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Unread 03/29/2018, 10:01 AM   #26
Sisterlimonpot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crusty Old Shellback View Post
Hey Jimmy,
Found your build thread. As usual, your going all in. I see you've taken time to plan it all out. Things are looking good.

So whens the estimated "WET" date?
Hello Ray,

Good to hear from you. I haven't given much thought to when the tank will start to fill with water. I think because it's so far down the road that I don't want to even think about it... There's so many unknown variables, but if you twist my arm, I would say another 2 months. Somewhere around July, right when we have to close up all the doors and windows and start pumping air conditioning.

Maybe next time you're up this way in Tonopah you can come see it for yourself...


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Unread 03/29/2018, 12:47 PM   #27
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Hiding the Apex cables in the wall takes this to a new level of build. I’m glad you’re planning ahead a little with extra cables you don’t have a need for immediately.

Have you considered running a conduit of some sort to the various corners of the room? Something you could fish data cables through in the future as needed?

I ended up just using cable raceway outside of the walls because the design changed 10 times before I was done. This is a far cleaner install.


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Unread 03/29/2018, 07:27 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by halmus View Post
Hiding the Apex cables in the wall takes this to a new level of build. I’m glad you’re planning ahead a little with extra cables you don’t have a need for immediately.

Have you considered running a conduit of some sort to the various corners of the room? Something you could fish data cables through in the future as needed?

I ended up just using cable raceway outside of the walls because the design changed 10 times before I was done. This is a far cleaner install.
Where was this idea 2 weeks ago????

I did think about it and ruled out that idea because as much as it seems like I have hard fast plans on where everything is going to go, I don't. Usually I wouldn't be able to tell you what is going where a week from now, but when it's 7 days later I can tell you my exact plan, and that's bound to change many times in the course of the day. So running conduit at specific end points would have limited me to those points.

Looking back on what I did and how much wire I snaked through the wall, I would definitely lean towards the using conduit. Although, if I really wanted to, I can find those data cables anywhere in the wall and tap into them from that location, if it was conduit I couldn't do that. 6 of one, half dozen of the other....


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Unread 03/30/2018, 05:40 PM   #29
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Not much to report, although I think you'll get a laugh at my expense. (read on)

I wanted to get the exhaust fan installed





Taped all the holes and seems




Stabbed it in the ceiling


Duct work


put 2 holes ei destroyed the house


Stucco patch


Painted


all that's left is to put the drywall pieces back in place


We chose this particular fan because it uses a DC motor which equated to lower electric costs and it's rated at 0.6 sones meaning that it's quieter than a high end refrigerator. In fact if you're ever in the market for a new exhaust fan I would urge you to consider this one. Here's a video



Apparently the bearings that hold the motor shaft isn't align properly. So, I put in a phone call to the manufacturer and explained to them that the fan didn't meet my standards of quiet, I proceeded to explain to him the problem and he wanted me to email him a video (luckily I already made one for RC) but I couldn't send it to him while on the phone, so he wanted me to hold the phone to the fan and ~maybe he'll be able to hear it. He also added that with these newer phones, he may not be able to hear it. because the phones microphone can pick up all sorts of ambient surrounding noises. I played along, "Ok, I'll close the door and be extremely quiet"

Well, long story short they're sending out a replacement, I just have to wait a little longer to check this part off the list. Hope you got a laugh at that...


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Unread 04/02/2018, 09:15 PM   #30
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Next step in the process is that I'm running water lines in the wall, three 1/4" lines will go to the tank (ATO reservoir, auto water change in, and out), the other side of the lines will be over on the wall with the RODI.

I thought about this for a while, I wanted to use 1/4" quick disconnect couplers and attach them to a wall plate only having a small portion of the coupler protruding through the wall, the rest would be behind the wall. I ran this idea through a buddy of mine in california, he's a reefer as well but on another level than I. If he said "yay" I would proceed. However his concerns were pretty much mine as well, having a plastic water line connection behind the wall was recipe for disaster. I've never seen one of these fail or leak, but put it behind a wall and it will, and i'll never know until it's too late. So I had to put the quick disconnect coupling on the outside of the wall plate. Not what I wanted but form has to follow function.

I have a laser cutter that can pretty much cut any shape from up to 1/2" acrylic, I planned out my cuts on the CAD program and sent it to the laser.



The entire purpose of what I'm making is to be able to clamp the tubes and hold them secure to the wall plate, preventing the tubes from sliding out or further back into the wall.
All the pieces cut,



Adhere these pieces together with weldon 4



Ran a tap through the appropriate holes



Starting to come together





Front side



Ran the tubes through and tighten the clamp to prevent it from backing out



Drilled the holes in the wally plate to match the clamping system



Trimmed the hose




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Unread 04/02/2018, 09:16 PM   #31
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and attached the couplers



Now it's ready for to be connected to the tank.



I have to do this to 3 other locations and one that fan comes in, I can start drywalling.


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Unread 04/03/2018, 06:45 AM   #32
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Maybe consider putting the water lines below the electric outlets??

I actually have had one of them fail on me. It was a 3/8" push fitting and the end of it just blew out of the housing completely. Luckily I was home and could hear the water spraying all over my utility room when I came downstairs. Everyone I told was surprised at the failure but it definitely DOES happen so good on you for not putting those IN the wall.


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Unread 04/03/2018, 09:04 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McPuff View Post
Maybe consider putting the water lines below the electric outlets??

I actually have had one of them fail on me. It was a 3/8" push fitting and the end of it just blew out of the housing completely. Luckily I was home and could hear the water spraying all over my utility room when I came downstairs. Everyone I told was surprised at the failure but it definitely DOES happen so good on you for not putting those IN the wall.
Thankfully, none of these lines are going to be pressurized, I don't think I would run that type of line in the wall if it were pressurized.

My concern isn't having that power outlet under those lines. Its hard ingredients the tank right above it... hehe


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Unread 04/04/2018, 04:07 PM   #34
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I've been doing a lot of tedious work, tidy'd up all the wires, temporarily plugged in all the apex equipment and made sure all the connections worked, spray foamed all the holes to outside, Insulated around all the plumbing in hopes to muffle the sound of water flow, it dampened it a little bit but it's still a bit loud.

I wanted to cover up the beam that ran on the floor with concrete. Non of this is ideal, I wish I didn't have to put a step there but it's the best idea I had for covering it up. I will be tiling the floor and the tank will sit over the step anyway. I will have to create a custom stand to work around this.... oh well, what's more work???









When it comes to concrete, I'm a novice at best.

A started a punch list of things that I need to do before I can start hanging drywall, out of the 11 things on the list I have 8 done... 3 more to go and I can drywall, then tile, then turn my attention to all things a normal tank build would have. Hopefully all this ground work will pay off during that part.


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Unread 04/04/2018, 04:08 PM   #35
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Oh, and good news, the new fan came in and it is pretty silent.


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Unread 04/05/2018, 08:04 AM   #36
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What kind of exhaust fan did you buy? I assume it is triggered by a humidity set point?


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Unread 04/05/2018, 08:18 AM   #37
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Itis a delta breeze SLM80, and yes triggered by your normal run of the mill humidity switch.


I was looking at some more sophisticated ones with better controls but I came back down off that cloud and decided once it's set, I don't have to mess with it. I would however like to have a display in the room that will tell me temperature and humidity.


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Unread 04/05/2018, 10:15 AM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McPuff View Post
What kind of exhaust fan did you buy? I assume it is triggered by a humidity set point?
What's a good humidity level for an equipment room? How often to you think this will kick on?


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Unread 04/05/2018, 01:34 PM   #39
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Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot View Post
What's a good humidity level for an equipment room? How often to you think this will kick on?
Gosh, I was hoping you'd tell me! :0)

I asked because I'm thinking of adding a fan to my utility room. I've used a mobile de-humidifier thus far but it's cumbersome, loud, and probably takes a ton of energy. I've already got a vent I could use for a fan, so I might as well add one. I'll check out the one you've listed. Thanks!


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Unread 04/05/2018, 04:35 PM   #40
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From my limited research, I read that 20-40% is ideal for the whole house. That's a safe level to prevent mold growth and not too dry for people comfort. So I set it to 30%, just because it's in between.

The reason why I asked the question is because I have to figure out where to put my portable ac unit if the fan was going to be on constantly I dont want to place the ac under it. But if it's only going to be on periodically then its feasible to do so. The ideal place to put it is in the corner right under the fan, although it has a long enough exhaust hose that I can stretch it further away.

As for that exhaust fan, I'm satisfied with it, it's not completely silent, but I quite certain that once everything in the room is running you won't hear it. The good thing about it is that it uses a brushless CD motor which equates to low electrical cost.


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Unread 04/05/2018, 09:32 PM   #41
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Today was a slow day, I ran some errands in the morning then I went and met a local reefer Sawcjack00, he's in the beginning stages of a new tank as well and it was a treat to see the start of something awesome! Here's his tank build thread, he has a lot of top of the line equipment... I'm extremely jealous!!

So what did I do after that???

When I bought the sound deadening insulation for around the plumbing, I had enough to do the wall around the tank... It was exactly enough!!



The goal is not to hear anything from the living room side of the tank, hopefully it does.

and I also brought in the drywall... Again I went with 5/8" drywall to help with sound deadening.



I'm still waiting on a few things before I can completely close up the walls, but I can do about 90% of it tomorrow.... Getting closer!!!


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Unread 04/05/2018, 09:46 PM   #42
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I don't know how many people are actually reading this, but I have a dilemma. This tank will not be accessible from outside the tank, meaning I can't poke around above or below the tank, all maintenance, feeding, cleaning will be done from behind the tank. This means that I can't paint the back of the tank like I normally would.

I don't want to be able to see through the tank into the equipment room... How do I create the illusion that there's a back to the tank but easily removed to conduct maintenance. Any suggestions to help solve this predicament would be greatly appreciated.


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Unread 04/06/2018, 04:53 AM   #43
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i found a sheet of lite pvc like material at a sign shop .it was 1/8 to 3/16 thick very light weight i bent a few strips with a heat gun and glued them to the sheet and hung it on back of the tank . the material was flat black .your build is looking great .


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Unread 04/06/2018, 06:42 AM   #44
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You don't want to have any access in the front of the tank? I think you may be too worried about sound deadening... if you have a full siphon overflow then the noise is so minimal, especially since your sump is in the basement. That's where all the noise will be. My tank is not in a wall but with the full siphon overflow I can hardly hear anything when I'm right next to the tank. The utility room is just on the other side of the wall (pipes run through wall) and if I have the door closed it's super quiet. My point is that even if you put an access panel (which I do suggest), it'll still be super quiet even with a cooling fan and overflow.


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Unread 04/06/2018, 10:30 AM   #45
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Check out copps 1300 gallon build in the sps section. He uses kydex for maintenance and its black. He just cycles through them every so often.

Btw depending on the size of the room and where its located the humistat will most likely run all the time at 30%. I'd play with it but my guess is you'd be better closer to 40%ish.


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Unread 04/06/2018, 10:32 AM   #46
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The kydex is on page 4


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Unread 04/06/2018, 01:23 PM   #47
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I've heard of people using window tinting. You can't see through from the front, but with lights on the tank you can see in from the fish room.


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Unread 04/07/2018, 10:28 AM   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McPuff View Post
You don't want to have any access in the front of the tank? I think you may be too worried about sound deadening... if you have a full siphon overflow then the noise is so minimal, especially since your sump is in the basement. That's where all the noise will be. My tank is not in a wall but with the full siphon overflow I can hardly hear anything when I'm right next to the tank. The utility room is just on the other side of the wall (pipes run through wall) and if I have the door closed it's super quiet. My point is that even if you put an access panel (which I do suggest), it'll still be super quiet even with a cooling fan and overflow.
Ahh yes, I wasn't worried about water noise, I am more concerned with the humming of pumps and motors.

For aesthetics, my wife and I had many conversations about how the front of the tank should look and one of the things that we came to an agreement on was that there wouldn't be any doors on the front side of the tank. Yes definitely a challenge when maintenance is considered, at the time I though that doing it all from behind wasn't going to be an issue. The ship has sailed when it comes to accessing the tank from the front, now I have engineer my way out of this problem.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fishguy597 View Post
Check out copps 1300 gallon build in the sps section. He uses kydex for maintenance and its black. He just cycles through them every so often.

The kydex is on page 4
Yes, I saw that and I love that idea. Being able to only see the inhabitants rather than the life support is a great implementation of that material, however it seems that there's a lot of real estate that is lost from the curve of the kydex, and for what I would need it for, I would be disturbing the tank more often than not just for maintenance.


Quote:
Originally Posted by fishguy597 View Post
Btw depending on the size of the room and where its located the humistat will most likely run all the time at 30%. I'd play with it but my guess is you'd be better closer to 40%ish.
Thank you, I was hoping for testimony from someone with humidistat experience. Do you run yours at 40%? if so what's the atmosphere feel like when you enter the room does it feel muggy?

Based on your comment and from what I read, I can easily start at 40% and dial it in as I go along.

Quote:
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I've heard of people using window tinting. You can't see through from the front, but with lights on the tank you can see in from the fish room.
Now that'd something worth looking into. get the illusion of black walls but visible from the back side. I'd like to see pictures of this, of course it would be better to see it and or hear first hand knowledge of how it works.


McPuff,
I see that you inquired about this in earlier thread, did you ever do it?


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Unread 04/07/2018, 03:46 PM   #49
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Jimmy,
The way copps explained the the kydex is basically like cutting drywall. Measure the sides, score it with a razorblade, snap it, and you have clean edges. He only mentions bowing it to get around his colonies. He also uses magnets to keep in place. Once I have my 400 going I'm going to try it out.

As far as the exhaust fan , no I do not use one. However I'm a service fitter that's been doing commercial/industrial HVAC for 20 years. I have seen people trying to use exhaust fans for temp/ humidity in computer rooms and typically it doesn't work well. I'd say the average humidity controlled rooms are around 35%. How big is the area you are trying to exhaust? And where is the stat located?


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Unread 04/07/2018, 04:03 PM   #50
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Is your ceiling is still open? By looking at your pics I'd guess those are two 3 ton condensers sitting outside. You could run a return duct in the space and use what you have for dehum. Living in Az I bet those things run a lot through the year. Then you could use the ex fan as a second stage.


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