Dogfish

4 hours ago, Sascha D. said:

Jawfish are easily one of my favorite fish and they're relatively easy to keep. In the wild they burrow in flats on the outskirts of the reef. In these areas they burrow straight down and hover over the burrow to catch passing plankton.

What size/kind of sand do you have? What kind of Jawfish? Where in the tank is their home? Do you have a picture? Too many questions?

Is the screen sandwiched between 2 layers?

Is that a screen kit or do you buy parts?

41 minutes ago, Gig 'em @ NDstructible said:

My magnifica is in the only place my tank could possibly house him, and he hasn't moved an inch in months! now if only I could see him without standing above the tank...

But seriously, if you are interested in a larger anemone hit me up, I have experience acclimating them to captive conditions and treating them through any bacterial infections (the larger species are more prone to deteriorating health shortly after collection and transportation).

I will hit you up for sure. Might even have to pay you for a boarding fee while you make sure he is good to go. I have very little experience, unless you count aptasia. Just 1 bubble in my 125. It was very small when I got it and decided the back side of the rock work was best like yours.

Tank diving humm dont clothes have soap residue in them? :)))))

Nice tank. Gonna be a good one.  Tropic Eden Reeflakes sand. Do they bag different sizes for different fish requirements?

Livestock and aquascaping tank layout questions. I need some ideas on this one. I love the way Jawfish pop up out of the sand. I also love the look of Urchins. Anemones will be a must. I like a lot of wavy things in a tank. I have been doing some thinking about their homes and territories. The Jawfish need about 10" of deep sand and im only putting about 1" to 2" in the tank. Anybody seen or done any type of retaining wall or round rock structures to hold back that amount of sand. I was thinking a 12" dia. ring 10" tall with some sort of rock or something to hide it. Since  the tank is a 5' square visible from 2 adjacent sides could have 1 home in the front corner and one across the tank. I dont know if piling up 10" of sand against 1 end of a tank is a good thing?  I would like to do 3 rock islands. 1 being tall spires near the front and the other 2 weaving their way from the front right corner to the back left corner. Forming a sand path between them for some depth. They will be riding on pvc pipe platforms for stabiltiy. I could try to build something between them to hold back some deep sand Any ideas on Anemones other than bubble tip and where they might like to be placed? (not that they will stay there). Any high temperature requirements with them? Has anyone kept a Diadema antillarm urchin with success? Did it bother any softies? I dont want it to starve to death so it will be a late addition to the tank. I did have a rock boring urchin and do not want to go that route. .....ok out of breath like ty and gig 'em diving a tank I saw on another forum.

On 11/7/2017 at 2:08 PM, Sascha D. said:

 I'm running about 375g total water volume, at an average temp range of 74-76 night/day, and topping off 20 gallons every 7 days. Good luck building the tank!

Thanks; My 15 gal top off tank should work for now.

I did a little more work on the tank. Overflow box is ready. Picture of the glue up. Don't do this in the kitchen when your wife is home *_*

Now on to the tank. First seam is done. Praying to fish gods for no seam bubbles. While i was laying the bead a maintaince guy pulls up from the Fish Gallery. Funny how word gets out.

You rinse them? 

I finally got free to work on the tank. I did a 16" practice seam on some scrap 1" stuff. Picture 1 shows the seam from the outside. You can see it has no bubbles where the 2 pieces meet. The right side shows some roughness on the outside where the excess glue pools up. Easy to clean up with a router and polishing. Left side is a tape issue. Left side is the inside corner. Picture 2 shows the same seam from the inside and the angle shows the bubble better.  I was on the phone and pulled the tape a bit late and caused a few small bubbles where the tape met the glue. The #40 had set up a bit too much. Rookie mistake. Only the fish and me would notice.

Acrylic is here for the tank. 1" stuff is heavy.

Got the sump in place and hooked up the pumps. Next step is to order the acrylic for the tank.

1 minute ago, jolt said:

Correct.  The little holes are countersunk too, which help the silencing aspect I believe

Kewl  I saved the cutouts from the holes I drilled out. I will bevel them so they fit inside the sock top and try to drill some evenly spaced holes.  Maybe a threaded screw in the center for a handle. Geo's on the cheap....

42 minutes ago, jolt said:

I really like the sump design.  If you are going to run socks you might consider making/buying some silencers.  I really like the ones I got from Geo's reef, and they work fine with the 4" socks (which looks like what you have there)

So those things fit inside the sock and center piece is to make them easy to pull out?

Sump is almost done. Needs a few more days to cure,  add water and hope that flex seal is not needed. Nothing fancy. Water will enter into the chamber back right, overflow into the filter socks then out into the middle chamber. It will be full of rock for some added bacterial filtration. That chamber has a bulkhead for the pump to the skimmer. The skimmer will also return water to the same chamber. Then over the hump and thru the spaghetti mat ending up on the far left.  From there it will be pumped back to the tank and reactors. There will also be a small pump in that chamber to pump water out when needed for water changes. Will add some bracing across the top back and front and find some glass pieces to use as covers once I have all the plumbing dry fitted. (grammar is prob not correct ?)

Tanks done, Not. Made a square coral viewer box, so I can have a clear view down into the tank from the top.  I really needed to practice the seam welding with #40.

Started on the sump. Making sure the sides are at a right angle to the back. Those 90 degree vice clamps are nice. I cut out channels in the backing paper so I could rough up the smooth surface for a better bond and not sand outside the glue lines. Before apply the solvent I peeled back more of the paper. Managed to glue in a few baffles. Waiting for glue to dry and set is like watching paint dry or waiting for water to boil.

Wired up the lighting  brick box. Fan on the bottom left pulls air in then out the top right. Decided not to mount it in the wall. Better air flow outside the wall. Weld-On #40 showed up today, Wooo Hooo. Time to put the sump together.

I hate putting holes in pipes so I found a solution to getting water to my RO/DI unit without a saddle clamp. I did not have anyway to use a normal hose "Y"  like you would use at the washing machine connection. You need these Ace Hardware part numbers if you have 3/8 water lines from the wall shut off to your faucet.

Add -a-Tee 3/8 - 3/8 - 1/4 #4308995 

Compression Sleeve 1/4 Delrin #41284

Compression Insert 1/4 Brass #41288 (you need this to keep the 1/4 plastic tube from collapsing)

Compression Nut 1/4 Brass # 41222

Mounted all the controller boxes and cleaned up some of the wiring. Mounted the Water Saver Kit from BRS and changed out the old membrane. Mounted a solenoid to control the output of RO/DI unit.

13 minutes ago, Isaac said:

I use these alot:  http://ebay.to/2eGXMDw

allows me to control crap w/ the varspeed ports.  i have a usb fan wired through it... so it only turns on for 15mins every hour...more at night.... jut as an example.  cheap/sturdy relay using varports

Good idea. Actually that reminds me, I have a bunch of Halloween prop controllers. I will have to find that box.

3 minutes ago, Isaac said:

yup.. longer you get, more chance of interference tho.  try and keep them away from 120v power cords.   just like in home theater world... one side of the cabinet AC, one side DC/video.

Thanks,

Now if I can just figure out how to to power some USB computer fans I have laying around. I don't think the Aqua Bus has power. More cables errrrrr.

Just now, Isaac said:

those are standard male/male cables.  check monoprice/amazon.  alternatively, you can get a gender changer and use an old one. 

Mine are std Male / Male . They should work  if less than 15' ?

21 minutes ago, Isaac said:

So, i couldnt find any 19v regulated power supplies... but I did find this combo that would work. 

Math:  [email protected] = 89.3watts x4 = 357   ( http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/Amp_to_Watt_Calculator.htm )

Items:
2x http://amzn.com/B019OOTL7A   24vDC 8A (200w) $17.99
4x http://amzn.com/B01H97ETVM  24v to 19v stepdown regulator (95w) $16.99
grand total for all 4: $103.94

Then compare it to just having backup bricks:  http://amzn.com/B01KLLSNJ2  $13.66  or $54.64 for 4.

so, for high output 19v, its actually better to stick w/ the bricks, since backups are cheap and quick to get.  any 90+w 19v laptop power supply will work!  hell, discount electronics!  maybe your power supply holding box just needs a fan or two?

 

Thanks,

Another question. I have a bunch of USB 2.0 cables. Can I use them for the the Aqua Bus on my Neptune Systems or do I need their over priced cables that are 2 long or 2 short?

Thanks Isaac.

I don't know much about low voltage stuff. The Kessils come with 19v / 4.7 amp bricks. The Eyeboot is 36v / 11.2 amp, with what looks like 3 sets of output connections. I need to connect 4  Kessils. I don't want to overwork the power supply and cause a heat issue. What would you recomend? 

Thanks for the info everyone. I will prob use the 15 gal drum I have and have for a top off tank. My RODI fill it up every 2 to 3 days. The RODI will be working on a regular basis so no need to worry about bad water coming out of it.

Decided to go pro on the Kessil light bricks. Found a box that mounts in the wall. Its the kind the A/V people use to place connecting blocks , routers and stuff in you closet. Came with a flush mount cover. Might have to louver the cover depending on how much heat  those bricks put off.