dhindry

Oh well, will wait for the aftershocks

Oh well depends what you were doing at the time

Got a good trace here on the Kapiti Coast on my Seismograph. Sat and watched the glass flex on the windows and the tank http://hindry.net.nz/seismo/2012072055.gif

Looking impressive there Oliver. Can't wait to see the pictures with the lights on

Hi Gazza, Are you looking at using solar to heat the tank water/room or solar to charge up batteries to produce electricity???? Here is a web page with water heating instructions for using electricity from solar panels. Just substitute the wind turbine with solar panels... http://www.reuk.co.uk/Wind-Turbine-Water-Heating.htm If you are planning on running water pumps from the solar panel/inverter setup make sure the inverter is a true sine wave type, most on the market are modified sine wave. Motors do not like to run on modified square wave, they tend to overheat and wear out a lot faster. Hope this is of some help. Daniel

I am only feeding in the mornings. Would the change in temperature maybe do it, from 27.5 down to around 26 at night? I have a calcium reactor which is always on, maybe it could be something to do with that?

Name: Daniel Age: Hmmm I think it's 26 Family: Married to Leigh and expecting our first child 25th april. Pets: 2 cats Milo and Hudini, 1 German Shepherd Odi, 8 fishies some corals. Job: Telecomunications/CATV Engineer for last 8 years. Other Hobbies: Dog Agility, Web design, Mountain Biking, Geology

For the last week about 2 hours after lights out in the tank both my protein skimmers go crazy and fill the cups up with water untill they are overflowing. During the daytime when the lights are on they are fine. I checked the ph and that was 8.4 during the day and 8.1 after lights out. Salinity at 1.025 Hardness 8.8 Magnesium 1350 Amonia, nitrate, nitrite undetectable Top up water is fresh water with no addatives. Any ideas would be appreciated

When your aircon is set to 22 what is the actual air temperature in your room? Almost sounds like your aircon is not keeping up with the heat. I had the same problem, even with aircon running. I don't have lids on top of the tank and have a small pedistal fan sitting on the top of the tank, I got it from bunnings for about $25. My tank temperature in the summer used to raise from about 26 in the morning to around 29 in the afternoon's, now it sits at around 26-27 at the most. Daniel

I initially had the same problem with my setup. I overcame it by installing a plastic ball valve under the standpipe, and slowely cracking it closed untill the water level was up near the top of the overflow. It can take a couple of hours for the water level to stablise too. I run my pipe straight down into my sump, but have cut 2 slots in it just above the water surface to let the air out.

Have you changed anything lately, specifily lighting? My clown fish sat at the bottom of the tank for about a week after I upgraded my lighting.

I have always found that if you take a T off a pump outlet you tend to loose a lot of your pressure. I would run a separate return pump, and have the water from the overflow going through the skimmer. At least this way, all the water from the overflow will get a chance to get skimmed. Daniel

I use a siphon pipe with a toothbrush on the end, just brush them off the rocks and suck them up. 8)

Not a bad fan for $24. Turn it up high and it makes waves on the water surface

Well on a day like today the poor tank is having trouble keeping cool. I purchased a fan from bunnings on the weekend, one with the grill that spins around. I also hung the metal halides from chains, to get them higher above the water. I also installed an extraction fan above the sump to pull the warm air outside. It has taken the temperature down from mid 28's to approx 26 - 27 degrees. I have started logging my tank temperatures, and it is interesting to see that the water takes a long time to cool down, even when the room is cooler. Http://myreeftank.co.nz:8083/temploggerd/cgi-bin/all.temperature.rrd.cgi?params=-s-1day Link works best in firefox I have been trying to find a diy link or somesuch to a cooling tower, that uses evaporation to help aid cooling. Deltec make the eco cooler.

Yeah, some ballasts will have a snubbing circuit I suppose to suppress this inrush current to some degree. And I can imagine the timer probably has a decent switch inside of it too.

The digital/analogue ones sold around are not designed to run metal halide lights, as when the lights first turn on the inrush current can be huge causing the switch contacts in the timers to stick together, or to burn apart. I have tried the cheap ones, as well as the ones designed for spa pool motors etc. I have even tried solid state relays rated at 40 amps and they also fail. This was happening on my 150 watt as well as my 250 watt ballasts. As puttputt has said, the only other way I can see it working is to wire a normal relay with a timer, and make sure the contacts are rated for a high current. Just did a web search and found ... 3500 watt timer, sold by store that sells equipment for hydroponics etc. https://secure.sog.co.nz/store.htm Goto electrical and scroll down to timers.

Is it a DC powered pump?

It will use the tube like a siphon to suck the air in, pretty much the same as mine.

I have got a macro lense now, some more pics taken today are here.... http://myreeftank.co.nz/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=7&g2_page=5&g2_navId=x9f263a5a

Looking really cool. What sort of camera are you using?

Just been mucking around with photoshop and my camera, first pic is of frogspawn coral, second is of hammer coral. Can't seem to get a better focus than this, though I don't have a macro lens. Http://myreeftank.co.nz

Thanks for that steve. It appeared today after going missing three days ago. I thought it must have died.

Hi everybody, Can someone ID my wrasse for me please? Thanks Daniel

Hi Guys and Girls, How hard is it to keep a hammerhead coral? I have plenty of leathers growing in my tank and a birds nest coral, though I understand this is a hard coral???? I have a racoon butterfly fish, does anyone know if he will nip at it? He has eaten all my glass anemones and mushrooms. Cheers