Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[pendraig]

I couldn't agree more with both Mr. Wilson and Nineball. I use the Nikon D40 and love it even though it's an entry level DSLR. I have found the following;

1. More shots = better pictures. (Just sort through and throw out the trash)
2. There are good pictures in your mediocre ones. Try cropping and zooming tools.
3. Try different settings and be creative with your lenses....Zooms and tripods can make for some really good macro shots.......without the expense of an expensive macro lense.
4. Repeat.....take more photos, you'll get 10-15 great ones per 100. Click, click, click......

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

msr224, Mr. Wilson, and Peter:

Thank you all for your feedback and advice on DLSRs and reef photography. Very helpful...and you saved me from leaving this thread to sift through the hundreds of others on reef photography. I am glad to hear you all agree with my initial understanding that there is no real need to spend a lot of cash on the DLSR itself. I ended up spending the money saved from a "hobby" DLSR on a macro lens (Canon EF100mm Ultrasonic) and external flash (Canon Speedlite 430). As a carryover from my other very addicting hobby (let's just say it involves a lot of gear, a lot of time on Internet forums, a sharp eye, a steady hand, and a gentle trigger finger), I am definitely sold on tripods and automated triggers. I guess I will have to start a new thread with my "experiments."

Patrick G.

p.s.: Here is one of my first experimental shots with my new DLSR/macro lens set up. It's one of my favorite frags that I picked up for $10 at the Green Marine "coral farm" in Berkeley. I'm not very happy with the focus but loved the color so I kept the shot.

 

[el_piraña]

Your experience parralels mine crazzy. However, the engineer in Germany just wrote back with the following:

"it is no problem to run the motor at 60Hz. Inside the driver electronic the current gets inverted to the frequency the motor needs for the selected power (the driver is a frequency converter itself). It does not depend on the input frequency.
Please do not run the driver on a frequency converter, as I do not know, how the output voltage of the converter will look like. Some of these inverters have no clear sine output and can cause troubles due to voltage peaks."

So for the moment I am probably going to swap the plugs to North American standards and leave frequency adjustments out of the equation. Lets just keep our fingers crossed..........

Peter

That is good news!
Desktop computers have the same thing, they automatically convert the incoming electricity so that the all thumbs operator does nothing except attach a plug that fits the outlet { or plug adapter}. Never a problem with PC or Apple in Bolivia { some manufacturer computer screens will not work at altitude of the city of LaPaz, but that is a different issue! }

No worries there Peter, quality of these pumps shows thru!

I think this is right. I work with some VFDs (variable frequency drives) sometimes and they are programmable to work with 50 or 60 Hz input. Probably half the VFDs I've sent out have gone to Europe and the other half in the US. I would expect your motors will be ok as long as the VFDs are able to work w/ either frequency. If you run a motor with a contactor or directly from a switch and no VFD, you may run into the shortened-life problem as crazzy mentioned.

Power supplies are very often able to accept 50 or 60 Hz at the input without any changes, especially w/ modern computers, etc. I've noticed that the voltage input range tends to be the most likely limiting factor.

By the way, I've been following your thread almost from the beginning....and it's been amazing!! I love the updates and wish I could start something like this!! I picked up a used 55 gal tank and have been making my own DIY rocks this summer trying to get ready to start up my first reef tank. Your rock work is inspiring! Thank you for sharing this wonderful build!!!

 

[wtac]

Thank you wtac, I suspect we will use Aragonite but the question of size keeps coming up........suggestions?

Peter

Do you mean particle size or CaRx size?

Particle: I prefer the "granule" format over the finger sized sticks, as mentioned.

CaRx: Mr Wilson mentioned that he was waiting for info from Schuran for a recommended media type/format. The JS2 will fit the bill nicely and the upflow (reverseflow) style will minimize channeling and the "compacted media mush" and can accommodate a high flow rate of system water and CO2.

I also like the AquaCare CaRx as it has a sediment and CO2 gas-off/aerating chamber. Don't forego the CO2 level controller. For your sized system a Model 4 will suit your system.

HTH

 

[Mangodude]

The rock looks amazing! I like the little dino-rock formation. It will look interesting when you have a bunch of sun corals growing in it.

Would it be possible to do 4 (or more) shots showing each of the "islands" seperately and label them? I would like to see the "chingchai" island specificly.

Man I wish I was going to MACNA! :mad2: What days will you be there? You could practicly set up your own booth for autographs :lol:

 

[IAReefer]

Well after a full week of reading this before going to bed, I am finally caught up. All I can say is that this is an absolutely amazing build. What Im even more fond of is you clearly have more than enough money to just tell someone to get this setup for you. I love how your so involved in each step of it and helping when you can. Nice work on this build Peter and i look forward to following it as I build my measly little 180.

 

[Reefski's]

lot's of fun following your wonderful build.

i might just have to come to Orlando to meet you all.

let's hope you never have to disassemble any of the rockwork, esp in a few years when it is all grown in.

 

[Jgrimm]

Let me see if I understand the mechanics of creating this Live Rock aquascape masterpiece.
The four brothers Grimm took 60 hours each to sculpt it, they used all 120 "œpairs" of Epo Putty
The Jamie and Mark of the Grimm Brothers have might what might be called "œtender fingertips" afterwards. from the Epo Putty.
Jamie wrote earlier

"œmy finger tips literally dissipated from the 60 hrs of carefully moving rock in a and out of the tank/ maneuvering the rock around into the proper place/ puttying etc....
Using bare hands while working with the Epo Putty is also a must as again it sticks to any gloves that you may use. Just be careful not to completely burn of the ends of your finger tips as I did!! "œ

If they were to do this again, what would they do differently? And what ideas are there to avoid the tender fingertips "œnext time"

Mr.Wilson, now that the Masterpiece has set, what are your studied thoughts on anything you might suggest done differently in creating this Masterpiece? From a "œBest Practices" perspective.

Peter, truly amazing result! Congratulations ! ! !

First, let me clarify the Maintenance Team for the whole community

the team consists of;

Jamie and Andrew Grimm- referred to as "The Brothers Grimm"
and Mark and Craig Shimoda- referred to as "The Shimoda Bro's"

as for any suggestions for tender finger tips- Do NOT build a 1400 gallon tank that houses 1 tonne of Live Rock :blown:

on a serious note- the best practice with the putty is to do it with your bare hands, but to avoid the tender fingers you could use some sort of padded glove for the careful transport of the rock.

you could also space out the days a little more, we rigorously worked approx. 60 hours through 5 days, which by the end of that time were all aquascaping zombies!! :beachbum:


jamie

 

[crazzy]

Thanx
My appologies to "The Shimoda Bro's", thinking they were more Brothers Grimm!
Congratulations to the four of you for a "JOB ONE", well done!
"the best practice with the putty is to do it with your bare hands, but to avoid the tender fingers you could use some sort of padded glove for the careful transport of the rock."
I had erroneously assumed it was a burn reaction to the putty.

I am trying to get to MACNA to hoist a Yard of Ale with Peter and Mr. Wilson

 

[msr224]

msr224, Mr. Wilson, and Peter:

Thank you all for your feedback and advice on DLSRs and reef photography. Very helpful...and you saved me from leaving this thread to sift through the hundreds of others on reef photography. I am glad to hear you all agree with my initial understanding that there is no real need to spend a lot of cash on the DLSR itself. I ended up spending the money saved from a "hobby" DLSR on a macro lens (Canon EF100mm Ultrasonic) and external flash (Canon Speedlite 430). As a carryover from my other very addicting hobby (let's just say it involves a lot of gear, a lot of time on Internet forums, a sharp eye, a steady hand, and a gentle trigger finger), I am definitely sold on tripods and automated triggers. I guess I will have to start a new thread with my "experiments."

Patrick G.

p.s.: Here is one of my first experimental shots with my new DLSR/macro lens set up. It's one of my favorite frags that I picked up for $10 at the Green Marine "coral farm" in Berkeley. I'm not very happy with the focus but loved the color so I kept the shot.

Base dont he way I read your other hobby, I truly think you will understand. You are paying for the glass. Better glass equals better shots. There is a tremendous difference between a $20 pair of binoculars and a $2000 pair of binos.....Although I opt for the $100-$200 range...... Seriously though....don't shy away from the Tamron line of lenses, generic but a lot of professional use them. Nice call on the macro. I want one. I think we'll upgrade to a different body for the wife's christmas present this year. She has a few features she wants....maybe i'll get a macro????

BTW, that pic is noce. I have figured out that a 54 corner bowfront is not condusive to good pics. The bowed glass changes things......

 

[mr.wilson]

Do you mean particle size or CaRx size?

Particle: I prefer the "granule" format over the finger sized sticks, as mentioned.

CaRx: Mr Wilson mentioned that he was waiting for info from Schuran for a recommended media type/format. The JS2 will fit the bill nicely and the upflow (reverseflow) style will minimize channeling and the "compacted media mush" and can accommodate a high flow rate of system water and CO2.

I also like the AquaCare CaRx as it has a sediment and CO2 gas-off/aerating chamber. Don't forego the CO2 level controller. For your sized system a Model 4 will suit your system.

HTH

It's good to have another Wilson on here in more ways than one. I worked with WTAC 20 years ago in an aquarium store. He sold me my first Hawaiian live rock.

I agree, a higher dissolution rate is more important than channeling or clogging. I like the idea of a fluidized bed calcium reactor because there is no channeling, no clogging, fine granules can be used (faster dissolution), more exposure to water flow, and the constant abrasion must aid in dissolving the media. Co2 bubbles can be readily recycled and there are no trapped Co2 bubbles or air locks.

In my opinion the stick/branch media is a shortcut to channeling and clogging that comes at the cost of a dramatically slower dissolution rate. In the end we want to dissolve coral skeletons in the presence of carbonic acid (liquid Co2). When you increase the size of the granules you need to increase the amount of Co2 (lower PH) or increase the size of your reactor.

Even as a worst case scenario, you can use the fine granules and service the unit every 3-6 months to clean the media.

Okay, I guess I talked myself into the standard Arm media I have some dolomite at Peters already tha can make up 10% of the reactor media. Dolomite is Calcium magnesium carbonate, so it adds a little extra magnesium. I was also thinking of adding some dolomite to the mangrove planters. You can buy it cheap as "chicken/turkey grit" at farm feed stores.

 

[Russter]

Peter, just wondering if you used up all of the live rock that you ordered or did you have some left over? So hard to get nice looking live rock like that in Thunder Bay.
Great job by the way. It must feel so good to have life in the tank after all that hard work getting it ready.

 

[mr.wilson]

Updates:

The plasma lighting should be in tomorrow.

The Quantum meter & UV radiation meters came in from Aquarium Specialty today. Thanks for getting that out to us quickly and at a great price Scott & Kelly. The meters are nice and compact with a mini USB, submersible probes, data logging and even a setting for taking measurements automatically every 30 minutes. That feature would be invaluable for a coral greenhouse grower. I'm sure you could program your sun shade to follow the PAR schedule throughout the day. We did some quick tests but need to spend more time building a yardstick and probe holder to get more accurate numbers. These will come in handy when weighing our lighting options.

I picked up some very expensive stainless steel clamps for our very expensive silicone hose to connect our extremely expensive pumps. I was happy to hear back from the pump engineer that we don't need an expensive and noisy frequency convertor for our quiet pumps. Fortunately, the 50mm hose fits 2" hose barbs, and the 40mm hose fits 1.5" hose barbs. Now we just need to learn German to program the pumps

The ozonizer is mounted on the wall now. Next we need to find a relay to connect to the GHL controller. Hopefully our electrician can field that one.

We are getting diatoms in the display tank and Mars systems now. There are also signs of other nuisance algae. We will keep on this so it doesn't get out of control.

 

[mr.wilson]

Peter, just wondering if you used up all of the live rock that you ordered or did you have some lots over? So hard to get nice looking live rock like that in Thunder Bay.
Great job by the way. It must feel so good to have life in tank after all that hard work getting it ready.

Peter has a substantial amount of rock left. Every tank in the Mars system has rock, it's in the temporary sump, and in the refugium, as well as a full kiddie pool outside. He also has enough aragonite sand left over to keep ice off of the driveway for a few years.

 

[Elliott]

Updates:

The Quantum meter & UV radiation meters came in from Aquarium Specialty today. Thanks for getting that out to us quickly and at a great price Scott & Kelly. The meters are nice and compact with a mini USB, submersible probes, data logging and even a setting for taking measurements automatically every 30 minutes. That feature would be invaluable for a coral greenhouse grower. I'm sure you could program your sun shade to follow the PAR schedule throughout the day.

Can you elaborate how one could use the Par meter to control a sun shade? I am very interested in doing this on my next tank. Does the Quantum meter have a USB port and software that logs it's data every 30 minutes? Are you suggesting that a program could be written to control a sun shade taken from the data of the Quantum meter?

 

[mr.wilson]

Can you elaborate how one could use the Par meter to control a sun shade? I am very interested in doing this on my next tank. Does the Quantum meter have a USB port and software that logs it's data every 30 minutes? Are you suggesting that a program could be written to control a sun shade taken from the data of the Quantum meter?

One of the biggest problems with using natural light for reef tanks is over-illumination and climate control. A shade system not only corrects the light intensity but it also colour temperature while insulating or allowing passive solar heating. The problem with sun shades is they are labour intensive.

As it stands, the quantum meter is just that, a meter, not a controller. You can plot trends with readings every 30 minutes, but cloud coverage is highly variable. I would imagine that there must be a way of using the logged information to control a motor that rolls and unrolls the shade. That's a question for a programmer.

I like the system greenhouses use for controlling roof vents. A hydrolic system is heated up by the sun and a wax or oil? Expands to open or close the roof vent. No motor or electricity required.

Chlorinet blue is the best shade material because it blocks harmful UV light and it refracts sunlight in a similar fashion to that of the ocean so you get a nice blue (high Kelvin) light. Our new UV radiation meter is a handy tool in establishing if your UV filtering is adequate. Once again this is seasonal and influenced by weather. The meter we have is not a control device but it is possible that you could create software that reads the logged data and controls a shade cloth motor.

I will talk to Mathius (spelling?) from GHL at MACNA and see if he is interested in adding this feature to the Profilux controller. While I'm at it, I'll ask if he can turn it into a vertically mounted touch screen with the wires coming out the bottom instead of the back

 

[Elliott]

One of the biggest problems with using natural light for reef tanks is over-illumination and climate control. A shade system not only corrects the light intensity but it also colour temperature while insulating or allowing passive solar heating. The problem with sun shades is they are labour intensive.

As it stands, the quantum meter is just that, a meter, not a controller. You can plot trends with readings every 30 minutes, but cloud coverage is highly variable. I would imagine that there must be a way of using the logged information to control a motor that rolls and unrolls the shade. That's a question for a programmer.

I like the system greenhouses use for controlling roof vents. A hydrolic system is heated up by the sun and a wax or oil? Expands to open or close the roof vent. No motor or electricity required.

Chlorinet blue is the best shade material because it blocks harmful UV light and it refracts sunlight in a similar fashion to that of the ocean so you get a nice blue (high Kelvin) light. Our new UV radiation meter is a handy tool in establishing if your UV filtering is adequate. Once again this is seasonal and influenced by weather. The meter we have is not a control device but it is possible that you could create software that reads the logged data and controls a shade cloth motor.

I will talk to Mathius (spelling?) from GHL at MACNA and see if he is interested in adding this feature to the Profilux controller. While I'm at it, I'll ask if he can turn it into a vertically mounted touch screen with the wires coming out the bottom instead of the back

many thanks, much appreciated

 

[HaloStalker]

Tank is coming along Amazingly Peter :rollface:

The Live rock and mars systems are astounding as is everything else with this reef tank =P

First Fish woot congratulations. Just out of curiosity who gets to feed them every day?

I'm so Glad Mr Wilson is on board and speeding everything along:jester:

Being a Electrician I'm curious about the motors, i figure them being motors they should work fine and i would stay away from changing the freq too. I install motors all the time and usually they come from different countries and as long as i feed them the correct voltage and enough amps they run fine.

Cant wait till you fire them up I'm really curious about the water movement in the tank especially when you guys did so much research into it.

Keep on trucking you guys are doing a great job fueling my dreams of copying and topping this system. As as many have said it wont be likely without winning the lottery (which is tomorrow i might add, wish me luck lol)

Your going to have a awesome reef tank in no time Peter =P keep on being patient.


P.S. when is your first Water change and whats your plan on that=P

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Ask and Ye Shall Receive...

Ask and Ye Shall Receive...

I will talk to Mathius (spelling?) from GHL at MACNA and see if he is interested in adding this feature to the Profilux controller. While I'm at it, I'll ask if he can turn it into a vertically mounted touch screen with the wires coming out the bottom instead of the back

Apparently someone at GHL was listening Mr. Wilson...

According to GBD, GHL is introducing the Profilux Touch at MACNA. No details have been released yet, including wiring orientation but at first glance, it appears to be what you're looking for.

 

[m_wonnacott]

I have been following along since the beginning and all I can say is wow.

We are in Ontario ourselves in Stratford and would love sometime to come to Oakville and check out this amazing set-up.

I myself just started my first salt water tank a few months ago after 3 years of researching on RC. We ended up haveing to move it about a month and a half after we got the first fish in the tank because of an unexpected move to a bigger place (already planning the upgrade). Though I still want to add another piece or two of nice LR to replace some more of the crappy base rock that i have. (very dense rock, so heavy and not much surface area for bacteria to grow on)

 

[AQD_ottawa]

To help answer the question about the GHL control - There is an add on called the PLM-ADIN this is an analogue and digital input card that can be programmed with multiple sensory devises.

One user set this up for a flow meter, another for a PAR input. The guy to contact who has really opened this cards uses up is luisagos might be worth dropping Luis a pm

In regards to the touch screen, I am waiting for more info today on this.