other sump if it acts up again so if it happens on the qt tank I'll definitely try that! Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Ok so.....I've been working on getting my 12v solenoids to control the auto water change system with the apex for the last two days. It's been kicking my @$$!! LOL I'll explain..... Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 I realized that using 3 of my eb-8 plug outlets to turn on and off the 12v dc adapters was kind of a waste of perfectly good usable outlets. And buying another dc8 is a lil pricey! So I wondered if I could use the 4 variable speed ports to some how control the solenoids.....this is where it gets all sorts of confuzzling! The max Voltage out from the Var ports is 10v dc which is used normally for controlling leds or tunze's. That's not enough juice to activate the solenoids! So I decided to use a relay to control the 12v from the dc adapter. So this is how it starts 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 The apex uses rj45 cable(Ethernet cable) to control it's variable speed. One cable controls Vs1 with pins 3 and 4, and Vs2 pins 7 and 8. So I butchered an Ethernet cable and quickly found the wires I'd need. Wired up the relay and the solenoid........ and like an anxious kid went onto the apex and actuated Vs1, the strangest thing happened! The relay actuated and then started to just click uncontrollably and the solenoid valve didn't open! Huh??? Lol Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Confused, disappointed, and a little frustrated I decided to sleep on it. Went to work and then I remembered relays have a coil that when activated creates a magnetic field which closes the contacts and allows the current you're trying to control to flow through to the load, which in my case is a solenoid. Hmmmmm so why's it going crazy??? Well solenoids have a coil inside of them too, and when they're activated they create a mag field as well causing a spike of current to head back to the relay, causing induced voltage to cycle the relay on and off in a loop! (Non scientific explanation) lol so I had to use diodes across the relays coil and across the solenoids coil to neutralize this spike of current. and sure enough it works!!! Lol I can now control up to 4 solenoids through the variable speed ports of the Apex controller! Wooohoooo!! Saved myself spending $160 on another eb-8! Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Lol that's what I was thinking! Hope I explained it easy to understand though. Quote Link to comment
Arkayology Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Lol that's what I was thinking! Hope I explained it easy to understand though. This is why I hope I am afford to pay someone else to go electrical work for me lol. I am completely useless with it. I'm glad you figured it out though! 2 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 This is why I hope I am afford to pay someone else to go electrical work for me lol. I am completely useless with it. I'm glad you figured it out though! Lol yea I hope so too! You should learn electrical basics you'd be surprised how useful it can be. It's really not all that bad. Well if u need any help I'd be happy to help, not that I'm all that good myself. Quote Link to comment
hey Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Slick idea using a diode to keep the current from backflowing. I saw the thread title and was expecting to see a solenoid jammed in open position or something disasterous. I think 90% of what I replaced at work were solenoids attached to 3-4 way valves. Usually from condensation inside the water proof housing no less. 1 Quote Link to comment
CustomAquariumBx Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Slick idea using a diode to keep the current from backflowing. I saw the thread title and was expecting to see a solenoid jammed in open position or something disasterous. I think 90% of what I replaced at work were solenoids attached to 3-4 way valves. Usually from condensation inside the water proof housing no less. Kinda ironic that the moisture from condensation would damage them inside of the water proof housings Quote Link to comment
hey Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Kinda ironic that the moisture from condensation would damage them inside of the water proof housings Yeh it was, and then there were the ones that were just placed by morons and would get splashed on atleast once a machine cycle by coolant. I've seen far worse come of direct water contact with electronics though lol. 1 Quote Link to comment
RK_tek Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Tank/stand look incredible. Good job 1 Quote Link to comment
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