Chopping boards and baby bottles

[ChrisD]

Well, I'm hoping that's drawn some attention :)

After much reading on this very informative site (and elsewhere but it seems to be mainly copies) I am starting my first ATS build. It's for a 55g system and the budget is about as tight as the space it needs to fit in - not a lot.

I'm in the UK so a single trip to Walmart for all (or close to) components is unfortunately not an option. Here's the shopping list so far...

4 Tesco (UK supermarket) value chopping boards about 8"x10" £2.80
Greenhouse shading mesh £3.00
5 18W compact fluorescent lamps 2700K (4 to use, 1 spare) £0.50 :shock: on special offer at Wickes - Philips brand
4 lampholders - Wickes £4.40
Electrical flex (cable), plug and connecting block £3.50
24hr timer £4.00
4 long, standard neck baby bottles (Tesco again) £3.80
1" flexi T-piece and valve £8.50

Total £30.50
and some stuff I already have...

3000l/hr Tunze master pump
25mm PVC pipe, end cap, elbow and hosetail
Aluminium foil
Superglue
electrical insulation tape
cable ties

Let the build begin! (ok.. I admit... it has already) Photos to follow.

[routestomarket]

Welcome aboard!

Sounds like a plan but forgive my ignorance, 4 baby bottles?

What are these for?

Cheers

[ThePisces]

Baby bottles? Let me guess.....to put the light bulbs in? Interesting......Yes those bulbs at Wickes are the bargain of the century...£1.94 each or 5 for 49p!!!!

I was looking for the Kelvin rating on the Philips website but it was nowhere to be found. Eventually found it on Ebay and the 18w ( 100w) are 2700k...perfect!

The Pisces

[ChrisD]

Ok - so here we go. Lots of photos - I have re-sized but they seem to be coming in big... if anyone can advise how to make better please do.

The screen

Polypropylene chopping board. Ultra cheap so shouldn't have any anti-bacterial stuff going on. Cut it down and roughed it up using a 10mm wood bit in a drill held at a 45 degree angle and slid over the surface. Took a bit of practice but seems pretty effective. Note: Make sure you push away from you - I would hate to cause a drill bit in someone's leg!Safety first! :geek:

[attachment=1:2qvfghob]roughed up board copy.jpg[/attachment:2qvfghob]

I was going to try with just the roughed up board but the water didn't flow evenly across it. Some greenhouse shading mesh folded over the top seemed to distribute the flow better. Being so fine it's not roughed up - I'm hoping that the board is rough enough for roots to hold and the mesh being smooth will make cleaning easier whilst not getting to the roots on the board. I also wonder if the reduction in light (it's greenhouse shading after all) might help stop some of the shorter algae and help the longer turf to grow. Wishful thinking maybe! :lol:

[attachment=0:2qvfghob]screen complete copy.jpg[/attachment:2qvfghob]

Water seems to flow pretty evenly across the surface so I can but hope it'll work.

On to the lights.... here cometh the baby bottles

[ChrisD]

The lighting
I'm gonna hang this from the top of the sump enclosure and wanted the lights horizontal - 2 each side - to get a decent spread of light. So 36W per side ... oh.. I forgot ... the screen ended up about 7" wide by 9" long so 63sqin double sided for 50gl should be more than enough based on the 1" per gl rule. Hanging horizontally means some sort of board so the trusted 72p chopping boards come into play again.

The components
[attachment=2:1antb3sa]lighting components.jpg[/attachment:1antb3sa]
Plus electrical flex, plug, aluminium foil, super glue and insulation tape of course

Cut the base off the bottle with a sharp knife, remove the lid (bin) and teat (bin) and collar (keep - enlarge hole if necessary to fit lamp holder). Then you can do this...
[attachment=1:1antb3sa]ready for sealing once cabled copy.jpg[/attachment:1antb3sa]

Note that the small black ridge on the lamp holder is perfectly sized to sit on the rim of the bottle in place of where the teat rim would go - was very lucky!!

Wire up and then something to seal the gaps (I'm using electrical tape but you could silicone) and you have pretty well splash-proofed lights in my opinion.

For added power, cut a piece of aluminium foil and attach to outside of bottle using a line of superglue at each edge to form a reflector. Should be reasonably effective I think. (not sealed in the photo)
[attachment=0:1antb3sa]reflector on copy.jpg[/attachment:1antb3sa]

That's it so far. Any ideas, tips or comments much appreciated.

[ThePisces]

Hi, I placed a post on here about the number of designs that don't seem to have any splashproofing/waterproofing for all those wiggly amps. The baby bottles is a fantastic idea, heat proof material too!! I already grabbed me some of those bargain bulbs from Wickes, practically giving the away!

I see you are using a chopping board which I guess is really slippery even when roughed up? Read a couple of posts where similar materials have been used and the result from what I can gather is the algae drops off too easily. With the greenhouse mesh attached you may have more sucess? If you were looking for that plastic canvas that many scrubbers are using I got mine in Hobbycraft. It's cheap as chips less than a £1 per sheet and roughs up really well using a hole saw ( don't attach to the drill, do it by hand) Took me about 10 mins per side. If your making a verticle design then use two sheets back to back and all sides roughed up. The sheets are 13.5 x 10.5 inches square so you can cut them down to size if you want? The canvas sheets have an almost furry texture to them when roughed up.

I'm still waiting for a delivery of a couple of pieces of pipe before can assemble everything ....arggggh postal strike!!!

Good luck with you project and post more piccies when you can.

John

[ThePisces]

Pictures are a good size by the way,would leave them as they are.

[ChrisD]

Thanks for the comments. Re the splashproofing, I did consider taping the base of the bottle back on to toally enclose but I think heat will be a major issue. Assuming these little lamps behave like T5s, they'll drop in intensity at higher temps plus it brings in a fire risk despite the temp resistance of the bottles. I've run the lights for about an hour and the bottle gets really hot - hope it will reach stability at an acceptable temp and not distort / discolour the bottle.

Re the mesh - good thought re Hobby craft. There are numerous online retailers but I have something against 50% of the bill being postage! That with the postal disruptions at the moment put me off. I have always had a bit of doubt in my mind re the choppping board as PP has that very waxy feel to it. It is very rough now on a macroscopic level but maybe there will be issues on a microscopic level. Might see if I can get some mesh to save any messing around later or that thought that it might perform better with it.

Wired up the 4 lights last night... sorry, no pics yet. going to try and make the final push to complete the build (if not installed) this weekend. Need to swap out my existing Eheim 1250 return pump for the Tunze with a tee piece to feed the scubber via a valve, the balance of theflow heading up to the tank. Should get about 2100l/h at the tank head. 7" screen @130 l/hr/inch = 900l/hr. Leaves 1200l/h to go through tank which is about the lmit of my bulkhead without siphoning - hopefully I wont have to throttle back the pump but I can if necessary.

Pisces - hope those pipes arrive befor ethe weekend for you!

[SantaMonica]

Correct on the chopping board... never want to use those because the material is designed to not stick. But it's moot if you cover it in two layers of rough-up canvas. Then again, if you are doing vertical canvas, you really don't need a backing at all.

[ThePisces]

Hi Chris, just had an idea if the baby bottles don't hold up. Nescafe coffee jars or Bisto gravy jars! Both are glass and have plastic screw on lids :!: I guess you will be drinking alot of coffee or having many roast dinners if you fancy that idea? As for venting the baby bottles or jars to reduce heat maybe drill a few small holes in the top/lid? Also thought about a good reflector....old dvd's or cd's? Be careful though if enlarging the hole, they are very brittle and can shatter!

As yet no delivery of my pipes needed for my ATS.... advanced apologies for going off subject a little....sorry Mr Postman have run out of sympathy for your strike action ( not that I had any to start with)....my aquarium needs a scrubber!!

John

[kcress]

I expect the bottles to hold up but the lamps will fail soon. Days?

They are designed to burn base down in light fixtures which means cool air convecting up past the electronics. Not Base up sealed in an air tight container. I would not turn my back on that...

[ChrisD]

Sorry - I might have mislead people. I have chopped the bottom off the bottles so the end is open to allow air flow. They will be mounted horizontally so the hot air wont be trapped in the bottle around the lamp. If I were to use them hanging down vents at the top to enable air flow would be prudent. Decided not to tape the base back on because of things getting too hot. I've seen similar lamps used in almost every orientation in light fittings (I work in office management and have managed several large refurbishments) so I'm reasonably optimistic (and they are only £0.50 for 5 ;)) . kcress - I agree - I've seen another forum where someone put a lamp in a glass jar - massive heat build up would worry me. Just think of the day the plastic lid fails due to the heat , jar falls off and fitting now totally exposed til you happen to notice.

Re reflectors, I like the use of simple kitchen foil (shiny side of course!) as when it is formed around half the bottle you get a nice curved reflector. Ok, it's not parabolic or gull wing but it cost basically nothing and seems pretty effective.

Re the screen, I think I will be heading out for some plastic canvas and ditching the chopping board. Never thought I'd be typing that sentence :lol: . Maybe I'll keep it tucked away and try it one day. If this works, there will be space over the middle of the sump where the chaeto is currently. Should have paid more attention during my materials science degree and then I might know rather than be guessing if a polypropylene board is suitable!

Next post is the assembled lights... few holes in the chopping boards and some cable ties should do it. Might even do it now

[ChrisD]

Well here it is. The lighting rig is done. Gotta get hold of some proper screen to rough up etc and I'll be looking to mount in the cabinet... a few pics...
[attachment=2:2kyeby64]light board.jpg[/attachment:2kyeby64]
[attachment=1:2kyeby64]whole rig.jpg[/attachment:2kyeby64]
[attachment=0:2kyeby64]it's on!.jpg[/attachment:2kyeby64]

Did some pretty rough cutting out of background in photoshop so it's more visible. Not the finest work but it means the pics get posted quicker!

Any thoughts or concerns anyone (other than the screen)?

[SantaMonica]

How does the water get out of the pipe?

[kcress]

And in?

[ChrisD]

Design for water out is exactly as per a plastic canvas screen - slot in tube. Was quite nice as the edge of the centre section of the bard was slightly recessed from the edge so I just cut a slot equal to that width and the board pushed in firmly being held with just friction but the central section where the mesh was had a nice gap about 1.5mm each side. Seemed to work well when attached to the kitchen tap (faucet).

Re the 'water in', the far end of the tube as seen in the photos has an elbow and hosetail (wasn't properly attached and fell off for the photo :oops: . Gonna be fed by 25mm flexible pipe teed of the sump return witha valve to adjust the flow.

Managed to pick up some mesh yesterday so will be making a new screen anyway. Will perhaps post some pics of just that before I install in cabinet. Also need to devise a way to keep everything hanging straight - the cable ties are a bit variable and the electrical flex has a big influence. Might have to look at some sort of rigid link between screen and light boards.
I can feel some chopped up surplus chopping board coming into play :lol:

Thanks for the help
Chris

[ChrisD]

Well it's finally up and running!

Chopping board changed for the tried and tested double-layer-of-plastic-canvas-roughed-up-with-a-holesaw screen inserted into a newly cut slot.

Set up a larger sump return pump with a tee-piece to feed the screen. Got it all set up and balanced using a valve to restrict the flow to the ATS with the balance going to the DT. seemed nice then the DT started to siphon. Turns out that some chaeto strands had made their way to the ATS and restricted the flow to the screen. Increased restriction to the ATS put more of the 3000l/h up to the DT which, sadly, my overflow can't handle. This highlights a design flaw!! If the ATS were to get totally blocked (wayward cerith through the restricting valve doesn't sound too far-fetched), the entire pump volume heads up to the DT. Not a risk that I want to take with my small capacity bulkhead as it will end up on the floor. :(

So, I have deployed a hydor 1200l/hr pump in the sump just to feed the ATS (8" wide screen). It does mean 2 pumps in the sump but once the ATS is established I should be able to get rid of the chaeto and DSB currently in sump so I will have more space. If the pipe gets restricted, it will simply throttle back the pump and no harm done. :D Also, the two lower volume pumps seem quieter than the one 3000l/hr even though it was a tunze! Added bonus and less likely to cause issues with the family :)

Done a set of tests and Nitrates and phosphates are reasonably low already - probably due to the algae in the DT. I'll try and get some photos (there's not much room in my sump tho) and show how the screen develops.