Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

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iluzhun said:
Peter

I have been lurking lately but felt it necessary to come out of the woodwork and comment on this idea. I feel a person with the knowledge and experience of Mr. Wilson would be worth his weight in gold or any other currency. To secure such a person as a consultant would deffinitely limit the "warts" on this project. Just my $.02 (not nearly enough to pay Mr. Wilson however)
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My weight in gold! I'm off my diet and back on the couch then :)
 
mr.wilson said:
One of my old neighbours on Guelph Line in Burlington keeps a helicopter in his garage. He pushes is out and flies around the back field every once in awhile. I thought my lawn tractor was cool.
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:lmao: Im not totally surprised. There is a lot of money in Burlington
 
nineball said:
I like this idea a lot. We could make it a thread party.......in order to attend you have to have posted in the thread.........it might even bring out the lurkers......but lets keep it international, that way Chingchai can be invited. There's also a bunch from Australia.........I'll have to up the beer budget if any of them show up!!!!

Great idea.

Peter
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Absolutely, it's an international party in international waters. We're at 2608 posts by who knows how many members so far. As the saying goes "we're gonna need a bigger boat" :)
 
Padrino said:
Shawn,
I see your interest in learning a 3D CAD software. I am proficient in about 6 different programs. I do a lot of automotive design work in my industry and could teach you on your choice of program.... If your lucky i can even supply you with a program/license.

Rob
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Now that's what friends are for. I have a Mac, so that may be a barrier in acquiring the software. If you could show me the basics, I can learn the rest as I go. A good head start will really help. I would love to be able to do drawings like the ones in Ching Chai's thread.
 
mr.wilson said:
Now that's what friends are for. I have a Mac, so that may be a barrier in acquiring the software. If you could show me the basics, I can learn the rest as I go. A good head start will really help. I would love to be able to do drawings like the ones in Ching Chai's thread.
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Shawn,
I have been told that these programs are windows based only but you can run windows on a mac and it will perform much much better than a normal PC. (got this info for some BIG time CAD gurus). They run windows on their macs as well and then use the 3D cad software (for them unigraphics)

I am very familar with Unigraphics, Solidedge, Solidworks, Inventor, AutoCAD. Im sure the other programs are similar. Ive used Rhino before and theyas pretty similar so once you have the basics its a piece of cake. I have a few of the programs listed above. Gaining an active license to some of these programs can be EXTREMELY COSTLY.. like more than peter spent on his entire lighting system.

I just might be able to help you out. the program that Chingchai's designer used is a little different but its more similar to like a google sketch up. The programs listed above are used for technical drawings and engineering analysis. They can be used to do the same thing on a much larger scale Giving you better control of each piece inside your project
HTH
Rob
 
Padrino said:
Shawn,
I have been told that these programs are windows based only but you can run windows on a mac and it will perform much much better than a normal PC. (got this info for some BIG time CAD gurus). They run windows on their macs as well and then use the 3D cad software (for them unigraphics)

I am very familar with Unigraphics, Solidedge, Solidworks, Inventor, AutoCAD. Im sure the other programs are similar. Ive used Rhino before and theyas pretty similar so once you have the basics its a piece of cake. I have a few of the programs listed above. Gaining an active license to some of these programs can be EXTREMELY COSTLY.. like more than peter spent on his entire lighting system.

I just might be able to help you out. the program that Chingchai's designer used is a little different but its more similar to like a google sketch up. The programs listed above are used for technical drawings and engineering analysis. They can be used to do the same thing on a much larger scale Giving you better control of each piece inside your project
HTH
Rob
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I have access to Solidworks but I never thought about installing Windows in one of my machines in order to use it. It's a good idea worth pursuing. Now I need to add Windows 7 to my software order :)
 
Padrino said:
i would either go for windows 7 or XP but stay away from vista.

Peter,
I don't suppose you need any help with this?
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Peter is paying for this aquarium project with money he earned in the software business. I think that makes him the helper instead of the helpee for a change.

Okay, enough off-topic tangents. Peter, have you washed the sand yet? Have you looked into getting live sand to seed the sand bed? There are also some live critter packages available from a few companies that help with biodiversity in infauna (beneficial sand dwelling organisms).
 
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1933Ford said:
QUOTE=mr.wilson Running two skimmers is always a fun exercise. May the best skimmer win, but having two gives you a back-up plan. If one is a little off, the other should pick up the slack. I also feel two small skimmers are more efficient than one big one. It's a bubble stability thing.

You should have no problem drawing air through the ozonizer with the skimmer air intake, but the added friction may diminish the total air draw somewhat. Ozone also decreases the stability of skimmer bubbles, but you make up for it with the high oxidization rate of o3 (ozone). This is why you are yielding a more yellow and less viscous (thick) skimmate. Having one skimmer with ozone and one without will be a distinct benefit for you. Each skimmer has its specialty.

Yes ORP is a magic number that isn't always consistent with success or lack there of. Technically it is the waters ability to oxidize organics. It's kind of like our bodies cardiovascular fitness. A high ORP 350-400 will help biological filtration and speed the rate of assimilation of "bad stuff" (organic waste).

I would certainly try an air pump and air drier. Buy an oversized drier or two of them to aid in maintenance. There are reports of nitric acid forming in ozonizers that process damp air, but I don't fully comprehend the repercussions myself.

As ozone kills microorganisms and breaks down organic matter it is easily picked up in the skimmer bubbles as these molecules are strongly hydrophobic (attracted to air & repelled by water).
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I've been reading this forum for a few years and this build from the beginning and thought that I would add my 2 cents worth(that's being generous). I agree with Mr W. about ozone. My reef has been up and running for 21 years and I've been using ozone since day one. I've never had a disease outbreak in it. Naturally I've lost fish and corals over the years but never had anything spread. It's not a "fix all" "cure all" thing, normal upkeep and maintenance must be done. I have a pair of Perc clowns that are 17+ years old and still doing well has to say something. They stopped spawning several years ago(suppose I could get a vet prescribe some little blue pills for them?).
As far as drying the air goes I've found that is very important. I've used several brands of ozonizers and without dry air they do get corroded and such, being in a humid environment. Years ago I saw a chart on percent of O3 lost due to moist air and it was high. I stopped using the blue indicating silica gel due to Cobalt Chloride concerns. Not sure how valid the problem is but I opted for the orange indicating ones that don't contain Cobalt Chloride. Since my tank is only 100 gallons(Peter's sump is bigger) my maintenance is not that great so I end up drying the desiccant about once a week(sometimes a little more when the humidity is up). If I were Peter I would look into a powered dryer. Ozotech makes an IQ 40 model that has 2 beds of resin so while one is drying the other is in use. I'm sure there are others out there.
I presently run 3 skimmers(be nice, I'm old). I use an old Red Sea Berlin skimmer for my ozone. In years past I have used a DIY chamber(never worked like I wanted) and air driven Sanders skimmers for ozone(it does "eat" limewood air stones). I have a remote refugium and a separate remote DSB and have a old Tunze 230 skimmer in there(bought it new about 15 years ago). It doesn't do a lot but I figured it can't hurt. The main skimmer is a Tunze 9410 and that's the "real" skimmer for the system. The whole mess is controlled by an old, old Sandpoint dual channel controller. Redox runs 375.
I wanted to add one more company that I have been using for years to buy equipment from. They have all sorts of laboratory and scientific gear. They seem to have no problem with small orders. Their catalog is 2600+ pages. It's http://www.coleparmer.com/ (hope that doesn't break any rules).
I must say even after 40+ years of fish keeping I have learned a few things just following this build. Mr W. and others, I do thank you.

BTW Mr W. you forgot the bug catcher on top of the BB blown rat motor.

Greg[/QUOTE]

[welcome]

you could be tied with the most experienced reef keeper on here--PaulB
I'll have to hook you up with each other
 
this_thread_is_useless_without_pics.gif


:beer:

OK maybe not but...
In the spirit of Chingchai pages upon pages without a picture update?
 
nineball said:
I like this idea a lot. We could make it a thread party.......in order to attend you have to have posted in the thread.........it might even bring out the lurkers......but lets keep it international, that way Chingchai can be invited. There's also a bunch from Australia.........I'll have to up the beer budget if any of them show up!!!!

Great idea.

Peter
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G'day again Pete
The missus is pretty keen on an overseas holiday, but if she found out that the eventual destination was a fish tank, she'd kill me!:uzi:
Although, taking a few beers to your place would still be cheaper than bringing Chingchai's favourite drop around to his place I'm sure!:beer:

Ben
 
I was going to start my second thread ever on RC to ask a question, but I'll probably get more answers here. Can anyone recommend some good reef stores in Chicago? I'm going to be there this weekend for a wedding and I need a safe place to hide out :) I remember seeing at least one Chicago poster on this thread.
 
mr.wilson said:
I was going to start my second thread ever on RC to ask a question, but I'll probably get more answers here. Can anyone recommend some good reef stores in Chicago? I'm going to be there this weekend for a wedding and I need a safe place to hide out :) I remember seeing at least one Chicago poster on this thread.
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i didnt know if you have checked out this site, but there might be some info already posted here.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=536


and here is a Sticky that talks about LFS in the Chicago area
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1815756


i hope this points you in the right direction.
 
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