JDowns Red Sea Reefer 525XL Ver. 2.0

JDowns · Mar 27, 2019

This may end up being an over-engineered project. If this doesn't move some water in a 25 gallon container....

Sense of scale.

dantimdad · Mar 27, 2019

JDowns said:
This may end up being an over-engineered project. If this doesn't move some water in a 25 gallon container....

Sense of scale.

Uhm, I think you may have developed the next big thing in wet side/dry side wavemakers!

JDowns · Mar 28, 2019

Well tomorrow will be the initial test but I just can't shake the feeling the motor may not be enough. I know its only 8oz for the magnets and mount. Then the drag on the o-rings in the water is the unknown.

Plan B.

dantimdad · Mar 28, 2019

I think I would go diesel if that doesn't work. More torque and can idle for longer without heat issues.

Just my thinking.

JDowns · Mar 28, 2019

Wellllll... complete overkill on the magnets. The stir bar will hold the motor, mount, and magnets suspended through 1.5" butcher block. The motor does turn without heating up so that's a plus. Max speed is not quite what I'm thinking but its probably enough to do the job. But to be safe I have the 1030 rpm and 2250 rpm models coming tomorrow. Should be a fun test over the weekend,.

dantimdad · Mar 28, 2019

I was wondering if the RPM would be high enough.

JDowns · Mar 28, 2019

dantimdad said:
I was wondering if the RPM would be high enough.

Ya got a little too wrapped up around torque without doing some math first.

JDowns · Mar 28, 2019

Once a week I go back to the office at night to feed the corals and observe any changes under a UV light. Was recommended by a friend to start an Amino dosing regiment to see if coloration would improve. Starting to see some slight changes but not sure if it’s the amino’s or the decrease in peak PAR with an increase in daily PAR by decreasing the ramp up and down times. But starting to see a purplish blue starting to come in on the tips of the Tenius and more orange on other sticks.

Sorry for the crappy phone pics. I’ll have to setup a tripod and shoot some long exposure shots.

JF Homewrecker

WWC Pink Panther

WWC Walt Disney

WWC Culture Shocker

kgk · Mar 29, 2019

This build is incredible. Love all the 3D printing. What printer are you using?

JDowns · Mar 29, 2019

kgk said:
This build is incredible. Love all the 3D printing. What printer are you using?

I use an Ultimaker 3 for printing.

JDowns · Mar 29, 2019

Going to be a slow weekend.

Waiting on the last door, which should be next week.
8020 order arrives Monday.
Storage tanks arrive Monday.
Plumber is out next week to drop a line for the equipment room to move the RODI in there.

Following weekend will be busy though.

LBCobra · Mar 29, 2019

great build... you must be an engineer lol

dantimdad · Mar 29, 2019

JDowns said:
Once a week I go back to the office at night to feed the corals and observe any changes under a UV light. Was recommended by a friend to start an Amino dosing regiment to see if coloration would improve. Starting to see some slight changes but not sure if it’s the amino’s or the decrease in peak PAR with an increase in daily PAR by decreasing the ramp up and down times. But starting to see a purplish blue starting to come in on the tips of the Tenius and more orange on other sticks.

Sorry for the crappy phone pics. I’ll have to setup a tripod and shoot some long exposure shots.

JF Homewrecker

WWC Pink Panther

WWC Walt Disney

WWC Culture Shocker

I need a love button not just like for those pics.

JDowns · Mar 30, 2019

Well the magnets work, and the stir bar works. 1000 rpm is about right but could use a bit more rpm and torque. Time to search for a better motor now that I have a baseline. Quieter is also factor, but it doesn't help that the box is acting like a big microphone.

Quick 5 gallon bucket test at 500 rpm.

dantimdad · Mar 30, 2019

cool!

JDowns · Mar 31, 2019

I’m thinking of a 2.4” amplflow motor at 12v, 4900 rpm, and 250 oz-in stall. Then gear it down with a 3-1 pulley. That should be nice and quiet with a ton of torque and speed. If it works well then may make another for the salt mixing barrel.

dantimdad · Mar 31, 2019

Yeah, a lot less energy than a pump on the mixing station.

JDowns · Mar 31, 2019

dantimdad said:
Yeah, a lot less energy than a pump on the mixing station.

Yes should be very efficient. A 3:1 ratio would put me at just over 1600rpm with over 300 oz-in torque with PE at 9v. A 2:1 ratio would put me at just over 2400rpm with over 350 oz-in torque with PE near 12v. I'm leaning towards the 3:1 due to the initial test with the little motor which was 9v at 500rpm with only 40oz-in torque, and I have to take my hat off to that little guy. Thats a lot of rotational mass for such a small geared motor to deal with. I have a feeling 1600rpm will easily create a vortex in a 50 gallon container all the way to the bottom in no time. If I get crazy I can throw an H-Bridge into the mix and a small BLE controller and make a washing machine out of the darn thing. Now I just need to decide on the gear tooth sizes. I'm certain that I need around 16 teeth on the belt on the small gear so a starting point around 30+ teeth. Trick is going to find gears out there that fit the bill for an 8mm shaft bore.

crusso1993 · Mar 31, 2019

I don't know why I never found your build thread until now but am digging what I've seen, so far. I haven't read the full 8 pages yet but will get through it as soon as I have the time. In the mean time, I'm looking forward to hassling, er, um, following you!