Project5k and the new 75Gal salt tank

[project5k]

yea you know, i've NEVER paid directly for anything like that... yea, ok, if you go on a date and dinner and a movie and stuff, thats kinda sorta paying, but never here is cash, now, jump on!!!

anyway...

so i got a new test kit... thought i'd share the results of the first go with it... and i know that i've complained about the colors of some of these tests, but i think that this one is pretty CLEAR!!!

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

:^: Looks good!!!

 

[project5k]

yea, thats one that i think i can read.. course, it does help that last weekend we replaced every light fixture in the kitchen, and replaced all the bulbs, from thoes old 2700k spirals to some 4100 t8's MUUUUUCH brighter, and MUUUUUCH whiter... we tried some 5000K's but they were just almost too blue in that room...

anyway, started working on bumping up my salinity tonight, did a 10 gallon water change, just made sure that the mix was a little stronger than what i had been doing... i mixed this up so it was a 1.024 according to my two "good" plastic meters... i also put half a teaspoon of buffer in the 10 gal to pull the ph up from 8.2 to 8.3 on my digi-meter... i'll let that all run tonight, and i'll measure the tank again in the morning... i dont expect to see much if any change yet, but its the first step in the right direction.... baby steps.. baby steps...

 

[project5k]

have fun with this...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJhG8FKzRKM[/ame]

 

[dcantucson]

Good video p5k.

 

[project5k]

thanks...

so i made the trip to the new lfs in north sa, hadnt been there before.. nice enough guy, but it looks like he needs to hire me for some stuff, get the rest of the store put together....

anyway, i picked up 2 t5 bulbs, mostely for measurement purposes right now, but i got a 420 actinic and a 460... so, now i gotta finalize the drawings for the canopy.. i'm seriously considering goin with 18 tall on the canopy, that would put the bulbs about 15 inches above the top of the tank... Now i know that the farther away i am the more losses there are, power = inverse of the square of the distance and all, but i've gotta have room enough between the top of the tank and the bulbs for my arms to fit so i can work in there... so, thats the plan i think for now... gonna let the idea kinda stew on the brain for a little bit, then i'm gonna go get to work...

heres a few snapshots of what i have drawn up thus far... this is just the frame and the bulbs, the ballasts will go above the bulbs on the "outside top" of the canopy, and then i will cover all the sides with 1/4 ply...

the other thing that i'm seriously considering is putting a couple fans in the middle of the top to suck the hot air up and out of the canopy, but i'm really not sold that the fans will be necessary, so what i may do is just cut the holes, and then cover them for right now, and then if i need to all i have to do is mount the fans, which i can do anytime over the tank, where as cutting the holes over the tank might not be so great...


oh, something that the new lfs guy mentioned to me about why my zoas might be going away is nudibranches, and he even showed me some on some zoas he had... so, i'll be looking for thoes guys tonight after lights out... he suggested a 6 line wrass if i find any, thoughts?

 

[Bifferwine]

oh, something that the new lfs guy mentioned to me about why my zoas might be going away is nudibranches, and he even showed me some on some zoas he had... so, i'll be looking for thoes guys tonight after lights out... he suggested a 6 line wrass if i find any, thoughts?

Yep, that's why I suggested you do a freshwater dip on the zoas. That would kill any zoa-eating nudis that are on the colony.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Looks good Project. Are you going to add reflectors for the bulbs?

At the Menards by me, I saw peices of acrylic with mirrored backing. It seemed pretty inexpensive cant remember the price. If you put that on the top of the canopy above the bulbs, it would reflect some of the light back. But individual reflectors are the best way to go.

Brian

 

[dcantucson]

I think the fans in the canopy are a great idea. Specially living in Texas.

 

[project5k]

Ok. well this morning i woke up all refreshed feeling like a well satisfied man.... :) and decided to grab my handy dandy LED flashlight and do some look'n round on the zoa rock, and i did infact see something moving, it wasnt a "nudi" like what the guy at the store showed me, but this was just a short brown thing, looked like a cigar, and was about an 1/8th of an inch long, i didnt see any legs, but that dosen't mean that they werent there, and it was moving around on the "dissapearing" zoas, and it was moving with a purpose, when i hit it with the flashlight, it went into a hole on the rock..

the other thing that i saw was these 2 hairs comming out of another hole, and when the light went into the hold the 2 hairs quickly pulled back into the hole.. WTF?!?!

ok, freshwater dip, i know i've seen that posted before, i gotta go find that and try it....

on the salinity front, my first gallon of "super salt water" has run in, via my intravenious dripper, and the tank is now reading somewhere between 1.023 and 1.024 according to the average of my meters... so, headed in the right direction, just gotta keep going, nice and slow...

on the canopy, well, the wife and i sat down and talked about the design some last night, and we changed a couple things around with how i was gonna do the doors and things, but the basic frame will stay the same... so, i'll get started on that here in a hour or 2 after i wake up and watch my "saturday shows" trucks, extreme 4x4, stuff like that on spike.. the channel, not the fish... hehhehe

Reflectors, yes, i do plan to use reflectors(not today, i'm broke, but little by little), i'm gonna use some ice cap ones i found online that clip onto the bulb, that is, if i dont make my own.. i mean really, 1-1/2 pvc with alum foil on the inside and cut inhalf should work fairly well, i know its not a true parabola, but, eh, who cares, thats the diff between 20+ dollars each, and like 10 cents worth of pvc and alum foil... think i'll try making my own to start... hehehehehe


ok, seriously... fresh water dip... gotta find that....

 

[Smitty]

Lol...thanks for the update...I think a fw dip will do you some justice.

 

[project5k]

yep i did it, its done, lots of little critters abandoning that rock, now its wait and see, oh, and run to HD for materials for the canopy...

 

[Smitty]

Good to hear that it worked out for you.

 

[project5k]

yea, well, i dont know if its working yet or not, the lights havent come on and they havent opened up yet, so, i still dont know...

but i did get done with my trip to HD so, now its outside and start knocking together the frame of the canopy...

 

[project5k]

ok, update time...

the zoas are starting to open up, now that the lights have come on, so thats a good sign.. now to just wait and see if they grow...

and here is the canopy in rough form... still gotta put the lower doors on it and stuff, but i figure i'll do that after i paint it.. and get all the hinges and stuff on it..

my plan is to have the doors so that the swing up, and the entire front is one door, and same with the back, and the ends, that way i have maximum access... thats part of the reason its soo tall, is just so i can reach in there and work if i need to...

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

looks nice and sturdy. Good idea with the doors.

 

[project5k]

ty, ty, ok, last update for the day, got it painted, but cause of the cooler and damper weather the paint didnt dry as fast as i had hoped, so, its inside, and thats where it will spend the night and day tomorrow, to finish drying... maybe when i get home tomorrow, i can start screwing down the bulb sockets...

also the zoas are out as much as they can be, the little patch in the middle, i'm afraid, isnt gonna come back, i havent seen it open in days now, and sorry for the blurry picture, had to shoot it at an angle to the glass to see all of em...

also, the salinity readings now are averaging between 1.024 and 1.025 depending on which meter your looking at.. i still gotta get me a reftactometer, but that just may have to wait a few paychecks...

oh, and heres a picture of Buddy, the retarded starfish, just cause i had the camera out...

 

[dcantucson]

p5k I know you have discussed this on here before, but are you sure that starfish is reef safe? It doesn't look like it to me. Maybe that's the culprit of your non-openning zoos?

 

[project5k]

i'll be honest with ya, i really dont know, i guess i could wait and see what happens now that i've washed the bugs off, and see, and then if these dont make it, i'll get another small rock, and put it either in the fuge, or move the starfish down there and so forth...

what is it that you see that makes you think that its not reef safe?

oh, and so, i just couldnt wait, the paint was dry enough to touch, just not really cured to handle, but i had to see what these lights look like, HOLY CRAP THATS FRIKN BRIGHT!

 

[bjohanson1234]

And thats just with 2!!! Wait until you get all 8 in there :glassesy: