aviator300 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I'm using a very unique device for controlling my lighting. It's called an on/off switch. I flip it on and de lights come on. I flip it off and de lights go off. Pretty foolproof and de coral grow too. Before you know it, your controller will decide the most efficient schedule for everything in the tank and then several generations down the road your controller will decide which coral to purchase, what equipment to use, etc. And then, if you treat your controller with all due respect, it might give you one or two brief periods a week when you may be allowed to actually view your tank up close. As for me. I'll just keep on turning the lights on when i want to, feed the livestock when i want to, add supplements when i want to, and enjoy my tank however and whenever i want to. BTW, beautiful build i bet when you get it done. Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 Lol^^^, This is true as I used to have a such device call the on/off switch. Over time you forget to turn on or off, schedule becomes inconsistent from day to day, no real stability other than it was on cause I turned it on when I woke up, or I think I turned it off. Or I have to be at work super early how do I explain to my wife to turn the lights on and not the pumps off, or I am going on a trip for 5 days....who is going flip that on off button..guess I'm staying home. I like gadgets and tech, having a fully automated system is going to be sweet, yes alot can go wrong but with this fancy Shiney lil tv things MA jig, hopefully I can see where it went wrong. I can monitor from anywhere, anytime. Plus I'm dumb and like to spend these green paper things in my wallet on useless tech garb that will tell me what coral to pick and how to wipe my ass. Please excuse me if I'm out of line, I just do not know how to respond to this, my Controller only tells me what designer coral names to pick. Can't wait to get this wet as well, Ato container showed up today and I went and picked up my mixing can cause the controller told me I was not allowed to look at my tank yet. Link to comment
aviator300 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Lol^^^, This is true as I used to have a such device call the on/off switch. Over time you forget to turn on or off, schedule becomes inconsistent from day to day, no real stability other than it was on cause I turned it on when I woke up, or I think I turned it off. Or I have to be at work super early how do I explain to my wife to turn the lights on and not the pumps off, or I am going on a trip for 5 days....who is going flip that on off button..guess I'm staying home. I like gadgets and tech, having a fully automated system is going to be sweet, yes alot can go wrong but with this fancy Shiney lil tv things MA jig, hopefully I can see where it went wrong. I can monitor from anywhere, anytime. Plus I'm dumb and like to spend these green paper things in my wallet on useless tech garb that will tell me what coral to pick and how to wipe my ass. Please excuse me if I'm out of line, I just do not know how to respond to this, my Controller only tells me what designer coral names to pick. Can't wait to get this wet as well, Ato container showed up today and I went and picked up my mixing can cause the controller told me I was not allowed to look at my tank yet. Lol^^^, This is true as I used to have a such device call the on/off switch. Over time you forget to turn on or off, schedule becomes inconsistent from day to day, no real stability other than it was on cause I turned it on when I woke up, or I think I turned it off. Or I have to be at work super early how do I explain to my wife to turn the lights on and not the pumps off, or I am going on a trip for 5 days....who is going flip that on off button..guess I'm staying home. I like gadgets and tech, having a fully automated system is going to be sweet, yes alot can go wrong but with this fancy Shiney lil tv things MA jig, hopefully I can see where it went wrong. I can monitor from anywhere, anytime. Plus I'm dumb and like to spend these green paper things in my wallet on useless tech garb that will tell me what coral to pick and how to wipe my ass. Please excuse me if I'm out of line, I just do not know how to respond to this, my Controller only tells me what designer coral names to pick. Can't wait to get this wet as well, Ato container showed up today and I went and picked up my mixing can cause the controller told me I was not allowed to look at my tank yet. I gotta love it...I love good natured ribbing.. Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 I was outta line, got my manties on right now,lol . Today was x mass all over again! I picked up my 3rd light. This one will go in the middle no lens and the two on the sides with wide angle lenes. Now waiting on the multi light rms track to come out. I also decided to get the coneS2 skimmer and use the aqua euro as a back up, plan to mod the euro with a DC conversion. I heard several horror story's about the sedra pump, the aquamaxx was on sale so I said f it. It has really freed up a lot of room in the sump...a lot of room. Assembly was less than 5 mins, only thing missing was the lil rubber dampers for the pump. I don't really need them cause the skimmer will be sitting on some egg crate but plan to hit them up about it anyways. I wanted to see what all the hype was about with the gyre so I grabbed that as well... I have a problem buying stuff, I couldn't resist. So we will see how it goes. And finally I had to grab the ALD for the apex as this was one of the reasons why I bought it. Hopefully this will ease the wife's mind and mine as well as far as a leaky tank or sump. I'm very excited at this point in my build. Very few things left to do. As bad as I want to fill it already and keep saying I'm going to fill and get it wet already, I still want to get everything finished up and organized well as far as wiring and equip placement. Make changes now before it's full of water and a pita. Although this is not my dream tank, it is full of my dream equip and I feel very fortunate to be able to have all this stuff. I hope I can make this reef tank as awesome as the equip and enjoy it with my family and share it here with everyone. This is my favoritist hobby ever, keeps me outta trouble. "Aint got time for that" Lol stupid I know. Eat, sleep, work, reef! The goods: 7 gal ato container, Skimmer assembled, so awesome And a size comparison to the aqua euro Soon! Link to comment
Spiderguardnano Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 damm drama to sick man your doing upgrades and you haven't even got it wet yet Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 damm drama to sick man your doing upgrades and you haven't even got it wet yet Lol.. The skimmer I had, I bought second hand. Although it was in great condition, it was gigantic in my sump and the sedra pump I have heard they crap out alot. I'm going to DC mod it out and use it as a back up. In the beginning of this build I was looking at the aquamaxx skimmer but they were out of stock on it for the longest time and when I became avail, I didn't have the cash. It went on sale and I had the cash so I splurged a lil. It's amazing, can't wait to see what kinda crud this thing pulls out. Thanks spyda, that doser I got from you is on the list of things to do for this build.. speaking of builds, what's up with your new tank? Link to comment
Spiderguardnano Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Lol.. The skimmer I had, I bought second hand. Although it was in great condition, it was gigantic in my sump and the sedra pump I have heard they crap out alot. I'm going to DC mod it out and use it as a back up. In the beginning of this build I was looking at the aquamaxx skimmer but they were out of stock on it for the longest time and when I became avail, I didn't have the cash. It went on sale and I had the cash so I splurged a lil. It's amazing, can't wait to see what kinda crud this thing pulls out. Thanks spyda, that doser I got from you is on the list of things to do for this build.. speaking of builds, what's up with your new tank? Dude awesome bout time that doser is going to be used again all i need is to spray paint my pvc mix water and start my cycle but ran into a small bump this weekend and ended up buying this little yorkie named "tank" so this should keep my gf busy while i take care of my tank lol http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/migsayuyu12/media/b4185f05-4095-437b-b384-265c75ad9317_zps6446f6bc.jpg.html'> oh forgot you selling the rms mounts? since your getting the rails? Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 No the rms mounts will be used with the new multi light rms track. Just have to buy the long rail and tracks, it should be out very soon to purchase Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 Mounted the new ballast today, rear shot of the stand Unboxing the gyre 150, came in a sweet max spec tin Mounted on the side for now, I originally wanted to mount on the center of back wall horizontally but I'm unsure of the flow rate so I'll start on the side Started leak testing the ato container tester day afternoon, has held for aprox 24hrs. And unwrapped Mounted apex to a board to make things look nice and clean. And prepping my reactors for hook up to sump And a sump shot Plan for the remainder of the day is work on the rock scape Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Dosing container and holder arrived today while I was mowing the lawn , my dog almost bit the crap out of the mail lady, I felt really bad. Disaster avoided. I picked the container and holder up off ebay, from a seller in China for $35 for both. I was not expecting them to arrive until the end of this month so I was kinda excited to receive them early. After inspecting them thoroughly, the build quality is legit. I'm very impressed with the acrylic work. One down side I did notice is that the doser holder has a slight yellow ting to it but it's made out of 1/2" acrylic and the seams are flawless as well as polished. Imo can't beat it for the price, very satisfied other than the yellow tint on the holder but I'll deal with it. Pics Dosing container holds 1500ml each compartment, 3 compartments. Currently working on a mounting solution for the reactors. After that's done I will be mounting the apex board and deciding on a spot for doser and container. Then more rock scape, I was playing with acrylic boxes and shelfs to make a multi layer sand bed but.... I don't think it is going to work out and may just opt for a 1" sand bed instead. Local 99c store stopped selling super glue gel so I need to find another place that carries it for less than 2$ for a single use tube. I was getting 2 small tubes for 99c before. So I may just drill some rocks out for now and use some acrylic rod and reefpoxy for now. I'm going to be doing my weekly wc's tomorrow and start filling my mixing can with ro/di for this tank so I can finally get this thing wet. Monday my multi light rms track is supposed to show up, so I plan to get that all set up and the third light above the tank. Can't wait. If everything goes as planned, I may be wet by next Sunday. I don't get to work on this tank during the weekday, Monday will be an exception. I'll post some more pics later after I get the life support all figured out and finalized/ mounted and ready to go. Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Last few steps are underway. Rms multi light track and sliders showed up tonight. I will be installing in about an hour. Under the stand is getting crowded already. Kinda had to wrap things up in a hurry after that big game yesterday, so I just filled the stand with everything. Mounted the apex board and installed the mount for the doser and pulled the doser out and set in place After I get the lights hung, all that's left is some clean up and hose/ wire organization. Water test and fine tune pumps then start filling her up. In other news, going to attempt to raise some clown fry after this tank is up and running. crowded stand Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thank you, I'm very pleased with my slow progress. So.... just finished installing new rail track. Man was it nerve racking. I installed it by myself. It wasn't so bad but I was scared I was going to drop a fixture or knock something off the top of the tank. I had to take the old rails off 2 of the lights, balance them on the top brace of tank. Then remove old mounts on lights and install track mounts. Then move rms mounts to the side and measure each side to be sure they were inline with each other. Sliding the lights onto the track by myself balancing everything on the top of the tank was the worst nerve racking part. I moved slow and carefully being sure to be ready to pounce on anything that may fall. After the lights were on the track, I had to then carefully maneuver the guide on the track onto the rms mounts. Started one end and then slid it over to the other. Phew...got it! Tightened lock screws on the track and rechecked rms mounts for tightness. Enough talk...pics Sorry about the glare from my light. Must get better pics later. First, the 70.5" rms multi light rail track. This thing is sturdy and we'll milled. Should hold the lights without bowing easily. An angled shot from the side. The 2 outside radions are gen3's with wide angle lenses and the center radion is a gen3 pro with stock lenes. I have a set of tir lenses if needed. Shot from the front with some wicked glare, sorry but that. So the lights are capable of sliding around on the track, they do not lock in to specific locations, also the track mounts swivel 360° if you want to turn lights front to back or at an angle. Pretty cool. You can also loosen up the rms mounts and move the whole arch front and backward to desired location, should be good for tank maintenence. I just need to cut the 100 zip ties I have holding the wiring mess from the 2 lights I had mounted before and reroute the cords in the track and down to the ballast. Done. That's it for now, if anyone has questions about the multi light rail kit lmk, I will do my best to answer your questions. Thanks for looking! Link to comment
cindyp Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 this tank is gonna be RAD. i bow down to you! Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 this tank is gonna be RAD. i bow down to you! Thank you so much, for the kind words. My hopes are for this reef to be as awesome as the equip. Link to comment
Spiderguardnano Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 dude man im so jelly of this tank its super sick man pretty much everything is set up for success man where is the gyre? will you be running all the powerheads? Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks spyda! The gyre is on the right side of the tank near the top. Once the tank is wet, I will be experimenting with placement and flow. The power heads will be synced together, possibly on a short pulse mode. As far as running all 3 at once will depend. I need to get this tank wet already and play around with things, once the scape is in (long semi floating shelf) I will have to see if I have any dead spots. I also have to play around with the dual returns as well. Rock scape is still unclear atm. I have been working on the floating shelf idea but I am unsure how it will come together in the tank due to me wanting to clear the cad tanks rock out and put into this tank. I'm not sure how they will jive together. I Def don't want to cram to much rock in this tank and may just go with the minimalist look with an open sand bed. So may just put in my created shelf and seed with a lil rock from my cad tank. So many options. I've been looking at lots of fts of larger reefs to get ideas. I want something visually appealing but different than the usual. I haven't got.to this point yet. Lol. Link to comment
Spiderguardnano Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 dude i need to pick up some rock from you like albs just to start my cycle ill be using this guys radians setting grows pretty much everything check this thread out drama you could get some inspiration from it http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/member-tanks/109257-chris-algae-farm-elos-160-a.html Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Drama, you can charge admission from all us SD fans once you've got this thing running! Link to comment
DurocShark Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Drama, you can charge admission from all us SD fans once you've got this thing running! And some of us from further north... Link to comment
Steensj2004 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 That moment, whe you are setting up a new tank, and you think its gonna be super badass..... The you see this.... Lol. Banging setup man, as mentioned above, ima need to go to,"Jelly school" after seeing this. Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 First ten reefers get in free! Thanks for the kind words again everyone. I'm definitely getting excited now that it's just about ready for water and cycle. Booster pump arrive today along with a few fittings and a box of reef crystal's I got for 35$. Plan to use the reef crystals just for fill up and then I will be switching salts for water changes, either blue bucket, tropic Marin or zeovit brand salt, open to other salts as well just a bit unsure at the moment. To help make more water a lil faster And the fittings, Now I need to check out some write ups for install. Also still need to tuck the wires on the lights into the rms rail and pick up some plumbing parts to make a mixing system for my huge 44g trash can, I seen a cool lil set up on YouTube and gonna give it a try. Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Mixing station video I was talking about Link to comment
NorthGaHillbilly Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Dosing container and holder arrived today while I was mowing the lawn , my dog almost bit the crap out of the mail lady, I felt really bad. Disaster avoided. I picked the container and holder up off ebay, from a seller in China for $35 for both. I was not expecting them to arrive until the end of this month so I was kinda excited to receive them early. After inspecting them thoroughly, the build quality is legit. I'm very impressed with the acrylic work. One down side I did notice is that the doser holder has a slight yellow ting to it but it's made out of 1/2" acrylic and the seams are flawless as well as polished. Imo can't beat it for the price, very satisfied other than the yellow tint on the holder but I'll deal with it. Pics Dosing container holds 1500ml each compartment, 3 compartments. Currently working on a mounting solution for the reactors. After that's done I will be mounting the apex board and deciding on a spot for doser and container. Then more rock scape, I was playing with acrylic boxes and shelfs to make a multi layer sand bed but.... I don't think it is going to work out and may just opt for a 1" sand bed instead. Local 99c store stopped selling super glue gel so I need to find another place that carries it for less than 2$ for a single use tube. I was getting 2 small tubes for 99c before. So I may just drill some rocks out for now and use some acrylic rod and reefpoxy for now. I'm going to be doing my weekly wc's tomorrow and start filling my mixing can with ro/di for this tank so I can finally get this thing wet. Monday my multi light rms track is supposed to show up, so I plan to get that all set up and the third light above the tank. Can't wait. If everything goes as planned, I may be wet by next Sunday. I don't get to work on this tank during the weekday, Monday will be an exception. I'll post some more pics later after I get the life support all figured out and finalized/ mounted and ready to go. Got a link to the dosing container? Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.