3D Print a pico

[Prozium]

cup test has beed sitting there for about 24 hours and no leaks yet. I'll let it sit there for a day or 2 more, just to be sure. (I might just leave it until the water evaporates... because why not? lol)

cup is 1/4" thick walls/bottom and standard print settings. (nothing special, heh)

...I use a little national geographic heater in my 2.5 sump I believe its 10w works perfect very very small its a set temp tho keeps mine right at 78.2

Yeah, most if not all the small heaters are an always on design it seems. I'm going to use my controller on it because in the mid of summer my room gets rater warm and having a heater on might be too much.

 

[joshbbert]

Ah fair enough az here so ac is on 24/7 im sure that helps with my temp lol

 

[Prozium]

yeah it gets warm with the AC on....150g display with 2x 250w MH and 2x 60" T5, and a higher end gameing PC makes it easily 10-15F hotter then the rest of the house .

 

[joshbbert]

Dude Its still so crazy to me that we use hid lamps over our tanks idk how you guys do it without proper ventilation not to mention staring at a metal halide glow all day id have a seizure lol props to you guys I love those lights

 

[Prozium]

I ordered all I need for this tank except for the lights and glass.

I decided to go with a "Lifegard Aquatics Quiet One Pro Series Aquarium Pump 800" It has flow control on the pump so no need to add a ballvalve , 240gph (probably more then enough), and a good price. I'm going to hook it up with Black Flexible Vinyl Tubing and a Y fitting for easier routing and less flow restriction. I also got the Cobalt Aquatics Mini -Therm 10 Watt , Tunze Silicon Adhesive, and the bulkheads (and all the other plumbing odds and ends.)

I'm not sure what to do for the fuge light, I was thinking maybe just a single LED with passive cooling (it will likely be ran at half or even qurter power) any Ideas?

here is an updated sump shot, It's a little taller and the pump area is slightly bigger to fit the pump. (it's also one piece instead of 3+, lol)

 

[Prozium]

I keep thinking about the lights...
$130+ just for lights on this tank is....out there :/ I'm going to look more and see if I can find a cheaper alternative.

P.S. cup test has be going for a little over a week, and still no leaks.

 

[Prozium]

UPDATE!!

I got sponsored! stevesleds.com Has sponsored me! (I have never been sponsored before!!)

after talking it out with them, we decided to go with...

3-up Tristar - Seperate Wiring - AntiDisco
LED Color #1: Royal Blue
LED Color #2: Neutral White 5,000K
LED Color #3: Royal Blue
3-up Tristar - Separate wiring - Hyper Violet Combo
LED Color #1: Royal Blue
LED Color #2: Neutral White 5,000K
LED Color #3: Hyper Violet 3.0
and
1 Philips Luxeon ES 2,700K Warm White for the refugium/sump area.

Here is the light fixture... so far anyway, I might see if I can move the fan a bit and lower the profile a little.

80mm fan, printed air ducts and a 4" section of heatsink tube.






I also will likely make the case of the fixture black, as I have had some of the orange in my canopy for a few weeks now and it has discolored under the MH and T5's... kind of looks burnt, lol.

now I have to make a place to mount a float switch for the ATO and the flow direction things... might go fancy, or might just be a simple flare nozzle. (As well as all the mounting odds and ends.)

 

[Prozium]

Good news and bad news...
good news: I got more stuff in for the build and the LEDs have shipped!
got the heatsink/fan for the fuge LED. (2 pack was only about $6.60-something cents off E-bay)

bad news: My computer is broken, not sure whats wrong with it ATM I'm still running tests. (after 2 days of it) it's either the motherboard or the CPU...and I'm definitely hoping its the motherboard (still have warranty on that, heh) still that means 1-3 weeks of no working on the model or printing of the parts

 

[Cyclone-G]

I've done quite a bit of work with 3D printed parts. One problem with using them in water is that the micro pores in the part take on water. I've used acetone to vapor hone the parts and seal the pores and that has worked okay. The top on my biopellet reactor was done on a Makerbot and some of my feeding rings were also made that way. So far after 6 months of use the biopellet reactor is still working with that lid. They have Stratasys machines where I work but I'm afraid of the solution used to melt away the support material. That stuff is mighty caustic and a couple of drops would likely kill off everything in my tank. You could paint the parts to seal the pores and it works as long as the paint will hang on. Cool project, I'm really impressed with the whole idea. I can't wait to see your project getting built.

 

[cope413]

Stratasys machines just use a dilute lye solution. Not a big deal to wash before putting into tank

 

[Dropped]

time for CTRL + P ?

 

[joshbbert]

Figure out your pc? Hope it wasn't the processor

 

[Prozium]

Wow, I haven't got any emails for these replies... maybe I wasn't logged in the last time I checked this thread? /: sorry.

I've done quite a bit of work with 3D printed parts. One problem with using them in water is that the micro pores in the part take on water. I've used acetone to vapor hone the parts and seal the pores and that has worked okay. The top on my biopellet reactor was done on a Makerbot and some of my feeding rings were also made that way. So far after 6 months of use the biopellet reactor is still working with that lid. They have Stratasys machines where I work but I'm afraid of the solution used to melt away the support material. That stuff is mighty caustic and a couple of drops would likely kill off everything in my tank. You could paint the parts to seal the pores and it works as long as the paint will hang on. Cool project, I'm really impressed with the whole idea. I can't wait to see your project getting built.

I'll look into it a bit more, thanks for the heads up.

Stratasys machines just use a dilute lye solution. Not a big deal to wash before putting into tank

lye isn't the easiest to get last time I checked, but I'll look into it.

time for CTRL + P ?

Figure out your pc? Hope it wasn't the processor

Unfortunately no, my computer is down. I have sent the motherboard in for RMA (for the 3rd time since I have owned it, *shakes head* I have never had so much trouble with a motherboard in my 14+ years of building computers.) They have received it and I'm just waiting for a response. (I think the SATA controller is malfunctioning/failing)

My laptop (of which I'm on now) is too old to support various things that my modeling program uses visually, making it that much harder for me to see.

 

[Prozium]

Good news, my replacement motherboard is on the way! I should be able to start working on the tank by about Wednesday.

 

[Eckolancer]

Following this

 

[joshbbert]

Good to hear!! Glad it wasnt the processor

 

[Prozium]

Good to hear!! Glad it wasnt the processor

Yeah, you and me both, lol!

 

[jasonandsarah]

Following, Awesome!

 

[Prozium]

I got my replacement motherboard in and it fixed one issue, but reviled that my video card is... dead...sort of. I wont get technical here about it, it simply doesn't work once the drivers are installed.

I have an older video card that's in the computer now (GTX 560 ti) it's enough to work on the model while I wait for the RMA on the video card.

Did I mention while testing the motherboard the sensor in my mouse stopped working?? That replacement shows up Monday.(barely in warranty!) I'll get some work done this weekend most likely.

 

[Prozium]

Well video card number 2 is dead.... I at least figured out why I had so much die on me all at once . My power supply is malfunctioning. I didn't even think about that being the problem, seeing as it's a quality power supply that wasn't being pushed at all. I had my father drive me 40 min one way to get a power supply tester... the video card/PCI-E power port doesn't work. (tried on 3 different power supplies as well as a molex to PCI-E adapter) so I have to go back up and get it replaced. the on-board video might be enough to do the modeling, so I plan to swap the malfunctioning power supply with a spare power supply I have (not enough to run a dedicated video card).