Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

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how does Melev do it??? he always has inventive projects...i think it is the late night's that make it all possible. its the gnomes i tell you!! the ones that steal a sock out of the dryer....same ones but cousins!

Lunchbucket
 
Damn Marc, That looks great! You really did a bang up job with that one. Love the suspension system.
 
Excellent job as always Marc! The attention to detail, documentation, and pictures are in a league of their own.
 
<b>Hop</b> - That must be one heck of a raise. I still remember a certain post about selling off the entire system... ;)

That would be one monster upgrade. I think at that point, you'd want 400w bulbs in Reef Optic reflectors on a rolling light rack. You could then spread the light and have it move back and forth across the tank.
 
Thanks guys! :) Adding a small motor would be really neat to evenly light the area and not add more heat to the tank, nor add more electricity. Perhaps I can come up with something nice and simple.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7412378#post7412378 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
<b>Hop</b> - That must be one heck of a raise. I still remember a certain post about selling off the entire system... ;)

That would be one monster upgrade. I think at that point, you'd want 400w bulbs in Reef Optic reflectors on a rolling light rack. You could then spread the light and have it move back and forth across the tank.
Click to expand...

It was enough to cover the electric bill:) My wife finally got that second job to pay for my addiction (JJ, but she did get a better job and her health issues that were compounding the buyers regret have subsided:) )

The bigger tank would be only lit by enough T5s for viewing. The current tank would be the full blown reef:) I have too much learning to do to make a 900 gallon reef, plus I'm still a public service grunt.

So basically, until you get a 900 gallon reef and do another 15 day building log, I'm sticking to the current reef:lol:

But enough about me, when are you upgrading to a 900 gallon reef?
 
what's the difference...250g, 400g, 900g? You don't have to fill the entire thing with coral you know. Just a few here and there. ;) Oh wait, you're not my wife. :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7412682#post7412682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Hop, keep dreaming. I will resist upgrading with every fiber of my body. :D
Click to expand...

This sounds familiar... I stole this right off a site I read once:
"After almost 7 years in the hobby, I upgraded to a huge tank. About 3 years ago, I announced that my 29g reef was full, and that I was content. Many online friends accused me of sacriledge, telling me that I had to upgrade. I resisted the temptation for a while, knowing that expenses would rise in the process. A 55g set up fell into my lap a few months later, and while I enjoyed that extra tank, ideas were running through my head about an L-shaped tank that wrapped around a corner so it could be viewed from the living room and kitchen. Talking about that tank for over one and a half years, it never came to fruition. Suddenly a 280g reef set-up became available in my area and I decided it was time to take the plunge."

:lol: :smokin: :lol:
 
Nice work on the light rack Marc. Your DIY skills never cease to amaze me.

Any other projects rolling around in your brain that you need us to talk you into? We can be very persuasive.

Worked with the wood work right!?! Oh wait......nevermind.
 
I'd like to incorporate my seahorse tank into the main system, so that they share the same water. Two issues: cooler temperatures and lower salinity seem to be their preference. I've not quite figured out how to make both work well enough on their own to pull it off.

It would be nice if I had a very slow return going up to the seahorse tank that turns it over maybe 2x per hour, and a fan blowing down on the surface to cool it sufficiently. That might work, but I may end up having to heat the tank all night as the fan overcools it.

The salinity thing is tougher. I'd need a little RO/DI water added to lower it before it enters the tank, but not too much.

My goal seems to be getting more and more toward one community system instead of all these separate tanks to care for.
 
The temperature control would be the easy part. You could control the fan on a ranco controller with the probe in the seahorse tank.

The salinity control would also be easy but also very expensive. First, you would need a conductivity controller with the probe mounted in the seahorse tank. You could then hook this up to a dosing pump that doses RO/DI water to the seahorse tank. This wouldn't affect the salinity of the main system because this would be considered "top-off" water and would just cause your top-off system to add that much less water each day.

So it certainly is "doable". But is the extra cost worth the reduced maintenance?
 
I don't think salinity would be that simple. Since its connected to the main system, incoming water is always high and you're always feeding low salinity to the main system. It won't be long before the main system salinity drops.
 
Marc, what is the prefered salinity for the horses?

grochmal, you can control the horse tank with the fan since that is a smaller amount of water. It basically heats the new incoming water at the horse tank but the main tank stays warmer.
 
Marc, what is the prefered salinity for the horses?

grochmal, you can control the horse tank with the fan since that is a smaller amount of water. It basically cools the new incoming water at the horse tank but the main tank stays warmer.
 
Marc, what is the prefered salinity for the horses?

grochmal, you can control the horse tank with the fan since that is a smaller amount of water. It basically cools the new incoming water at the horse tank but the main tank stays warmer.
 
The fan will cool the water in the seahorse tank, but that cool water will drain back to the sump and be replaced by warmer sump water eventually equalizing it all out.
Unless the flow through the seahorse tank is very very slow.
If all the water is connected together I don't see how you can vary salinity or temperature (noticeably) in one part of the system.
 
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