A Comment on the oil

I used the STE oil recommended by Puget. I live in Texas and had a trip to San Antonio, so it was no big deal to pick it up in San Marcos. They are great people.

I actually paid the same price per gallon that I would have been able to get at a feed store. Vets were no help at all. I even tried several medical supply companies, including medical supply reps. There's no avoiding the cost.

It took just over 9 gallons to fill the tank and radiator. I would think you could easily get away with 10 gallons.

My computer already runs pretty cool, and I haven't overclocked at all, but they say you have to leave an inch for thermal expansion of the oil (fill up to an inch of the bottom of the black rim) . I didn't do this. This morning after cooling all night, the was no noticeable change in the level. I ran it hard last night and the oil was up to 28 C. They also say you don't want it to touch the black rim for fear that it will wick oil out... Mine is touching and it hasn't wicked out yet... I feel like I'm tempting fate, but I'm keeping a very close eye on it.

Up and Running

It's running and hovering at about 27.5 C, so I'm happy.

The tank scratches VERY easily, but scratches on the inside are filled by the oil, making them disappear. Unfortunately, the outside scratches just as easy and there is no solution. They are delivered dirty, and must be cleaned. Even using an all cotton baby cloth with purified water there's swirling. Once scratched on the outside, it's toast.

I tracked the problem down to the material used by the makers of the tank. In tanks there are three main materials:
1) Plexiglass or Acrylic - Expensive, very good material, hard to scratch, but brittle
2) Polycarbonate - Cheaper, less likely to break, but easier to scratch
3) Polystyrene - The cheapest material, thin, easy to use in manufacturing, scratches like crazy.

So what is the eclipse tank made of? You guessed it, polystyrene. Thankfully, Puget has amazing customer service. They use this tank because their choices are limited. There can be no silicone seams, because they say the oil will leak through it. So they found this seamless tank to be their best option for the moment. To be fair, while completing the project took much longer and dealing with the scratching issue has been a huge pain, I'm still pleased with the final result.

I tested the tank for leaks first, then installed the bubble stones/tubes, cleaned/placed the rocks, submerged the system and booted right up.

Avoid Scratching The Acylic

ORIGINALLY I POSTED THE BELOW, BUT I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS IN THE PUGET TANKS. IT WILL WORK FOR SCUFFS AND SCRATCHES THAT BUG YOU, BUT IT MAY BE BETTER TO BUY A NEW TANK AS IT LEAVES SMALL SWIRL MARKS AND CLOUDS THE PLASTIC. IT IS A GREAT IDEA TO REFURBISH A BACKUP TANK. IF THE TANK MAKER WOULD USE ACRYLIC, THIS WOULD LIKELY WORK

Building this thing and getting everything just how I wanted it has created a lot of smudges. Being that my original tank couldn't even arrive without a scratch left me VERY paranoid about making any attempt to clean this thing.

Looking into the care of acrylic tanks, I've found some warnings and suggestions:
1) Use Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser to clean it. Apparently, it is chemical free and acts like 3000 grit sandpaper. Click here to check out what folks in the aquarium world have said about this. Obviously, you don't want to trap more abrasive objects in the Magic Eraser that could do damage. They also recommend that you wet it with water. I'm not really sure how this works yet, but I will report back.
2) Don't use cleaning products that contain alcohol or ammonia. No further explanation was given. So what do you use? Just water? This would have to leave smudges and streaks...

I will report back.

Need the tank, a few more cables and I'm ready

Not sure about having the SSD's in the oil... Going to research it, but I've got everything else just about how I wanted it.

Bubbles, yes. Noisy pump, no.

Ok, so I want some bubbles... It's a fish tank, right? I had a tank as a kid and the pump was out of this world loud. One of the appealing things about the Aquarium PC to me was the relative silence. This pump operates submerged. There is a problem though. It makes LOTS AND LOTS of bubbles, and they are super tiny. So small, in fact, that they have a hard time surfacing in the thick oil. Not sure at this point... Pro's are underwater, quiet operation. Cons are small bubbles that cloud the oil... Well, I'm not sure about that last part. This was less than a gallon of oil, and in a 12 gallon tank with circulation, the clouding problem may not exist. Anyone know of a pump as quiet as this?

Radiator Fan Placement

I welcome data, suggestions, corrections, support and other feedback here (or on any other post for that matter)... But on this topic specifically, as I'm basing my approach on pure conjecture.

I noticed that Puget has their inlet at the top of the radiator. I'm guessing this is because it is smartest to let gravity help the pump, and allow the cooling of the oil (and it's natural tendency to sink when cooled) to help with circulation. What I mean is that there are a lot of bends in the radiator's tubing, and those bends create resistance. The pump has to work to overcome that resistance, and gravity may be more helpful in taking the fluid down, than cooling alone. The main point here is that it seems reasonable that reversing the flow would be extremely hard on the pump.

Knowing that the warmest fluid will be coming in at the top, and considering that I only have three knobs to control fan speed (each knob controlling three fans), my idea is to have the knobs control the fans in lateral rows.

111
222
333

Row "1" would have the highest RPM's when fans are needed. Rows "2" and "3" may not even be on. I'm hoping that cooling the warm fluid at the top will make life easier on the pump, even if only a little. Maybe it will make the cooling process more efficient, and decrease overall temps. Row "2" would have the second highest RPM's when needed and then row "3" would be kicked on if things get hot.

Ultimately though, I hope to have all fans running at even, silent speeds...