Veng's 20L - Black Friday Madness!

[SerenityReef]

Not that long, probably ~25 minutes. We'll have to meet at DNA sometime, I'll probably visit it at least three times next week, lol.

 

Audrey's out of town so just me and the pup! Expect macro's Friday

 

IKEA!! And it's in Frisco. I haven't been there in ages.

 

Audrey always needs an excuse to go to Ikea.

[Belac]

Any idea what it's actually output is at around 1' of head? I think I paid 15$ for the one I got.

If I remember tonight I will test both the 200 gph and the 250something gph one that is slightly bigger. I will let you know. Think I am going to have to test in the shower because that bigger one tends to make a mess if its sitting on the bottom of a 2 gallon bucket... Yeah I wasn't expecting that much power when I tested it before I used it the first time. I think I paid 12$ for the 200s and 14 for the 250s.

 

 

They also have 98gph ones that are really tiny. I keep thinking I am going to try a Maxi Jet style mod on it and see if it will work as well as some of the other modded pumps out there. Those are like 5$ which is more the price for experements if your buying stuff to jack around with.

 

They even have a 1000 gph one that is massive. I keep thinking some day, when I have roomn for a bigger tank....

 

Oh and by the way they changed their 20% rebates now. You CAN stack them with sales. So if you can hold off on the band saw....

 

I also have one of the small bench scroll saws. I wish I had gotten the band saw insted. The scroll works great up to about 1/2 then it is a bit underpowered.

[metrokat]

Audrey's out of town so just me and the pup! Expect macro's Friday

Puppy?!

[ward827]

Use to live near Coit and 121 a while back.

 

Small world . . . Lived at Coit and McDermott.

Now live at McDermott and Ohio.

 

W-

[Veng]

Not sure if my phone captured the nice purple or not. I don't have a spot to put it right now till I move rocks to ky sump.

[tailes]

 

Yummy?

[tailes]

 

Yummy?

 

I guess I don't have to share my dessert. Or the home made cherry topping.

[Veng]

Photo time!

First, more 9th circle stuff....

 

So Kat, you said you wanted one of these things, they're called portals. Here's two side by side shots. It's more magnification than I remember.

 

Then there were some more nice corals I saw today. There are some pictures in here of the same ones w/ and w/o flash:

This clam, while fairly average, had an enormous mantle. That's a good sign, right? He did retract instantly to light and came back out in about 15 seconds

I think this was purple on the middle, not sure it was covered in sand.

This photo didn't turn out great, but they had some nice christmas cyno (red and green) growing in one of their fish only tanks that was pretty impressive.

More clams. I think these are the same ones I posted before. The price is nice, but I'm pretty sure I don't want simply a "random crocea". I want something that's distinct and memorable.

 

And finally the first favia from this afternoon. I think I realized today that I really like favia and stonies.

And then there is the sump! Plastic got cut today!

[Belac]

Hurra, a sump!

 

I did some testing of those pumps just now with the spair sizes I didn't have in water. Made a mess and got some intresting informaion too. Had to redo the 200 twice because I kept reading the wrong set of numbers silly bucket has metric and imperal lines in it.

 

The 264 gph scored about 120 gph at roughly 12 inches of head. (Also had a good deal more force too. Oh and it has a screen and prefilter foam.)

The 200 gph scored about 90 gph at roughly 12 inches of head.

 

Held the pump in the bucket and held the hose at approxamtly 12 inches from the pump outlet, plugged it in and let it pump the water out as fast as it could untill it hit the one gallon mark.

 

Guess what pump is going in the tank to replace the 200 that is running my return here after dinner...

[Veng]

hehehe. 90 might by about right. I don't need the screen / prefilter foam, I've got a DIY basket that acts as a screen/prefilter. I wanted to go by harbor freight anyways

[SerenityReef]

Puppy?!

 

Ellie...

 

Small world . . . Lived at Coit and McDermott.

Now live at McDermott and Ohio.

 

W-

 

Ohio at Warren is right down the street.

[metrokat]

Nice sump. Nice portal. Like that red and green favia

[Veng]

Nice sump. Nice portal. Like that red and green favia

Thanks. I realized that the edges aren't as clean as I had hoped for coming from the plastic vendor so I'm going to end up running them through the joiner. I really didn't want to have to do this step, but what are you going to do, right? I'd rather be safe than sorry here.

What do you want to run on the Apex?

Everything?

 

I'd like to move the lights to sun rise/ sun set profiles instead of instant on and instant off. I could do that with my RKL, but I'd have to buy a ALC (80$). I'd like to add an ATO which I would be about 75$ of stuff and I couldn't really do cross function linking like I'd want to, like disable the ATO if the reservoir is empty. Or turn off a special socket that's used only to fill the ATO reservoir if it's full. I'd like more outlets than what I've got now (90$). I'd like to be able to view it from the web (120$).

 

Also, I can't do some of the programing on the RKL that I'd like to do. I can't tell it to turn off my lights based on the tank temperature. I can't tell it to turn on the return pump if the sump is flooding. There's a bunch of stuff like that that I'd like to do.

 

Besides, it's new, fun, and a toy! What's not to love?

 

Don't get me wrong, I Iike my RKL. And it does a job, I just want to play with a bigger and cooler toy.

 

Oh, and as far as outlets, I'd probably go like this:

 

1:Main Light Master - Light & Fan

2:Fuge Light - Air pump and light

3:Heater

4:Sump Return Pump

5:Koralia 425

6:Koralia 425

7:ATO pump

8:ATO Reservoir pump

 

0-10 VDC LED lighting control

1) NW

2) RB

3) OCW

4) TV

 

Switches:

1) Sump low

2) Sump high

3) Emergency overflow low

4) Emergency overflow high

5) ATO low

6) ATO high

[metrokat]

That's like Brians geared out little guy tank thread. I'm all for automating the essentials.

 

You know. You could get a bigger tank and go equipment crazy...

[Belac]

hehehe. 90 might by about right. I don't need the screen / prefilter foam, I've got a DIY basket that acts as a screen/prefilter. I wanted to go by harbor freight anyways

They are pretty small and quiet, that is what I like about them. I haven't had a loud one yet. At that price they are a steal.

 

I put the 264 in my sump tonight. It is just a hair bigger, to the point I had to rearange stuff crammed in there. I really need to build a proper sump. Waiting on you to finish your to see if I decide I want to do that or something else. I have a few different ideas kicking around my head.

 

If you don't mind me asking how much did your plastic run and how thick did you get?

[Veng]

That's like Brians geared out little guy tank thread. I'm all for automating the essentials.

 

You know. You could get a bigger tank and go equipment crazy...

Yeah.... I did a 20L so I didn't go equipment crazy..... See how thats turning out? Can you imagine if I got a big tank?

 

They are pretty small and quiet, that is what I like about them. I haven't had a loud one yet. At that price they are a steal.

 

I put the 264 in my sump tonight. It is just a hair bigger, to the point I had to rearange stuff crammed in there. I really need to build a proper sump. Waiting on you to finish your to see if I decide I want to do that or something else. I have a few different ideas kicking around my head.

 

If you don't mind me asking how much did your plastic run and how thick did you get?

1/4" (0.220) and it ran me ~75$ for the acrylic and ~25$ for the glue, applicators, and tax.

[Belac]

You know. You could get a bigger tank and go equipment crazy...

 

I am getting ot the point I need more sump for equipment. I suspect Veng is going to end up with more equipment then water. I see a calcium reactor in the future...

[SerenityReef]

That's like Brians geared out little guy tank thread. I'm all for automating the essentials.

 

You know. You could get a bigger tank and go equipment crazy...

 

Or buy the gear and grow into a bigger tank

[Veng]

I am getting ot the point I need more sump for equipment. I suspect Veng is going to end up with more equipment then water. I see a calcium reactor in the future...

 

 

Or buy the gear and grow into a bigger tank

 

Yeah, not going to happen. I enjoy this hobby, but I've got a budget and I'd rather have a really, really nice 20L than a crappy looking 105G rimless because I spent too much on the setup and had nothing left for corals. I think the 20L w/ an apex is the perfect point for me to get a quality tank that'll let me have fun, but still stay in budget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it might be the vodka talking, but I think I just had a great idea. We take a large snail or a hermit crab's shell and glue GSP on it.

[Belac]

I actually have a snail that naturally picked up snowflake polys some how. I have considered glueing GSP to hermits before...

[Veng]

 

At this point I think I need everyone to understand something. Texas has something called the "Castle Doctrine". That means I can shoot you if you try to steal my stuff, including the wife cause she makes the cheesecake...got it?

[tailes]

 

At this point I think I need everyone to understand something. Texas has something called the "Castle Doctrine". That means I can shoot you if you try to steal my stuff, including the wife cause she makes the cheesecake...got it?

 

I think he doesn't want to share.

[Veng]

I dare you to try to take my cheesecake.....

[metrokat]

 

At this point I think I need everyone to understand something. Texas has something called the "Castle Doctrine". That means I can shoot you if you try to steal my stuff, including the wife cause she makes the cheesecake...got it?

Oh God, lock her up and throw away the key. I'm seriously considering stealing both her AND the puppy.

[Veng]

No one ever has any love for the tank in this thread..... le sigh.

 

Here's some early morning pictures just after the lights came on. I can't wait till I can get the sump built so all the old live rock can move to the sump to finish out the month or so before it'll all come out of the aquarium. After I finish waking up, I'm going to go work on that.

 

I picked up these Zoas yesterday. I just fell in love with the green on them. It's a little darker than the picture, just a tad, but it's a beautiful dark forest green that you don't see much.

This is the frag off the pavonia. It seems to be very happy.