The inwall 380 starfire reborn
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
yea.. good conversation topic to be sure. Looks like we need to get one of those auto-shut offs installed onto our system. *sigh*. I just don't want to run the pump off of a UPS since they are not rated/intended for such inductive loads (although they usually will work).
spazz
New member
yes this is the big problem with a ups. there not designed for the load of a pump. they work but one day some one will have a problem with one and will have a tank crash from it. no one designs stuff like that for this industry because of the cost to manufacture them and the low demand for sommething like that.
there is only a hand full of areas that are affected with dramitac voltage changes. most power is very clean and regulated well. you may see a half of a volt change in the line but not the 5-8 volt changes you see in some places.
Thanks Julio. They are really neat to watch swimming around since they tend to stick together, for the most part 
. Although they have yet to even look at, much less touch/eat the aiptasia, but they bring a nice splash of color and motion to the tank.
Well, the AquaSurf arrived today, and I also went ahead and updated the firmware on our AC Jr to support the AS. I also made a longer control cable and tested it out. The AS is hooked up and sitting under the stand with the VT drivers. That "project" will hopefully start this weekend. I am going to make up complete new cables to plug the drivers into the AS, using RJ45/RJ11s for the ends (and bypassing the 5 pin din all together).
I am still working the lighting options out in my head, I have some ideas and may even do a little work on them over the weekend, but for now am going to focus my attention on the AS and drivers. I need to get a parts list and head down to RadioShack
. Although they have yet to even look at, much less touch/eat the aiptasia, but they bring a nice splash of color and motion to the tank.Well, the AquaSurf arrived today, and I also went ahead and updated the firmware on our AC Jr to support the AS. I also made a longer control cable and tested it out. The AS is hooked up and sitting under the stand with the VT drivers. That "project" will hopefully start this weekend
. I am going to make up complete new cables to plug the drivers into the AS, using RJ45/RJ11s for the ends (and bypassing the 5 pin din all together).I am still working the lighting options out in my head, I have some ideas and may even do a little work on them over the weekend, but for now am going to focus my attention on the AS and drivers. I need to get a parts list and head down to RadioShack
orientalexpress
New member
any pyramid butterfly update?
lapsan
lapsan
Lapsan
The pyramids got into a tussle with someone (some fish) within our tank this past week. Two of them are looking pretty beat up with some infection evident. I meant to trap them out for treatment this weekend but things did not go as planned (we got our 4 month vaccinations Friday.. after that it was pretty much all downhill this weekend
). They are still active and eating, just beaten up. I found some broken corals and don't know if they got knocked into them or what not (but one actually had what appeared to be a shallow puncture wound on it's side).
Eileen
The ACs are working great. We really like the color and spread/intensity. Aside from the ungodly price tag they are just about perfect IMO
I was actually going to post an update today, but that got sidetracked in leiu of more important family matters (for the reasons listed above). In a nutshell we implemented the AquaSurf mod on two of our Vortecs last week and played around a little. This lead to some of our planned changes over the next 2 weeks (as a rough timeline).
To put it into frame, here is our tank layout. Everything is current except for the T5s, which are only half way built into the lighting rack so far. (and only the 5' one is lit currently, for dawn/dusk). I don't have alot of labels, but I think that most of them are self-evident. I will also say that the LA IIIs have an average spread (30" square) outlined to give us an idea for coverage. (in case the large squares with the smaller squares inside were confusing). The picture is 100% to scale (if that is the correct term ).
We have a pair of WWDs coming this week after which we will mod the second pair of Vortec drivers for control by the AS. At that time we will move the Vortecs from the back pane to the sides, balancing out to end up with a pair on each end. Then we will see what sort of flow and waves we can get. I already have wave int eh day and more gentle flow at night set up on the 2 "side" pumps, but I have so much more planned once we get the back two on the ends.
That won't happen until we finish a couple of other tasks, one being the lighting. I really want to finish installing the T5s to supplement the coverage of the MHs. Oh, and the T5s are all ATI AquaBlue Plus bulbs (12 K I think they are rated), in IC SLRs run off of two 660s. It may not be readily evident why I chose the length bulbs that I did, but there are reasons for each decision.
We recently sold off several colonies off of the sandbed and rockwork. Once we get the lighting covered and the powerheads moved we will "clean up" the sandbed and move alot up to the rockwork. But that completion is 2 weeks off.
The pyramids got into a tussle with someone (some fish) within our tank this past week. Two of them are looking pretty beat up with some infection evident. I meant to trap them out for treatment this weekend but things did not go as planned (we got our 4 month vaccinations Friday.. after that it was pretty much all downhill this weekend
). They are still active and eating, just beaten up. I found some broken corals and don't know if they got knocked into them or what not (but one actually had what appeared to be a shallow puncture wound on it's side).Eileen
The ACs are working great. We really like the color and spread/intensity. Aside from the ungodly price tag they are just about perfect IMO
I was actually going to post an update today, but that got sidetracked in leiu of more important family matters (for the reasons listed above). In a nutshell we implemented the AquaSurf mod on two of our Vortecs last week and played around a little. This lead to some of our planned changes over the next 2 weeks (as a rough timeline).
To put it into frame, here is our tank layout. Everything is current except for the T5s, which are only half way built into the lighting rack so far. (and only the 5' one is lit currently, for dawn/dusk). I don't have alot of labels, but I think that most of them are self-evident. I will also say that the LA IIIs have an average spread (30" square) outlined to give us an idea for coverage. (in case the large squares with the smaller squares inside were confusing
). The picture is 100% to scale (if that is the correct term ).
We have a pair of WWDs coming this week after which we will mod the second pair of Vortec drivers for control by the AS. At that time we will move the Vortecs from the back pane to the sides, balancing out to end up with a pair on each end. Then we will see what sort of flow and waves we can get. I already have wave int eh day and more gentle flow at night set up on the 2 "side" pumps, but I have so much more planned once we get the back two on the ends.
That won't happen until we finish a couple of other tasks, one being the lighting. I really want to finish installing the T5s to supplement the coverage of the MHs. Oh, and the T5s are all ATI AquaBlue Plus bulbs (12 K I think they are rated), in IC SLRs run off of two 660s. It may not be readily evident why I chose the length bulbs that I did, but there are reasons for each decision.
We recently sold off several colonies off of the sandbed and rockwork. Once we get the lighting covered and the powerheads moved we will "clean up" the sandbed and move alot up to the rockwork. But that completion is 2 weeks off.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I cleaned the skimmer this afternoon (and replaced the GAC in the Carbon Chamber on the collection cup.. *whew*).
There was the nastiest sludge that I have ever been in the prescence of ever. We have had EuroReef, Deltec and several smaller HOB skimmers and NONE of them ever came close to what this thing had caked inside the bottom of that collection cup.
I don't know if it was the shorter body (and higher flow rate), the higher bioload (with the new fish we added), the O3, or that we just finally got it dialed in (and the new body slimed up/broken in), but whatever it was this skimmer is rockin our tank
There was the nastiest sludge that I have ever been in the prescence of ever. We have had EuroReef, Deltec and several smaller HOB skimmers and NONE of them ever came close to what this thing had caked inside the bottom of that collection cup.
I don't know if it was the shorter body (and higher flow rate), the higher bioload (with the new fish we added), the O3, or that we just finally got it dialed in (and the new body slimed up/broken in), but whatever it was this skimmer is rockin our tank
We are doing quite a bit of coral placement "renovation" so until that is done I don't think I will be posting many pictures. And the coral placement is predicated on the lighting being completed nad the Vortec relocations (since we don't put any corals directly in front of the VTs).
Depending on how the AS testing goes there may be a video in our future (especially if we can get a decent wave going).
Depending on how the AS testing goes there may be a video in our future (especially if we can get a decent wave going
).Hehehe, skimmer is just cleaned.. nothing to see there . If I had taken pictures of the sludge that I pulled out of it then that might have been worth posting. I was amazed at how much collected, even with the collection cup drain running straight to the house drain. There was actual chunks and "strings" hanging off of the inside of the collection cup (not inside the riser tube, in the cup itself). The main reason for cleaning it was the need to change out the GAC in the carbon filter.. it was really starting to stink in the fish room yyeeeuuucckkk
For this week the only changes planned is to finish up the lighting and test drive the WWDs that will be here on Wednesday. I am thinking of putting them on the pumps on the back wall of the tank to see how the reef crest mode plays out. Hopefully I will have some impressions to post by the end of the day Wednesday.
. If I had taken pictures of the sludge that I pulled out of it then that might have been worth posting. I was amazed at how much collected, even with the collection cup drain running straight to the house drain. There was actual chunks and "strings" hanging off of the inside of the collection cup (not inside the riser tube, in the cup itself). The main reason for cleaning it was the need to change out the GAC in the carbon filter.. it was really starting to stink in the fish room yyeeeuuucckkkFor this week the only changes planned is to finish up the lighting and test drive the WWDs that will be here on Wednesday. I am thinking of putting them on the pumps on the back wall of the tank to see how the reef crest mode plays out. Hopefully I will have some impressions to post by the end of the day Wednesday.
hehehe.. if you insist, then next time I go to clean it I will photo-document it for posterity
BTW, sorry I never called you back that night.. the guy picking up the micros didn't leave until quite a bit later (you know how it is when a couple of reefers get to gabbing around a tank).
BTW, sorry I never called you back that night.. the guy picking up the micros didn't leave until quite a bit later (you know how it is when a couple of reefers get to gabbing around a tank
).
