*d2mini's new 200g Reeftastic Build*

[soulpatch]

I have the transfer switch with a 20KW gen so I can run the whole house without issues. It's real convenient and transfers seamlessly. Yes it did cost a few extra $$$ upfront but IMO worth the cost.

I need a generator that is portable do it can come to the track with me do I got the transfer but have to plug the generator onto the outlet. It has a remote electric start with fuel gauge so pretty hands off. Flip one switch and good to go

 

[shaggss]

darn it! I see my fishy budget disappearing before my eyes. :facepalm:
Pig farm... that's a new one... but somehow doesn't surprise me! lol

I think the pig farm has a more sinister purpose Dennis......:eek1:

 

[soulpatch]

I think the pig farm has a more sinister purpose Dennis......:eek1:

Gotta get rid of the evidence somehow plus when they are taken care of you can get bacon.... Win win

 

[d2mini]

When bacon is involved, nothing is bad.

 

[Anim8me2]

darn it! I see my fishy budget disappearing before my eyes. :facepalm:

One daughter heading to college this summer and the younger one next year. I'm getting all my upgrades and purchases in as quickly as I can!

Full house genny here, but in Florida it is almost a must.

 

[liverock]

One daughter heading to college this summer and the younger one next year. I'm getting all my upgrades and purchases in as quickly as I can!

Full house genny here, but in Florida it is almost a must.

You got that right...... Florida....had 5 hurricanes come within 50 miles of the casa here..in one summer......after that...got the 25KW diesel fired generator and hooked it up to the service, don't have an auto transfer switch, but all I have to do is throw the main off from the breaker box , and energize the panel with a knife switch from the generator.

25KW was overkill, but I can run the central air-hot water heater-stove and everything else at the same time....and my neighbors house...lol

I went with diesel, as if we do get smacked hard everything stops...but you can always jump in the truck and travel a bit where there is diesel and fill up a couple of drums. I hold enough fuel to run about 10 days if necessary....



Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :rollface::rollface::rollface:

 

[d2mini]

I just typed this out as a response to someone in my thread on the "other" forum and figured it was worth pasting in here too since the same questions come up all the time.

Basically I was asked about my photography equipment and suggestions for settings, in which my response beyond vaguely answering that was that shooting in RAW and processing your pics through software like Lightroom will make the most difference.
Here is my further response...

I always tell people, if you already have the basics of photography down, shooting in RAW and learning how to process your own photos will make the biggest difference.
You can be shooting with the best DSLR and lenses available, but if you shoot in Auto mode and let the camera churn out jpgs, you might as well be using a point and shoot camera.

Let's think back a few years to film cameras.
You basically had the same options.
Option A was shoot in full manual mode, or auto if you had a fancy camera, you hit the shutter and a basic image was transferred to your film in the form of a negative, and then drop your negatives off at Walgreens to be developed.
When you chose Option A, you were letting a machine apply automatic corrections to exposure, white balance, etc and what it spit out was what you got. Feeling lucky?
Option B was develop those negatives yourself in a darkroom. This took extra equipment, time, and you had to learn and practice, but eventually the results were far superior and completely up to you!
With Option B, you were in full control in the dark room. Exposure, WB, selective dodging/burning, various papers and developers, your own secret little tricks, this was where some real artistry came in.
You think Ansel Adams photos looked like that straight out of the camera? That boy could spend a whole day in the darkroom developing a single image.

With the Digital Camera, it's the same thing, only the developing happens INSIDE the camera. Just like a miniature Walgreens!
You are letting someone else choose all these settings for you.
Not only that, but if it spits something out that you are not quite happy with and want to play around with it on your computer afterwards, you have much less pixel information making it much harder to get clean results.
If you shoot in RAW, that's like starting with the negative. It will look a little flatter/duller than you may wish, but the amount of pixel information is massive in comparison to your jpg.
So now when you import it in to software like Lightroom, you can do ANYTHING you want to it. Is it all blue? You can fix that. Does it need more contrast? Done. Want to make multiple versions without taking up extra hard disk space? No problem, make as many as you like.
This is where YOU choose how the photo is developed so it reflects YOUR vision.
Not only all that, but Lightroom is a fantastic organizational tool and it lets your organize all your photos any way you see fit.

So if you want to get the most out of your photos, learn how to develop them and don't leave it up to some engineer sitting in a cube at Nikon or Canon corporate offices.


FWIW, I use Lightroom and finish in Photoshop. Adobe has the combo available for $10/month. Not too bad.
But there are plenty of free raw developers out there too, I just don't have personal experience with any of them.

 

[Spinelessspade]

Thx for the photo tips dude

 

[fftfk]

Beautiful tank Dennis. I was wondering what your opinion of all the lifereef equipment you bought now that you have had it running a few months?

 

[d2mini]

Beautiful tank Dennis. I was wondering what your opinion of all the lifereef equipment you bought now that you have had it running a few months?

Well the skimmer is a year old now and I still love it.
The sump and refugium are working really well.
The filter canisters seem to work ok and are pretty easy to empty/refill, but I'm only running carbon so far.
No regrets so far and would purchase again.

 

[silentscream]

I checked out the audi forum, lots of stuff you can do to these cars. It's good that I have a warranty that needs to run out first, my bank account doesn't need another hobby. Although, could that Alu Kreuz drivetrain stabalizer really affect my warranty?? haha

 

[d2mini]

I checked out the audi forum, lots of stuff you can do to these cars. It's good that I have a warranty that needs to run out first, my bank account doesn't need another hobby. Although, could that Alu Kreuz drivetrain stabalizer really affect my warranty?? haha

haha, yep.
My 2014 has 33k miles. As soon as I hit 45k killing the warranty it's going in to my local shop for the APR stage 2 tune. So by the end of the year. :thumbsup:
Nearly 300hp and 350 ft/lbs tq out of a 4-banger and still averages me 26 mpg per tank? That's why I love these cars.

 

[silentscream]

I'm about due for my first oil change on my '15. I have a 100k warranty. The tech guy at the dealer said a lot of people get the tune and there's an option to revert back to factory settings for when they bring it in for service, but they can still detect it anyways. He made it sound like they look the other way unless the car is in for service that was probably caused by hard driving. I wonder if the dealer will buy back my warranty? :lol:

Anyways, I'll quit dragging your aquarium thread off topic with all this German car nonsense. Happy driving dude

 

[d2mini]

I'm about due for my first oil change on my '15. I have a 100k warranty. The tech guy at the dealer said a lot of people get the tune and there's an option to revert back to factory settings for when they bring it in for service, but they can still detect it anyways. He made it sound like they look the other way unless the car is in for service that was probably caused by hard driving. I wonder if the dealer will buy back my warranty? :lol:

Anyways, I'll quit dragging your aquarium thread off topic with all this German car nonsense. Happy driving dude

They can't look the other way.
As soon as they plug the car in to the diagnostics computer, it's scanned and if the tune is detected your cars is automatically flagged TD1. Audi has gotten smart.
Your only option is to go back to your tuner and have them put it back to stock before bringing it in for service.

 

[soulpatch]

Your only option is to go back to your tuner and have them put it back to stock before bringing it in for service.

If like BMW, Ford, Chevy, and Dodge then the Audi computer has a flash counter on it to detect when it has been reflashed and thus even if you return to stock it still shows that something has occured on the vehicle.

 

[d2mini]

If like BMW, Ford, Chevy, and Dodge then the Audi computer has a flash counter on it to detect when it has been reflashed and thus even if you return to stock it still shows that something has occured on the vehicle.

Technically, a deeper manual search can be done to check for an increase in file size which would mean it was probably tuned previously, but the computer will check to see if a tune is currently installed. If not, no TDI designation.
But either way, i'm not risking it till my warranty is over.

 

[iced98lx]

"Checksums are a #*%#*#" basically.

 

[tabasco122]

Thankfully my car has a really complex and awesome piggyback. I would never run a piggyback on most cars, but this one is awesome.

I can squeeze 35mpg out of it at about 55-60mph, but it drops down to 30-32 at 70mph. When i run 25% e85 mix fuel mileage drops below 20mpg, but it puts down about 380/420 hp/tq to the ground. German FI cars are amazing

 

[d2mini]

Added a lil' sumfin sumfin this weekend.... SEA SWIRLS! :bounce3: :dance: :beer:

After going back and forth with Ed for a while (a very nice and patient business owner!) I went with the new Multi-Swirls for the upgraded motor and the fact that they come with all the fittings for multiple size outlets. 1", 3/4" and 1/2".
I gave Ed some basic dimensions, a pic and description of my eurobracing and canopy setup. He was then able to make a custom bracket and make sure they would mount securely.
He also put the hole for the power supply on the side to make sure there was going to be no issue with the canopy interfering.
It took around 2 weeks for them to ship, just like mentioned on their website.
I was notified when they shipped and they arrived pretty quickly after that.

Here's what was included.
I ordered two (one for each side of my tank) so everything is doubled.
Two Multi-Swirls, two power supplies, and two full sets of fittings.

And here is a couple pics of the Multi-Swirls...

The install went pretty quick/painless.
I had to remove the old return plumbing.
The old plumbing came through the wall and into a standard 1.5" Tee fitting. I felt this added to the overall restrictiveness of my plumbing.
The water was basically hitting a brick wall before being forced left and right.

Right after the Tee it converted down to 1". Then at the ends I had an elbow which came down and split into two 3/4 localness on each side of the tank for a total of 4 loc-lines.
This worked well for pointing the water output where I wanted it but I felt this was also probably adding a little more restriction.

So this time I went a little overboard (who, me?!) and picked up a 2.5" True Wye.
So the 1.5" return line comes through the wall, enters the 2.5" Wye, and then splits left and right into 1.5" Flex PVC.
Then right before the Multi-Swirls it converts down to 1" into a true union ball valve and then the Swirls.

Note that the Swirls are NOT submersible and your warranty will be void.
The Swirls are heavy and then with the flex pvc plumbing added on to them and the fact that the whole thing could possible rotate since I have a union on the other side of the wall, I was worried about the bracket not holding.
So i simply added a little extra support using a bungie cord supported by the same bracket that is holding my light fixture.

So that was it!
I plugged them in, they started spinning, and I was able to make minor adjustments to the output direction.
They rotate slowly back and forth 90 degrees. You can position the start/end how you want, but it will always rotate 90 degrees.
And it pauses for a few seconds at each end before starting to rotate back.

I'm pretty pleased with these so far.
Customer service has been excellent.
Shipping/Packing was excellent.
Build quality so far seems excellent.
And and I'm enjoying seeing my return flow dispersed around the tank more than before.

Below is a quick video I took of them in action.
In the vid I mention that they are "both pointed to the front of the tank" meaning that but sheer luck they happened to both me "synced". I didn't want that, so after the video i pulled the power cable on one, while the other rotated 90 degrees.
Then I plugged it back in. So now they are "Anti-Synced". When one is pointing towards the front glass, the other is pointed across the back of the tank.

Enjoy, and if you have any question I'll do my best to answer them as always.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xpl5pXZjdxg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[monkiboy]

thanks for the video share, dennis. how much flow do you estimate you have going to each or both through the single return? I always had issues with anything but medium flow passing through them as unless they were deeply submerged I would got vortices at the top of the water and introduce air bubbles to the tank. that and when pointed anywhere near the front of the tank water splashing and salt creep over the brace and edges. interested in your opinion with your brief experience as I see yours is just about the same height I prefer to run mine at. do they no longer have anti-siphon holes in the fittings? do you manage this with check valves and sump space to take on the extra volume during outage?