A pair of EcoWheel tanks in the making

[Putawaywet]

If any of you are considering a future MH purchase donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t pass up the opportunity to take a look at this new offering. Itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s quite unique. The bulb is actually a par 38 bulb (similar to those screw in outdoor flood lights that are shaped like a mushroom) but Iwasaki has managed to incorporate a DE HQI envelope inside the glass of the bulb. So, you get a 70w DE with itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s own focused internal reflector that screws into a standard ceramic socket. IceCap then couples this with an e-ballast that has the capability of adjusting for power drops and voltage variances and a custom designed pendant to hold the bulb. Better still, the pendant accepts all the bulbs currently offered (70w & 150w 6500k/20,00k in both spot and flood configurations) so you can mix and match to suit your needs. The only thing you need to make sure of is that you match the 70w bulbs to a 70w ballast, and the 150w bulbs to a 150w ballast.

 

[Putawaywet]

I had originally purchased the pendant and ballast from Premium Aquatics but Andy at IcaCap was nice enough to send me one of their pre-production samples of their matching ballast enclosure before I wired everything up. The only requirement was that I write a product review for him in exchange for the favor. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll be piecing that together in the next week or so, but from my limited test drive I really like what they have done. I think it fills the gap quite nicely for those who might be looking for a MH lighting on a small to medium sized tank, or might be wanting to spotlight a particular area of their reef with a different temperature bulb than what they are running in their main light fixtures.

 

[Putawaywet]

One of the other things I did was install some blue LEDS from www.autolumination.com/ (the glowing blue light barely visible 2 pics up) These are self-contained 3 bulb LEDs designed as interior dome lights on cars and trucks, but they work really well for reef applications. The company has apparently caught on to our interest and have added mention on their website of their being suitable for aquarium use, but thankfully, havenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t yet added the usual aquarium up charge that normally accompanies so many of our hobby goodies. I think I paid around $15.00 for a pair of lights and they come with pre-wired, appropriately sized resistors so all I needed to do was attach them to a 12v DC power supply and I was good to go. Well, ok, I actually took a half hour to mount them in a 1 1/2" black ABS coupler so I had sa little more flexibility with my mounting

I like these much better than my cold cathode tubes from www.pcmods.com because they cast some really nice glitter lines and really make things shimmer, but the tradeoff is they are considerably brighter and some may think them too bright for their liking. Also, with the wood sitting on top of my tank the LED has a hard time getting light to all areas of the tank. So in effect they are only hitting 75% of the tank, which looks kind of weird. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll have to keep experimenting to see if I can reach a happy medium between the spread of LEDââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s and the spread of the MH pendant.

 

[Putawaywet]

Other than this monster of a project I managed to get a 16 gal RO storage tank with spigot plumbed into the laundry room so I no longer have to baby-sit 5 gal jugs on my floor while they are filling. I also changed out all my fittings on my RO/DI system with John Guest fittings, replaced all my cartridges with new, and plumbed an add-on chamber for additional filtration (5 mic prefilter, into a 1 mic prefilter, into a .5 mic carbon block, into my Hi-S RO membrane that then empties into my DI resin cartridge.) Not because I was having any problems per se, but I was ordering replacements and figured Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢d give it a try and see how it works. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m still awaiting delivery of a digital TDS meter ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ Marine Depot backordered it.

I also added a matching 16 gal poly tank in the cabinet under the pier piling tank. Somewhere down the road I will probably be incorporating this into an auto top off system with a kalkreactor but for the short term itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s just sitting there looking really important while taking up a buttload of space

 

[Putawaywet]

Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m planning to give the reef tank a good cleaning and possibly start swapping out some of the sand over the next couple weeks so I should have some updated pics of that side the first week of December or so. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m also working on a sweet canister filter/handheld power washer setup that is mounted under the reef tank on a slide-out shelf. Hopefully Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll get that finished up this week and get some pics up. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m still kicking around the idea of adding the slide out tray to hold things when Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m working on the tank but havenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t made a final decision. It seemed like a really cool idea at the time, but in all honesty I havenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t missed not having it in the last year. So Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m starting to think I would be adding it ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œjust becauseââ"šÂ¬Ã‚. Which, God knows wouldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t be all that whacked of a reason considering some of the insane stuff I've already done on this system.

Before I sign off I'll leave one last pic.... it's one of the tank in the later evening with just the twin 13w PC's on.

Until next time....

Brett

 

[H20ENG]

Awesome Brett!! Nice work man.

 

[Zacrifice]

BLOODY OATH!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats just billient!!!!!!
That amount of work you have gone too.

I absolutely love the last photo, the 2 13W PC's make it look like its late night and someone is shining a torch down into the water!!

Bloody fantastic!

the only thing I would say would be to rip it all out and paint the back of the tank black hahaha to make it look all dark.
I would stick with just the PC's personaly however photos never do a tank justice and I bet it looks top notch in person!!

You have gotten me thinking now.
I actually do a little sculpture and I have been wanting to do something more technically interesting for my tank you have just fired up the inspiration and I might try hiding the overflow and return of the tank!

What resin was used to mould the stump and pylons?
In the short time the rope has been in the water have you noticed anything negitive?
Was the stump taken from a live model or sculpted?
I will be coming to you with lots of questions shortly hahaha

 

[matt & pam]

Brett,
Nice work. I like how your tanks contrast in style.

From your perspective, is there any other ways to top-off either RO or kalk other than manual vs. peristaltic pump? I've been looking at other options besides a pump but don't see how they would work without a sump.

Thanks. Matt

 

[Putawaywet]

What resin was used to mould the stump and pylons?
In the short time the rope has been in the water have you noticed anything negitive?

Was the stump taken from a live model or sculpted?
I will be coming to you with lots of questions shortly hahaha

Actually I was expecting them to fabricate the thing over a PVC pipe base but when I picked it up and looked inside I could easily see that it was free-formed. It looks like some kind of heavy cloth like canvas or something that has been saturated with a thick flesh colored resin. Then as it started to set, it looks like it was rolled into a semi-tube shape. After that dried it looks like all 3 were attached to each other with yet more resin. Then a 1" or so outer coating of a unknown but very distinctly different material was applied to form the outer texture. This is where you see how good the artist really was. There is an overall wood texture, complete with splits, cracks, holes etc.

When I stopped by to pick it up I had sometime to look around and I checked out the work area. There are several boxes filled with rubber molds and coffee cans filled with picks, scrapers, awls wire brushes etc. So it looks like they get the outer material on, let it set up a bit and then start pressing rubber molds into the material to form the basic texture. Then they come back and put specific areas in like the cracks with modeling tools or dental instruments. There are even some areas that look like they were just swatted with a stiff wire brush. The final touch is the painting with is several shades of brown hit with highlights and then the a couple greens to simulate the algae.

The wheel has some serious texture but that appears easier to see how it was done. They obviously just painted on a wet epoxy to the bare casting and then sprinkled some rough type of material over the wheel. Like shavings form a grinding wheel or something similar. The thick algae actually looks like a think epoxy paste that was teased with a sharp tool right before it set.

So far the rope appears to be a non issue. Which probably won't change since it's nylon. I weathered it with paint but that was overcoated with clear resin.

From your perspective, is there any other ways to top-off either RO or kalk other than manual vs. peristaltic pump? I've been looking at other options besides a pump but don't see how they would work without a sump.

At first I thought there might actually be a venturi type of vacuum somewhere near the air injection port that I could use to my advantage but that proved to be untrue. So the only other way to get water into the system is with some kind of positive displacement setup or via gravity from above.

However, getting water out of the tank is a snap since you can tap a Jaco fitting right into the pipes coming out the bottom of the filter. I actually did that when I was putting everything together. So I might just have the kalkreactor feed directly from that.

Otherwise, I'm still kicking around a several ideas. The quickest and cheapest is to just put a pump on the new reservoir and hook it to a switch and then whenever I walk by just turn it on for a few seconds to add a gallon or so.

But I really think the route I will eventually go is to use something like a Litremeter combined with a Kalkreactor and just keep adjusting the output to match evap. Right now that seems really attractive compared to refilling my kalk jug 3-4 times a week.

But in all honesty, the water level really doesn't rise all the much inside my tanks and I'm starting to think that a float switch might actually work. But I hate unsightly stuff in my tanks so that's not real appealing at the moment. The enfluent/influent boxes do have enough of a rise and fall that I doubt a float switch will work on them though

I probably need to give Morgan over at Inland Aquatics a call back because I think I remember him mentioning one doser in particular when we taked before. Something about he had tried several and that one was the one that worked best. When I find out more I'll post it here.

 

[Flatlander]

Brett;
Thats one remarkable looking tank. Its a breath of fresh air to something other than the run of the mill reef aquarium. {although I like them also}.

I cant remember and have not gone back to look, but is that tank connected with the larger one and same filtration or separate?

I see you have pyjama,s in both tanks. Any pairings yet? I have 5 in mine. They are getting pretty large now. No pairing yet or much aggression towards each other.

It will be nice to watch that tank as it matures. I think the xenia would be stunning there, as long as the growth it kept somewhat in check.

 

[Putawaywet]

Doug, both tanks are connected and built into the same oak enclosure. The reef is on the left and the pier piling on the right. As soon as I can get the reef cleaned up I'll try to get one big pic. Now that I have the MH light on the small tank I should have better luck. The problem with having those 2 13w PC's on the tank before was the reef lighting overwhelmed my digital camera and the Low-light tank kept turning out totally dark.

Those PJ cardinals are in the Pier tank only - 3 of them. No pairings yet that I can tell but 2 seem to tolerate each other well while the 3rd one is definitely the odd man out. Besides that I've got 2 split tail gobies, 2 bar gobies, a Lyretail hogfish, a dragon goby and a Royal Gramma that carried over from my old tank. He's about 5 maybe 6 years old now.

I've already moved a Xenia frag in and it's pumping away.

I'm thinking I'll pick up maybe 8 or 10 Hawiian featherduster and then try to frag some gorgs and mount them on either the wheel or the broken section of the piling. I also found a couple good sized clams and what actually looks like a mussel burried under some of the rock I removed so those went in there along with some green star polys and a couple mushrooms. I also reused the best of my rock which was covered in numerous sponges and several rock boring clams.

The mandatory beer bottle will be going in tomorrow.

I'm actually kicking around the idea of doing an old shoe... like a super thrashed Nike or Converse or something - but I'm literally out of room.

Brett

 

[Zacrifice]

I think a tire is the order of the day

I would be so tempted to go all out and make it look like a true peir modeled hand fishing reels would work perhaps bottle tops shopping trolly hahaha

I should prolly stay away from modeling my tank from a peir hahaha.

I have been thinking about modeling my 4foot tank off of a partially sunken ship that has been there for a few years and completly covered in barnicals, corals and the sort.

I would be able to just buy a terracotta ship section and then paint it with acrylics to make it look rusted and falling to bits (Covered in epoxy of course)
Barnicals will give me the technical part I want in modeling hahaha

But hiding the over flow wont be possible tho... hmmmm perhaps back to the drawing board!

 

[Gerard Alba]

Putawaywet your tank looks great.

 

[skylsdale]

Tank looks fabulous--good thinking! Reminds me of diving around here in Puget Sound. It would be nice if you could find some Sargassum replicas and swap out those silk plants with them--get a bit more freeform algae look in there. Too bad you've already got a decent amount of fish in there. I was going to recommend that you go with a Caribbean theme as far as stocking in there, which would be cool.

It looks GREAT! Keep us updated.

 

[Putawaywet]

I managed to do a little cleaning over the past couple days. Here's a shot of the complete system - enjoy it while it lasts because I doubt it's going to stay this clean for long.

Brett

 

[gumbybc]

your system looks really nice. i really like the pier tank on the left. you will have to keep us updated as to how everything holds up. Awesome job!

 

[gstark]

Brett
Fantastic setup you have there!! Soo much more interesting
than a pile of rocks. You've inspired me to think theme on my own setup. Now if I could win the lottery to help with the finance lol.
So tempted to go with a" mangrove swamp" theme rather than reef but so far have not figured out a way to separate the systems . I only have 12x21 feet max. Common sense tells me i should stick with Fw themes but love those marine setups.
Checked out the site that did your pilings Do incredible work don't they?? i believe they are involved in the new "rainforest" setup at the local zoo.
Again thanks for the pix!!
Gary

 

[Flatlander]

Beautiful Brett.

 

[NicoleC]

Brett,

Fantastic job!

Question for you -- I want to fabricate a back wall for my new tank. Nooks, crannies, crevices, a few ledges and overhangs, etc. The foam + epoxy paint method does not seem very stable or long term to me. What kind of casting resin did you use for the mussels? And do you think it would be stable in large, thin sheets (1/2" - 1" mostly)?

 

[derrikd]

this is awsome