Superfrog's RSM 130D

[superfrog]

@ ThaneF: I stil lhave the stock 130d skimmer in there. The noise was TERRIBLE for the longest time! But after a few months now, it's settled in and actually isn't quite as loud as it was. It's now actually very bearable.

@archiecrain: The lights are 2 55 watt lamps. 50/50 each.

@ PostPlus: This RedSea setup is very nice indeed, but i'll always have a soft spot for picos. I still say they're real easy to do and offer a kind of charm that bigger setups can't. Keep at it and post up some pics when you're done...I'm sure it will look awesome!

 

[SIMS]

my skimmer makes a loud noise - so do the fans. I have decided not to let it piss me off. I must say the skimmer does work quite well and I just have live rock in there.

 

[Rob Clarke]

Hi is this set up still going?

 

[tekkengal]

So I hear interesting things are happening with this tank...
We need pics!

 

[superfrog]

Congratulations on dragging me out of reefing retirement Tekk

I was going to reply here with a whole long winded write-up of all my plans but I just don't have the energy to write all of it. So here's the summarised version:

Stock RSM130D sucks bolz.
Have decided to mod the crud out of my old one that was sitting in storage. :m123:
Will do the following:

• Replace the dud stock skimmer (better skimming, less noise, less heat)
• Gut the hood, remove the stock lighting and redesign the internals of the stock hood (silence the fans, custom evaporative cooling through the hood with temperature controller, redesign ATO and integrate into hood, replace lighting with LED - will be retro-fitting my Radion in there).
• Add my Vortech MP10 and perhaps a second one to the tank for optimal flow.
• Stop using the Chamber of Death! Add an inTank media rack instead.
• Toss the existing return pumps (one of which is not working) and replace with either a DC pump (if I can find one that will fit in the COD) or the RSM return pump upgrade kit.
• Build a water station and maintenance trolley so I always have perfect source water and make maintenance as easy as possible (the maintenance trolley will be mobile and have some electronics to semi-automate the water changes).

So that's the plan. I've started work on this already but don't have any decent pics just yet. Will post some as soon as I have them. It's going to take a while though...

 

[Hingis]

Cool man, tagging along here

 

[superfrog]

Ok, let's unpack those hood mods a bit.

1. Gutted the hood and removed existing stock lighting ballasts. Will keep the timer for now and the LED driver.

Shot of the internals

Stock lighting removed

 

[superfrog]

2. Neatly fit the Radion into the hood. I created a bracket in the shape of a # symbol to hold the radion in place. The bracket is attached to the Radion and screwed into the existing mounting holes that the reflector used to be mounted with. I used aluminium flat bar for the bracket, rounded the edges with my dremel and sprayed it black to blend with the hood internals.

Grinding down the ends of the bracket

Radion mounted

Bracket mounted using existing screws for the reflector. Sprayed black to blend

 

[CameL]

How's the radion going to cope with the evaporation/condensation?

 

[superfrog]

That pic doesn't show the bottom part of the hood in place. I am still using the lower half and splash shield. The Radion will still be living in a dry hood

 

[CameL]

aah makes sense, very nice then!

 

[superfrog]

Hehe, sorry the pics were a tad misleading. I haven't put the hood fully back together yet as I'm still working on the internals...

 

[superfrog]

Let's play "guess that contraption"!

 

[RiaanP]

overflow box?
Well, the start of building one?

 

[superfrog]

Hehe, good guess but nowhere close.

This brings me to the next mod of the hood internals...

Decided to give the tank a new take on the evaporative cooling. The pic I posted above is actually an air duct I built to do this. Basically, I am using the 2 stock fans to blow air through the splash shield and into the display via this air duct. Pics tell a thousand words...

Cut a hole in the splash shield

Install air duct into place and seal with silicone

The fans blow air through the duct and into the display of the tank where the air blows across the surface and exhausts through the hole supplied for the stock cooling fan (rear left). These 2 fans receive power from a little 12vdc power supply to be added to the hood and controlled with the stc1000. The heating circuit of the stc1000 runs a 300w eheim jäger heater.

 

[RiaanP]

oh well, something flows through it, be it air where I had water.

 

[Starfire]

wow looking good cant wait to see what's next.

 

[nepellew]

but there no picks of the fans haha looking gud

 

[superfrog]

Lol, waiting for my new fans to arrive at Jungle Aquatics. I'll share more pics of everything in place when I get going with the wiring and stuff.

In the meantime, I also wanted to make sure I silence the RSM noisy fan syndrome so I knew I was going to be modifying the way the fans are installed. Testing of the fans outside the hood proved that the fans are actually fairly silent and do in fact move a very good amount of air. It's the way they are seated in the hood that causes the noise.

To minimize the noise from the hood I have completely cut out all the fan mountings, smoothed the surfaces, added acoustic dampening and added a new flat surface to mount the fans on. I also made some new side panels for the hood from black acrylic.
Removing the grills on the side in favor of open round cutouts for airflow has resulted in the fans running completely silent during testing. It also gave me a neat place to panel mount the stc 1000 in the hood.

Rough cuts with fan mountings removed

Dampening material and new platforms installed

Right panel with 3 airflow holes for the fans

Left panel with 1 airflow hole for the traction fan and the stc mounted

sorry about the bad quality of the last 2 pics. Took them when I finished late at night. Will post some better ones as I go along

 

[tekkengal]

Very neat DIY @superfrog !
Who is your boss, would like to have a chat with them to find out if you can outsource your DIY skills for my tank