Reboot Standard 125. Nothing special here.

[P-Dub]

What country are you in? I'm guessing EA haha. Everything looks awesome so far!

Very close. Thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

[Ento-Reefer]

Sorry, I thought you were in the US.

 

[P-Dub]

Sorry, I thought you were in the US.

Never be sorry for giving advice/help. It is always appreciated.

 

[P-Dub]

Progress. Routing the wiring or at least dry fitting the wiring up. More photos when I finalize all the routing.

 

[P-Dub]

Finally, have completed about 90% of the fitting out. Had a trip back to the US for my fathers 90th and work have been killing my progress. I have a busy work week coming up so I thought I'd get as much done as I can before then. The progress so far is that I have got the wiring completed for the two canopy top exhaust fans. Most of the wire routing for the Apex and connected components are completed. My retentive nature doesn't like the look but it will not ever be seen once the tank is up against the wall. A few more items were finally received while I was gone. Under cabinet lighting has been installed. I opted for manually turning on and off these cabinet lights. The auto switches are nice but I would need a breakout box and, as it stands now, I don't really need it. Likely in the future. If I don't just button things up and get this tank filled with water soon I will be working on things forever and will never get to enjoy the tank. The following posts over the next couple of days will document what I have done and why with photos. Patience for anyone who is actually following along will be needed. I know, that seems to be my ongoing theme here. If you are checking this out, I appreciate it. I also appreciate any input or criticism. I am just progressing with what experience I had and all the research that I have done and the information that I have gleaned from the forum so thank you.

 

[kilgoretrout]

Like all have said, the mounting is impressive. You were able to route that fitting out so perfectly.

Also, your power bill is insane. Is that in USD? I work in a big building and the power is around that for 17k square feet.

 

[P-Dub]

Like all have said, the mounting is impressive. You were able to route that fitting out so perfectly.

Also, your power bill is insane. Is that in USD? I work in a big building and the power is around that for 17k square feet.

Thanks kilgoretrout! Don't look too closely, perfect is a stretch, but I like your encouragement, a lot. That is in USD... We have solar now so the bill is currently just an interconnect fee. I am more than curious how much the tank affects the overall consumption. I know it will be significant as I will have to have one of the AC's running fairly continuously.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Wow, what a build! You must be thrilled to be getting back into it. Love all your customizations. Not sure if I'll add a canopy to mine. Might be hard as lights are on brackets. Yours is awesome. Hubby could most likely figure something out if we want one. Looking forward to seeing you all set with water and livestock. 12 years was a long wait! Will be following.

 

[P-Dub]

Wow, what a build! You must be thrilled to be getting back into it. Love all your customizations. Not sure if I'll add a canopy to mine. Might be hard as lights are on brackets. Yours is awesome. Hubby could most likely figure something out if we want one. Looking forward to seeing you all set with water and livestock. 12 years was a long wait! Will be following.

Thanks so much Susan! And, thanks for stopping by and all the likes! The canopy was a no-brainer for me. I just don't care for the open top look with lights mounted high. The glare back into the room is just too distracting for me. To each their own though. I would prefer to have an in-wall build but that won't be happening as all the walls are concrete. We all live in typhoon bunkers here.

 

[P-Dub]

Well, it's been a while now. Work has been killing me and the tank progress. But, while I was visiting San Diego I was able to pick up some items that are next to impossible to source in my neck of the woods. Since I am going bare bottom, again, I was thinking that I got lucky with never having a rock-fall that cracked the glass bottom. This time around I thought I better not press that luck and picked up some 1/8th inch, textured HDPE sheets for the bottom. Finally got around to trimming them to size and fitting them into the tank. I secured them to the bottom glass with silicone. After they have set up I will run a final bead of silicone around the edge and call that project finished.

 

[najer]

Great skills, welcome back to the addiction.

 

[P-Dub]

Thank you, najer!

 

[P-Dub]

I have to retire. This work thing is old. I have the worst boss in the world, me. I just can't get a break. Anyhow, I've changed a few things, as is standard when you are doing a project like this. I decided that the cracking that my Fuge had would not be ideal. It has been water tested outside and is still being water tested (2 weeks and counting) and holding. But, this will be inside where a leak would be problematic at best. I was not a big fan of the way the Fuge light was mounted as well. It would have been fine but my ultra tight sphincter was pulsing. So I had to build a new one. Little different dimensions on this one so it is longer front to back and shorter but essentially the same water volume of 9 gallons. I didn't want to have excessive light bleed into the sump so I opted for painting the side that faces the sump. Additionally, there seems to be a lot of bleed above the Fuge so I went ahead an made a shroud and painted that as well. The material is 1/8th-inch plexiglass. No paint will be touching water. I recessed the light into the shroud and it is a press fit. It recesses to just above the light housing vents so that there is no restriction of the cooling fan. A bonus is that I can now use the cord that came with the light instead of the two low-profile ones that I purchased while on my trip to San Diego. Um, I will be using the fancy low profile ones. The Fuge will be fed off of the return manifold. The only thing left to do is to build an overflow box for the Fuge to dump in the last chamber of the sump.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

Nice progress on your system.

I can totally relate on the too much work comment!!!

How much longer until your tank has water? I cant wait to see it.

 

[najer]

Nice work on the fuge.

 

[P-Dub]

Nice progress on your system.

I can totally relate on the too much work comment!!!

How much longer until your tank has water? I cant wait to see it.

That is a really good question. Right now it is essentially 95% done. What is left is to is to bring it out of the garage and into the house. In order to do that I have to run a circuit. I will run the circuit off the exterior outlets by tapping into an outlet. This will be the dedicated circuit for the tank as we rarely use the exterior outlets. There is no proper way to run a circuit off the main distribution panel as the house is 100% concrete. This will require coring to run the conduit through the exterior wall to the interior. No easy task. Next, I have to set up the RO/DI from the exterior as well. I will likely be able to just run the line from the RO/DI unit through the wall with a masonry bit. It is 8" of concrete. Once that is completed I will be good to go. One caveat, I am leaving for a trip at the end of April and will be gone for 18 days during the initial period of running the tank and no one to check in on things. I'm reticent to set her up before I leave but still within the realm of possibilities. So you have a crappy boss too?

 

[P-Dub]

Nice work on the fuge.

Thanks, Najer! It is nice to have the tools to be able to build it just the way I want it.

 

[P-Dub]

Ok, So I said that I would post some about my DIY sump, so here it is. I certainly like the newer sumps but going with the theme that getting anything to me is exorbitantly cost prohibitive and this is the sump that I had originally, I thought I might as well re-use it again. It is a standard 30 gal, drilled for the return pump. I had already drilled it from the last time it was set up. I was using a different return pump that I have no idea where it is. Fortunately, the VarioS6 works but I had to use different plumbing from the bulkhead to the return pump. Now I am waiting for someone to point out the issue with how it is set up. There is a simple but not so elegant solution I will share when it is noticed, if ever.

I never had baffles in it before but I can see the benefit. Plus, I don't know where all the filter socks went that I had. They were the drawstring style but I opted for 4" ring style this time and have 2 socks instead of one. Right after the first chamber, I placed two baffles, divided into three sections. There is three sheets, one for each section, of Matala filter sheets and the bottom 1/3rd is cut. The theory behind this is design is I can remove the top 2/3 of the Matala filter and the bottom 1/3 will remain. I will then be able to place bags of filter media, (GFO, carbon, Purigen, Chemipure, etc.) as I need it. Space is at a premium so I don't want any more media reactors if I can help it. So that's the explanation so far but the boss, (task master) said I have to quit playing on the computer talking about hobbies and get to my appointment. More about the rest of the sump later.

This last shot is with the top 1/3 of the Matala removed on the one section of baffles.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

. So you have a crappy boss too?

I worked for a really crazy boss for 8 years until he was forced to retire 3 years ago. They still haven’t replaced him yet so I am pretty much in charge of myself right now.
It used to be so stressful every day. I hope things get better for you.

 

[P-Dub]

I worked for a really crazy boss for 8 years until he was forced to retire 3 years ago. They still haven’t replaced him yet so I am pretty much in charge of myself right now.
It used to be so stressful every day. I hope things get better for you.

Unlikely, since I'm the boss.