An addicted reefer chic's 40B franken tank w/ 2 30g display macro tanks...
- Thread starter MeanGreenEyes
- Start date
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Thanks haha ConEd may love me but I despise them!
Spirofucci
New member
Hey MGE! Good to see you on here. I come over here now and then to see what's goin on. 
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Hey MGE! Good to see you on here. I come over here now and then to see what's goin on.
Hey you!! Glad to see you over here!! Yeah...I branched out too because my thread is dead over there...came over here looking for actual input/advice...
Even my d.i.y. affordable continuous feeder project went ignored...guess I'm still not taken serious in this hobby...or maybe b/c I don't have a rimless setup...maybe my crappy photography skills...lol...who knows. All I want is input/feedback/ideas to better my system, but I guess that's too much for a girl to ask. lol
Spirofucci
New member
What.....are you nuts???? You get more attention than most......a hot looking reefer chick who repairs her own washing machine........
Seriously. I think the auto feeder coke machine went over everybody's head, including mine, I'm still pondering it........
Very cool. :twitch:
OzoneParkGuy
New member
Really insiprational for us guys.... you just made me not want to put up another fish tank thread to show off my wreck!! Great job MGE! See ya at the next meeting!
Regards,
OPG~
Regards,
OPG~
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Ok...only you, Kat and Gena comment on that tank thread...I've asked everybody that I know for advice on a suitable replacement return pump for the mag 12 that's capable of running my system. The only asinine response I got was to get an Eheim 1260. :facepalm: Which isn't capable of running my system...at all...so they're not getting that I have 2 additional 30's plumbed in and 2 reactors.
Or when I asked if I should go for the Apex or Profilux controller...no response...
Every actual question goes unanswered and I don't ask many b/c I'm smart enough to research multiple sources for answers...so all I'm saying is that it would be nice to have some actual feedback/answers from those more experienced when I actually do reach out for some help. Not there for attention...there as a reefer looking for reefing advice and not getting it.
In regards to the continuous feeders...a good google search will give the basic idea of them...I'm after a sleeker/more functional/more affordable long term continuous feeding option.
I have a dual channel enternal pump...so 1 line will be pumping oysterfeast from the mini fridge to the tank and the other line will be pumping live phyto/rotifeast and whatever else I chose to add that's viable. The pump/fridge will be sitting right above the tank so that it doesn't have to travel far in the line so that there will be no risk of clogging from dried out food in the line. The replacement dual channel line is less than $20 and only needs to be replaced like once a year.
A few sources that I very loosely based this feeder off of...
http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?105-Automatic-Continuous-Feeder-DIY
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1760416
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/136551-check-out-auto-feeder.html
http://stonyreef.com/blog/2008/feeding-azooxanthellate-corals/
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=307716
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-02/rs/feature/index.php
I really only buy from coral theory (other than from other local reefers) but they're in the middle of a move right now.
Lmao...blah...blah...blah...I'm serious about you getting the beating stick if you don't come on with that 180! It's a disgrace to the hobby to leave that build sitting. lol Ijs...buddy...it's time to get that tank wet...no more excuses. :deadhorse:
The meeting was a blast...definitely looking forward to the next...
your continuous feeder design is neat, i had thought of doing something similar to auto feed some reed mariculture food as well. i noticed you were looking for a magnetic stirrer my cousin build his own with a pc case fan and some magnets it works pretty well he put it all in a project box and it looks pretty neat. also one thing i thought of is you could use a aqua lifter and a couple of small check valves to make it so that after the system feeds the tank the aqua lifter turns on and flushes out the feed line with tank water. or you could have the aqua lifter running all the time and when the feeder cuts on it just feeds into the line the aqua lifter is running back to the tank.
anyways i hope what i said makes sense im horrible at explaining me ideas
anyways i hope what i said makes sense im horrible at explaining me ideas
Spirofucci
New member
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Is your cousin on RC? Does he/she have a layout of this d.i.y. magnetic stirrer in the d.i.y. section? Sounds interesting. My only issue having a fridge this small is that there is very little space for one...so when I have time I have to sit down and figure out the best option. I definitely want the foods stirred to maximize their consistency in feeding the tank.
In regards to the aqualifter...it's a very good idea to have a continuous flush system of sorts, however in my experience I've yet to find a check valve that doesn't fail at some point or another. If it failed, I'd be concerned with it creating a vacuum and emptying the contents of the food into the tank at once...which would not be cool.
The idea of having this feeder right above the tank with a maybe 4" line from pump to tank with a continuous hourly feed should hopefully keep the line flushed in itself...such as in this link...
http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?105-Automatic-Continuous-Feeder-DIY
Even though his thread this guy posted hasn't been updated in quite some time...it looks like the most efficient d.i.y. feeder that I've come across so far.
However, $1,500 for the enternal pump and another $200 for the wine chiller and those expensive bags for the pump (over $200 for a case of 30) that have to constantly be replaced...is crazy to me. I'd rather spend my funds on coral/more important things for my system for things that actually make sense. Granted, not every enternal pump on the market is capable of feeding such small doses...which is why he went for that particular pump. I plan to use the reefdosingpumps.com pump b/c I had it on hand for 2 part dosing and after a little research found out that it's capable of dosing under 1ml. Pumping 1ml per hour into a system would be like throwing a cube of mysis every hour...I consider my system smallish with 6 small fish...so that would spell disaster. A lot of time, research and thought has to go into these things so you don't accidentally crash your tank. Also, with the use of an enternal pump over say a bubble magus triple doser...medical pumps are designed an built to last and for precision.
I'm going to take apart the mini fridge tonight to check out it's guts to make sure I don't drill through something important. I misplaced my 1/4" drill bit so I have to purchase another. Hopefully this feeder will be up and running by the end of the week.
Also, bought some Marco rock already cured off of a local reef club member and want to rescape the left side of my tank again with it...even though I like the scape I came up with with some other rock...so idk...gotta sit and work with it...we shall see I guess.
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Hmmm...I could have sworn that I linked to that exact build in the post above...I have seen that. My only 3 issues with that is those bubble magus dosers have a pretty high failure rate compared to medical grade pumps, there is no stirring mechanism to keep the best consistency of those foods being pumped into the tank and space/heat from those larger mini fridges. I don't have the room next to my tank for one of those. It would look really ghetto to have a full sized mini fridge mounted to the wall. lmao Plus, the compressor from those mini fridges put off a lot of heat and in close proximity to my tank would not be cool. Remember, I'm in a NYC apartment...we don't have central air here...we have to depend on sh*tty window/wall a/c units during the summer. So I have to make sure there is as little equipment generated heat as possible, which is why I went with one large return pump v.s. several smaller to run everything separate. All in all, if heat/space wasn't a concern...I would've gone with something similar.
Thanks!
You and the Mrs. have to come visit the city one day...would love to meet another lady that loves d.i.y and isn't afraid of chipping a nail. lol Oops, did I say that aloud. haha
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Grrr...the link for the main d.i.y. feeder that I'm loosely basing my own build off of will not post to the forum...so I can't really show exactly what I'm shooting for...that sucks. :/
Edit: If you do a google search of this "Automatic Continuous Feeder - DIY" ...it should be the first link. BTW...I'm not contributing to the ATS drama...won't participate...lol. This is all about the feeder idea...nothing more...nothing less.
Edit: If you do a google search of this "Automatic Continuous Feeder - DIY" ...it should be the first link. BTW...I'm not contributing to the ATS drama...won't participate...lol. This is all about the feeder idea...nothing more...nothing less.
Spirofucci
New member
Hmmm...I could have sworn that I linked to that exact build in the post above...I have seen that. My only 3 issues with that is those bubble magus dosers have a pretty high failure rate compared to medical grade pumps, there is no stirring mechanism to keep the best consistency of those foods being pumped into the tank and space/heat from those larger mini fridges. I don't have the room next to my tank for one of those. It would look really ghetto to have a full sized mini fridge mounted to the wall. lmao Plus, the compressor from those mini fridges put off a lot of heat and in close proximity to my tank would not be cool. Remember, I'm in a NYC apartment...we don't have central air here...we have to depend on sh*tty window/wall a/c units during the summer. So I have to make sure there is as little equipment generated heat as possible, which is why I went with one large return pump v.s. several smaller to run everything separate. All in all, if heat/space wasn't a concern...I would've gone with something similar.
Thanks!
Bummer, I should have guessed that you had seen that.......Just like my wife, always a step ahead of me...... I liked this idea because there looked like there was plenty of room for a six pack.
My wife has, but I've never been to NYC, would love to see all you crazy people there!
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Thanks and yes...I did actually...skip to post #21 on the first page. Please excuse the mess...this is still very much a construction zone/work in progress. DT lights were out during the full system shot but you'll get the general idea. It was still looking like a hot ghetto mess as I had recently plumbed in the 30's, had/have the cluster eff of cords, etc.
Since those shots...I've changed A LOT:
*40B DT lights changed to the Mitras
*threw my 6 bulb T5's over the top 30g
*added 2nd mp10 to the 40B
*added vortech battery backup
*added 2nd 300w (eheim jager) heater b/c the 1 fluval E3 300w was only bringing my system to 75*F now that the weather is cold.
*threw the tunze 6025 & koralia 750 in the top 30g macro/nps/gorg tank at the end that's butted up to the wall.
*added sand and rock to both of the 30's
*rescaped the left side of the 40B...about to do it again with some cured LR from a fellow reef club member that I purchased up over the weekend.
Can't remember what else off the top of my head...
Recently tried to fit an mp10 between the 30 and the wall and it fit...so I'll be purchasing a 3rd mp for the top fuge and these two pumps will go in the bottom 30g fuge b/c I plan to keep a few corals down there as well...maybe.
A local reefer buddy who's the only one that's seen my system in person suggested that I throw my frag rack down there...but IDK...we'll see.
I've got the contents of my "fish closet spilled all over my room and hallway trying to spring clean and chuck stuff I don't need...at the moment. Have a small 36" wide closet right next to the 30g's that I evicted my boyfriend's sh*t from and took over it to contain my ATO reservoir (20g Brute) and decided to organize it into my own little ghetto NYC apartment sump room/closet. lmao Don't worry guys...I am allowing the manchild the standard 12" of space that every woman "gifts" her man in my walkin closet to make it up to him! lmao
Basically, I am after meticulous organization. Picked up one similar to this to contain small equipment, refractometer, syringes, my acclimation kit, fragging supplies, scalpels, pipettes, etc. You know...the small items...
In pink of course...snagged it for $5 locally:
http://www.dormco.com/Animal_Prints_Shoe_Organizer_Over_the_Door_p/e3-2-4-25186.htm
Plan to get a few of those cubby things that hang from the rod in the closet and a few other organizing tools. The fish "crap" all over the apartment is driving me crazy. So it's a combat zone in here right now...or I'd post updated pics. Getting this system in order is my top tank project/priority for the week.
Also, I was too embarrassed to admit this, but my buddy OPG said it happens to every reefer so here goes. I royally effed up when I switched out lighting and caused three pieces of SPS in my system to brown out. :headwally: I'm still getting great PE and there is still some color to them Which is another reason why I've been refusing to post an updated FTS. The sh*t broke my heart. I stay on top of my sh*t and this is the first time something like this has happened to me.
So I'm on a pic strike until they regain color b/c it hurts me to look at them. :furious:
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Bummer, I should have guessed that you had seen that.......Just like my wife, always a step ahead of me...... I liked this idea because there looked like there was plenty of room for a six pack.
My wife has, but I've never been to NYC, would love to see all you crazy people there!
Lmao...I'm sorry! We have to get Mrs. Spiro into reefing. She would love it with all of the d.i.y. Besides...we need more kick @$$ lady reefers! She sound's like she would be awesome at it. Tell her I said come aboard! lol Only a man would think of putting a 6 pack in the mini fridge. :debi:
It would be amazing. A little birdie advised me that Macna will be hosted here within the next couple of years...hopefully! Maybe you guys could plan a trip out for that! Yes, we definitely do have some crazy local reefers. Had an absolute blast this past Saturday with my local reef club that I just joined. Saw a few old faces and a few new and smack talked all of them...in classic lady reefer fashion. A buddy is gonna be running AI vega's over his new build...so of course I talked a lot of sh*t to him about those. :lmao: :ape: I know my Mitras is gonna blow him out of the water...when a few of my nicer SPS pieces grow out enough to frag...I'm totally gonna donate a few frags to his tank and have a grow out contest and mop the floor with his lights. I don't mean the price on mine...not that type of person...I'm talking spectrum/capabilities here...he has no idea what he's in for. lol If I had the knowledge of LED's...I totally would've built my own...but this one I felt it would be best to leave to the pro's.
MeanGreenEyes
New member
Oh no...my system is super quiet...my buddy OPG stopped by to take pics of some frags I was pre-selling at our local frag swap a few weeks ago and even commented on how quiet the system was. I was very careful to make sure it was quiet as could be. If it was loud...the manchild would have me swimming with the fishes...literally! With a little patience, research and fine tuning it can be done!
Ugh...don't mind the fuge lights...
Edit...what do you mean "get low?" As in you manually top off? If so...get an ATO...they're worth every penny.
Spirofucci
New member
MACNA in NYC? Too much fun.
DIY is fine, but for something that plugs into the wall and is over salt water, I'll be happy to let the pros do that! Like I said I don't do electricity in my house, the wife does all that.
DIY is fine, but for something that plugs into the wall and is over salt water, I'll be happy to let the pros do that! Like I said I don't do electricity in my house, the wife does all that.
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