conix's 75G

[fishytime]

Nicely done....you will likely hate your gobies for the first two or three weeks while they sift through the fine stuff....dont worry the haze will eventually settle....

[Leah]

Wow! Very nice

[conix67]

Thanks again.

you will likely hate your gobies for the first two or three weeks while they sift through the fine stuff....dont worry the haze will eventually settle....

That will be nice. As a matter of fact, the little guys dug a dungeon and they seem to have settled in there. At least while they are inside, they are not causing the sandstorm..

[conix67]

FTS-less update today.

A picture of my hippo tang asleep, taken early in the morning under room lighting.. he likes to lie down flat while sleeping.. very cute



My twinspot gobies won't stop. They are digging dungeons everywhere. I'm worried that some rocks that are not sitting on the eggcrate floor may tip over and cause rock slide! So far, that hasn't occurred, but these guys are very cute! Everyone loves them (most are fooled by the false eyes).



Now, I had to let go my RBTA split, as it was brushing against several acro frags and causing some damage. The anemone was already sold before I had a chance to place a for-sale ad. However, I had to keep it for few days, and had some issues with it moving over to unwanted place. Finally I decided to make the floating basket, similar to what's used by LFS to keep them in a place. Picked up $1 basket and attached styrofoams.



Attached to a string to let it float in the middle of water surface, RBTA settled in nicely and now I know how to get the bubbles back! Look at this picture, the tentacles are becoming nice and bubbly!



That's all for now.. there were some minor rearrangements done in the tank, will post FTS soon.

[conix67]

Although my tank's been doing fine so far, some SPS species some colors I liked. Out of many parameters, I decided to try upgrading the lighting system first, as I'm still running 4 T5HOs in this system. I've made a purchase from AP on used stuff, but were missing endcaps. Just days ago I obtained the endcaps via trade, and finally I had chance to complete the lighting system upgrade..

Old look -



First problem - can't fit 5 retro mounts on the lid, ended up with a small piece of aluminum plate to extend the mount.

2 pieces were prepared.



Mounted with a screw.



Endcap mount installed.



Another view.



Wirings and others all complete. Took much longer than expected



all lights on! Glad it worked at first try!



With reflectors. Notice missing a reflector, and a short one. Need to order some now...



New FTS. Color level auto adjusted as there's stronger actinics and messes up camera's view. Looks like a little more pop to color due to 2xactinics+ added now.

[Boomboy]

wow man everything looks really great. nice job at fitting 2 more in there.

[conix67]

Well, RKL finally arrived. This is actually a little exciting moment, as it could be the beginning of automation of this tank. For now, I'll be using it as temperature control and for some timer functions. Here's what came in the package

• power module with 4 outlets (8A 3A 3A 8A), status lights
• temperature probe (connects to the power module directly)
• head unit (2 line backlit LCD display and 5 buttons)
• USB module, cables for firmware upgrade
• users guide, etc

Paid ~$95US (plus shipping, tax, etc) at bulk reef supply, and this is supposed to be very inexpensive considering what it offers - capability of a dual stage temperature controller, digital timer, wave maker, etc.

You can do things like controlling your main lights with temperature monitor such that it would shut off the light if temperature's too hight, etc. However, advanced programming is not possible.

I have it setup to control heaters, and skimmer/return pump in standby mode, which is really a neat feature and let you delay start skimmer/return pump while feeding the fishes/tank.

Here's the pic with the head unit visible (lower left corner) and actinics on.



It was very hot today, and I had my air conditioner turned off. I did not realize my tank's temperature shoot up to 84F !!! Fortunately, everything seemed to be ok.

I realized this only after RKL was installed. Good thing the temperature is now clearly visible all the time, and never thought the effortless temperature monitoring can bring this much relief!

Anyway, I'm very happy with RKL so far. I do plan to add at least PH monitoring in the near future, and possibly moon light control... and maybe replace all timers with another power module.. we'll see