SCSInet's 180g Reef Build!

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
just a thought did you consider a pressure switch for reversing the motors? Light moves one direction hits switch, polarity reverses changing the direction of the movement? or are you just setting this aside completely untill a future date?
Well they are stepper motors, not conventional motors so they are positionable anywhere. By using a microcontroller that keeps track of how many steps it has delivered, and knowing how many steps it takes to get from point A to Point B, and having a reference "reset" starting point, you can easily put the lighting rig anywhere you want by feeding it a setpoint... I could tell it to put it at 10% travel and the motor can put it there to fractions of a millimeter.
The microcontroller driving it would know exactly how many "steps" comprise a complete pass. There would be a limit switch on the back as a way for it to re-reference itself.
So let's say the controller was 5 hours into a 10 hour lighting cycle, and a complete transversal took 10,000 steps. It would have, over the previous 5 hours, delivered 5,000 steps, evenly spaced, over 5 hours, putting the lights at 50% total travel. If at that time the canopy was opened, it would deliver reverse steps (steppers can be run in either direction natively) in rapid sequence, moving the lights back rapidly, until the rear limit switch was hit. Then when the canopy was closed again, it would quickly deliver 5,000 steps again to return the lighting array to the previous position and continue on with the cycle. It would know to reverse when the right number of steps are tallied up. Then it would have moved backwards at the same pace as the moonlights were on.
It's just driving the damn motor that's the pain... huge amounts of current are involved. It's my first attempt at working with steppers, and you pretty much need a dedicated microcontroller to do it, but I couldn't make the driver circuit work, and didn't want to invest $150 in a commercially made stepper motor control board. Once I had the board, the microcontroller would have been easy... but I never got that far.
I'll certainly revisit this, but it probably won't be until Fall 2008.

 

[al mc]

SCSI.....Coming in late on this project. Great work area. Wish I could talk my wife into allowing me a 'bay' in the garage for a workshop

My comment: The canopy. If you want even better access...Have you considered having a totally 'false face' where the entire front swings up and gives total access. I piano hinged mine over a 5 foot tank that is in my kitchen. The 60" canopy 'top' is made up of laminated plywood base with four cabinet doors spaced to make them look fuctional, but all sc rewd to the plywood. The whole unit paiano hinges up so I can get unobstructed access to the light/tank/overflows/for feeding....I have a metal 'stay' on each side that hold the whole thing in the open position.
If I were more tech savy I would post pics.....I will see if my tech savy 10 year old can do it for me.....
Great set up.......Seriously jealous!

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
My comment: The canopy. If you want even better access...Have you considered having a totally 'false face' where the entire front swings up and gives total access. I piano hinged mine over a 5 foot tank that is in my kitchen.

Gotcha covered my friend!
The 3 doors at the front along with half of the canopy lift open. Unfortunately there are some gaps in my pictures, but I snapped a couple to show you.
The canopy as it currently is. You can see the piano hinge... I think this is what you are talking about.

Here it is partially open:

To mitigate the risk of it falling should I slip when opening or something like that, and to make it easier to deal with, I use a couple of gas springs to take the weight, making it openable with one finger. The springs hold it open when it is fully open as well.

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
Wish I could talk my wife into allowing me a 'bay' in the garage for a workshop
That's why I made sure I claimed the garage BEFORE I got married.

 

[al mc]

Yep.....That is what I was talking about....My 'bad' as I did not see it in the previous pictures...However.............Now I am even more seriously jealous as it puts my design to shame

Well, next time I redo my setup (I will have to sponsor my wife on a long trip and do it while she is gone though)

 

[al mc]

Moving lighting system.....'That Fish Place'....Crazy name, but large LFS has
a tract lighting system that moves over their large coral tanks.....I know that you have got a good system going but if you get 'stuck' I will be happy to ask them if it is something they bought or just made....and how they did it.

 

[sign guy]

who comes up with this stuff? it looks great though alot of thought and even more time. do you happen to work for danka by any chance? you mentioned copiers awhile back

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by sign guy
who comes up with this stuff? it looks great though alot of thought and even more time. do you happen to work for danka by any chance? you mentioned copiers awhile back
No. The Rand Corporation

Seriously though.... no, my hobbies are computers, automation, home theatre, woodworking, electronics, and fish tanks. The nice things is that fish tanks can involve everything else (except maybe Home Theatre) so I can draw upon everything I'm into.
This tank is the result of years of pondering and jotting ideas down for the eventual dream tank. Funny thing is, this isn't the dream tank. I want to have a massive reef tank in my next house, but I wanted to look at the feasibility of a lot of these ideas, so I went forward with this project.
The biggest concession I've had to make is the equipment area. THe sump is smaller than I want, among other things. I really wish I had a fish room.

 

[al mc]

Originally Posted by SCSInet
The biggest concession I've had to make is the equipment area. THe sump is smaller than I want, among other things. I really wish I had a fish room.
SCSI....I figured you would have a large sump /refugium in the basement and
pump it up to this DT?

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
SCSI....I figured you would have a large sump /refugium in the basement and
pump it up to this DT?
Basements are a yankee thing, for the most part our soil has a high clay content and expands and contracts to much to make for good basements.

 

[al mc]

At what latitude do basements stop? Had one when I lived in Virginia?

 

[scsinet]

Well I have a split level house, so my bottom level is 1/2 garage and 1/2 basement.
The basement is finished into a theatre room.
However, directly beneath the tank is a room that's stubbed out to be a bathroom, so I have water and sewer lines, etc in there... it would make a GREAT fish room.
Unfortunately, I want to finish out the bathroom before I sell the house one day, and in all likelihood that tank is going to be in this spot until we move. It came down to either having a fish room or being able to up the houses value substantially, so I opted to up the value.
On the plus side, the room made it really easy to add structural reinforcements for the tank. The tank is going to have to sit parallel to the joists instead of perpendicular, so most of the 2000+ lbs is going to be on one 2x10 joist.
So I tripled that joist and added a load bearing wall at the mid point, so I have the tank resting on (2) 6 foot runs of tripled up 2x10. I'm pretty sure that will hold the tank with no issues.

 

[al mc]

How warm/cold does the garage get in Atlanta? You could 'fix' anything that you 'damage' in plumbing to the garage?

 

[wattsupdoc]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
Basements are a yankee thing, for the most part our soil has a high clay content and expands and contracts to much to make for good basements.

????????????

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
How warm/cold does the garage get in Atlanta? You could 'fix' anything that you 'damage' in plumbing to the garage?
Well I have dedicated HVAC in my garage, so I can keep it cool or warm as needed, but this isn't something I wanted to do. I didn't want to give up the space in my garage for a walled off fish room, and if I didn't do that, I'd have had problems with sawdust, paint fumes, etc getting into the water.

 

[al mc]

Had not thought the airborne debris problem thru with the garage. I will be interested to follow the progress of this project.......

 

[ifirefight]

Dave, How are you holding the "lift gate pistons" to the wood??? Having done auto body repair for 15+ years..( in a previous lifetime) I know they exert alot of pressure. So anchoring them to 3/4 inch wood is tricky. BTW...VERY impressive so far...and Im a person that can appreciate quality and craftsmanship.

 

[ifirefight]

AAHHHH...after further review...I see you doubled the wood in those locations..so we have 1 1/2 inches to work with.

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by ifirefight
AAHHHH...after further review...I see you doubled the wood in those locations..so we have 1 1/2 inches to work with.

Yuh Huh.
Stainless steel brackets, secured with 1" #10 stainless steel wood screws.
These particular pistons only exert 20lbs of lift force, but even still, it's a heck of a lot of force at play.
SPD hardware is a great resource.
The thing is though that the pistons are not stainless themselves. The rods are some sort of black coated something or other, that's supposed to resist corrosion, and since they'll be closed most of the time, it's the outside of the cylinders that might rust.
I have a similar arrangement on a canopy I have on a freshwater tank and after 3 years there is no sign of rust, but I dunno with saltwater.
SPD sells stainless gas springs, but they are about $53 each, as opposed for $11/ea for these, so I figure I'll wait and watch.
BTW, thanks for the compliments!

 

[triga22]

Wow didn't even know that you had a thread up! The tank is progressing very well. I love the setup and the canopy. I would like to do a similar setup with the 29 but Im not the best craftsman, but my dad is pretty good.(built the whole basement,deck...)