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#201
06/15/2004, 07:16 PM
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#202
06/15/2004, 07:21 PM
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#204
06/15/2004, 07:30 PM
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It sounds like you have your setup well planned. I'm not sure how many Amps are required with all of your equipment but for most tanks I think 2 15 Amp and 2 20 Amp circuits should be more than enough. I'm a huge fan of "overkill". It's always better to be safe than sorry and to do it right the first time. Good luck with your setup. 
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#205
06/18/2004, 02:28 AM
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Well, another busy week deserves another update.
I have made a lot more progress on the tank room this week. The first part of the week was spent on the drywall. First insulation was added to help with sound dampening. Then the green board was installed on the inside and outside of the tank room. After the green board was installed the cutouts were drilled for all of the electrical panels. The next step was a 3-day process of applying mud letting and letting it dry 3 consecutive days. The mud was then sanded down smooth and an oil based primer was applied to the green board inside the tank room. The product I used was made by Zinser. The outside of the tank room was primed with a water based primer. After allowing the primer to dry for 24 hours I painted the inside of the tank room with an oil based white enamel. The product was made by Dutch Boy. I chose to go with oil based in the tank room for durability and water resistance. The concrete walls inside the tank room were painted with a 1 part epoxy garage floor paint made by Behr. This is the same paint I have used in all of my canopies and I've found that it is very durable. Here are some pics.        
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#206
06/18/2004, 02:32 AM
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Before I can move the tank in I still needed to cut some boards for the stand. I needed one board that would go on the top of the stand for the tank to sit on. This board will help distribute the weight of the tank along the whole stand. Then I needed a board for the bottom of the stand for the sump and equipment to sit on. Finally, I needed a board for the top of the clam tank stand. I used 3/4" treated plywood for all of the boards. They were cut to size and then primed with an exterior oil based primer made by Dutch Boy. After allowing the primer to dry for 24 hours I added a coat of oil based paint made by Rust-O-Leum. After the first coat dried I applied another coat for extra durability.
   Of course, not everything could go smoothly as planned. It wasn't until after all the paint had dried that I realized I forgot to make cutouts for the overflow drains on the stand board.  So I had to make the cutouts, prime them, and apply two coats of paint allowing 24 hours of dry time in between. I guess I should be thankful that I noticed this before I went to set the tank on the stand. 
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#207
06/18/2004, 02:48 AM
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Santa Claus also decided to bring me an early Christmas present this week. I went to pick it up and it was just a big box. It weighs 500 lbs. so it must be full of coal. Woop-te-doo, Santa screwed me again.
 I might as well open it up and see what is inside.    Dad taking a look. If it wasn't for him this project wouldn't have been possible. He welded the stands and did a lot of work in the tank room.   Mom lending a helping hand. 
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#208
06/18/2004, 02:52 AM
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Well, I guess Santa was good to me this year. He delivered my new 280 gallon tank.
   Here is a shot looking into the tank from above. Notice the overflow cover I had made to keep light out of the overflow box which will keep nuisance algae from growing in there and possible restricting the flow to the drains.  And my fiance posing with her new competition for attention.  
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#209
06/18/2004, 04:11 AM
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Looking very good indeed!
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#210
06/18/2004, 04:52 AM
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12 is a good number !
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JOHN boy |
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#211
06/18/2004, 05:29 AM
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Travis - LOL looks like you have bee BUSY!!! 500total pounds for that crate...that tank can't be THAT heavy then. can't wait till sunday so i can help out getting it in place. the pics were good and thanks for sharing. funny how you post the fiancee w/ her NEW COMPETITION FOR ATTENTION...very funny...but pretty much true
keep me updated if we are still doing this sunday evening....and how long you think it will take?? later buddy Lunchbucket
__________________
Trying to lose weight by walking is like trying to bake a cake w/ a cigarette lighter - Lunchbucket - "Nancy-Boy Extraordinaire" - maxxII- |
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#212
06/18/2004, 12:30 PM
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Lunchbucket, the only things left that HAVE to be done before the tank is moved in is tile around inside of tank opening, paint the tank room floor, and silicone rubber baseboards to the walls along the tank room floor. Should be able to get the tile and floor painted to day FOR SURE and maybe the rubber baseboards. If not I'll do the baseboards tomorrow morning. So it looks like we can move it in Saturday, but no promises.
I'll call you tomorrow if I am ready to do it tomorrow. Can you get calls on your cell while you are at work? I did make a boo-boo. The stand is still at my parents' house and now the tank is sitting on the only truck I have access to. I'm not sure how well the stand will fit in the back of my SUV. Well... if there's a will there's a way.
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#213
06/19/2004, 07:14 PM
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Travis, great work and well thought out. Just read all 9 pages of the thread awesome!
I'm tagging along just in time, you and lunchbucket should be installing the tank today. Keep up the good work and don't forget the eye candy, can't wait!
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#214
06/20/2004, 06:31 PM
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hey come on now where are the move in pics....since we got in in A-OK!!!!
i SERIOUSLY want a big tank like that now!! Lunchbucket
__________________
Trying to lose weight by walking is like trying to bake a cake w/ a cigarette lighter - Lunchbucket - "Nancy-Boy Extraordinaire" - maxxII- |
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#215
06/21/2004, 04:19 AM
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welcome gab !!
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JOHN boy |
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#216
06/21/2004, 12:36 PM
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#217
06/21/2004, 12:40 PM
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 I'll get those pics up soon. I was at the house until 3am last night. I finished up the electrical and then started plumbing. I was plumbing for about 5 hours and ended up getting really sick, dizzy, etc. from all the glue so it was time to go home and go to bed. BTW, thanks again for the help. I really appreciate it. And I'm glad you were on my end of the tank. I felt pretty secure knowing that I could probably stop holding the tank and you could handle that end on your own. 
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#218
06/21/2004, 03:39 PM
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Things went well the last few days. I got the tank room floor painted. I used a 2-part epoxy paint by Rust-O-Leum. I am very pleased with the results. The paint was easy to use and looks very nice.
 I got all of the GFCI outlets wired and installed. It was a long and tedious process but it will be well worth it if one of them should trip if I'm not home. The first picture shows the outlets installed under the stand. As you can see, I was a little off on my calculations as the back top right and left gussets block off the tops of the farthest outlets. This isn't too big of a deal as I will only have one item plugged into each outlet.   The next few pictures shows how I wired each outlet. This wiring configuration allows each GFCI to be independent from the rest of the circuit. This way if one GFCI should trip, all other GFCI's on the same circuit will still have electrical current. This could possibly save the tank from a disaster some day down the road. If I'm not home and one of the GFCI's trips, all of the other outlets will still be on. Since I will only have one piece of equipment plugged into each GFCI, all of the other pieces of equipment would keep running. From what I've noticed, most people don't want to install this many outlets for their tank. What happens is they end up having many pieces of equipment plugged into a single GFCI. If that GFCI should trip, all of the equipment plugged into it would stop working until the GFCI was reset. This could be devastating if the tank owner is on vacation. The first picture shows how the wiring is "pigtailed". If the outlet is at the end of the circuit you just wire the receptacle normally. However, when it is in the middle of the circuit, the wires need to be pigtailed to isolate the receptacle from the rest of the circuit. In each outlet box, which is in the middle of the circuit, there will be a cord that goes to the receptacle and a cord that goes on to the next receptacle. You take the hot, neutral, and ground wires of each cord, along with another short piece of wire and attach them with a wire nut. You then attach the short piece of wire to the receptacle.   
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#219
06/21/2004, 03:44 PM
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The tank was moved in on Sunday. We moved the stand in the night before which acted as a test run because the stand is the same width as the tank. I thought I had measured everything and there would be plenty of room but I was wrong. One of the doorway openings in the basement was the exact same size as the width of the stand so it was too tight of a squeeze. This was even after I had already removed the door frame. We ended up having to cut out some of the wall to increase the width of the doorway.
  Other than the complications posed by the doorway, everything else went flawlessly. The only thing we were concerned about with the tank was getting it down the stairs. The stairs to the basement are long and steep. Because the wall and doorways were only slightly wider than the tank, the same two people would have to stay on the same ends of the tank through the entire move. This meant that going down the stairs, there would only be 2 people at the bottom of the tank that would have to keep the tank from coming down too fast. To help alleviate this problem we constructed a sled for the tank to sit on.  On one end of the sled you can see one of the 2x4's was mounted on top of the sled. This is the end that would be at the bottom going down the stairs. This 2x4 would act as a stop to keep the tank from sliding off the sled. The sled actually came in hand for every part of the move. It allowed easy leverage for holding the weight of the tank. It also allowed us to slide the tank along the carpet once we got it down to the basement. The first part of the move consisted of getting the tank off of the truck bed and onto the ground where we then set the sled next to the tank. This allowed us to tip the tank on its back. By moving the tank on it's back it put the front of the tank on the top. If anything was going to get scratched during the move this would allow the top front of the tank to be the safest.     The tank was then first moved into the breezeway. The breezeway was barely large enough to all enough room for the people on each end of the tank to slide the tank over and align it to go into the house. Once in the house it was a straight shot down the stairs and into the basement. It was actually really easy getting the tank down the stairs and wasn't that heavy for the people on the bottom end. The difficult part was at the bottom when the tank couldn't slide anymore and it had to be eased down each of the remaining steps.   
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#220
06/21/2004, 03:49 PM
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Once the tank was in the basement it was easy to maneuver because of the sled. When we got it in the last room before the tank room we tipped the tank back upright and carried it onto the stand without the sled. Then came the long anticipated unwrapping ceremony.
       
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#221
06/21/2004, 03:57 PM
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ahh i remember that well!!!
nice pics of my goofy butt i'm the bald one incase you guys/gals didn't know yeah Travis i would have had it if you would have slipped. i WASN"T letting that tank fall for ANYTHING. i would have gotten a broken bone from diving under the tank to save it!! it is B-E-A-UTIFUL! Travis- found out who was killing the shimp...my bicolor pseudochromis...little butt head. hasn't killed any of these two but is eyeing them!! i am ordering an aquacontroller and giving the bro-in-law my dual temp controller and pH monitor. he doesn't need an aquacontroller and it is cheaper for me to do it this way...sort of paying myself for doing and the curing, planning, ordering, and sump building and plumbing!! might need you help setting it all up or suggestions!! later Lunchbucket
__________________
Trying to lose weight by walking is like trying to bake a cake w/ a cigarette lighter - Lunchbucket - "Nancy-Boy Extraordinaire" - maxxII- |
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#222
06/21/2004, 04:16 PM
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Man I hate it when I take the time to get a post ready and when I click "submit reply" it tells me I have to many image tags. Then when I click back everything has been deleted.
 During the unwrapping some of the shims slid out from under the stand and almost caused a couple heart attacks.  Fortunately, nothing major happened. The stand was shimmed up better and the tank was repositioned. After it was unwrapped we slid it into its final position. Time to climb inside and unwrap the rest.      Finally, my baby is home. Not a single scratch during the whole move. Much thanks to Lunchbucket, my dad, and Brian for helping move the tank. Also, to my mom for supervising and my fiance for taking the pictures. It really is amazing how small pictures make the tank look. 
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#223
06/21/2004, 04:21 PM
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Once the tank was moved onto the stand Lunchbucket noticed that I had forgotten to drill holes through the plywood for the bulkheads on the bottom of the tank. Oops.
 One trip to Menards and a little drilling later and wallah...  I used a 3.5" hole saw to drill from the bottom of the plywood. Only a couple small scratches to the bottom of the tank. Here are some shots of the tank in the tank room.    
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#224
06/21/2004, 04:29 PM
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looks amazing!
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#225
06/21/2004, 04:29 PM
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  And with the bottom board for the stand in place.  Here are some pictures of the tiling that was done inside the tank opening. Some more decorative bronze tiles are on order which will go around the outside of the opening to complete the trim.   The tile was installed having it rest 1/4" over the back side of the opening. Moulding was then installed butted up against the tile. This allowed a good surface for the tank to butt up against. It also helps to dampen the sound better between the tank room and the viewing room. Already, the only sound you can hear from within the tank room is that which makes it around the open doorways. Once the doors are installed and the tank is sealed against the opening, the room should be very close to soundproof for the noise levels that will be in it. 
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