+Hydro Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Good luck with everything, I hope that you are right. Short answer is that I put the voertechs all over the tank in many different configurations and it didn't work for me and the advice I offered you on pumps isn't just based only on my tank, my entire business revolves around moving water, we sell pumps of all sizes with every one of our systems. Anyways I'll just tag along instead, sounds like you got it figured out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Like I said, I really do appreciate all the help, pointers, and tips, and recommendations. I'll definitely keep you all in the loop, and if you see anything else you think I should change, please pipe on up. And hey, if I'm wrong on the pumps, then I hereby give you full permission to start a thread titled "I told you so..." LOL :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Aw man I would never do that, I wish you the best. I hope you didn't take my posts the wrong way, I'm really excited about your build and really looking forward to it. I spend most of the day helping my customers and employees sizing equipment so naturally I want to just jump in here and try to help. Difference is that most of my customers aren't half as smart as you lol. If I sounded condescending I REALLY didn't mean it that way. I'm bad at that sometimes. On your power, I had an idea if it helps. With 12/3 you can actually change that to 220v....running 120v on each leg and using the nuetral for the ground. This is actually completely safe to do and this would give you 40 amps total. An electrician can turn that one plug in to 2 plug with a seperate circuit for each plug. You would leave the black wire on the breaker, add another 20 amp breaker and attach the white wire. BTW thank you very much for your service, that's pretty cool to say the least. I bet you got some stories to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 No worries, man, I really do appreciate all your help and information, and I really hope you don't think I was just blowing off your suggestions and help. As far as the electric, that's pretty much the plan, just a matter of finding out how much it's going to cost. And hey, whenever I can get out there to check out your tank I'll tell you some of the good ones. Well, the good unclassified ones, at least... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 All good man! I reread your post about the electricity....you already had it figured it out lol. This is exactly the way I hooked up my first tank. Do you have an electrician already scheduled? If you are looking around I know some honest guys there in austin that I used to hire back in my construction days, they would treat you right. I doubt it would cost more than $150 to do that. The company name is putman electric, and I got the guys cell number if you want to try them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Yeah, that'd be great if you could drop me a line with his cell number. I generally prefer to use a guy if someone else I know has used them before and can recommend them. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 AJ good talking with you today, I think that you are as obsessed with reefing as much as I am lol. You defintely aren't going in to this blind, you have probably done as much research as you can possibly do. You will be a really good asset to the club and I'm looking forward to your build updates. Too bad the electrician I recommended to you moved to Dallas yesterday, bad timing I guess. The guys he recommended I'm sure will work out fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Yeah, it really was good talking to you earlier, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting out there and checking out your tank in person. And yeah, that was a bummer that he'd moved. Did you ever find out why? I tried calling him back again since he never called back with any recommendations, but just got his voicemail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 So, it might not be much (yet) but it's a start. We cleaned and primed the room today (this pic was after the first coat of Kilz primer). Tomorrow we'll paint the room with Valspar Kitchen and Bath, then on Monday I've got a couple of electricians coming out to give me quotes on doing the electrical. I've already installed the dimmer switch for the room, and the track lighting (with LED bulbs) is waiting in the garage for when the painting is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) And now with the first coats of paint and the LED light fixture... Interesting to compare it to the original rendering: Edited February 6, 2012 by fjr_wertheimber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Yeah, it really was good talking to you earlier, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting out there and checking out your tank in person. And yeah, that was a bummer that he'd moved. Did you ever find out why? I tried calling him back again since he never called back with any recommendations, but just got his voicemail. This is the company he works for, the owners name is Tim and this is his cell # Putman Electrical Services (512) 751-0340 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 That room looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thanks for the heads up, Steven! And thanks, Bige, we're pretty thrilled with how it's turning out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Crickey those renderings are good! For a tank this epic you might want to consider setting up an automatic water changer like I have for mine. Check out my thread in the tank builds forum for more info/pics. I figure you'll have to have a bunch of water on hand anyway, so you might as well hook it up to a LiterMeter. Save having to do all those big water changes and risk spilling water on that soon to be beautiful room! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Thanks, Aaarrrggg... :-) I thought about doing an auto water changer, but I'm a big fan of vacuuming up the sand bed, plus the problem is the tank isn't situated in such a place that I could really make it happen without serious feats of engineering (read: $$$$). Speaking of which, I've gotten a bunch of quotes on the electrical work, and so far I'm actually looking at about a quarter of what I projected for the cost of bringing in two fresh 20 amp circuits into the room. So, looks like I'll have three dedicated 20 amp circuits into the fish room (not counting the separate 15 amp circuit the LED room spotlights are on). Oh, and speaking of improvements in the room, looks like rather than doing the industrial laminated flooring, we'll actually be going with a pressed tile that looks like oak, that way it's impervious to water in case of a spill. The other stuff is fine, I found, if you spill on it directly, but if it gets below the floor surface to the bottom layer of the laminate then it just dissolves, which I think we can all agree is something bad to happen to your flooring. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Don't count the water changer out just because of distance, I almost did, but the LiterMeter can pull some serious water! Mine goes about 45' -and that's including up and over pretty high doorway. (I believe 60' is mentioned in the manual... maybe more...) The pipes are the same 1/4" ones you use on RO/DI machines, so it's all very discrete and cheap. The expensive bits are the SpectraPure pumps, but compared to the general cost of equipment it's pretty good really. I do know what you mean about being able to vacuum though! Still I wanted to make sure you weren't put off solely by the distance. It's surprising what these pumps can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Thanks for the heads up, Aaarrrggg. :-) I'll definitely keep you posted if we decide to add that to the system... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Okay, so here's the planned setup of the LED lighting for the tank. It will be built in a curve over the tank so as to mimic the natural change of lighting angles throughout the day, and allow gradual ramping up/down across the overall fixture for more gradual lighting changes. Well, that's the plan, at least. LOL The layout: The breakdown: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woods Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 AJ, I think you will like the 2:1 ratio. That is what I did and I really like the color. Looks like you are addressing the 1 thing I didn't and that is the Reds and Greens. Good luck on your build! Looks like it is well planned out and going to be beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJones Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Your led fixture looks really good. I might consider raising the number of RB and lower the number of blues. Too much blue gives a windex look. Additionally, I might considering adding in some true voilets around 420nm. Your mix indicates you have done a research, but if you have not seen this thread, it is really good. The last 10 pages are very good. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394 Additionally, you have the same spread in the shallow and deep ends of the tank. I might consider adding in some more on the deep end. Also, the 4" spacing is kind of wide and may lead to some color banding issues near the top. I might put them in small pods of three or four to give a bit less banding. What drivers are you planning on using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Boy, I thought hooking-up my VHO ballast/bulbs was intimidating and confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Yeah, Jason, the spread is the same deep to shallow, but you'll notice that the degree of the optics changes with the changing depth, not only for further penetration, but to increase spread of the light and mitigate spotlighting or color banding. You'll also notice that the arrangement of LEDs ensures the same RB, B, W arrangement whether top to bottom or diagonally, this should help mitigate color banding as well by ensuring equal distribution of colors. Having said that, I may take a look at perhaps building them into 3-LED pods, kind of similar to the setup the AI and EcoTech lights are setup... We'll see. It's going to be a while before I get a chance to start soldering, so (as with all things on a design this big and involved) it's subject to change. Hell, look at the flooring; we've changed our choices on that about 5 times in the past few days... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Thanks, Woods! pbnj, wait'll you see the wiring diagram I'm working on... YIKES... LOL For those of you asking what I mean by curving the LEDs, here's what I'm referring to. The LEDs will be mounted on strips (as denoted by the spreadsheet diagram above) that are on a curve over the tank, so that all the LEDs are equidistant from the center of the tank. This way, as the LEDs following their ramp up/ramp down schedule, the light will appear to come from a light source (i.e.- the sun) passing overhead throughout the course of the day, rather than from a fixed position. Or, at least that's the plan. LOL Edited February 9, 2012 by fjr_wertheimber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 this is going to be EPIC. I said it, but we are all thinking it as we follow along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Thanks, cMidd. I certainly hope so! LOL Really, the realization of the whole dream of the mega-über-tank is thanks to Wendy. She's the accountant in the family (literally, she used to do legal accounting) and she gave me the go-ahead (and $) to make it all happen. Most women barely tolerate their guy's fish tank; mine finances it! LOL Yup, you can all start hating me now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.