Tamberav Posted October 2, 2014 Author Share Posted October 2, 2014 I don't know how I missed this update. Love how every thing is coming along. I was in the plastic shop today and got pricing a cold water tank while I was waiting. SO much sticker shock.... Interestingly 3/4 inch isn't much more then 1/2. How do you feel the 1/2 works insulation wise? I am not having any real problems with 1/2 inch... I do get some condensation on the hottest of days but it is rare it gets that hot. I suppose bigger is always better though if there isn't a huge price difference and it doesn't detract from aesthetics of the tank itself. 1 Quote Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 I don't know how I missed this update. Love how every thing is coming along. I was in the plastic shop today and got pricing a cold water tank while I was waiting. SO much sticker shock.... Interestingly 3/4 inch isn't much more then 1/2. How do you feel the 1/2 works insulation wise? Belac, what is average temperature and humidity inside the room you'd keep a coldwater tank? Also, whats the highest the temp/humidity get in that room? Once you have those numbers you can accurately predict when and if you will ever develop condensation on your tank using this website: www.dpcalc.org 1/2" acrylic is as thin as I would ever go on a coldwater system, anything thinner and you run into condensation issues on moderately humid days and your chiller will be running a lot. You can count on the 1/2" acrylic giving you about a 5 degree thermal barrier between the temperate on the outside of of the acrylic versus what you run the water temperature at. So if you plan on running the tank at like 57F then the temperature of the outside surface of your acrylic would be about 63F. So at that temp you would need to have the following environmental conditions to develop condensation on your tank: AIR TEMP...........HUMIDITY 70F.......................78% 80F.......................54% 90F.......................41% 100F.....................29% These numbers will change a bit if you run your tank colder or warmer. I figured these all off of my own 7.2gallon tank using an infrared thermometer to measure the temp of the outside acrylic versus the inside water while measuring the air temp and humidity then plugging them all into the dew point calculator. Right now my chiller which is a 1/13HP (200 watts)compressor chiller runs for about 5 minutes every 45-60 minutes, so about 60hrs of use in a month costs me $1.32 a month in electricty. So about $16 a year in chilling on average. Then compare the cost of a 200 watt powerhead pump running 24 hrs a day for a month (720 hrs) which ends up costing you the same per month to run that powerhead as it does to run a small chiller for the entire year The more you spend on acrylic when purchasing your tank, the less you spend on chilling in the end, albeit a very little amount in savings when running a nano. If I was to go with a 1" thick tank the same size as my existing one it would only save me about .65 cents a month in chilling (not worth it IMO) but it would decrease my chances of condensation issues by 50%. But to come full circle in my thought (lol) 1/2" acrylic was the thickness that was found to be the most cost effective while still providing enough thermal barrier to be effective. Thicker is always better, but always more expensive initially.. 1 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 Shrimp seems to have settled in... he's out and about with the lights on today. I offered him some nori and he went nuts... I got some pics of him but can't upload until my husband gets home with the laptop. /doh I also forgot to mention I got two Waratah nem's from Pacific East Aquaculture coming. They were a special order through ReefGen. The catch is the ones ReefGen have are living at normal reef temps and have been multiplying that way. 4 Quote Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Is your shrimp a Stout shrimp or Sitka? Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Is your shrimp a Stout shrimp or Sitka? Stout, I want to add some Sitka at some point. I love tiny inverts. Quote Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Nice. The Sitkas are cute. If you like small inverts ask Stu if he could find you some coldwater amphipods. Some of them are really cool 1 Quote Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 If you wanna crazy with the tiny coldwater inverts, we can get skeleton shrimp 3 Quote Link to comment
Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Would love to know which return pump you went with that dropped your temps down to 53F degrees? I'm impressed with that number and since I go live in fabrication this Wednesday, I want to pass that information back over to Stu as I have to assemble his 7.2 system this weekend and get it out to him. Just been crazy mad getting my new warehouse going.... Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 If you wanna crazy with the tiny coldwater inverts, we can get skeleton shrimp Had to look those guys up. Those are crazy looking... like a walking stick crossed with a preying mantis. I wonder if they would survive or become nem food? Would love to know which return pump you went with that dropped your temps down to 53F degrees? I'm impressed with that number and since I go live in fabrication this Wednesday, I want to pass that information back over to Stu as I have to assemble his 7.2 system this weekend and get it out to him. Just been crazy mad getting my new warehouse going.... Rio Plus 180 Aqua Pump... it is 3.4 watts I believe. It isn't that powerful so he'll probably need a second small powerhead for flow. But so far the Rio has been working great for the chiller and filtration in the back compartments. I also have the line running to the chiller insulated. Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 It looks so great!! Curious to know how does calcium and alk change in these colder tanks, have you tracked it> Id assume prob its a low command for either ion 1 Quote Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 haha that's funny, the skeleton shrimp where one of the amphipods I was thinking of. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 The two little nem's arrived today. They are in a breeder box on my 40g so I don't lose them. Trying to decide how to proceed... On 10/7/2014 at 11:37 AM, brandon429 said: It looks so great!! Curious to know how does calcium and alk change in these colder tanks, have you tracked it> Id assume prob its a low command for either ion I have not tested anything.... from what I read ca/alk were not that important. I can start testing for you though. 4 Quote Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Beautiful. So jealous Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 On 10/5/2014 at 11:06 PM, Tamberav said: I can't tell you how great it is to see thse little shrimp in your tank. I used to go out to the sandy tide pools on the lowest tides of the year at night just to see these guys running about in 1" of water. Nick named them mexican shrimp since, well... flag. Check out my friend Buzz's blog. He's retired from the Seattle Aquarium and is our local expert for anything living in puget sound. This page has a bunch of isopods and other marine bugs. I think you'll love it: http://buzzmarinelife.blogspot.com/2013/06/mid-and-high-intertidal-explorations.html On 10/7/2014 at 0:11 AM, Tamberav said: Had to look those guys up. Those are crazy looking... like a walking stick crossed with a preying mantis. I wonder if they would survive or become nem food? They live in the eelgrass flats and Sargasso seaweed here. Hard to tell if they eat the seeweed or zooplankton taking shelter in it. My best guess is zooplankton. You definitely need those in your cleanup crew! 2 Quote Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Thats a sweet blog 2 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Thats a sweet blog i know, right! Super nice guy too. 2 Quote Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I bet he is. He takes really good pictures too haha 1 Quote Link to comment
Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 You are literally rocking my tank into supreme COOLNESS, oh yeah did I say 55F degrees of COOLNESS? LOL 1 Quote Link to comment
hypostatic Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 tamberav! gimme some more deets on the nems! 2 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 When I get some more time I will go through that blog thoroughly. The pics look great though Check this booger out Pom pom crabs love Waratah anenome's 4 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Looking really good. Quote Link to comment
Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 MANY OF YOU GUYS/GALS WHO LIKE THE THIS COLD WATER SYSTEM, I HAVE PLACED IT AS A PROMOTIONAL SALE ON OUR WEBSITE! Go to our website and order so you can be part of all the excitement of owning your 7.2 gallon cold water system! 1 Quote Link to comment
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