RFBF's Five Footer

[redfishbluefish]

Equipment Cabinet Installed


Wow Kevin, you weren't kidding! What a long day. I started at 7AM and didn't stop until around 10PM. The installation isn't finished, but I am! I just wished I had a Scotch to sip on while I type this.

Began the day by moving furniture and getting everything staged. Thought about those things I could disconnect and leave disconnected with minimal impact on the tank. So the first things I did were to plug all light fixtures into a power strip....directly into the wall, with now all lights ON. All these wires were moved to behind the canopy, out of the way where the cabinet was going.

Next was the MP10 power supply and controller. This powerhead is in my sump, and that would be receiving enough flow from the return pump circulation, so not a problem pulling it. Here's where I hit my first glitch. I had planned the power supply holder I built on a spare MP40 unit I had. I just assumed an Ecotech power supply, is an Ecotech power supply, is an Ecotech power supply. Well, I was wrong, but at first I thought, "no big deal." The MP10 power supply had it's feed wire offset, while the design of the holder had all feed line holes perfectly centered.....just like the power supply from the MP40 spare. I figured an easy fix, I'll just drill another hole slightly off to the side....done. I went to check the MP40 power supplies, which wasn't an easy feat, considering they were buried in the wire mess behind the equipment wall. Anyway, I reached behind and pulled one out, and here's were I now had a bigger problem. Not only was the wire offset, they were considerably bigger. So Ecotech obviously sourced different power supplies over the years. So out came the nice little holder I made to house all the power supplies. Here are three different power supplies....the one on the left is what was used to build the holder (an MP40 power supply, circa 2009), the middle one is from my MP10, and the one on the right is the current MP40 power supplies.




The next to be disconnected were the dosing pumps and containers. The first pump doesn't dose until 1AM, so no problem removing these for the day. Then the upper Reefkeeper came out. The only thing still connected to this were the ATO system and the pump for the carbon/gfo. This RK was mounted into the new cabinet.

And finally the tank was shut down and the second Reefkeeper was pulled off, with a simple sendoff and farewell to the temporary equipment board. Good riddance!




I started a stopwatch because I wanted to know how long the tank would be shut down. The stand was slid into place at about 1:30-2:00PM.....a lot later than I ever would have guessed. It took 55 minutes for me to restore powerheads and return pump, and another 10 minutes to get the ReefKeeper Expansion outlet installed and heat back on. The tank had dropped 8/10 of a degree to 77.2F. Since function was restored, I now started from the top of the cabinet and worked down.

Light power strips installed, with the power supplies for the Vortechs (without the organizer.) I will be doing another organizer to accommodate the larger units.....that wasn't expected. This will all be unseen, all hidden behind a false wall.




Next was the middle section....the guts of the electronics. I pulled all remaining plugs over from the stand and plugged everything in were it belonged. I eventually want to label everything with the p-touch when I have a chance, to make it look pretty.




Two little glitches with this middle section. The wire for the MP40 needed a little cutout to get to the back side of the board. You can see the little hook shaped hole above. The second was the wire for the pH probe was rigid coming out of the connector....couldn't be bent....and hitting the shelf. This fix was to cut a grove in the shelf to accommondate the stiff wire. It's hard to see, but there is a grove there for the pH wire.




By the way, the Belly of the Beast turned out perfect. That drop-down space was enough to clear the support beam in the stand. This shot is taken in the stand of the open space for the wires to easily get into the cabinet.




I will say that the wires in the Belly of the Beast are a mangled mess. I was hoping to have it well organized, but I was in a rush to get everything plugged in, and before you knew it, spaghetti. When I have time, I'd like to go back and straighten this up.

The bottom portion of the cabinet was easy.....dosing pumps and containers....done!




Amoungst all this caos, the UPS guy dropped off the Atman skimmer pump around 7PM. I got that put back together and found that the float switch/relay in the skimmate container wasn't working. I can only guess when the Atman shorted out, it fried the relay/float switch. I didn't want to chance a "new" skimmer with a skimmate container without the insurance of it turning off if it begins to puck. So I disconnected the container from the skimmer, and plugged off that tube. If it goes nuts, it will simply overflow the collection cup and go back into the sump. Not sure what I'll be doing about this relay/float switch thing....something for tomorrow.

And finally, here's were I am right now with this cabinet:







I'm still not finished. Need to do a little trim work and make the doors. WIth the false wall in the upper portion, and the light that shines through the fan cover from the canopy, I was thinking of putting a glass panel in that door frame. Got to give that additional thought. Or, maybe I can finally hang the now rusting plaque I recieved from MACNA that my wife never let me hang anywhere in the house. See'd never know it's behind that door! It's been collecting dust (and rust) in the fishroom closet since 2009.




I think I'm punch-drunk....I'm going to bed!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Yet Another Vortech Power Holder


After yesterday, sort of a laid back day today. Put the furniture back, cleaned up, and did a couple small things on the cabinet. Cut the grove for the pH wire a bit deeper....and while I had the shelf out, took a picture of the inside of the Belly of the Beast.....spaghetti....I really didn't want it to look like that. Need to work on that.




I also reworked the Vortech power supply holder to accommodate the fatter two units. What I simply did was cut off one of the original holders, and built two new ones, and attached them to the three original small ones. Also increased the slot in the bottom to accept either centered wires or off-set wires.








You'll notice two open slots.....never know when I'll need to add yet another Vortech. Now the one thing I didn't do was to find out the size of the QD power supplies. Maybe I'll just have to build a third holder.


FLOAT SWITCH FOR SKIMMATE CONTAINER

The Atman skimmer pump that totally shorted out (blew the 15 Amp fuse in the PC 8), also cooked the float switch and relay that was used as the "kill" switch for the skimmate container. Although I have an extra JBJ ATO, which could be used, I decided to just rebuild the relay/float switch.....for less than five bucks. Ordered up a new relay from Amazon for $3.54.

And a float switch from eBay for $1.00 (actually ordered 5 of these....can never have enough float switches)

The only problem with the float switches is that I'll have to wait forever, considering they are on a slow boat from China.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Tidbits


I started working on the doors for the cabinet today, played with the skimmer pump and impellers. and started sanding the stand in anticipation of painting that flat black.

I made the final decision on the door for the upper part of the cabinet. I simply screwed the door parts together (pocket screws, with no glue) without a panel.....also no glass or plexi, as mentioned above. That top part of the stand will be use to display something....and match the open panel in the stand. Here's what is in there now....a glass fish eating a blow fish.




When I got the new Atman pump a two days ago, I put it in the skimmer as is....that is, with the stock needle impeller. I wasn't crazy about the skimmate being produced, so I opened up the pump and went to put in the mesh wheel impeller




What I noticed was the magnet on the mesh wheel was noticably smaller. We'll have to see if this changes anything.




I also started preparing the stand for a new paint job. Pulled the doors off and spend an hour or so sanding them. Didn't realize how bad of a shape they were in. The one door on the skimmer end of the sump had the paint peeling off on the inside......I'm guessing from salt splashing. I reprimed that inside door panel.

 

[redfishbluefish]

So I've been sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for a new 3/16 router bit to come in to finish the doors for the equipment cabinet. I couldn't find the bit I had (probably borrowed and never returned) and ended up ordering one from a company that works at a snails pace. {No more lending out tools!!! So don't ask!!!} The company is right here in Brooklyn, NY....maybe 15-20 miles as the crow flies. Took them a week to print a label!!!! It's now stuck in the pit of the USPS system in Kearney NJ. I can't begin to tell you how many items I've purchased that have never come out of the Black hole in Kearney. I know I've lost two, 200 gallon salt boxes in Kearney, two separate times. Who knows if and when it will emerge from that Black Hole.

So out of frustration I looked at other projects I could start. The one thing that's been bothering me is the ugly look of my ATO reservior. It's a water bottle on a five gallon bucket.....and it sits just to the right of the tank.

What I want to build is a three sided cabinet with a similar simple design of my stand with the two panels. I started this project today by laying out the base, which will have casters to ease in pulling this out to replace the water jug. It looks simple, but I'll bet I spent 1 1/2 hours laying it out.







Tomorrow I'm off to HD to pick up more 3 inch stock to make the panels....and then stuck again waiting for this router bit. Back to twiddling my thumbs!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Router bit finally arrived and I rough finished the ATO Reservoir cabinet. It's a simple three sided cabinet with casters on the bottom to easily pull the cabinet out to put on a new water bottle. The woodwork actually sits about a quarter inch off the floor to allow the casters to roll. Here's the cabinet with screw holes just filled with wood filler. Tomorrow I'll sand and prime.








I'm now working on some sort of indicator that will let me know when the water bottle is empty. Not sure what I'll be doing....still kicking that one around.

 

[redfishbluefish]

My ugly ATO water bottle reservoir is finally covered. Just finished painting the cabinet, and here it is. Now I get to look at that ugly radiator and that lovely green paint!

 

[bknapp]

Nice! I like all the engenuity. Need to see the tank itself a little more though.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Thanks @bknapp . What tank?



I finally got around to finishing up the equipment cabinet by finishing the doors. The doors have no hinges. They are attached by having two dowels on the lower portion of the door that fit into holes on the faceframe.




On the top part of each door, centered on the inside portion of the door frame, is a Neo magnet that was epoxy glued into a depression. This aligns with another Neo magnet that is epoxy glued into a wood flange piece (I call it a Mickey Mouse ear).





Here is the finished cabinet.




The upper door was intentionally build without the panel. It is lit by spillover light from the canopy.....the fan hole in the side of the canopy. This area will be used to display stuff. Here's two examples.







Still need to do a couple little things to totally finish....run new tubing lines for the dosing pumps; trim molding installed; repaint stand and canopy flat black to match equipment cabinet.

 

[kschweer]

Great work Paul!!!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Thanks Kevin. Finally!!!!!! On some other site I posted this to-do list in November 2010!

1. Build cabinet for left side of tank.
2. Build canopy.
3. Finish base cabinet with molding
4. Install external pump for skimmer

So it only took me about 5 1/2 years to finally finish item #1.....did I hear someone say procrastination?

Item 2 is done
Item 3 still needs to be done
and Item 4....I no longer have an external skimmer, although the last sump change I did drill the sump to accept an external pump.

By the way, here's what the tank looked like back then (this is also posted on page one of this thread):

 

[chefjpaul]

Wow!
This is nicely done.
Always love your DIY tips & tricks, deserves a book onto it's own.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Thank you @chefjpaul , you're too kind.

I have to thank others who have done similar posts, because that's were I get my inspiration and ideas. I just hope that some folks find information in my posts to inspire their DIY projects.

 

[redfishbluefish]

So here's the whole package....equipment cabinet and ATO reservoir cabinet done!

 

[kschweer]

Wow that all came together nicely!

 

[redfishbluefish]

I documented my return pump woes HERE, were I did something stupid. I just wanted to document the replacement of that pump, old-four-screws, with a new MAG 9.5. This way I know when the new one went in. Can't complain because old four screws lasted over eight years.




Being a back-up fanatic, I also picked up another new MAG 9.5....so I'm all set for another eight plus years!

I think I'll get six new HD stainless screws and then use this pump to empty water off the pool cover. It still has some life left in her! Prior to this I've been using a MAG 7 to empty the pool cover.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Skimmate Container Float Switches

With the skimmer pump shorting out and cooking the old float switch in the skimmate container, a new float switch and relay were installed. I documented this DIY HERE. The new float switch has a secondary backup, unlike the original.





ATO Reservoir Low Water Indicator

This is a work in progress...but very simple. Since building the three sided box to cover the ATO reservoir container, I needed a way to know when the water bottle was empty, and needed to be changed. Before the cover was made, I simply could see that the bottle was empty. I've picked up a horizontal float switch and plan on simply attaching this to an LED and wall wart to let me know when the bottle is empty. The one concern I had was whether or not the float switch would be water tight up against the curve of the bucket it's going in to. Here I'm simply testing that it sits flush before drill the actual bucket. Looks good!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Skimmate Container Float Switches Finished

The last piece arrived today.....wall transformer....and the float switch cutoff was put back into service for the skimmate container. It amazed me how lazy I've become with all the automation on the tank. For the last month I had to empty my skimmer cup every couple days. (Do you feel sorry for me?) I'd become spoiled with the skimmate container. Well, I'm back in business now, so I can sit back and relax.

Here's the relay project box (lower right) in comparison to the skimmer pump plug outlet. The skimmate container is through that opening just below the relay.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Since building a cover for my ATO reservoir (posts 64, 65 and 66 above), I can no longer see the water bottle, and therefore I don't know when it is in need of another bottle of water.




Here is my simple solution.....and I'll include detail for those who wish to do something similar.

I had ordered a horizontal float switch from eBay HERE, for $1.78, and tested to make sure it would seal on the curve of the five gallon bucket (post #76 above). This float switch was mounted in the lower bucket reservoir.




The wires to the float switch were run to the equipment cabinet. A hole was drilled in the stand between the two ReefKeeper head units. An inexpensive bipin LED (Amazon buy of 60 LEDs for $3.75 HERE), was first mounted to a dowel with groves for the wire leads.




I already had a wall wart in a shoe box full of old wall warts from electronics that have since long been pitched. I used a 2.9 V wall wart, since the LED was listed as a 3 - 3.2 volt LED.

So now, when the water drops below the level of the float switch, the LED will light up letting me know I need to put a new bottle on the reservoir.




Life is good!

 

[redfishbluefish]

So I've come to the realization that my apparent procrastination, in part, is due to my over thinking solutions....and wanting all parts of the solution to be as DIY as I could make it.....Oh, and costing close to nothing. This became clear in the above project of the water reservoir warning light in wanting to cover the back side of the LED. I wanted to make my own cover, and actually played with a couple different choices.....a black plastic pole top cover....a small spice container....and the measuring cup to our laundry detergent. I actually had other things under consideration, but these are the three that were tested. But here's where the time went....this whole process of identifying things as potential covers, and then testing them, took about a week.




The pole cover was too small, and the spice cover, although threaded, the top needed to be epoxy glued into a depression. So I went with the detergent cup. The hole saw kerf (groove) allowed a snug fit of the cup....no glue or other attachments were needed to hold the cup in place. A hole was drilled in the middle of the cup to accept the wires.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Per request, here's the very simple wiring diagram. What is important with this wiring is that the LED has a specific positive side and negative side. If it is not wired correctly, it will not light. I just so happen to run the positive wire over to the float switch. I could have easily run the negative wire over to the float switch as well, just as long as with the LED, the positive wire went to the positive side of the LED.

With this particular LED, the longer of the two leads was the positive side. I didn't know this at first and simply determined this by first identifying the positive wire on the wall transformer and alternating the two wires from the transformer to the LED until the LED lit up. Now I knew what side was positive.

I also soldered every connection. With most I use shrink tubing to cover up the bare wires. In the case were I used a wire nut, I still soldered the wires first and then covered with the wire nut.




Again, a very simple wiring diagram.

FYI, my out-of-pocket cost of doing this little LED project was the $1.78 for the float switch and, I ran out of shrink tubing....so $1.97 for another package of shrink tubing. That's it! I got the LED from my future son-in-law (for nothing....well, it cost me a daughter - ), and I had the wall transformer from a small electric screwdriver that was trashed years ago.