Hop's 300 gallon in-wall build - Page 2

Hop · #26 09/27/2007, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FishTruck
OK, I have reviewed your plans a second time and have some questions.

Do you have enough room to work in your sump and fuge, which are below the table top? Not to answer my own question.. but I suppose it is no worse than the usual sump below the tank situation.

If you were building this in a totally unfinished basement, with a stream path along the floor to a drain, would you enclose it in four walls?

Is this to keep kids out? To isolate humidity and heat? To separate it from finished basement? All of the above?

Did you use that panasonic inline duct fan? I just ordered one that seems to match your specifications.

Finally, your nasty looking duct... did you clean it? What is your ventillation path? Is it two ducts to the fan (one from the tank and one from the wetroom), then to the outside. Or, two fans and totally parallel systems?

Thanks!

Yes, there should be plenty of room to work on the sump/fuge. the design changed since that drawing and I will be using my 125 as the sump after I get it torn out of the wall. Ten years have left it pretty scratched so I've elected not to use it as a display anymore.

If I was building it in a basement, then yes I still would enclose it. It keeps the humidity down in the rest of the house, allows for less electrical consumption to keep it cool/warm and vent it properly and it allows me to hide from the wife/kids/dogs

Oh and it keeps things quieter!

I was going to use a pan fan, but found this 1.2 sones broan and elected to give it a whirl. Something to keep in mind is that the room was designed for a much larger system volume than I am going to run, but I'm keeping the same principals. One of the biggest ones is to isolate the wetroom and headspace above the tank, from the rest of the house. Both areas will induct and vent air to the outside to keep humidity in the house down and not pull warm/cool air from the house.

And the vent was neglected then

At the time I had one exhaust fan. On this build there will be one exhaust in the wetroom, one fresh air intake and a AC unit next summer. The rooms stays nice and comfy all year long until you fire up the equipment. In the summer the room temp exceeds 80...

Now over the tank I will have one 4" fan hooked to each of the mh hoods which vents outside and one larger intake fan to induce fresh air. These will all be on temp sensors when finished. Initially, I'll just run them on timers.

derrikd · #27 09/27/2007, 09:26 PM

wow, looking good

Hop · #28 09/27/2007, 10:27 PM

Thank you derrikd!

Hop · #29 09/27/2007, 10:40 PM

I thought I would quickly add the flow ideas. Right now I will be running an eheim 1262 for the return. I'm shooting for mid to high 700gph for the return from the sump, so just over 3 times the display volume.

As far as inside the display, I'm going to be running a panworld ps200 for now because I have one

I may upgrade to a dart later on, but I think that the pressure rated pump here is the way to go based on the 44 (22 per side) 1/4" holes in the rock support structure, along with 4 1/2" loklines. So in theory I'll have about 1700gph or so through the closed loop.

Last will be a set of three korila 4s that I have lying around. Eventually I would like to replace these with two vortecs on wireless controllers and battery backups.

So all-in-all, I'm looking at a total of about 31 times turn over for now.

The aquascape I'm leaning toward is two rock flats on an outcropping. The goal is to present the formations via lighting rather than light the tank. The goal is hopefully a break from the norm if things work the way I want them to. I may have to figure out some additional lighting schemes in the future to round out my goal and bring my vision to light.

Other than that, I'm shooting for a BB philosophy, but with a SB, much like steve weast's tank. Hopefully I can manage the same success with over skimming and waste removal, rather than waste processing. I'll still have a fuge and stuff, but only until I see if my filtration goals are attainable.

This will be an add it as I go set up, so Ca reactors and such will be down the road a hair. So far I have been able to keep parameters stable and within range via Randy's 2 part and Kalk, so we'll see how that goes

bleedingthought · #30 09/27/2007, 11:01 PM

Hop, this is simply fantastic so far! It's almost like a Mac commercial, and I'm a PC user!

Love the white look of the room. Makes it look very soft and cool and clean, of course!

About how long did it take you to refinish it and get it to where it is now?

And what were the specialty PVC fittings that you used for the CL outputs?

Hop · #31 09/27/2007, 11:05 PM

bleedingthought: Thanks bud! I guess I have about 200 hours into the wetroom from the tear down til now. It would have taken longer, but the perfectionist in me calmed down when the 800 was not going to happen.

The specialty fittings were just things I couldn't get here in cow country. I needed 90s that were mpt on one end and slip on the other and lokline

Internet only here for those parts.

bleedingthought · #32 09/27/2007, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hop
bleedingthought: Thanks bud! I guess I have about 200 hours into the wetroom from the tear down til now. It would have taken longer, but the perfectionist in me calmed down when the 800 was not going to happen.

The specialty fittings were just things I couldn't get here in cow country. I needed 90s that were mpt on one end and slip on the other and lokline Internet only here for those parts.

Really looking forward to this thread flourishing and can't wait for more development and pictures!

Hop · #33 09/27/2007, 11:16 PM

Well Tuesday morning I'll get up and slam my head into the wall three or four times wondering what I'm doing... Then I'll drain the 125, get the critters and rock in vessels, tear the old stand out of the wall, build the new one, add venting and aquatile the walls. Then I'll try to get four of my strongest friends over to help get the new tank in the wall. Then I'll add all the livestock back in and add about 40 gallons of water and hope everything lives. Wednesday I'll cut glass for the baffles and get the sump going. try to button everything up for three days and hopefully have it fully operational except lighting next weekend. I'll have to run a pc strip over the tank until I get new bulbs ordered and the light rack made.

So if I can find time to take pics, the thread should go pretty quick next week

If I don't have a mental breakdown in the middle

kwaters · #34 09/27/2007, 11:40 PM

Welcome back and welcome home Hop! I've missed you as I am sure others have as well....glad to see things are coming up roses again!

I have already subscribed to this thread!

Kris

Hop · #35 09/27/2007, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kwaters
Welcome back and welcome home Hop! I've missed you as I am sure others have as well....glad to see things are coming up roses again!

I have already subscribed to this thread!

Kris

Thanks for the warm welcome back Kris

I've been lurking at my subscribed threads, but have not posted much in the past six months or so. I'm not sure they are roses, but I have been fortunate enough to upgrade and use what I still had from before!

I look forward to having you around the ol' thread once things really take off...

crvz · #36 09/28/2007, 08:06 AM

Hey Hop, I'll surely be monitoring you over here too! Maybe I missed it, as there are a lot of words thrown together rather quickly (I'm more of picture book kind of guy), but what are you livestock goals? Clearly, you've got the hardware/logistics well in hand, but whos living in there? (and I've already got a pair of ocellaris named Beaker and Bunson, so no copying there)

JTEAGUE · #37 09/28/2007, 08:40 AM

Hop, This is great man I love all the picks you've added. I knew you had been working on a LITTLE something but had no idea it was this exciting. I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting till next weekend to see what Hop is going to do! Be careful moving the tank I'd hate to see you on the couch eating pills again!

Hop · #38 09/28/2007, 08:57 AM

CRVZ: Hey! Busted again

It's a really good question! As far as critters, my naso, fox face, coral beauty, mandarin, six chromis a few shrimp, crabs and star fish. As far as corals, I'm really torn. I'm thinking that I'm going to replace a few of my favorite lps that died after the 450 tear down and vermetid invasion and add a pair of clowns with a nice anemone. Never had one before. I guess I'm going to have to find some new names though

The rest of the coral will have to wait a while. I have to decide which way this tank is goign t go.

Jteague:

Thanks bud! And I threw my back out moving the 370 in the truck a few weeks ago... No more pill eating! Please!!!

FishTruck · #39 09/28/2007, 10:59 AM

.:

Quote:

Hop, this is simply fantastic so far! It's almost like a Mac commercial, and I'm a PC user!

Seriously, I am thowing my current plans for a wetroom in the trash. And then burning them.

Hop... not sure what part of the country you live in, but, venting the air in from outside... how do you plan to deal with extremes of cold? It seems, even with thermostat controls, you system may end up in a pickle where it can't ventillate because the temperature drops too quickly. Or, perhaps you have speed controls on your in-line fan?

Ryan

snslarison · #40 09/28/2007, 11:26 AM

Amazing! What a set up!

steve the plumb · #41 09/28/2007, 03:35 PM

hey hop nice to see you are back into the swing of things.How is your knee doing?I forget to ask.The tank looks nice.I am glad you didn't give up and are still in the hobby.It will be nice to see some critters in the tank.

Hop · #42 09/28/2007, 04:24 PM

Ryan: Playing with this from past experiences, I have not noted much of an issue between the cooler winters and warmer summers with the ventilation. It really only changes how long the fans are on to reach the desired setpoint. I just have the tolerance set on the AC Jr(upgrading to a III someday), so that it allows time in between the fans kicking on and off rapidly. With the headspace sealed from the home, it can sit at 100% humidity and not effect anything, but when the tank temp hits point X, the fans come on to cool the tank via venting the headspace. The next line of defense is the controlling of temp in the wetroom. the final, but have yet to be needed line of defense is the chiller

Thank you snslarison!

steve the plumb: Thanks steve... The knee is horrible, but at least it's still mine. Hurts, pops and grinds... So a lot like before the surgery! Hopefully I'll have some critters in there for you next week!

steve the plumb · #43 09/28/2007, 05:02 PM

The injections aren't working for you I see.I like the set up its nice and clean.Mine doesn't look as neat.I wasn't worried about my sump looking clean.I was looking at simple ,easy to get to and works.I spent a fortune on my controller.It looks nice and I think it will come in handy.I do think that I will need a chiller as well.I don't want to have to rely on my portable A/C unit.I will more than likely use it in the summer months but a chiller will make me worry less.I still would like to have a European A/C unit like the one I have upstairs.It looks nicer plus it will stay in the room all year round.Maybe I will get one I will see.I have spent enough money on this tank.

Hop · #44 09/28/2007, 11:56 PM

Steve: The injections seem to make it bearable, but not great. I still can't run and lifting any significant weight results in swelling... But what can you do? Too much playing when I was young! Being as winter is here, I would see if the tamps are controllable with the controller and fans, then go from there

A few more days and I should have some more pics worth posting. I'm working on getting about 100 gallons of extra water together, just in case

steve the plumb · #45 09/29/2007, 08:43 AM

Nice.Its been very warm here for this time of year.It was 29 degrees celcius the last week.Today its gotten colder its dropped 10 degrees but who knows it rained yesterday.The weather has been very warm so its given me a chance to see how hot the tank gets.MY tank is 78 degrees no heater no lights.Kind of scary.My tank is fully covered so I think once the lights come in I will have to uncover part of the tank and get a chiller.I will still use my A/C in the summer but I think having a chiller as a back up plan might be a good idea.

Hop · #46 09/29/2007, 01:04 PM

Steve. My 450 ran ambient at about 77 degrees. I never needed a chiller, although I did add fans over the sump and fuge in the summer. If I could have controlled the temp of the wetroom easier at the time, I would not have needed the fans. That is the point on this build. Temps hit 107ish here in the summer and I don't have an AC, just a swamp cooler, which keeps the house comfortable. Usually under 78 in the house.

We'll see how it works, as I mentioned I'm planning for a chiller, but I may not need one. I think the plans on this one are adequate

Hop · #47 09/29/2007, 01:28 PM

Just to add a few old critter pics of what will be going into the tank:

Hop · #48 09/29/2007, 09:01 PM

I got confirmation on friends for the tank swap on Tuesday

Got about 100 gallons of extra SW made up. Just waiting for Tuesday morning now!

Toddrtrex · #49 09/29/2007, 09:36 PM

Good luck with it Hop

kwaters · #50 09/29/2007, 10:07 PM

Good luck with the clowns and the anemone...I bought a beautiful green BTA and it promptly wound up (literally) in the Hydor...twice. The second time caused its untimely demise. I think with your big tank, that won't be a concern...but in my 55 gallon and no way to really cover the PHs...

I doubt I will venture down that road again.

Kris