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#526
08/04/2007, 12:23 AM
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 I did promise I would detail some of my "grunt work" that I got out of the way today. Let's do that: First, all the Aquatronica probes and cables are too short. Some of them use standard USB connectors (but not USB voltages or protocols; beware), but a lot use these little two- or four-pin connectors. I have been slowly cutting these up and splicing in much longer cables, heat-shrinking the solder points, and taping everything back up nice and purty. I got the temp probes extended today so now there's actually enough length for them to stay in the tank without looking like a clothesline. Second, I've been disappointed with my skimmer's position in the room. Without one of those pictures you asked about, asmodeus, it's hard to explain why it sucks... but I put it in a spot that wasn't ideal. So, today, I replumbed it and moved a couple feet over. Now I can walk around to my sump without tripping over a gaggle of power cords and accidentally unplugging something! Unfortunately, in the process of doing that, something weird happened with the halides: five of them turned off all at once. I have no idea how that works: there are a total of six, and three each are on separate 15A circuits. I would have expected a breaker to trip and to lose three or six. In fact, no breaker tripped, and five went off all at once. I haven't tried to debug it yet... at the moment I'm not too concerned because I kinda want to kill the lights for a few days and cut down on the energy input to the hair algae. Tomorrow I will figure out what's up with that. Very weird. Add in a bunch of time spent putzing around with weak Tunze magnet mounts (and some diving to the bottom of the tank to pick them up when I kept dropping them) and that about uses up four hours of quality time. Strangely enough, it was pretty fun. Ben |
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#527
08/04/2007, 09:50 AM
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Are you going to put 7 yellows or do half purple half yellow in your Zebramosa school? Can't wait to see that!
Your halides might be getting to hot at the ballast and the ballast is turning them off. Is there a fan on the ballast to keep them cool possibly.
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I want bigger! |
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#528
08/04/2007, 10:21 PM
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Anyway, I turned them on this morning and everything seems normal. I don't know how I managed to trip five of them. I hope it doesn't happen again!Ben |
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#530
08/05/2007, 12:30 AM
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The wire gauge is some varied, since there's a 12AWG cord running to the relay's power cord, which is certainly smaller, and then a slightly thinner (not sure the gauge off the top of my head) extension cord delivering the power to the ballasts. All of the cords' packaging indicated 15A or greater capacity. The relays are rated to 15A as well, so presumably their cords are sufficient. The only thing I can think of is maybe the controller shut down power to both relays for a short moment, and maybe one of the six halides managed to stay powered up and the others failed to re-strike? Seems like a low-probability event though. I've never tried hot-starting these lamps, but I know on my video projector that would be a big no-no... and the control circuitry wouldn't let it even attempt to re-fire. Ben |
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#531
08/05/2007, 01:02 AM
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3 400w on each circuit is a lot IMO. you also have to remember that when peak current draw on MH will probably trip both circuits easy. i know for sure before i tested 3 400w MH on 12awg with 20a which trip my circuit 2hrs later when it finally powered up at peak. PFO 400w HQI ballast on 14k hamilton is what i am using. on mine i used 10awg romex 30a each circuit for 3 MH. the rule of thumb is to always have 133 times over the current draw, better to be safe then sorry. 12 awg is recommend to have max 20a. what controller are you running again?
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Bart ********************* a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle (red house for 600gal) |
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#532
08/05/2007, 01:09 AM
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I have a meter that lets me measure time-integrated draw. Technically there could be a weird "peak draw" perhaps at ballast start-up that my meter couldn't see. But I think most circuits and circuit breakers are designed to handle significant transient spikes. In any event, my 5-lamp failure occurred in steady-state... the lights had been on all day. When you start talking about Romex, I think in-wall wiring. I don't know what wire was used for those runs, but my electrician is pretty good, so I'm sure it's the appropriate gauge for 20A. I do know that it's likely the gauge of my extension cords is at some point smaller than what's in the wall. I'm using an Aquatronica controller, replete with numerous bugs that technical support has not yet helped me figure out. The parts that do work, work GREAT. The rest is a mess of Italy/language barrier/time delay/no dedicated customer service issues. I guess it's fortunate I'm not in a hurry. I do feel inclined to continue to complain until AQ gets its act together and empowers someone to provide us quality technical support more reliably in the U.S. Ben |
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#533
08/05/2007, 01:18 AM
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the extension cords will not be a problem, i guess just keep an eye out for it to see if it happened again and if it does i will tried 30a breaker just for a day or so to see if the problem is in that area. what ballast are you running again? yeah i was scared to get the aquatronica since one of the RC sponsor told me i'm better off getting the neptune system. hopefully you can find out the problem but you will have to do some trouble shoot yourself to figure it out. whats the count on chromis and hows the water condition?
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Bart ********************* a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle (red house for 600gal) |
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#534
08/05/2007, 01:31 AM
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The chromis seem stable at 11 now. I think there've been eleven for a whole 10 or 12 days, at least. I tested the water again tonight:pH 8.1 density 1.025 NH4/NO2/NO3 0/unmeasurable I'll start testing KH, calcium, and phosphate soon. Now that I've closed the window and trusted the env controller to keep the room at around 80F/60% humidity or less, temperature stability is better and evaporative loss is lower, even though it is still peak summertime temps here with highs in the mid-80's outside. The next temp hurdle will be seeing if Bertha can stay warm in the considerably-more-challenging depth-of-winter weeks. Ben |
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#538
08/05/2007, 11:21 PM
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Even I was impressed with how fast the tank cleared out after the intense cleaning and vacuuming of yesterday. Amazing what a dose of filter floss, carbon, and bonzo skimming will do! The vis is quite good today -- to get it much better I will have to eliminate most of the algae and probably ozonize the thing, I'm guessing.
I'm leaving on a week-long work/wedding trip and so is the wife. So Chaco and Bonzo will have to take care of the fishies! That and our dog-sitter-and-now-fish-sitter. Next week if luck holds maybe I will add another swarm of fish... ?! Ben |
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#544
08/20/2007, 09:54 AM
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Wow, this is quite the tank build. I abosolutely love how the tank is positioned in your wall, and think I may try to encorporate something similar in my own home.
What I did want to mention is in regards to Tabitha. If she is from Hawaii, the red in her doral fin is probably normal. Many yellow tangs from Hawaii do have a red-orange coloring in the webbing of their dorsal fins. I couldn't really make out what red you were taking about in the previous photos, but I'm thinking this may be what you were refering to. I'm excited to see how things progress for you. I think you've done a phenomenal job so far, and its probably only going to get better! |
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#545
08/20/2007, 10:46 AM
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Ben |
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#546
08/20/2007, 04:26 PM
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A group of purple tangs! Nice choice for a tank of this size! Challenging but not too crazy!
__________________
Click my Red House to check out my 120 in office reef (upgraded in Aug 06) Seeking therapy for my fish tank ADD |
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#547
08/20/2007, 04:53 PM
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#548
08/20/2007, 05:06 PM
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Ben |
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#549
08/20/2007, 05:09 PM
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Ben,
You could put in an order to LA and stipulate you want x number at whatever size you feel comfortable with. Then you gettheir arive alive guarantee too. Then they can get your order together and shipped them at one time. Just a thought!
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Jonathan--DIBS Breeder and Card carrying member of the Square Skimmer Brigade (Click on the Red House to see my pics garage) |
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#550
08/20/2007, 06:08 PM
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You might check out Aqua Imports. Mike handles placing special orders for me and lets me pick them up while they're still in the bags from the wholesaler.
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--Andy "And chase the frothy bubbles, / While the world is full of troubles. . . ." --W. B. Yeats |
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