Scott's 50-Gallon In-Wall Build

[scbauer]

The problem is that when the fish room and garage are at their coolest (probably around 5 am), the chiller is very efficient, but as more and more things add heat to the tank, the chiller starts pulling more heat from the water, and it has nowhere to go. The fish room temp rises and rises until the fish room is probably in the 100's. At this point, the chiller is not nearly as efficient. I'm also thinking that the new ventilation I added works great, but just can't quite handle the amount of heat produced by the chiller and the halide light. If I move the chiller out of the fish room, the vent might be able to keep up with exhausting the hot air from the lights. We'll see how things go tonight when I get home, but if the tank just got more and more hot, I'll plumb the chiller to the other side of the wall this weekend.

-Scott

[psteeleb]

My concern is (from what little I know) most chillers want to work with ~85deg well circulated air, maximum 90-95. Using the house air, as long as you can move enough into/out of the fish room, seems to be the right solution. In the garage I would think you would be up against the maximum limit.

Maybe a bigger fan pulling air out of the fish room allowing cooler house air in?

[scbauer]

Wow, 14 pages?!?! Who would have thought...

And by the way, I will DEFINATELY test the "move the chiller to the garage" theory with tubing before running hard pvc lines.

-Scott

[scbauer]

Originally posted by psteeleb
My concern is (from what little I know) most chillers want to work with ~85deg well circulated air, maximum 90-95. Using the house air, as long as you can move enough into/out of the fish room, seems to be the right solution. In the garage I would think you would be up against the maximum limit.

Maybe a bigger fan pulling air out of the fish room allowing cooler house air in?

Very good point... That definately makes sense. Maybe I'll first try adding another inline duct fan that will suck air out of the room (giving me a total of 2 fans, 1 to blow air in from the kitchen, 1 to suck air out of the fish room and exhaust it to the living room).

I'll have to think about that... it would be annoying because I would have to pull off the drywall around the duct work that I installed this weekend, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

-Scott

[sweetleaf]

Do you still have a deadline you'r trying to keep? Mid August or something was it right? Like I said before this build is awesome, keep up the great work!

I'm curious, when does the livestock list begin, it's been a little while since I read this thread, so I can't remember if you've compiled one or not.

And a soffit vent is an under-eaves vent used to help circulate attics, don't know what you'd call what you have..

[scbauer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soffit

As for the livestock list, I've been throwing around many different ideas, but I think if I can get the water temp stable, this tank will become a FOWLRPA (plus anemone). Just made that up, but basically I'm not thinking of a whole lot of corals. I think a nice blue carpet and an RBTA with a mated pair of clowns should make the tank look like what I've dreamed of. The wife will have to pick out 1 or 2 fish, and they will be picked solely on color. I'll check for compatibility.

Oh, and as far as the deadline is concerned, my wife's sister is coming to visit for 3 weeks, she's arriving 1 week from tomorrow. I had hoped to have fish in the tank by then, but that won't happen. If the temp is stable by this weekend, I'll probably get a few pieces of live rock and look for 1 fish.

-Scott

[psteeleb]

FWIW - Carpets can be very aggressive toward smaller fish (even larger ones) they have very potent stings, especially if wild. Some will loose a lot of that sting after being in tank a while.

[scbauer]

Yea, very familiar with carpets. I've had a few RBTA's in the past, and have always wanted a carpet. All my previous tanks have been 12" front-to-back, so I never felt my tank was big enough for a carpet. I've read plenty about them and am hoping a tank with an 18"x30" footprint is big enough.

I'm guessing it will be a while (6+ months) before I can find the right looking carpet. The tank would have to be running for that long, anyways, just for me to consider it stable enough.

Thanks for the heads-up.

-Scott

[tigerarmy40]

wow, battleing that vegas heat is going to be tough! what temp does your garage get to in the peak hours?


by the way, can you take another look at my thread and give me some suggestions on my plumbing? Im having a hard time figuring out a few things...

[scbauer]

Hey everyone, sorry for not updating... not much going on right now as I've been really busy with work. I did manage to buy another in-line duct fan this weekend and got it installed in the exhaust side of the vent. While cool air was previously blown into the fish room, the hot air is now also pulled from the fish room and sent into the living room.

So far it seems that the temp in the fish room is being kept lower than before by about 5 degrees, but it is still too hot. The tank was down to about 83 last night, but there were a lot of things happening. First, I turned off the closed-loop to eliminate the heat from the Iwaki pump (which is minimal). Second, a storm seemed to blow into town, and it wasn't nearly as hot last night as it has been.

We'll see how the tank does today. If I go another week without dropping below 85 then I'll stop by Home Depot this weekend and buy a small air conditioner.

-Scott

[psteeleb]

I saw a sale on a small AC unit at HD for under $100 this weekend. Best of luck getting that heat under control.

[scbauer]

Thanks, I hope I can get this under control.

By the way, tigerarmy40, the garage is typically around 100 degrees, getting up to about 105 in the afternoon.

-Scott

[lovetoreef]

i had a carpet in our office tank ... i loved it, but, the downside to them is they are constantly sliding their foot under the rock work ruining your aquascaping and, they put out a lot of detritus ... plus, they will eat small fish

[spleify]

Any updates? How is everything going?

Spleify

[danmartis]

hey man how much money did you put in this project?

[scbauer]

Unfortunately, no updates. I've had some family in town for the last 3 weeks, so I haven't touched the tank. I have been keeping an eye on the temp, however, and it is just NOT staying where I want.

I had a really cool expierence the other day... I found out that the place I work employees 2 people full time to maintain around 10 saltwater tanks. They even have their own lab. I talked with the marine biologist for about 20 minutes and got a few suggestions that I'll try. I will probably go visit their lab next week and I might even be able to use some of their water testing equipment... how cool is that!!!

I'm 99% sure that the next update you will see will be me installing a small air conditioner in the tank room. I just don't have the time right now with so much going on at work. I also don't have any money left in the fish tank fund right since we just decided to take a last-minute vacation to Miami.

I'll be sure to let you guys know once I make some updates. Trust me, I'm getting enough pressure at home to get some fish in the tank.

-Scott

[scbauer]

Originally posted by danmartis
hey man how much money did you put in this project?

If I knew the answer to that question I would have to have full disclosure with my wife, so I just prefer to not add everything up. It's certainly a LOT more than I had expected, however, especially since I already had the majority of the equipment.

-Scott

[psteeleb]

Originally posted by scbauer
Unfortunately, no updates. I've had some family in town for the last 3 weeks, so I haven't touched the tank. I have been keeping an eye on the temp, however, and it is just NOT staying where I want.

I had a really cool experience the other day... I found out that the place I work employees 2 people full time to maintain around 10 saltwater tanks. They even have their own lab. I talked with the marine biologist for about 20 minutes and got a few suggestions that I'll try. I will probably go visit their lab next week and I might even be able to use some of their water testing equipment... how cool is that!!!

I'm 99% sure that the next update you will see will be me installing a small air conditioner in the tank room. I just don't have the time right now with so much going on at work. I also don't have any money left in the fish tank fund right since we just decided to take a last-minute vacation to Miami.

I'll be sure to let you guys know once I make some updates. Trust me, I'm getting enough pressure at home to get some fish in the tank.

-Scott

are you going to make it down to the keys at all? theres a guy down on Islemarada that owns sealifeinc.org. Great guy and seems he always has some nice rics and zoas. take a look if you get the chance. he does mail order so no real storefront. I got a box of goodies last year when I was there. have fun

[scbauer]

Unfortunately my trip was last weekend... We arrived on the 14th and left on the 19th. For those keeping track, Tropical Storm Fey hit Florida on the 17th or so... Bad timing on our part, but oh well. We still had 3 nice days on South Beach.

[james37128]

Tagging along! The thread was going so quickly through the first few months, things have really slowed down lately. Lets get it back up and going!

[scbauer]

Unfortunately, it isn't moving any faster. I haven't had the time to dedicate to the tank lately. I start a new job tomorrow after our office cut 50 positions last week. I still have a job, but thing have been a little stressful and the tank has not been anywhere near the top of my list of priorities.

The tank has been running perfectly for well over a month now with the exception of it running at about 85 degrees. Too hot for me. As soon as I have time, I'll buy an in-window A/C unit and install it in the fish room. That should take care of the heat issue, then I can start adding fish.

I'll update everybody when that happens, trust me!

-Scott

[psteeleb]

Originally posted by scbauer
Unfortunately, it isn't moving any faster. I haven't had the time to dedicate to the tank lately. I start a new job tomorrow after our office cut 50 positions last week. I still have a job, but thing have been a little stressful and the tank has not been anywhere near the top of my list of priorities.

The tank has been running perfectly for well over a month now with the exception of it running at about 85 degrees. Too hot for me. As soon as I have time, I'll buy an in-window A/C unit and install it in the fish room. That should take care of the heat issue, then I can start adding fish.

I'll update everybody when that happens, trust me!

-Scott

best of luck on everything - was starting to wonder what happened

[scbauer]

Okay, quick update...

Good News: I found my heat problem and I don't need to buy an A/C unit

Bad News: The heat is from my closed-loop pump, the Iwaki MD-40 RLXT, and I really can't spend $200 right now to replace it. It's working but it is so hot that I can't touch it.

I'll check it out tomorrow to see if I can't fix it.

-Scott

[psteeleb]

glad you found it. taking a look back at your thread to see if anything jumps out at me.


well - the pump looks like it has plenty of air space around it. I suspect it should have a built in fan on the back side of the motor, you may want to make sure it's unobstructed and turns with the pump on. Also not sure about the Iwaki but they look a lot like the Little Giant and they need to be lubricated every so often (the bearings are not sealed). Speaking if that, I need to pull, and clean & lubricate mine.

If the pump isn't making noise I suspect it's should be something that can be fixed. Best of luck chasing it down and wish I could be of more help.

[scbauer]

Thanks, we'll see tomorrow. I did disassemble the pump before I installed it and everything seemed to work fine. I wonder if the input is restricted somehow... I don't think so.