Diggman's BC29 journal (currently out of commision)

[bilge rat]

nice lookin tank

im thinking of getting the 14g bio

i have the 34g cad and am diggin it

 

btw

my loc line is longer than yours

 

pods r a good thing

part of the food chain and good at cleaning up

the trash/detritous/rotting things

 

if u havent already u should check out yer

local reef club, great resource for info

and nice cheap frags!!

 

joshuah

 

why do i stil have the little white copods in my tank??? shouldnt they have died off by now

[roushinator]

Here's my tips after doing the upgrade.

Nano Reefer

Posts: 451

Joined: 1-February 07

Member No.: 25,698

 

Just installed this upgrade. It took me about 4 hours to complete from getting tools together to putting tools away and everything in between. It could have been faster but had a few stumbling points from some missed details in the instructions. Thought I would post my experience with this upgrade to help others get through it easier.

 

1. There are two yellow ground wires that are disconnected during the tear down stage of the hood. The instruction no where tell you to hook them back up. I hookd them to the bottom of the new heat shield where the bulb clip nets are.

 

2. You are told to hook the power supply for the new fans in the wrong configuration. Instructions say hook solid black wire from supply to the black wire from the gray cable and the black with the white wire from the supply to the white wire from the gray cable. I did this and the fans did not work. I switched them exactly opposite and the fans kicked in.

 

3. If you buy the moonlight upgrade it does not tell you how to install it at all and on the heat shield I had to drill my own pilot holes to mount the bulb clips, and drill holes to run the power supply cable through to hook up the light.

 

4. I recieved no instruction in the package at all but luckily they are available for download on the website.

 

All in all not too bad but Nanotuners could benefit their customers by upgrading their instructions some. I understand that you can send your hood into them and they will do the upgrade for you at some cost. Maybe they should try to follow their own instruction so that they can see some of the flaws.

 

As for the finished product I am totally satisfied. I put the lights in with the a 10,000k light in the front position, an actinic in the next position back, a 50/50 in the third, and an actinic in the back. My choices for the upgrade lights was the 50/50 and an actinic. Plus I got the moonlight upgrade, and the upgraded fans with the variable speed controller.

 

Lighting is noticably better with more blue in it than originally. Look more light the color you get from MH. I have not changed my lighting schedule (actinic on 10 hours daylights on 8 hours and moonlights on 14 hours).

Bob Fenner from WWM said I did not need to change this schecule but that I sould watch my soft corals to see if they start to color morph and adjust from there if need be. I will keep an eye on this. Hopefully the color morph if any will be for the better.

 

Thanks for the tips i am going to do this upgrade in the next week or so.

[diggman08]

ok, when i did the upgrade it took me about 2 hours.. alls you need is a screwdriver, drill, 2 drill bit, and that IT!!.o and some wire crimpers... replying to what spanko said,, i followed the instructions as said and everything works perfect..although they do leave out a few details you have to figure out on your own...

 

my light formation is the same as on nanotuner web site... i run2 actinics 11-10, and 10k 50/50 from 2-6, moonlights at night,, all on coral life dual timer.. i also have a small power head that comes on with the 10k,( for more of reallistic effect.))

 

o and bilge rat.. alls i did was pop a few sec of the locline off to make it shorter. im actually thinking about going back to the fac. setup and adding a hydor koralia 1 to the tank.(maybe)

[divecj5]

Thanks for the tips Spanko and Diggman....I think I am going to give it a whirl this weekend and see how it comes out. I might be able to do it one night this evening after work but we'll see how that goes.

 

Just from reading the instructions (like you said from the internet), they seem a little sparse. They have some nice pictures but not from every step.

 

I'm sure I will figure it out though. Just don't want to be without lights

[bilge rat]

i use 2 hydor 1's

and just added an mj900 with an oscillator

was having probs with red hair btween the mj

and shortening my light cycle seems to have whipped it

but ill leave the mj in as it with the oscillator really makes a diff

in the motion of the ocean, coral opening and fish swimmage

 

 

ok, when i did the upgrade it took me about 2 hours.. alls you need is a screwdriver, drill, 2 drill bit, and that IT!!.o and some wire crimpers... replying to what spanko said,, i followed the instructions as said and everything works perfect..although they do leave out a few details you have to figure out on your own...

 

my light formation is the same as on nanotuner web site... i run2 actinics 11-10, and 10k 50/50 from 2-6, moonlights at night,, all on coral life dual timer.. i also have a small power head that comes on with the 10k,( for more of reallistic effect.))

 

o and bilge rat.. alls i did was pop a few sec of the locline off to make it shorter. im actually thinking about going back to the fac. setup and adding a hydor koralia 1 to the tank.(maybe)

[diggman08]

man your tank looks good bildge..nice.. yeah im def. getting the koralia 1, i looked at the tunze nanostream but it put out like 650gph.lil too much for my tank..

 

and if any one is interested for a trade, i have a Rio 6hf pump in box BARELY USED..couple weeks old.. shoot me a pm..

[diggman08]

UPDATE: went to the LFS today and picked up some stuff.

9gallon of RO saltwater, scraper,2 nice piece of live rock, 2 turbo snails, kent 2 part.

 

hopfully the turbos and a water change will clear up the diatom!!!. does any body have this kent 2 part.. the lfs said its really good so i grabbed it..

[diggman08]

o and i was looking at the gobies and i could have sworn i saw a helfrichi for 20$, they said it was just a purple firefish..but it looked exactly like a helfrichi..which for for around $175

[spanko]

Settle down Digg. No impulse buying at this stage. Get the tank where you want it then start developing your want list so that you can ensure peace and harmony between you inmates.

[diggman08]

i am settled:), i was just saying that was crazy with the price... the only thing i will be buying in the near future is a cpr skimmer and koralia..

[spanko]

http://www.marinecenter.com/media/photos/4...7AC61A5C88K.jpg

helfrichi

 

 

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Omtwrl...g/purpfire1.jpg

Purple

 

They look kinda the same I guess. I almost like the purple one better myself.

[diggman08]

i like the purple on better too.. when i was lookin at them in the lfs.i watched a clown goby kill one right in front of me. it was crazy. he anihilated it.

[diggman08]

Update.7/12/07

Got some zoa frags in the mail today, i dont know if most of them are going to make it,,only a few are peeking out so far... 2nd day in the tank.. when i opened the box they were really really hottt...well here some pics maybe yall can tell me if theyre DEAD or ALIVE??

 

GPE, MELLOW Yellow, and i dunno what the middle kind are.(anyone)?

what are these???

[diggman08]

i think the purple/yellow ones that are slightly open, might be BLEEDING HEARTS. they have them on zoanuts.com.. $35/polyp. for me they were a freebie frag in the order

[divecj5]

Hey Diggman...not sure what the exact names of the frags are. How are they doing thus far today? Looks like the ones in the middle are doing just fine and the others don't look too bad either.

 

My experience with zoas is that they are really tough and can make it through a lot. I would just leave the ones that aren't opened yet be and just keep an eye on them. If they don't open within the next couple of days, might want to start worrying then.

 

They don't look too bad though...where did you get them from?

[diggman08]

i ordered from a member on here.. i should have got express shipping..

[yardboy]

i ordered from a member on here.. i should have got express shipping..

 

Hopefully divecj5 is right and they're tough. Can't wait to see them.

[dsly]

If you do aim one down and one up towards the surface. That should do it. Do you have a powerhead inside the tank?

 

Here's what I've done in my BC29, and it works well. Used a flat nozzle to agitate the surface and a more rectangular one for downflow. Powered by the RioHF6. There's also a Powerhead 301 for circulation.

 

[diggman08]

dsly nice setup..im actually selling my rio6hf and going back factory.. going to add a koralia 2.

 

well got my eagle eye zoas in from yardboy today and they are awsome. i love the colors. i will get a pic up a bit later..

[noobwithatank]

dsly nice setup..im actually selling my rio6hf and going back factory.. going to add a koralia 2.

 

well got my eagle eye zoas in from yardboy today and they are awsome. i love the colors. i will get a pic up a bit later..

 

 

diggman, i just got my koralia 2, and am running stock pump on hydro flow, everything look soo good already, just over a day with the new items. i do want to add more flow. im thinkng another k2 in the other corner of the tank by the flo.

[diggman08]

awsome.. im still have some diatom problems, maybe the koralia will help clear em up. lemnme know how the flow goes if you get another koralia.. u dont think it would be too much??

 

NEW PICS.. 7/13

Eagle eye zoas

actinics

iradescent mushrooms(freebie)

[noobwithatank]

well the flow might be a problem for some, for while. i was reading up on zoas ( what i plan to mostly keep ) and it "claimed" ( on another site ) that most if not all can be grow and thive in the high gph tanks, some even exten thier tentacles to deal with the added flow. i dont believe it will be a problem. ill let u know what the outcome is either way. and i love the new pictures. i wish to post pictures of mine ( in my own thread of course ) but atm my flash card reader isnt working. also i have a few questions.

 

is the added light from the nanotuners upgrade worth it. id get a 50/50 bulb and actinic. also what are your feelings on a skimmer?

[diggman08]

thanks,, the light upgrade to me is worth every last penny i paid for it.. and the zoas really love it. i still have the bioballs in back and havent had any problems yet... if you do your water changes every week you dont really need a skimmer in a 29g.. but this is a touchy subject...u will get many different opinions..

[yardboy]

Thanks for the good looking pics. Looks like they made it okay, in spite of the USPS!

We'll see what we can get you fixed up with later.

[diggman08]

no thank you for the good looking zoas