New Lagoon Started...Finally.

[MrZ2u]

Got an offer last Thurs so I am back on track and with a Dec 4 start date I should, hopefully, be able to finish this project!

Got the ply for the sides this weekend.  I wanted to keep it relatively thin and light so I went with 1/2in.  Since the side panels will be free-floating I needed a way to keep them from bowing.  Running a strip or two of opposing grain should do the trick just fine.  Also decided to ditch the magnet idea and instead am using post brackets.  Corner braces with cut-down framing nails welded into place.  The two strips you see mounted with be surfaced by the ply later.  To remove the panel for service I just lift it up 1.5in and it is free from the posts. 

 

[Justind823]

Congrats on the offer! Love all the work I'm seeing. Looking forward for more progress and seeing that stir station. Keep it up!

[MrZ2u]

Slow progress.  Ways I intended to do it wouldnt work like I thought so I was kinda building the plane while I was flying it on this final stretch.  This afternoon I finished the last of the fabrication...the control shelf 🙂 

Right to left...fuge powerhead, two return pump controllers, the two tank powerheads and the doser.  All cords will go through the mounting wall and be tied together from behind.  Rather than having 6 wall warts I made pigtails for each one and all will run back to a single 25a DC powersupply that will be in the closet behind the aquarium...in fact, the UPS and all open electric connections will be back there.  The removable magnet panels were scrapped for this side.  I figure since these will be accesses a lot that a pair of cabinet doors was in order...not pictured obviously.

Oh, and excuse the Bondo...painting is on the way.  Why Bondo?  Cause Lowes plywood is better than Home Depot but still sucks so lots of wood grain to fill because it just wont sand smooth enough for my taste.

 

From the backside...

 

[mitten_reef]

16 hours ago, MrZ2u said:

Rather than having 6 wall warts I made pigtails for each one and all will run back to a single 25a DC powersupply that will be in the closet behind the aquarium...in fact, the UPS and all open electric connections will be back there. 

Would love to see this workaround when you get a chance

[MrZ2u]

37 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Would love to see this workaround when you get a chance

Here is what I can tell you now...

This is the spot where I am putting this.  Its a strange little space that immediately screamed put an aquarium here.  Had I thought of that I would have had the builder run power to that wall (and behind) but since I didnt, I did it myself.  I got lucky in a way.  The doorbell transformer is on its own circuit with the attic lights so its got practically no load on it and it happened to be directly above this wall so I lopped the end off an extension cord and fished it through the wall and bingo.  I always think of different ways I could have done this or that so for this new tank I am going to use those wall plates you might have seen for speaker wires in a home theater as a pass-through to the closet behind.  In there will be all outlets and last night it occurred to me I could put the RO bottle there as well freeing up a little space under the tank.   

I measured the plug on all the WW's and thankfully they were all the same, 5.5mm outer and 2.1mm inner.  So I bought these rather than soldering up a bunch of raw plugs.
Power Leads

This is the 24v 15a power supply .  Its oversized on amps but that is fine, it lets it run cooler and give me room for more.  I ordered one just like it but in 12v cause the doser and my ATO are 12v. 

These will both be in the closet as I mentioned but I will run a single pair of wires from each to the control shelf where the power will be distributed from the thingy-jigger-bobs in the second link.  That will keep the wiring under the tank as minimal as possible and make for a neater install as well...and possibly safer as well getting ALL the 120v away from the splash zone.

Of course when I get it all wired up I'll take pics to share.

[braaap]

That is gonna be a really good spot for the tank. 

[MrZ2u]

Doing a wet test today and there were two little drip leaks to deal with...one was pretty easy but the other means I have to get a new bulkhead for the overflow cause I dont think there is any getting it out since its glued in.  Also it seems that the flow is a little restricted with two check valves...maybe...gotta play with it a little.  Once all this is resolved it paint and then go time!

Found out that my sock silencers float so they are useless...and unneeded anyway as it turns out.



Socks float too so they each have a pet rock 🙂

[MrZ2u]

Inching along slowly...I know, DUH right.  When did I start this thread?   

 

I MIGHT, maybe, reach my goal of being done by the 1st weekend in March!

I finally got it painted which is totally a major factor that stalled it for at least 6-8 weeks because...

1. I hate painting...like I would almost rather pass a kidney stone than paint.  Ugggg!
2. It was cold, wet, cold, wet...I had limited windows to actually paint and see #1...motivation was nill!

Last night and today I got all the controls mounted and I am mentally running through whats left and its not much...but its tedious stuff.

And its mounted into the stand!  I had to turn the pump controllers 90deg cause in all my measurements, and there were a lot, I failed to account for the hinges on the damn doors and they would hit the controller and the "-" button was obscured.
 

[MrZ2u]

On 12/4/2023 at 7:56 AM, mitten_reef said:

Would love to see this workaround when you get a chance

Pic updates for you...

Backside of the control panel.  All the power pigtails terminated in multiplex terminals...single line from the 24v power supply coming soon.

And the power board will on be the wall in the closet behind the aquarium.  24v/15a top for all pumps and power heads, 10v/15a bottom for doser and ATO...both will run with a single line to the UPS battery side and the heater controller, display and fuge light will plug in the non-battery side. 

The UPS is there to buffer short power outages and should run for at least a couple hours with the very minimal load the pumps and powerheads will put on it...plenty of time to get the generator going for extended outages. 

 

 

 

[MrZ2u]

Its FINALLY up and running...cycling as I type.  Lots of changes and deviations from plans along the way...and some things I really wish I had done different but was too deep in to change.




The right side...dosing station to come later.



I think I am happy with the rock work but there is plenty of time to change it up before any corals go in. Something is blowing the sand off the bottom on the left and I keep trying to adjust that out but no joy yet.





View from the left side with the panel removed.  Note I abandoned those pins I made in posts above in favor of magnets...well back to magnets which was my first idea.  Hindsight?  It would have been better to have the gate valve a lot lower on the plumbing.  Reaching it is a blind proposition from the side and pretty much a nogo from the front.  Originally I thought having this panel be removable would be better for servicing the socks and such but I think thats probably going to evolve into a from-the-front operation.  The balusters make it kinda impractical on the left.

And the full closed view from the left...I need to trim just a hair off the bottom of the left side panel for it to seat flush because that baluster footer is tiny bit taller than expected.