titus'reef Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 he was happy in many tank. I was the mad one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 26, 2021 Author Share Posted January 26, 2021 Good looking fish! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlu_gt Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Very cool build! Sorry if this was already covered but I didn't see it. How are you venting your fish room? Are you venting with negative pressure in the fish room or do you have some sort of balanced venting system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 19 hours ago, danlu_gt said: Very cool build! Sorry if this was already covered but I didn't see it. How are you venting your fish room? Are you venting with negative pressure in the fish room or do you have some sort of balanced venting system? You're asking a good question, with a couple of aspects to the answer. Situation: Display tank is in the house. Not shown in this thread very well, I run a push/pull vent system. Fish room has blower, blowing air through wall and into the tank canopy. Fish room has 2nd pipe with fan actively drawing from inside the canopy back into the fish room. Idea - keep the house dryer. (used to run Metal Halides, this system also kept the house from being hot) Fish Room itself, which is an extension of the garage. 1st Dedicated door into the garage. Generally I leave open, or open a crack. Except on cold nights. Garage gets opened/closed, and it's a large volume of air. 2nd - fishroom has a 2nd door, going to the back yard. Mounted an exhaust fan on that door, blowing OUT. Haven't run it in the winter time (too cold), but generally let it run either on a timer or full time the rest of the year. Was a blower (noisy), found this new model (in post below) and it's AWESOME. Quiet. blows more air, and variable speed. Easy. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Sad Day. Vlamingi must have jumped overnight, pushing the tank screen out of the way. Even though it's 2.5' x 2.5', it's not very heavy and not secured. I'll have to secure it next. He was healthy, great eater, had grown a bunch. Only think I can of is my rockwork. I'm running very minimal structure, with not much hiding space for a fish his size. Going to fix that too, for remaining fish. This is not what you want to find: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Wow - sorry to see that David. You have had some pretty bad luck with jumpers lately for a covered tank. Hope the changes keep everyone else safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 8 minutes ago, albertareef said: Wow - sorry to see that David. You have had some pretty bad luck with jumpers lately for a covered tank. Hope the changes keep everyone else safe. This is the first time in >30 years of reef keeping I've put covers on a tank. (yes, I've lost some fish - but nothing at this rate) The more I think of it, the more I lean towards my negative aquascape. This is also the first time I've tried it. all previous tanks have been Wall-o-Boulders. (with plenty of caves/hiding places) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 hours ago, obrien.david.j said: The more I think of it, the more I lean towards my negative aquascape. This is also the first time I've tried it. all previous tanks have been Wall-o-Boulders. (with plenty of caves/hiding places) This is an interesting observation. I tend to favor a "dense" aquascape myself and have an uncovered tank. Definitely have lost some fish but tend to be the smaller "jumpers" that you would expect to try their "luck" at some point. I just am partial to the look despite the husbandry challenges and current preferences for the more "open" design. Probably a good thing since I tend to also like to keep a significant fish population. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 Today's update, Changed the LED spectrum from "break in period all blue" to "longer term intended AB+." Upped the light intensity to 30% (has been 10%). Not the final values, but need to increase slowly. These are Radion G4 Pro's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 On 2/3/2021 at 3:29 PM, albertareef said: This is an interesting observation. I tend to favor a "dense" aquascape myself and have an uncovered tank. Definitely have lost some fish but tend to be the smaller "jumpers" that you would expect to try their "luck" at some point. I just am partial to the look despite the husbandry challenges and current preferences for the more "open" design. Probably a good thing since I tend to also like to keep a significant fish population. And last night, I took my nice open/negative space "lagoon" end of the tank - and made it a "Tang"le rock pile. I loosely stacked rocks to make multiple entrances/exists, and a few different sub sections. Blue tang dove right in, and this morning saw a number of fish sleeping in parts of it. May have to rethink if I need to actually make and glue a structure. New Pile of Rocks Even the Diamond Goby liked it 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titus'reef Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 I know that Diamond Goby, 😂 With the new minimalistic aquascape we do this days wish are lacking hiding places. I see that in my tank as there is not much places to hide. Good for flow and coral placement but fish struggle with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 My fish all sleep in the multiple caves in my aquascape. It also seems to provide brief resting spaces during the day to get out of the non-stop flow. I will definitely be sure to create lots of hiding places when I rebuild my tank. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 On 2/4/2021 at 3:25 PM, obrien.david.j said: Today's update, Changed the LED spectrum from "break in period all blue" to "longer term intended AB+." Upped the light intensity to 30% (has been 10%). Not the final values, but need to increase slowly. These are Radion G4 Pro's. What is your target intensity as you finish ramping up? I had the Radions at 80% mounted 9" above my tank before switching to ReeFi. Here were the PAR readings with that setting: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 15 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said: What is your target intensity as you finish ramping up? I had the Radions at 80% mounted 9" above my tank before switching to ReeFi. Here were the PAR readings with that setting: Funny you should ask. I broke out the PAR meter tonight, and took three different measurements. Current AB+ at 30% : Top of rock stack was 176, Middle of the open sand bed on floor of tank was 131 ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 50% : Top of rock stack was 272 ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 100% : Top of rock stack was 541, Middle of sand bed was 537 LED's are 7" over water surface, with diffusers (4 of 6). Top of rock stack is ~14" below surface of the water. Sounds like I'm going to be ending up around the 60% intensity range. But today, even at 30%, tank is Bright -- still very white. Need to start planting, and growing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 2 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said: Funny you should ask. I broke out the PAR meter tonight, and took three different measurements. Current AB+ at 30% : Top of rock stack was 176, Middle of the open sand bed on floor of tank was 131 ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 50% : Top of rock stack was 272 ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 100% : Top of rock stack was 541, Middle of sand bed was 537 LED's are 7" over water surface, with diffusers (4 of 6). Top of rock stack is ~14" below surface of the water. Sounds like I'm going to be ending up around the 60% intensity range. But today, even at 30%, tank is Bright -- still very white. Need to start planting, and growing. Which PAR meter do you have? My measurements were from the Neptune PAR meter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 32 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said: Which PAR meter do you have? My measurements were from the Neptune PAR meter. Yup, all my measurements are from the Neptune PAR meter. (I won it at a macna a few years ago.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 2 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said: Yup, all my measurements are from the Neptune PAR meter. (I won it at a macna a few years ago.) OK, I just wanted to be sure we were comparing apples to apples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 On 12/26/2020 at 9:30 AM, obrien.david.j said: Holiday's Update; Used one of the nice days to clean the salt water mixing container, and the rest of the time is all on the stand. Mounting power supplies, and painting the hood/skin. 1st coat of primer is on. Pro Tip, scrub brush on a stick didn't really clean the mixing container. But Muriatic Acid does a fine job! Here's one more pro tip when cleaning the mixing tank: I cover the PVC fittings at the bottom with heavy-duty bubble wrap and a zip tie because it's very easy to damage it when maneuvering the tank around in the driveway. This protects the union threads from getting chipped or cracked. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 18 hours ago, SuncrestReef said: Here's one more pro tip when cleaning the mixing tank: I cover the PVC fittings at the bottom with heavy-duty bubble wrap and a zip tie because it's very easy to damage it when maneuvering the tank around in the driveway. This protects the union threads from getting chipped or cracked. Nice technique. My approach was to use a 2nd union, and make a threaded plug for it. (threaded-slip adapter, with slip cap glued on it - the white piece) Then I could unthread the plug, leave the 1/2 union in place to protect the threads. thread the plug back in, and the container holds water again. or Acid/water mix. (Yes, it's a different brand of union. not ideal. but it's what I had, and It Fits) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 Little more PAR testing today. Display tank, top of rock stack: 144 Frag tank : 243 Will need to keep ramping up display tank intensity. Display Tank Frag Tank 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 15, 2021 Author Share Posted February 15, 2021 SnowMagedon has been good for some basic tank maintenance. Yesterday I installed two diffusers I picked up from @Bicyclebill in mid January. The middle pair of Radions were missing diffusers, and just got around to installing them. Thanks Bill! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 So much better with diffusers! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 21, 2021 Author Share Posted February 21, 2021 Another Milestone hit... Original display tank, hood, and stand have been sold and picked up. I refinished this stand in the late 90's, built the hood when our son was born (now 23 yrs old), and the tank is the 3rd on this stand. Had it built to spec in 2006. It's a good setup, and happy to have it goto a new home. (and happy for the space back in my garage) Thanks @Yourmedic, enjoy! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 22, 2021 Author Share Posted February 22, 2021 Latest Addition Completed, Foldable stainless shelves made out of plastic cutting boards with drip groves. Problem statement: equipment room is long and narrow. No place to set things. Shelves to the rescue! - Black to match the stand. And White to match the wall. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Update of the day: I got a question, Has Coraline Algae started. Answer, Yes. (snail was already covered, when I moved it over from the Frag tanks) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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