Tylers ~30 gal system build.

[zum14]

Its a new feature ive been working on, i figure were boxing them up in a glass box we may as well give them something to watch. Im still working on a remote for it though. Hard to make it watertight.

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by zum14

Its a new feature ive been working on, i figure were boxing them up in a glass box we may as well give them something to watch. Im still working on a remote for it though. Hard to make it watertight.

BAHHAHHAHHA! I think the whole opposable thumb or lack there of might still be an issue... make them watch Sponge Bob.

[zum14]

So not a whole heck of a lot of change on the tank lately, everythings growing great except for the one open brain (cant remember if its trach. or wells.) but ya, feed every say 4 days, have tried just about every food on it, not forcing but sort of letting the slow current sweep the food across it, have tried the smaller stuff as well, it was showing some signs of growth, or so I thought, but now i feel like im either not seeing any growth or go as far as saying maybe a bit of recession. Theres a trachyphyllia about an 1" away from it and it almost seems like its getting bigger every week. I dunno, some days I wonder if its lost its will. Im not giving up yet though, trying to keep any algae off it and ill keep trying to feed it till the bitter end. Anyone think a med/dip would have any positive effects?? I know there are no critters in the tank anymore, Ive spent hours watching with the lights out and all I see are pods. (Have a red LED flashlight that works great) Nothing else in the tank is showing signs of stress, everything actually seems the opposite. The platygyra seems to be getting puffier and whiter, lots of feeding tentacles at dinner time, no sweepers noticed yet though. Oh well Ill keep plugging along. I got all my float switches plus some this week.



But due to a shipping mishap it looks like the controllers going to be a week behind schedule. It sucks but what you gonna do? I need some time to figure out how im going to mount all these things anyways. I want one for the tank, overflow, three in the sump (one for water top up, one for low sump water, one for high sump water incase of float failure on the top up) and one will be for the water topup container in the basement incase the water level gets too low in the bucket it wont run the pump dry. That will be my 6 for the one IO box I ordered and if I think of some more well I have some extra switches and also have extras for failures. I have some trimming to do tomorrow and may update the FTS but havent been to keen on it as its going to be a while before I get my final look as Im waiting for my rock to finish cooking. I want to be ultra sure whatever in that rock has long died so I dont bring another 2 crabs back in. That was 6 crabs in 50lbs of liverock.

[zum14]

Soo my controller showed up late last week, Got it mounted into place. The wifes not too excited about the idea of me keeping the display on the outside of the stand after its skinned but she loves me and compromised. Please excuse the wiring, nothings finished yet, its actually not too complicated once you get everything figured out and figure out there programming code. Took some real forum searching and an unofficial guide from RC but we got her figured. Theres a few questions still but im going to search a little harder before asking repetitive questions. Pretty stoked with the auto top off now, works great. No more nightly drips!! Love it. Working with the acrylic making holders has been alright as well. Still have lots to do with it to finish things up but do a little bit more everyday. I found that I do need to calibrate the probes too. No biggie.






Also anyone have any ideas how long someone would "cook" LR to make sure the little crabbies didnt survive?? I have some leftover rock in my basement in a tub with heater and powerheads. Everything looks really clean now, but I just really do not want to put the last piece of rock into my tank and end up putting the two crabs I couldnt get out of the rock, back into my tank. Ill have to do some research on that as well.

[whatcaneyedo]

Were you able to set up remote access to your Apex from over the internet? I can fiddle with mine on my home PC but I can't figure out my router to let me at it from outside my home.

[zum14]

I was slateing that as my next project. Looks like it may be different for each internet provider and router. Have you got the text alarm to work? I dont think mine will work as im prepaid on virgin and it sends the emails back to me.

[whatcaneyedo]

I get texts and emails from mine. It has to send an email to 2503017298@txt.bell.ca for me to recieve the message as a text.

[zum14]

So it arrived today. Ordered yesterday. Its hard to beat. Thanks JL.






I was a little worried, the wife said it was pretty light when she picked it up, and I remember my 400W ballasts are anything but light. I wasnt expecting such a tiny little box. Kinda nice though, dont have to get crazy with mounting it.
I have the pendant where I think im going to like it. Well I hope so anyways. I was able to turn it on for a couple mins to get an idea of the color. I really like it. Went with a phoenix 14K, lumenmax 3 pendant and sunlight supply ballast. I know its not magnetic but you cant even find them anymore. 150w ballasts are rare as it is looking at websites anyways. Ive got 5 days off this weekend so will slowly acclimate everything. Its going to be a huge change going from 2 t5 units 16" away with crappy bulbs to an awesome reflector and bulb. Its going to be a cloudy day in the reef tomorrow as I havent got the ballast mounted yet. The cord on the pendant is long enough ( another plus ) that I can run it through the floor and mount the ballast in the basement below. Cooler down there plus less moisture and well I dont have a tonne of room under the stand. With all the cords and switches and components on this tank its starting to look like the back of my surround sound. Ha. Going to finish the install and tie everything up friday, try to keep it as clean as possible. Working on some LED night lights. Have a few more floats to install. Nothing serious, just a lot of little odds and ends to tie up. I am a little concerned I will run into heat problems this summer though. I do run a/c in the house but not to sub 20* temps. Its only 30Gal of water which will be interesting. I only have pumps running and the old t5s a ways away and the tanks at 78*. Im going to run some fans (with auto top off I can get away with it now) and see how that goes before investing in a cooler, considering I will need to drill another hole in my floor if I need to run pipes into the basement for the chiller. Theres no room upstairs for it.

[whatcaneyedo]

Let me know if you're interested in a green coral goby. I may have to get rid of mine. It really likes hosting my elegance coral which wasn't a problem when I had all three frags in my sump. But now that only one is down there getting all of the attention I think the goby is irritating it too much. For the time being I've separated the goby to my QT tank.

[Skimmerking]

tank is looking stellar man , well done I love the 150 DE i wish that the 250'w would be like that.