Meredith's 180 In-wall happy place

[melypr1985]

Find someone the is in the HAVC biz they are much less.

I'll check around. I believe we have an hvac person on his side of the family.. if not, I might know a guy. We'll see what we see.

 

[melypr1985]

Update time!
I did a little shopping and a little rescuing today! I ordered a titanium heater for the tank today. It's 500 watt so I'm going to put in in the tank without a controller to be sure that it alone can't cook the tank. If all is well, then I'll buy another and they will be controlled by the APEX. The tank started at 72 degrees so we shall see where it ends up at. For those of you who don't know, this type of heater doesn't have a thermostat and can't control itself without an external controller and temp probe. Most companies that make these will sell a controller with the heater. The controller for this model apparently sucks, so I opted to just get the heater itself -I"m told that the heater is a fine product- and let my apex do the hard work. ( We used to use these on our commercial accounts, but stopped when the controllers proved to be faulty over and over again.

Then, I had a project to complete outside behind the shop. While I was back there I saw several water storage containers (one being 300 gallons) and a few of those large square plastic bins that you see sometimes. Sitting in the leaves and dirt were two smaller containers that might, just maybe, be perfect for my mixing station!! I got those suckers for free too! I'm going to clean them up tomorrow and see how many gallons they hold. I'm really hoping for at least 25 gallons each!! My perfect container would be 50 gallons, but I may have to settle for these free ones until I can get the ones I really want. No real loss for me since they were free They are old and look pretty gross, but they are solid and should hold water.

Last but not least, I found some frozen shrimp in the freezer that were suffering from serious freezer burn. I chipped on off the cube and tossed it in the tank! That was on Monday. I tested today and found ammonia and nitrite already! I do plan on using actual ammonia to cycle a little harder than the shrimp will allow, but I just couldn't resist.

 

[justingraham]

Can't wait to see what the heater does as I want one as well but refuse to buy the controller

 

[melypr1985]

Can't wait to see what the heater does as I want one as well but refuse to buy the controller

I"ll be sure to let ya know. I've got a glass thermometer in there so take the measurements for what they are worth. I figure it will give us a good idea of what's going on at least. I'm checking it every so often tonight and will be sure to check before i go to bed. I'll post up what the temp ends up being with just one.

 

[Ljaus]

Pretty sweet score with the old drums. Freebies for the win!

 

[justingraham]

Thanks and say what u want but every tank should have a glass thermometer in it they are what 99 cents and are pretty accurate

 

[melypr1985]

Pretty sweet score with the old drums. Freebies for the win!

For sure! Couple those with the pump I got for 10 bucks and I might be able to do my mixing station for less than $20! that would be a hoot! I doubt it, but it's something to hope for. Maybe I'll do one with this stuff for now and use it to learn and decide how to make a better one.

Thanks and say what u want but every tank should have a glass thermometer in it they are what 99 cents and are pretty accurate

Right!?! I have a ton of them laying around. The only bad thing is the little suction cups on them get stiff and stop working pretty quick, every time. Then they are just floating around knocking into the glass all the time.

 

[justingraham]

For sure! Couple those with the pump I got for 10 bucks and I might be able to do my mixing station for less than $20! that would be a hoot! I doubt it, but it's something to hope for. Maybe I'll do one with this stuff for now and use it to learn and decide how to make a better one.



Right!?! I have a ton of them laying around. The only bad thing is the little suction cups on them get stiff and stop working pretty quick, every time. Then they are just floating around knocking into the glass all the time.

Zip ties or in ur over flow now that u will have access to it from the rear.

 

[melypr1985]

Zip ties or in ur over flow now that u will have access to it from the rear.

Now there's an idea! I'm going to do that

 

[melypr1985]

The temp in the tank this morning is 80 degrees. It seems that this one heater alone will be enough to heat the tank without needing another heater to back it up. I was hoping to do two heaters, but the good news is, so far this one hasn't boiled the tank all on it's own. I'll continue to monitor the temp in the tank, especially since the heater in the house is on overdrive with the temp drop outside.

Speaking of temp drops... it's suddenly really cold outside so playing in the water and cleaning out those tubs may have to wait until the weekend when it's supposed to warm up again.

 

[Brew12]

The temp in the tank this morning is 80 degrees. It seems that this one heater alone will be enough to heat the tank without needing another heater to back it up. I was hoping to do two heaters, but the good news is, so far this one hasn't boiled the tank all on it's own. I'll continue to monitor the temp in the tank, especially since the heater in the house is on overdrive with the temp drop outside.

Speaking of temp drops... it's suddenly really cold outside so playing in the water and cleaning out those tubs may have to wait until the weekend when it's supposed to warm up again.

I would be surprised if your single heater couldn't boil your tank. A single 300w heater is more than enough to hold temp in my tank 10F+ above air temp with around 150g total water volume.

 

[melypr1985]

I would be surprised if your single heater couldn't boil your tank. A single 300w heater is more than enough to hold temp in my tank 10F+ above air temp with around 150g total water volume.

And that's why I'm running this test now while there's no livestock in there. I wanna know for sure what it can do wide open without a controller. My biggest problem was that I wasn't sure how many watts I needed for a heater on this big of a tank. I've never had larger than a 90 before this.

 

[Brew12]

And that's why I'm running this test now while there's no livestock in there. I wanna know for sure what it can do wide open without a controller. My biggest problem was that I wasn't sure how many watts I needed for a heater on this big of a tank. I've never had larger than a 90 before this.

Are you running your lights as you expect to when the tank is operating?

 

[melypr1985]

Are you running your lights as you expect to when the tank is operating?

I haven't hung them yet. Two of them are currently on my 75, the third is waiting for me to rig up the bar I'm going to hang them from. That's somewhere on my to-do list

 

[tripdad]

Those lists just never seem to get any shorter do they?

 

[melypr1985]

Those lists just never seem to get any shorter do they?

No indeed! If it wasn't so cold outside I might get a little knocked off of it today. Alas, that might have to wait till the weekend since I don't have to work this time.

 

[justingraham]

Wow 80 degrees

 

[melypr1985]

I've been checking all day and the temp has held steady from 7 am this morning until now which is 11pm at 82 degrees. Not too shabby I think. It's a little high, but not to bad.

I also think the containers I found behind the store are 15 gallons, which will be too little I think. i'm pretty sad about it. I tried to find out for sure today but my 5 gallon jugs fell apart when I tried to use them to fill one up. I had the jug full, then lifted by the handle and the entire top broke off! on both of them! darnit. I have two left, but I used them for my ATO on the 75. Dang. I'll spend the weekend cleaning up the containers just in case, working on the plumbing (a few leaks), getting the light hanger up and finishing up the screen tops. Oh and wrapping a few presents that came in the mail. Busy weekend!

What if I just went with the standard Brute trash can? 55 gallon trash cans, one above the other? I have a ladder to reach the tank so reaching the top one might not be a problem for me. I'm just not thrilled about not being able to see the water line through them. What do yall think?

 

[DLHDesign]

What do yall think?

Something like this is what I use. 55gal for $20 (and usually some effort to clean) isn't a bad price.
I do use a ~35gal Brute as my mixing station. I got one of the wheel bases so that I could roll it out of the way (my mixing station is in the garage - no fancy room for me yet...)

Looks great! So excited to see it moving along.

 

[dieselkeeper]

Check craigslist for barrels. I built a saltwater mixing station out of these. $30 each

https://gulfport.craigslist.org/fod/5881132431.html