Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

[Aquarist007]

Raised the temp in the house the other day and replaced the light fixture above the hob refugium. Temp in the tank tonight registered at 84.2f !! Yikes.
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Mine has been running 84 degress all summer this year. If it does not go down to 82 degrees at night I throw in two frozen regular size plastic coke zero bottles (with ice) I put them in the filter sock so they don't float around and cause some kind of problem esp with my track record
That usually does the trick

 

[jason2459]

Thanks capn. I'll check it in the morning. It's been, I'll have to look back to make sure, around 80-81 at night before those two changes and around 78 in the mornings. Actually what alerted me was my heaters. The two heaters have a light facing forward that says when they are on and flash when it gets to hot. Like what just happened or they get stuck in the on position. I unplugged both to make sure they don't go on tonight and see where it's at tomorrow.

 

[Aquarist007]

I don't use the heaters from April to November

 

[jason2459]

I probably wouldn't have but we were trying to keep the house really cool for the baby. We're really paranoid about SIDS. Still scares the crap out of us. Can't wait till he's a year old and almost all chances of SIDS are out of the way.

Hospital told us to keep the house as cold as possible preferably around 68 and keep a fan on. We kept a fan on and had the house around 72. He's been kicking his swaddling blanket off at night so we stopped swaddling him. So, now it's a bit to cold for him and bumped up the AC to 74-76.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15702645#post15702645 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jason2459
I probably wouldn't have but we were trying to keep the house really cool for the baby. We're really paranoid about SIDS. Still scares the crap out of us. Can't wait till he's a year old and almost all chances of SIDS are out of the way.

My daughter kept a baby monitored cranked up in the baby's room so you could hear the breathing

 

[jason2459]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15702718#post15702718 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capn_hylinur
My daughter kept a baby monitored cranked up in the baby's room so you could hear the breathing

.
Yep, same here. We can hear the damn clock ticking in there. Things are producing more white noise then the entire aquarium.

 

[jason2459]

BTW, I still can't post a blog entry.

On a side note, there is always more then one way to skin a cat.... referencing another thread here... reminder to self the Interwebz iz cerious buznis.

 

[jason2459]

Well, one more update. I've noticed since the lights went off the Cardinals have been talking a lot. Much more then the radom knock or knock knock. Either they like the heat or they hate it. We'll see if they decide to breed soon then they may like it.

 

[jason2459]

Love that it's football season again. Great game going on tonight. SD/Raiders tied up at 10 going into the fourth 1/4. Can't wait for next Monday night. My Dolphins are playing the Colts.

ORP is at 215 right now and Temp is down to 83.3

 

[jason2459]

What a great game all the way down to the end. Temp this morning was 81.2 and ORP 180. Shoot I forgot to click the probe over to get the pH. I was curious what it is in the morning too. I set the lights to go on later in the day. So, hopefully the tank will keep going down in temp until they turn on and wont go so high.

I'm seriously looking into ripping that fixture apart and doing a retro fit with it. Only thing I know I'll need to get are reflectors and moisture resistant end caps and the reflector inside the fixture is a one big single reflector that is just contoured around the bulbs and the end caps are open because it has a protective acrylic sheet that slides in. I don't think I'm going to reuse the fans in the fixture because they are small which makes them really noisy. I've got a bunch of computer fans in the 3-4" range all over the place I can rig up.

Only issues I can see with doing this is salt build up on the bulbs and reflectors now instead of the acrylic piece that the fixture uses which I clean off at least once a week now as it is. In my old setup I had a GLO T5 2 bulb setup with one reflector for both bulbs and I had to keep up on cleaning that so I know it's not as easy as cleaning off the acrylic. I also hope that this will be a cooler setup as it will be at least another inch higher away from the water and hopefully with two 3" or 4" fans for bringing in air and exhaust will keep them cooler and be quieter.

I'm not sure where I'll mount the ballast. I'd like to get it under the tank and out from inside the canopy which would help reduce heat and probably extend the life of the ballast as well I think. I was thinking of getting some molex connectors that I can grab from some spare computers and use them for quick disconnects so I can remove the canopy with out having to stretch wires or anything.

What I also need to find out is if I can mount the end caps with standoffs right to the canopy wood or if I need some kind of thermal barrier? Same with the ballast under the tank if I can mount them right to the wood or need a housing for them?

 

[jason2459]

WOW, amazing how much a shiny piece of metal costs. Those damn reflectors add up when you need more then one. I'm thinking how I might cut the contoured single reflector into individual or in half to pair two up at a time. I need to at least split it in two so I can lift the doors on top and two will go up with the doors. So, I'll have to see how to retro fit the reflector into my retrofit setup and work with the standoffs/endcaps.

I was reading through the lighting and other equipment section in the T5 thread. Found I can mount the standoffs/endcaps right to the underside of the canopy just fine. Still not sure if I need anything special to mount the ballast into under the tank or if they can safely be mounted right to the wood as well. Still researching that. Also, while reading through that thread The Grim states that 3" fans mounted int he back of the canopy blowing air in facing the end caps is probably the best setup. So, I'll go with that. Looks like some people have used molex connectors as well. I'll use those for the fans and lighting for quick disconnects when I need to take the canopy off for some reason. Which will be much less often after I can open the doors on top and actually be able to access the tank.

Quick probe 8:00p
Temp: 83.8
ORP: 219
pH: 7.89

Another side note. That eshopps skimmer is kicking some major a$$. It's gotten better nastier smellier skimmate as each day passes since I set it up and it's getting broke in. It is well worth more then the price they have listed for it new. I still don't know how well it would be for anything bigger then a 55g though. But 55g and under I would highly recommend this skimmer.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15708260#post15708260 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jason2459
WOW, amazing how much a shiny piece of metal costs. Those damn reflectors add up when you need more then one. I'm thinking how I might cut the contoured single reflector into individual or in half to pair two up at a time. I need to at least split it in two so I can lift the doors on top and two will go up with the doors. So, I'll have to see how to retro fit the reflector into my retrofit setup and work with the standoffs/endcaps.

I was reading through the lighting and other equipment section in the T5 thread. Found I can mount the standoffs/endcaps right to the underside of the canopy just fine. Still not sure if I need anything special to mount the ballast into under the tank or if they can safely be mounted right to the wood as well. Still researching that. Also, while reading through that thread The Grim states that 3" fans mounted int he back of the canopy blowing air in facing the end caps is probably the best setup. So, I'll go with that. Looks like some people have used molex connectors as well. I'll use those for the fans and lighting for quick disconnects when I need to take the canopy off for some reason. Which will be much less often after I can open the doors on top and actually be able to access the tank.

Quick probe 8:00p
Temp: 83.8
ORP: 219
pH: 7.89

Another side note. That eshopps skimmer is kicking some major a$$. It's gotten better nastier smellier skimmate as each day passes since I set it up and it's getting broke in. It is well worth more then the price they have listed for it new. I still don't know how well it would be for anything bigger then a 55g though. But 55g and under I would highly recommend this skimmer.

I would try to keep the ballasts out from under the cabinet. Originally mine were in the cabinet along with the sump and I had some heat problems.
Until I took everything down in the basement below I just ran them on a piece of tile flooring beside the cabinet.

 

[jason2459]

Heat problems with the ballasts or heat problems with the water temperature because of the ballasts? Since I don't have a sump do you think it would be okay still to have the ballasts under the cabinet? Should I mount them on a sheet of aluminum? For the tile, how did you mount the ballasts to it? Or did you just lay them flat on the ground? I wouldn't have the room around my tank to do that though.


Side note:

The two baby aptasia that I noticed before are gone. Either they moved or the peppermints ate them. I'm guessing and hoping the later.

 

[jason2459]

Been a while since I've seen that gramma again. He sure likes to hide. Bad news, the camera is dead right now. Got dropped and now wont turn on. I'll have to try and take it apart and see if there's anything loose that can be fixed. Temps are a bit better.

Morning probe tests 7am
Temp: 80.1
pH: 7.89
ORP: 180

7:30pm Tests
Temp: 83.1
pH: 8.03
ORP: 195

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15709297#post15709297 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jason2459
Heat problems with the ballasts or heat problems with the water temperature because of the ballasts? Since I don't have a sump do you think it would be okay still to have the ballasts under the cabinet? Should I mount them on a sheet of aluminum? For the tile, how did you mount the ballasts to it? Or did you just lay them flat on the ground? I wouldn't have the room around my tank to do that though.


Side note:

The two baby aptasia that I noticed before are gone. Either they moved or the peppermints ate them. I'm guessing and hoping the later.

I would mount them on a piece of tile because they do get hot on a wooden cabinet.

Hopefully the peppermints ate the aptasia.

 

[jason2459]

Capn, do you just drill pilot holes through the tile very carefully first then mount the ballast with a screw through the tile right to the wood? Guess I'm not getting the how to mount it to the tile part? Do like the idea of a nice piece of ceramic tile to dissipate the heat.

...


HOLY PODS BATMAN!! Just got out the head lamp and looked behind the tank into the refugium for the first time tonight. WOW!! LET THERE BE LIFE! Just WOW! Not what I was expecting at all. At least not this early in the game. That live rock I got from my LFG was really alive I guess. Tons of little swirling snail things, pods galore, coraline growth on all the rocks, one rock with a nice coverage of an orange sponge, briopsis algae here and there, of course the macro algae, and some aptasia. Food back there to seed the main tank for everyone. Sponge for the Angel, aptasia for the peppermints, algae for the crabs/snails/blenny/angel, pods for future mandarin, and snail thingies for what ever eats those.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15719675#post15719675 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jason2459
Capn, do you just drill pilot holes through the tile very carefully first then mount the ballast with a screw through the tile right to the wood? Guess I'm not getting the how to mount it to the tile part? Do like the idea of a nice piece of ceramic tile to dissipate the heat.

.

I just laid them directly on the pieces of tile.

 

[jason2459]

I was wondering. That's what I thought but then was thinking well, maybe you're actually mounting it up somewhere. I was hoping to mount on an inside wall of the cabinet as I don't have that much space anywhere and most all space I have is filled up with something.

 

[jason2459]

I'm bored and had this up from posting in another thread so decided to post the 2008 anual water report quality levels.

Also looks like our city has the cheapest water in the state.

residents enjoy water rates
that are among the lowest in the state.
$2.78 Buys You 1,000 Gallons of Clean Water

The break down:
Engineering & Administrative Support $0.19
Water Source (Wells) $0.33
Meter & Customer Service $0.37
Distribution & Storage $0.68
Water Treatment $1.21

 

[jason2459]

Pods love seaweed sheets. Who knew? I definitely have a pod explosion going on right now. I went to clean my glass with the mag float and I lifted the felt side to make sure no gravel was stuck on the scrubber side. There were several pods living there. As I was cleaning I decided to look around and there were a bunch of pods all over the softening seaweed. At least someone was eating it. The angel doesn't seem to want anything to do with it. I still wouldn't feel comfortable putting a mandarin in yet besides the fact I really need to let the tank settle in. I'd imagine with this pod explosion there will be a massive die off at some point as well as the tank settles down?