A
I wish I was that handy with computers/woodworking.Ditto Matt..I wish I had a talent for wood working...so meticulous its rediculous but I bet it pays off...Heres a suggestion for him or you Matt being a Mod..If he cant get it up by the deadline, perhaps an extension due to his location and lack of resources..Just an idea, I would really like to see him participate in the Build off
Just wanted to say thanks for the encouragement and comments. I'm open to any and all. After really looking at my progress I know I can get this up and running by the deadline. I might have to cut some corners, but not critical ones. I'll be there. No rule changes on my account. I do appreciate the consideration though. I've actually been looking for a way to share what I've learned, mainly because it all came from forums like this and experimentation. This contest is just awesome for spreading the knowledge between all of us. Hats off to whoever came up with this idea.
Thanks...got a long way to go. Its obvious to me there are a lot of people in this contest who have a lot more experience than me actually making a reef tank thrive, not just constructing one, thats where the rubber hits the road. So we'll see.
As far as circulation, or random flow, I have the plans for a DIY wavemaker called the the WavePulse by John Rice. I got it off his website about a year ago but now it seems to be gone. It was on Blane Perun's thesea.org also but I haven't checked recently. It is essentially a timer circuit controlling two powerheads. You can vary the cycle time, night mode, and feed setting to stop it while feeding. I redesigned the schematic a little to make it more compact. I have etched the PCB and I've bought all the components so its almost ready. I don't know if its better than OceanMotion though. This project kinda falls under the same category as moonlights, I'm gonna do it but not before I get this tank running by April 30. Once I've verified that the circuit works with my mods I'll make all the plans available with John's permission.
As far as circulation, or random flow, I have the plans for a DIY wavemaker called the the WavePulse by John Rice. I got it off his website about a year ago but now it seems to be gone. It was on Blane Perun's thesea.org also but I haven't checked recently. It is essentially a timer circuit controlling two powerheads. You can vary the cycle time, night mode, and feed setting to stop it while feeding. I redesigned the schematic a little to make it more compact. I have etched the PCB and I've bought all the components so its almost ready. I don't know if its better than OceanMotion though. This project kinda falls under the same category as moonlights, I'm gonna do it but not before I get this tank running by April 30. Once I've verified that the circuit works with my mods I'll make all the plans available with John's permission.
True about the value of experience; many authors agreed that sometimes "less is more" when it comes to equipment and a good understanding is paramount when it comes to caring to corals.
But if you can apply the same planning and caring, as I have seen so far, to your nano inhabitants, you can't fail.
Good luck.
But if you can apply the same planning and caring, as I have seen so far, to your nano inhabitants, you can't fail.
Good luck.
I was looking at the picture of your lighting setup and it looks like you have a MH DE bulb that doesn't have the UV protective glass in front of it; correct me if I'm wrong but I think, unlike mogal lamps, you have to have that sheild in front of it to protect the tank inhabitants, and yourself, from damage. Can anyone back me up on this?
The lighting is a 150W DE MH. You are correct concerning UV filtering of these bulbs. There is a custom cut 1/8" UV glass pane mounted in the canopy. The glass is referred to as low-E in the glass biz. It has an aluminum handle siliconed to it and slides back to allow access to the tank. Check out the April 02, 2005 post, last photo in the sequence named hood05.jpg, hope this is clear.
supaboy1981":14ajhx2h said:
I'm not sure yet. This is something thats been gnawing at me. One of the rocks has a great deal of macro on it, I think its sargassum, not sure though. This was unexpected, I didn't really want it, but its kinda cool watching it grow. I might try and pull it and move it to the refugium. Right now I'm just gonna wait and watch. If it really starts to take over and inhibit corals its gone. Any advice and/or positive ID would be appreciated.
What an amazing job for sure. amazing how this highly technical computer and biological approach seems to come second nature to you smontanus. Your CAD workups, calculations, and actual physical implementation into a reef and supportive structures (a truly hard part) is very clear after reading the post, it would seem daunting to have to design something of that nature and work up a custom graphics layout.
Brandon M.
Brandon M.
Thanks Brandon...The biological part has/is not that easy for me. I'm at this point where I think that something is always wrong with the tank, overprotective parent syndrome I think. Plus I have not learned to trust test kits. Overall I just tried to build on what folks here and elsewhere have done.
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