Brianemone Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 looks like you've been plenty busy looking foward to the way the new tank progress's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 I agree, sticky out tank totally destroys the charm of tank-in-wall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelers Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 That looks L A M E. 0/10. Pie You would have loved our school productions. (-just an idea.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted January 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 That looks L A M E. 0/10. thanks for the thought feelers. i disagree with pies though, he rated it too high that looks sh1t! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 thanks for the thought feelers. i disagree with pies though, he rated it too high that looks sh1t! Welcome to the home of the future, 1985 edition. The pink uplights are what really do it for me. Shame this forum doesnt have the vomiting emoticon or I would use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Havent posted an update for a while, as tired as you can get but cant sleep so nows a better time than any. A little graphics intensive this post but makes it a little more interesting than just text As stated on another thread, I finally got around to hooking up the chiller tonight. Cost me almost $100 on plumbing for it - that was trade price. Granted almost a 1/3 was on a ball valve though. The chiller has already pulled the temperature down to the high 26's (from low/mid 28's) so am happy thus far. No leaks too which is always a bonus Here's some pics.... Made a bracket for the chiller to sit on outside the sumproom due to limited space (the black pipe at the bottom of the pic is the overflow pipe from the sump should it be overfilled, yet to direct this into a drain or resouvoir of some sort. external walls are yet to be lined too) Heres a rear view of it. I essentially T'd the overflow pipe again (left T goes to skimmer, right T goes to chiller, rest of pipe continues to refugium. All 3 then flow to the sump) The 20mm outlet pipe from the chiller through the wall to the sump is actually in most part, my old return pipe with some 45's and 90's added. I managed to use all of it and only binned about 6 inches of it Stoked! And finally a front on shot of where its placed. Jigsawed a hole in the wall for it. I'll probably chuck some architraves (sp?) around it to tidy it up a bit And for the hell of it, here are the 3 outlets into the sump. Left one is overflow from refugium, middle from chiller and right one from skimmer. I like the idea of keeping everything independant, specifically for maintenance and easier 'troubleshooting' (spot the computer geek ) Back upstairs to the main tank, added a wall-mounted fan for a bit of redundancy/peace of mind should the chiller fail. Feel free to play a game of 'follow the wires' :lol: Our house has under gone some MAJOR rennovations in the last year, in fact only the 2 end walls and 3 internal walls are existing, everything else pushed out or changed. Essentially doubled the size (kids need their space,... or rather parents need space from their kids ) As stated previously, this gave me the perfect opportunity to "steal" floor space to put towards a tank upgrade in the near future. The fishroom is now 'dedicated', entry is via a cavity slider from the hallway. Yet to be lined, but probably will use marine ply - expensive stuff :-? Next post will be some updated shots of acro colouration. Picking up the T5 reflectors soon so the additional light should help heaps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 My you have been a busy boy Is that chiller able to handle a larger system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Is that chiller able to handle a larger system? Dont know, but not too fussed. I also have,... a FAN! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Actually something else I noticed and cant figure out, the floor behind the display tank is quite damp (you can see the damp area in the last picture above) I cant work out why its wet, there is no splashing from the display tank and no leaks under it. There is a new ensuite behind the wall to the left of the pic with shower against that wall but I've had the plumber check it out and cant see any leaks there. I cant find the source of the damp floor anywhere, even checked under the house incase something is spraying the floor from underneath. Question - would excessive evaporation possibly cause this? I had the fans blowing on the tank for sometime prior to the chiller going in. I couldnt imagine that it would cause that much moisture on the floor though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Is it acutally wet or just stained? I wouldn't think evap would do it, but its got to be comming from somewhere. Do you have micro bubbles popping causing a light mist? Perhapps leave a towel on the floor and see if it gets wet? Hrmmm wet chipboard floor can't be good mang. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 If you've ever spilled salt there in the past it may continue to absorb moisture from the air and become especially apparent during humid conditions we have at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hrmmm wet chipboard floor can't be good man no it aint, some of the particle board is actually chipping off at the top where its been wet. got a guy coming in to water seal bathroom next tuesday might get him to do fishroom too. btw, i've already put paper towels down on the floor in various places to try and see if i can trace the source!!! If you've ever spilled salt there in the past it may continue to absorb moisture from the air and become especially apparent during humid conditions we have at the moment. yeah there has been a little bit of saltwater spillage there in the past. not excessive though. with the humidity I would have expected the water to evaporate off the floor rather than stay there or get worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 yeah there has been a little bit of saltwater spillage there in the past. not excessive though. with the humidity I would have expected the water to evaporate off the floor rather than stay there or get worse. Salt is hygroscopic, it will absorb water from the atmosphere, so if it is humid, it will absorb more water. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 yeah thats what i gathered from wasp's post. i guess since particle board is relatively porous, it could have soaked up a fair bit of salt over time. so whats the best way to "remove the salt" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Some years ago I splilled some cleaning chemicals on the concrete floor in the garage, did my best to clean it up, but to this day it still becomes damp in that area when we have humid conditions such as now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Chimera - ? I think you should just tile over it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I think you should just tile over it :lol: for now i think i'll just seal over it. will tile after the new tank goes in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I sometimes wonder what hidden surprises may await people who purchase homes that once housed a reef tank :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I sometimes wonder what hidden surprises may await people who purchase homes that once housed a reef tank true, i guess its lucky i found my shrivelled up blenny then - he looked like he was mummified from the amount of heat generated in the room. Salt is hygroscopic, it will absorb water from the atmosphere, so if it is humid, it will absorb more water. i guess its lucky the sea is saltwater or it might not ever rain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregb Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Coat everything with a good water proof varnish. And another thing , does your wife know exactly how much this project is costing mmm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 And another thing , does your wife know exactly how much this project is costing mmm? ummm, no not really i've locked her in the closet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Got the T5 reflectors finally, stupidly they are slightly shorter than the actual bulbs. I assume the clips solve this? Anyways I dont have clips so made something up. Everything I do now on the current tank will be pretty much hacked together coz its all gonna be changed (and done alot more professionally!!!) with the new tank upgrade There will be 2 'sets' of T5's, first set contains 3 bulbs (replaces a couple of old fat fluoro bulbs), second set contains 1 bulb (or maybe 2, considering adding a 3ft for the second. needs to be 3ft to get around the seaswirl ) The first set goes near front of tank, second set goes at the rear. Construction made from offcuts of timber, quick and easy (only took me about 30 minutes to make :lol: ) On a different subject, Im also going to reduce the sandbed depth in the refugium. While its certainly not DSB, its about 2" and I think is still leaching nutrients into the tank. Gotta get some new bulbs for the fuge too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Also hooked up the automatic top-up unit and the rowaphos reactor the other day. Works an absolute treat. Its reasonably well priced through DE lighting (http://www.delightings.com), definately recommend it. I was guesstimating the amount of topup needed nightly and feeding it in 10 minute intervals over the night via a timer and peristaltic pump. Now it brings the level up to the exact right amount whenever is needed so no manual adjusting is required. Extra long sensor cables meant I could have the main unit sitting above the resoivour (where it needs to be anyway to power the topup pump) and run the cables around the entire room to the sump. Easy to setup. The small 600lph pump that comes with the topup unit is not grunty enough to pump from the topup tank as it only has a maximum head of 0.6m, so I continue to use my peristaltic pump instead. This drip feeds the tank slower (3L per hour) which is preferable. (I would make some suggestions for improvement to the auto topup unit though: have an alarm built into the unit should the water level in the sump drop below the white sensor (this is the very bottom sensor that is currently unused) or even better have your return pump plugged into (and powered by) the unit also - the power to the return pump would go off should it drop below the white sensor. this would save the need for another controller to save the return pump running dry - although i imagine thats done on purpose (they currently have one for when the resoivour runs dry, it wont kick off the topup pump which saves it burning out. not an issue with a peri pump though ) heres some pic's Heres a top down shot of the rowaphos reactor (couldnt get a side on shot). It has minimal amount of rowaphos in it at the moment (basically what i had left) The small 600lph pump that came with the auto topup unit works perfectly for the fluidised reactor so it didnt go to waste Another thumbs up, this time to OceanWerx, their fluidised reactor is extremely well made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEKA Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Im new at this but why does everyone seem to use T5 tubes, why not T8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 The ambient temperature usually dictates whether T5's or T8's perform better (T5's perform better around 35C, T8's around 25C), however in general: - T5 (HO) typically has greater lumens per unit length than T8 equivalent (light output of standard T5's is pretty much the same as T8's though) - T5 retains a higher light output over time than T8's (in other words better lumen maintenance) - A two-lamp luminaire using T5 high output (T5 HO) lamps produces more light than a three-lamp luminaire using T8 lamps - Downside is T5's are more expensive than T8's and T5's produce more 'glare' (but this can be prevented by having a good luminaire) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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