hoppycalif

I assume the steel cable is corrosion resistant steel? How do you keep it from showing, where it comes through the plastic rim on the front?

sonaps

Hoppy, I’m not sure if it is corrosion resistant or not, I had this over my tank with no visible corrosion for about 2 years. I’ve since covered the whole thing in silicone just in case. Can it still corrode through the silicon?

The cable doesn’t come through the rim on the front. That’s what made this project so difficult. I drilled the holes only on the inside of the rim, then threaded the cable through (There is a small space between the rim and the glass). Once the cable was threaded it was easy enough to secure it. I over-tightened just a big to allow for the slack in the rim. It did make a scary sound the first time I filled it and the slack gave way a bit, but thankfully no sounds since. I used two independent cables even though the math says one would have been enough. I was more worried about the rim breaking than the cable. There have been no signs of stress on the rim.

mulita

It looks to me as this cable is the aircraft type Cable (Because of the threads and gage the wire looks like, This is Stainless steel) or at least this is the similar type that is galvanized steel which is also corrosion resistance. Either way, silicone applied to it will seal it more.

You are right about the rim, it is the weaker point for failure and this is actually taking the whole load. As you said, one cable would be enough to hold this load, however the rim is the weaker point as the cable is not thru it, If you can inject some silicone at least within the inner area between the glass and rim in this area of the rim that will improve load capacity, as it will give a better distribution area for the stress. It may or may not be necessary, it all depend as you look the state of the rim. if it stay the same (No bends, no cracks, no drill hole increasing size), then it wont be needed.

sonaps

Thanks mulita for your input. I remember being worried about corrosion in the beginning, but the employees that sold me the cable thought it would be fine. I was a bit overzealous about this project so I just believed them without looking into it any further. You do have to be overzealous (or a bit crazy) to actually cut the support off your tank. But like I said earlier in this post, I got this tank for real cheap so I figured if it didn’t hold I was out little money. I tested it outside and kept an eye on the rim. It didn’t even bend a little, and never has. That is pretty strong plastic that they use. I did inject a bunch of silicone recently, when I covered the wire. I didn’t think about distributing stress, I just tried to cover the wire under the rim completely. I pretty much filled the whole gap with silicone.

mulita

You just make it better with this action and actually reinforce the rim support. There is nothing to worry about this change so. If it was going to fail you should've noticed quile ago when you test it initially. Good job!

hoppycalif

That cable idea is good enough that some one could design a simple clip of some kind so it would be easy to use, then a little kit of clips and cable would be a good addition for http://oregonaquadesign.vstore.ca/. I would have used it when I started my 45 gallon second hand tank, which was missing the brace across the top.

sonaps

That’s a good idea. If the clip was made to distribute the pressure over enough of the rim (maybe 4 to 6 inches long or so) it could be made with only one cable. That would make it even easier to work around. Although that could be quite a liability for whoever were to make/sale them.

mulita

That's also true. However, I think that installation is the Key for it. The fixture itself would be more than strong enough to hold the load, however if it is not installed properly this could be a mess.

ferris89

very interesting! keep the good work going!

sonaps

Here is a more recent project. This is a DIY CO2 reactor/ inline heater. I saw someone else put the two together and liked the idea. One upgrade I gave this model is I used a titanium heater. This has two benefits that I see. One, the whole heater is submersed in the water so no hot spots where the water doesn’t move quickly; and two, the temp control and on/off indicator are on the plug, so I see when it’s on and can adjust the temp real easy. I’ll mount the plug near the door for easy viewing/adjusting.



Here is the heater I used. It’s the Azoo 300 watt titanium heater. The heater is much shorter than a normal glass heater which was great for my application, since I needed to fit the pump on top of the unit.



I used a hacksaw blade to cut a slit in a 2” 90° elbow. I slid the heater cord through the slit before gluing.



I used marine 2 part epoxy putty to fill around the cord from the inside and out and to fill the gap from the cut. I found the putty at Ace Hardware, it’s safe for potable water and says right on the package that it bonds to PVC. You can kind of see that in the first pic.

I mounted the heater clip in the center of the PVC elbow using a nylon bolt and nylon spacer. I covered the nylon nut with the epoxy putty as well.



I attached a length of PVC just long enough to cover the heater and mounted the second clip to the top. This section of PVC can be unscrewed for cleaning when needed. I didn’t use the putty to cover the top nut since it will be easier unscrew the pipe if I take off the top clip first. I used a rubber gasket and lots of teflon tape to seal this one.



I attached a valve at the base of heater module using the epoxy putty. The valve has a quick release connection that fits airline. This will be used to lower the water level so that I can remove the whole unit for maintenance, without spilling water everywhere.



When I first tried to screw the arm on after attaching the drain valve I was very disappointed to find that the valve was too long and couldn’t clear the CO2 reactor. I had used a female slip on the heater 90 and a male slip on the CO2 90 to conserve space, leaving little room between the two modules. I was kicking myself for that one. Luckily I was able to clip off the end of the valve to make just enough clearance. Without the end of the valve the airline can be knocked out easily, but it’s not a big deal since I will only be attaching the tubing when I need to drain it.



In the above pic you can also see where the CO2 line will connect. I used a one barb fitting that is used in drip irrigation systems. As it turns out that this barb doesn’t make a watertight fit with my CO2 tubing. Luckily a zip tie took care of that problem easily. As you can see from the first pic, I have a check valve after the barb so I can still unhook the tubing easily when performing maintainance.

Here’s another shot of how the heater is attached.



And to finish this post here is another shot of the completed project. I’ll go into detail of how it’s attached to my plumbing in later posts.