drummereef's 180g in-wall build
- Thread starter drummereef
- Start date
drummereef
Team RC
Thanks Brett.
Thanks shaggss.
I am not dosing anything at the moment. I had been dosing AAs to see if I could raise nitrate but no such luck. I've heard good things about the Red Sea products. However, I'm not sure the Energy A/B is going to help with browning. That sounds more like a PO4 issue to me. Typically corals start fading if they are nutritionally deficient, at least in theory they do. But when corals start browning all things point to nutrient excess of some kind, usually phosphates. What are your phosphates testing currently and what do you test with?
UPDATE:
Here's an overview of the line-bending table. Basically it's a 24"x24" table made from MDF. There is a Dado that runs the width of the table. Inside the Dado is 1/2" Aluminum U Channel. A length of 24 gauge Nichrome Wire is stretched between two screws. A small spring keeps tension on the wire to keep it from sagging when heated.
To heat the wire I built a simple power supply. It consists of a 12 volt / 8.3 Amp tranformer, a fuse, and a lighting dimmer. This allows variable control over the power to the wire. An excellent resource for Transformers and Nichrome Wire is http://www.jacobs-online.biz/index.htm
You can see here, the two leads from the power supply connect to the wire with small alligator clips.
Once powered up, the Nichrome Wire heats up red hot. Nichrome (resistance wire) is the same stuff used in hair dryers and toasters. There's a brilliant calculator on Jacobs-Online website that calculates voltage, temperature, wire length etc necessary to heat the wire. I'm running 12 volts over 18" of 24 gauge wire. That will heat the wire to an approximate temperature of 1140F. This will heat acrylic for bending up to 3/16" easily. For 1/4" stock, a heavier gauge wire would be needed for more heat or heating both sides of the piece by flipping it would likely work.
If you were to use a shorter piece of wire would you get it hot enough to bend 1/4"? Lets say to bend a 6" wide piece of 1/4"?
Last edited by a moderator:
coraltastic
New member
This is interesting would like to see a video on this.
silentscream
New member
Brett, reading some of your older posts, you used to dose coral snow and zeobak. Can you recap your experience with those products? Do you think if you started them back up it might help with that brown algae your noticing after water changes?
drummereef
Team RC
Yes, I'm sure it would. You would likely have to go to a larger wire to get enough BTU's but it would likely work. You can use the calculator below to get an idea of wire temperature based up on the other criteria. I'd run it on 12 volts - so input that, the length of wire used, and the desired gauge and you'll see how hot the wire would get. Ideal temp for bending is ~800-1200F depending on what you are doing. You might have to flip the 1/4" piece of acrylic halfway through the heating process so you don't create bubbles. You'll know when it's hot enough to bend, it will bend like a sheet of paper.
http://www.jacobs-online.biz/nichrome/NichromeCalc.html
Next time I make something with it I'll try and post a quick vid. It's been a while since I've posted a vid anyway. Thanks.
I haven't dosed either in a while simply because I think my tank is NO3 deficient, which is likely why my PO4 is so reluctant to stay down. I think the base rock I used to start the tank was set up for instability from the get-go. I didn't address the bound up PO4 in the Marco Rock when I set up the tank. I also dosed varioius Nitrifying bacterias heavily throughout that time as well. So what I believe happened was my rock became ridiculously efficient at eliminating Nitrate but couldn't deal with the Phosphate so an imbalance occurred. Enter the always controversial Redfield Ratio... So, haven't dosed bacterias in quite a while to (along with some other stuff I'm trying) hopefully pull my NO3/PO4 ratio back in line. I will update on the progress if/when I see any changes.
That said, those products do work. I documented it killing the brown cyano stuff I had in the tank a year or two ago either through biologic means or pure suffocation - I'm not entirely sure, but it worked. I prefer the ZeoZyme/BioMate combination as it seems much more "gentle" on the system. The two work differently but both are effective when used in the right cases.
I will note - as a test I have done a ~24g water change, 5 gallons per day for the last 4/5 days and haven't noticed any increase in brown algae in the tank at all! It's actually A LOT easier to do changes like this for me anyway. I don't have to shut the return pump down so it doesn't turn into a big ordeal like it used to. And it literally only takes a couple minutes to do each change. I like it.
Last edited:
Yes, I'm sure it would. You would likely have to go to a larger wire to get enough BTU's but it would likely work. You can use the calculator below to get an idea of wire temperature based up on the other criteria. I'd run it on 12 volts - so input that, the length of wire used, and the desired gauge and you'll see how hot the wire would get. Ideal temp for bending is ~800-1200F depending on what you are doing. You might have to flip the 1/4" piece of acrylic halfway through the heating process so you don't create bubbles. You'll know when it's hot enough to bend, it will bend like a sheet of paper.
http://www.jacobs-online.biz/nichrome/NichromeCalc.html
I am in the process of making a bender. I got a 24 volt transformer from jacobs. I found that just moving the clips in will give you hotter temps. No need to shorten the wire. I did bend some 1/4" with out flipping over but got a few bubbles. I'll try again by flipping over. I'm using 24 ga wire but ordered some 20 and 18 just for shits and giggles.
silentscream
New member
I will note - as a test I have done a ~24g water change, 5 gallons per day for the last 4/5 days and haven't noticed any increase in brown algae in the tank at all! It's actually A LOT easier to do changes like this for me anyway. I don't have to shut the return pump down so it doesn't turn into a big ordeal like it used to. And it literally only takes a couple minutes to do each change. I like it.
I would say your next project will have to be an automated water change system!
drummereef
Team RC
Sounds good to me.
Just use that calculator to get an idea of wire temp. If you built a table, the wire will get hotter than what the calculator says, since it calculates "open air" temperature. If you are getting bubbles, you either left the acrylic on the table too long or the wire temp was too hot. I'd aim for around 1000F, flip it halfway through your heating process, and try to keep each side under 3 minutes to avoid bubbling. Hope this helps. Thanks lluv24.
:lol: You may be right my friend.
prop-frags
SPS Slave
That looks very suspect that to see that much PO4 in a new saltmix, and I agree with you to look at other things as being the source. How large were these sample sizes? The ULN checker obviously is very sensitive, so a small sample size could conceivably be picking up some residue from a container, stirring rod, etc., and showing it in the result.
cromedogg33
Member
I think we may want to slow down thinking it's his salt mix doing that. I would look at the water source first.
110galreef
New member
Fwiw....
I have tested my Ro/DI water showing 0 tds after dual di cartridges of which were newer and I tested some po4.
I will have to dig around to see how much but the amount ur showing is definitely inline with what I was getting. And I measured straight from unit to gkas measuring vial after a few rodi rinses
I have tested my Ro/DI water showing 0 tds after dual di cartridges of which were newer and I tested some po4.
I will have to dig around to see how much but the amount ur showing is definitely inline with what I was getting. And I measured straight from unit to gkas measuring vial after a few rodi rinses
drummereef
Team RC
I will indeed. Thanks NH Fish.
I thought so too. The sample was taken from newly mixed (within 24 hours) directly from my Brute mixing container - tested with my Hanna ULN Checker. I suspect the Brute has something to do with it. A lot of people have noted PO4 leaching from them so I'm wondering if I'm getting trace amounts of PO4 from the plastic. Thoughts? Thanks for checking in on this Mike.
I have dual DI's on my RO/DI unit, and were recently changed. I haven't tested PO4 coming out of the DI but it is reading 0 TDS on two different probes. Guess it wouldn't hurt to test it though. I am a little suspect of the Brute container as I said above... :sad2:
Definitely let me know. I might do some testing on my DI water as well and report back. Getting low on my ULN reagents, need to order some more soon...
drummereef
Team RC
drummereef
Team RC
So I've signed up with Aquatic Log (thanks Dennis!)to track my tank parameters and maintenance schedules. It's a very intuitive website, I'm really liking it. You can also link it to your Apex Controller for more dynamic parameter polling.
My calcium is testing high which I think is due to my older API test kit. I'm planning on getting a Red Sea Pro Ca kit soon so hopefully I'll have a more accurate test to provide.
Here are the current tank parameters via the Aquatic Log interface.
My calcium is testing high which I think is due to my older API test kit. I'm planning on getting a Red Sea Pro Ca kit soon so hopefully I'll have a more accurate test to provide.
Here are the current tank parameters via the Aquatic Log interface.
Last edited:
fishcatdog66
Member
I checked back to the beginning of this thread and I'm a solid 4 years behind you. Sigh. Well at least there's still a trail to follow still.
