ReefWaters' 220 Sun Room Reef

[ReefWaters]

Hey Mark! Doing great! The tank is looking really good. You wouldn't recognize some of my corals. The larger colonies that you saw have become HUGE! This is just a LOT of tank to take care of. How is yours doing? Did you set it back up? The frags you gave me are doing great too.

The Whitecheek appears to have calmed down a good bit. He is still religiously checking out the rockwork where the Kole tang is hiding but he's not acting nervous about it. I can see that the Kole is swimming and upright. But I cant tell how he looks. The few times he has come out I could see a few marks on him. Possibly tail swipes or bites from the Whitecheek. Now I'm more concerned about the Kole getting the food he needs. I'll keep everyone posted. Any other suggestions would be appreciated too.

RW

 

[ReefWaters]

Kole Tang Update

Kole Tang Update

Well it just took some time. The Kole Tang and the Whitecheek actually seem to be getting along now. It seems like it happened in an instant last night. One moment the Whitecheek was patrolling the Kole's area of the tank and keeping him in the rocks.

Then, all of a sudden, I noticed the Whitecheek making a color display I have never seen before and dancing all over the tank. Normally, when he "colors up" or "flashes" he turns almost completely black and extends all of his fins. This time, he was more of his natural gray color but with distinct vertical white stripes on his body and his fins were black and his blue fin tips were popping more than usual. I wish I could have gotten a picture. Very cool. Id never seen that from this fish before. Anyway, the Kole tang showed up for this and they both swam around the tank together, not fighting at all, for about 20 minutes. Now the Kole tang comes out quite regularly and cruises the entire tank. Every so often the Whitecheek will chase but nothing serious.

Anyway, I thought this was something interesting to share.

 

[Bax]

That's good news!

 

[KashAlp]

Congrats on the new fish especially the kole tang Reefwaters. Hope he does well in your tank. Ive knew before but it appears the koles are a bit shy compaired to other tangs. Mine did eventually come out also and swim with the other tank mates but still he liked to be in and around the rocks. They graze tons so i guess its just comfortable to be around the food source.

Best of luck. Can ya add a few more tanks pics? would love to see the new fish!

 

[ReefWaters]

The new additions are still doing well. The Kole does hide a lot but seems to be healthy and happy.

I will try to get some updated pics up soon. I did a little rearranging of a few colonies recently so I want to get some shots of that. The tank has a lot of algae and salt splash that needs cleaning first though. It might not happen this week!

In the mean time, I'm trying to figure out the electrical consumption of this system. Call me a glutton for punishment! :worried2: :fun2:

 

[SMOOTHIE]

Very nice! Also nice to see another reefer so close

 

[ReefWaters]

My power consumption is not looking good. I still cant get a grasp on the exact number but it is close to $100 a month if not more. Any thoughts on this? If I cut off power to every circuit in my house with the exception of the fish tank, how would I get an accurate KWH usage reading?

Also, where can I find some good reading about T5's vs Metal Halide?

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[tgunn]

My power consumption is not looking good. I still cant get a grasp on the exact number but it is close to $100 a month if not more. Any thoughts on this? If I cut off power to every circuit in my house with the exception of the fish tank, how would I get an accurate KWH usage reading?

Also, where can I find some good reading about T5's vs Metal Halide?

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If you want a cheap and accurate way to determine how much power you're using, pick up a Kill-A-Watt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_Watt).. They're probably $20, and can monitor power usage trends, etc. I'd suggest using one of these for a day on each device in your tank and see what the power usage looks like. MUCH more accurate than trying to use your home power meter. This will also let you figure out what equipment is using the most power.

When I had my big 140g tank up and running I found the MAJOR source of my power consumption was large external pumps. I had two PCX-70 pumps sucking up 400w, and a big Sequence 1000 using another 400w. It's a vicious cycle because all those pumps means more heat into the tank and thus more energy to try and cool the tank.

If you've already got your lights I doubt you're going to recover the cost of going from halides to T5s or what not. I used a combination of both personally because I liked the look.

Looking at your thread you posted in the other forum I notice you've got a dehumidifier running 24/7. Have you considered NOT running this? It uses a LOT of power and could save you more than you think. The energy you pump into it is ultimately becoming heat that the AC has to remove, which means its running harder and longer.

Tyler

 

[ReefWaters]

Thanks Tyler,

I have seen the whole house monitoring systems that you plug into each of your circuits on your circuit breaker and monitor the consumption from your computer. Those are nice...and EXPENSIVE!!! This is an elegant and cheap solution for sure. I am going to see what I can find and post back here.

As for T5's, what about T5's vs VHO? I have 6 x 140 watt VHO's over this tank as well. I am running the VHO's on ICECap 660's so if I am not mistaken, all I have to do to switch to T5's is switch out my end caps and bulbs. Is that correct? I am also having a hard time finding 60" T5 bulbs.

 

[ReefWaters]

Looking at your thread you posted in the other forum I notice you've got a dehumidifier running 24/7. Have you considered NOT running this? It uses a LOT of power and could save you more than you think. The energy you pump into it is ultimately becoming heat that the AC has to remove, which means its running harder and longer.

Tyler

You are 100% correct about this. I know. I need to play with this. In the past though, I have had HUGE humidity issues when the dehumidifier is turned off. I have a hygrometer in the room. The dehumidifier runs constantly and keeps it at around 50% to 60%. If i turn off the dehumidifier, it will jump quickly to 80% to 90% within hours. At this humidity, the room gets wet all over and it is unbearable to work on the tank.

Im afraid it will litterally start raining in the fish room! :lolspin:

 

[crazzy]

You are 100% correct about this. I know. I need to play with this. In the past though, I have had HUGE humidity issues when the dehumidifier is turned off. I have a hygrometer in the room. The dehumidifier runs constantly and keeps it at around 50% to 60%. If i turn off the dehumidifier, it will jump quickly to 80% to 90% within hours. At this humidity, the room gets wet all over and it is unbearable to work on the tank.

Im afraid it will litterally start raining in the fish room! :lolspin:

Go to Home Depot, buy a Humidistat switch.
It is similar to a light switch, very cheap, but turns the electricity on when the humidity reaches acertain level and then off again.
Thus you will be able to "Dial" in the humidity your room is at, not either at 50 to 60% or 80 to 90%. You could keep it at say 67 to 70 %.
Thus saving maybe 50% of the electrical cost to operate the dehumidifyer 24/7

:thumbsup:

 

[tgunn]

I have seen the whole house monitoring systems that you plug into each of your circuits on your circuit breaker and monitor the consumption from your computer. Those are nice...and EXPENSIVE!!! This is an elegant and cheap solution for sure. I am going to see what I can find and post back here.

Lol, you think like me: "Hmm, what's the most expensive and complicated way I can go about this....".

As for T5's, what about T5's vs VHO? I have 6 x 140 watt VHO's over this tank as well. I am running the VHO's on ICECap 660's so if I am not mistaken, all I have to do to switch to T5's is switch out my end caps and bulbs. Is that correct? I am also having a hard time finding 60" T5 bulbs.

The T5 bulbs in 60" are typically 80w. Keep in mind that the ballast uses energy too, so it'll take more than 80w to light that bulb. I'd be interested to see how much power your 6 x 140w VHOs are using right now.

Yes, you're right that you can run the T5s with an IceCap ballast. You'd definitely want to be sure you get the proper T5 reflectors though as those make a HUGE difference in the amount of light reaching your tank.

You are 100% correct about this. I know. I need to play with this. In the past though, I have had HUGE humidity issues when the dehumidifier is turned off. I have a hygrometer in the room. The dehumidifier runs constantly and keeps it at around 50% to 60%. If i turn off the dehumidifier, it will jump quickly to 80% to 90% within hours. At this humidity, the room gets wet all over and it is unbearable to work on the tank.
Im afraid it will litterally start raining in the fish room! :lolspin:

So even the A/C running can't keep up with the humidity? Wow, that's some high humidity!

I imagine you're using evaporation to keep the tank cool? I know what you mean about the humidity though; I found in the summer time when my central A/C was running the cold air blowing into the tank room caused the moist warm air to condense, causing water to splatter all over the stuff on the shelves across from the venting.

When I set up my next large tank I'm planning on keeping the sump and tank mostly covered; I'm envisioning ducts to supply air to the surface of both and then dump the moist humid air into my air exchanger where it'll be vented directly outside.

Tyler

 

[ReefWaters]

The Humidistat certainly cant hurt. I'll get that ASAP and install it on the dehumidifier.

My A/C unit is a mini-split unit. The cooling coil and heat strips are in a unit inside and the heat exchanger is outside. It is a little over sized for the 100 square foot room that it is in. My theory (which I'm afraid I have slightly misunderstood) is to use the A/C to keep the ambient temperature of the room at a set point (currently 80 degrees F) and therefore keep the water temperature of the tank at approximately 80 degrees. This works well with the exception of the humidity and cost. It keeps the tank temp stable but at a cost. The unit is controlled by a remote control thermostat. You set it at one degree setting and it stays there. There is no on/off swing like you get with most thermostats. For example, it is NOT turning on the A/C at 82 and off at 78. I'm afraid that it never turns off. If the temp drops below 80 I'm afraid it turns the heat on. If it goes above 80 it turns the A/C on but it is constantly cycling between heating and cooling all the time to keep the 80 degree set point. This means a LOT of unnecessary electrical consumption as well as a reduced dehumidifying effect. I don't know this for a fact and maybe an HVAC guy could confirm or debunk this.

I have considered installing a loop style vent system to dump humid air outside and bring in fresh, "less humid" air into the room. But I'm afraid of creating even more energy cost problems by overdriving the A/C (I don't have a good way to control the thermostat setting) and Savannah can get into the 100's during the summer months and into freezing temps in the winter. Seems like too many variables to worry about and too much control needed to try to get it right.

 

[crazzy]

Only a Cessna model 337 can suck and blow at the same time.
I would suggest you concentrate on your Humidistat only. Set the Humidity by way of the Humidistat. After you have that worked out, put your Airconditioner/Heater on a manual setup. Maybe activate that circuit when you know you will need airconditioning { or put it on a timer so that the aircon unit has no juice at night when things cool off and it trys to heat things up. { obviously if you have the $$ you could get a different unit than the one you have, but? } If you are going to have a drop in water temp, buy a heater for water. If water needs cooling put fans to blow across water and cool by evaporation.
First contol and get a handle on the humidity because it puts your house at risk.
Then deal with temperature without sucking and blowing { heating and cooling} $100 will buy what you need and payback in a month!

 

[ReefWaters]

I'll keep everyone posted on what happens with the A/C. Ive got some ideas.

In the mean time. I took some pictures with my Droid X and automatically uploaded them to Photobucket. TOO EASY!!! :thumbsup: Though they aren't the best pictures in the world they are pretty darn good and should give you the jist of where the tank is right now.

I lost the Kole Tang. The Whitecheek never really let up on him. And on top of it all, a few weeks ago, I had a temperature spike to 90 degrees Fahrenheit which killed both of my cleaner shrimp, and the coral beauty. My power went out for just a few minutes but my A/C did not turn back automatically. I was not home at the time and by the time I figured it out the tank temp had been rising for approximately 12 hours. :sad2:

Anyway..... here you go.

 

[ReefWaters]

 

[wetbehindears]

Sweet display

 

[dizzyg]

Can you not get a chiller for your water rather than relying on a A/C unit to chill the whole room?

 

[fieldy132]

i so love this tank...less is more.

 

[ReefWaters]

Thanks wetbehindears!

Can you not get a chiller for your water rather than relying on a A/C unit to chill the whole room?

I could I suppose. But then the air temperature in the room would get into the 90's or 100's in the summer assuming I had no A/C running at all. The A/C dumps all the heat created by pumps, the dehumidifier, lights, etc., outside. I'd have to have some way to remove the heat from the room. Venting the hot air outside wouldn't work well either as I would have to pull in new fresh air from somewhere and the only place that could come from would be outside (where the temp is often in the 100's in the summer time). I doubt turning off the A/C would benefit me in any way and my room would be unbearable to work in at those temperatures.

Dont forget that the air in the fish room is 100% separated from the air in the house. My central A/C does not connect to the fish room in any way. The only time the humidity from the fish room gets into my living space is when I open the door to the fish room for a few seconds to access the room.

Thanks fieldy132 - I am very much trying for the "less is more" feel with this tank. It doesn't matter if you have a 50 gallon tank or a 10,000 gallon tank, if you don't leave enough room for the corals to grow naturally then you will always have problems with space for them to grow. I would rather see 10 or 20 coral species grow naturally and to large, natural reef, sizes than to have 80 or 100 species crammed together where I am constantly pruning them to keep them from killing each other. They don't grow naturally when you do that. Don't get me wrong, the tanks you see with all those corals are amazing, just not for me.