Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 7

Micki · #**151** 08/27/2007, 05:19 PM

Awww come on Be PROUD of your splits!

I'll look forward to starting to read it at some point in time.

melev · #**152** 08/27/2007, 08:40 PM

For the past 6 weeks, I've been considering pulling out my Scripps acropora (A. micropthalma) from the back of the tank and cutting out all the dead core from each section. Those areas are full of valonia, aiptasia, mushrooms and more. I figured I'll pull them out, cut off the dead areas and reglued them to some rock or Tonga branch to create a nice clean colony devoid of nuisance pests.

You'll note in this picture that my Bytor zoanthids are completely closed up for no reason at all. It has been like this for about 2 weeks, and frankly if they don't survive I'm not too concerned because they are eating up real estate that I need for corals. I still have quite a few in surrounding areas that are unaffected and look great.

However, in the last week or so, I'm seeing a bunch of new growth at the tips of many branches which makes me hesitate on disturbing the colonies.

What to do...

jnarowe · #**153** 08/27/2007, 08:44 PM

Cycle of life right? I don't think you will inhibit their growth by cutting out the dead areas, but isn't it possible that the coral will grow back over those sections?

Dudester · #**154** 08/27/2007, 08:44 PM

If the corals are growing, they must be in a good state of health and this may just be an excellent opportunity to cut out the unwanted portions.

melev · #**155** 08/27/2007, 09:34 PM

I think the undergrowth inhibits good flow. It doesn't add any real strength to the colony and is impossible to clear out properly. I just hate to shock the coral into suspension due to all the manhandling. It's a tough choice.

Dudester · #**156** 08/27/2007, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
I think the undergrowth inhibits good flow. It doesn't add any real strength to the colony and is impossible to clear out properly.

I think you've answered your own question

. As far as "shocking them into suspension," you know as well as anybody that, sure, they'll stall for a while, but they'll bounce back and fluorish over time. And since you'll have several small colonies, there will be plenty of pieces for backup in the event that you should lose a couple. Anyway, you know which way I'm voting.

melev · #**157** 08/28/2007, 12:16 AM

If I had the perfect piece of LR, I'd be more motivated. I like the horizon these corals create, and would like to be able to place something along that back wall with the living branches.

melev · #**158** 08/30/2007, 12:14 AM

After more than a week of letting the a/c unit run connected to the Kill-o-watt meter, this is what I tracked:

112 kwh total
238 hours elapsed.

1 amp (117w) was consumed all 238 hours, as that is what it uses to keep the fan running.
6.3 - 6.6 amps (690 - 750w) were used when the compressor was running.

If a kilowatt equals 1000w, and a kwh means how many kilowatts were used each hour, then maybe someone can figure out how many watts were used by the compressor alone. Or tell me how many kwh I can substract just for running the 1 amp worth of fan all 238 hours. (.117 kwh? 27.8 kwh to run the fan for 10 days and 84.1 kwh to run the compressor? )

At this point, after almost 10 days of tracking, it seems the a/c was running roughly 47% of the time -- which makes sense. During the heat of the day, it will run most of the time (although it does cycle to fan only as needed). At night, the fan runs the entire time, and the compressor kicks on for a few minutes throughout the latenight hours when heat isn't an issue. If my math is right (and I don't know if it is), on average the a/c unit runs 28 mins of every hour during the summer months.

Not that any of this really matters. I just get curious about stuff like this and like to see the numbers.

sdf_beanhead · #**159** 08/30/2007, 12:59 AM

Makes sense to me.

I almost bought a Kill-o-watt meter about a month ago, they are very cool.

spleen93 · #**160** 08/30/2007, 03:02 AM

Marc - your math regarding the watt usage of the compressor sounds right to me. I'm not an electrician but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express the other night.

Spleen

NanoGurl · #**161** 08/30/2007, 03:09 AM

LoL!

Micki · #**162** 08/30/2007, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by spleen93
Marc - your math regarding the watt usage of the compressor sounds right to me. I'm not an electrician but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express the other night.

Spleen

YES! Another smart person!!! I love it!

boviac · #**163** 08/30/2007, 11:31 AM

Marc,

Very cool. I love breaking down exactly how much each of these devices actually cost to run. Your math based on the Kill-A-Watt's results is correct to determine the compressor energy draw at about 84.1 kwh for the 238 hr time period. (Again I'm assuming that the compressor is the only other draw).

Curious how you determinded the A/C portion is only running about 47% of the time when the fan runs 24/7?

I'm happy my energy bill just came in at only $133 this month. Are you tracking your meter to determine/estimate what your next bill will be? I know last month hit you hard. Again, after my nearly $400 bill this time last year, I watch my meter every couple of days and track it during the extreme heat/cooling days. We switched to a gas dryer and I can see the lower effect it has when we do laundry now and use it. Its silly not to line-dry when able.

Thanks for posting this for the geeks like me.

melev · #**164** 08/30/2007, 12:34 PM

Since I did that math yesterday, I think the 47% was total hours run vs total kwh consumed to reach 47% usage. I was trying to remove the 1 amp's worth of fan only time, but I don't know how to extract that accurately.

I don't look at the meter. What's the point? It spins, sparks flying everywhere, and the electric company just grins.

My home is all electric, so I don't have a lot I can do other than grill outdoors. I refuse to hang laundry out to dry outside because it makes the fabric feel too rough vs a nice tumble dry.

jnarowe · #**165** 08/30/2007, 01:10 PM

My house is all electric too, but it is fairly cheap here still...my place is 4,100 sq. ft. so the bills are averaging between $250 - $350, and that's up from a year ago of being under $200 all the time.

TRITON1 · #**166** 08/30/2007, 06:00 PM

Marc, To answer your questions concerning kilowatt-hrs to watts.

A kilowatt hour is just a kilowatt (1000 watts) multiplied by the hour. So to figure out how many watts you used you have to divide your amount in kilowatt-hrs by the time (in hours) being measure, then convert to watts. So:

112 Kwh / 238 hr = .4706 Kw = 470.6 Watts used all week.

Now you can subtract out the amount used by the compressor ect.

Also Power = Current * Voltage or P = IV
where Power = Watts, I = Amps and V = volts. And the voltage should always be constant (120V in US, 240 in Europe) So if you know how many amps you use you should be able to find out how many watts are used. So your 1 amp fan uses ~120 Watts (P = 1amp*120v) and in 138 hours it would used 16.56kwh worth of energy (.120kw *138).

So your compressor is costing you 95.4kwh (112-16.6) worth of energy. You can find the actual cost by multiplying what you pay per kwh. Hope that explain answered something.

boviac · #**167** 08/30/2007, 08:01 PM

I watch mine because that $400 bill was from running AC at 78. A week before I got my bill I notice the meter read like an additional 1000 KWH so I drastically raised the thermostat to the highest level ~85F. That dropped the usage down from 50 KWH/day to about 28KWH/day. So you can see why I watch it now so I can control my usage of AC better.

Actually I use the dryer to tumble dry the clothes for about 10-20 minutes after they're on the line to remove the roughness. Even if sometimes I use heat, it beats running the dryer for 45-60+ minutes.

melev · #**168** 08/30/2007, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TRITON1
Marc, To answer your questions concerning kilowatt-hrs to watts.

A kilowatt hour is just a kilowatt (1000 watts) multiplied by the hour. So to figure out how many watts you used you have to divide your amount in kilowatt-hrs by the time (in hours) being measure, then convert to watts. So:

112 Kwh / 238 hr = .4706 Kw = 470.6 Watts used all week.

Now you can subtract out the amount used by the compressor ect.

Also Power = Current * Voltage or P = IV
where Power = Watts, I = Amps and V = volts. And the voltage should always be constant (120V in US, 240 in Europe) So if you know how many amps you use you should be able to find out how many watts are used. So your 1 amp fan uses ~120 Watts (P = 1amp*120v) and in 138 hours it would used 16.56kwh worth of energy (.120kw *138).

So your compressor is costing you 95.4kwh (112-16.6) worth of energy. You can find the actual cost by multiplying what you pay per kwh. Hope that explain answered something.

Thanks. And since that was 10 days worth of power, I'll take that 95.4 kwh x 3 to equal 30 days worth, times $0.12 per kwh. The compressor time alone cost $34.34 for the month and the fan only cost another $5.96 for a total of $40.30 for the shorter months.

Back in this post:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...3#post10570923

My current electricity rate is .14kwh and if my math is correct with the numbers I have on my scratch pad, the a/c is using 12.24kwh per day. After 7 days worth of power consumption have been collected, I can double check that math. For now, it appears I'm paying $1.71 a day to run the 8000BTU a/c unit during the summer months, or adding $51.39 to my utility bill by keeping the fishroom 75F and the reef 80F.

Going back to that section of my post at $0.12 instead of .14 as I thought I was paying, the total for 30 days would be $44.06

I was pretty close in my first estimate, but getting data over 10 days helped get a better idea of how much power was being used.

So that means my house and my tank used $420 last month, and the little window unit just added more to make my brain hurt.

melev · #**169** 08/31/2007, 01:24 AM

Since I'm leaving the tank for a couple of days, I thought I better focus on it tonight and make sure it is all working as it should. I'm going to Austin to visit some reef tanks and friends I'm always talking with here on RC!

I mixed up some Magnesium according to RHF's recipe, tested the batch of saltwater I mixed for Magnesium. It was 1395 after adding one cup of the Mag recipe. My reef was 1400ppm. The rest of the Magnesium was poured into 2-liter bottles and stored for future use. This is not how I normally dose it, so I'll have to do more reading on this subject.

I did a 55g water change, scraped the overflows and back wall of the tank, which I'd not done in some time. Cleaned off the top euro-bracing and viewed the reef under actinics. To my delight as I moved my top down photo box around the rockwork, I found a happy patch of Acropora secale. At least there is something there to grow, as long as I wait patiently. Here's the colony I had that died a few months ago.

Everything is so pretty from above. I stood there and just gazed at the corals for about 5 minutes or so while Spock continued to swim into my viewing field to let me know I was being a voyeur.

As I moved my Mean Green Zoanthid rock back away from the bubble coral, I found one of the Tigertail Cucumbers right within reach. I moved it to the angled tank to help process the sand and hopefully clean it up. Here's an older picture of one.

A few tips of SPS are browning, so I decided to remove the Phosban Reactor from my system for now. I'm running 3 cups of fresh carbon in the other reactor, and I'll check for phosphate when I get back in a couple of days.

adddo · #**170** 08/31/2007, 02:58 AM

Hey, nice with the "happy patch" acropora!

I've got one of those tigertails in my tank aswell, havent done much to justyfie the money (5$) spent on him yet though.

Have fun in Austin and please do take pics

melev · #**171** 09/02/2007, 04:39 PM

I had a great time in Austin, despite the Friday evening storm. I've downloaded 875 pictures and will be going through those to find the best to show y'all the beautiful tanks I got to visit during the Austin Tank Tour yesterday.

Those guys really know what they're doing!

jnarowe · #**172** 09/02/2007, 05:12 PM

yeah, Gabriel said he had a blast. Can't wait to see the pics!

melev · #**173** 09/02/2007, 05:59 PM

Here's a quick quarantine tank, using the sump I won at the Port Aransas collection trip.

All it is is a simple sump, a Maxijet 1200, a 50w heater, a PC light fixture and a thermometer. The Maxijet pushed water from the return section to the intake section via some 3/8" flexible tubing, and the water flows from the right to the left where the powerhead is.

I used the water the frags came in, and added 6g of water from my reef. The corals are getting treated with Interceptor for the next 12 hours. Once done, I'll check them closely in an iodine dip for AEFW, then they'll be ready to go in my tank.

The Macro algae is from a hobbyist, and I'm treating it just in case it has hitchhikers as well. They called it Devil's Breath.

thedude15810 · #**174** 09/02/2007, 06:35 PM

Dragon's Breath

Had a great time as well Marc and am excited to see the pics

John

Kentanner11 · #**175** 09/02/2007, 06:35 PM

Good use for the sump!