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#26
08/05/2006, 08:47 AM
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Brett,
Your artistic work is excellent. How much live rock do you plan to add? I used about 1/4 live and 3/4 reeferrocks, and to be honest wished up until a couple months ago that I used more live rock. Now that my tank is about 1 year old, everything is finally looking good. Matt |
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#28
08/05/2006, 03:42 PM
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#29
08/05/2006, 03:47 PM
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I don't know what the final ratio will be but it will most likely be small. The basic reef structure from my existing tank probably won't make the move, but all the loose pieces more than likely will. Some of those came from the tank before and are more than a decade old now. |
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#30
08/05/2006, 03:50 PM
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 Brett |
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#32
08/05/2006, 06:20 PM
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Brett, nice work on the rock
 I spent a few days playing with building my pillars, definitely worth the work. I like how you did it by gluing the rock together, I used plastic dowels to hold mine together. I just hope you can afford the power to run the tank in the end, this months bill is making a nano look all that much better 
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Save the Reef........................... Save the world. -Ken MASLAC member |
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#34
08/06/2006, 05:03 AM
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Ken, believe it or not, it's all held together with either putty or cement. I just stick a blob of whatever where I need it, place a rock, and then smooth the stuff that oozes out. After I get a good base going I carefully turn it over and reinforce from the inside. After that dries I flip right sided up again and build another layer. The trick is to work the stuff into the cracks so it 'grabs' hold. That, and to try different pieces of rock over and over until you find one that fits just right. It's a giant jigsaw puzzle but on a totally different level.
As for the power I just got my reality check last week. How about $567.00? Granted, that was with the AC set to 78 and pretty much running 24/7 on a 1600 sqft apartment. I'm hoping that if I use a couple Eheims or a Sequence Snapper for my return, run 4 Vortecs for my main circulation, and get a little creative with my lighting I might be ok. IceCap's new T5 hood is looking really good, I'm considering going all overdriven T5. My goal is to keep it under 1000watts of light so I'm trying to put some thought into how I lay out the rockwork. Brett
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She ain't broke, but can we fix her more better? |
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#36
08/06/2006, 12:06 PM
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 and my house isn't much bigger than your place!The cost of Solar is looking much better as the summer progresses.
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Save the Reef........................... Save the world. -Ken MASLAC member |
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#39
08/07/2006, 09:54 PM
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RGibson
Well... the total useage = 1870kwh From mid June thru mid July... My combined SCE & DWP baseline allocation is 326.4kwh My combined useage was 1870kwh or 58.44kwh per day for an average daily cost of 15.61/day That includes my tank (approx 800w lighting and 165w pump(s), my AC (set to 78), 3 or so hours of TV per day, 3-4 loads of laundry a week (gas dryer), and basic lighting and meal cooking for 2 adults who both work fulltime jobs. In comparison my fiance's closing bill for the same period was: Combined SCE & DWP baseline allocation is 326.4kwh Combined usage was 260kwh or 8.13kwh per day for an average daily cost of .97/day. However, during that period my fiance was about 95% moved into my place. Other than her fridge, some floor fans in the late evening when she was there cleaning and packing and a few lights to see by, she was an absentee resident. So, the only conclusion I can come up with is if you live in Southern California and you're trying to come in anywhere near your baseline, you need to find a friend who will let you hangout at their place and then use your place for storage. Brett
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She ain't broke, but can we fix her more better? Last edited by Putawaywet; 08/07/2006 at 10:26 PM. |
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#40
08/07/2006, 10:02 PM
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ScottK
What pics were you trying to look at? The one's from the beginning of my old EcoWheel thread? If so, then they won't open due to a change that was made in RC software several years back. I'm coming up to a couple weeks of vacation and whille I have a full plate with all the work on the apartment, I'm saving a few hours each evening to work on the tank. I'll be sure to add lot's of pics. Brett
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She ain't broke, but can we fix her more better? |
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#41
08/10/2006, 07:15 PM
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.079 KWH
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RGibson |
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#42
08/10/2006, 08:14 PM
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Thanks - appreciate the offer. If things get much worse I might just take you up on that. If a 40-ish looking guy with a bunch of airline tubing hanging out of his mouth and two large ice chests in his hands rings your doorbell, it might just be me
What's killing me is the tiered pricing system they use. $228.00 of that bill was for usage at 100% over baseline. Which was priced at like .22 per kwh. And lets not forget the $22.00 for the city utility tax And $9.00 for a bond measure And.... Brett
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She ain't broke, but can we fix her more better? |
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#43
08/10/2006, 09:36 PM
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Save the Reef........................... Save the world. -Ken MASLAC member |
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#44
08/11/2006, 12:47 AM
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You're right Ken, .31935 it is. It must have been wishful thinking on my part.
200%, geez... that's one record I'm not anxious to break anytime soon. With the reprieve in temps I've only had to run the AC for a few days this week. And only from noon until around 8pm or so. Window fans have been a life saver. Not that I expect to see a huge difference, but I've already begun to replace some of my 60w & 75w socket bulbs with those 15 flourescents. Next up are timers for the bathroom fans, and motion switches for the bathroom, laundry room and garage lights. Also, I'm due for new MH's on the tank so I should be able to cut those down by a good hour or so as well. Brett
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She ain't broke, but can we fix her more better? |
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#45
08/11/2006, 04:50 AM
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Brett have you ever tried a fine water spray to bring down the head pressure on the AC,it takes very little water and you can run it off a timer or air tem.Thay are sold at AC supply co in kit form.A high wall return for the AC will all so help with the cost of running the AC.
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RGibson |
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#46
08/14/2006, 03:32 PM
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#47
08/14/2006, 03:55 PM
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Im about finished with the rockwork. I expanded one of the pieces making a second seperate island complete with a pass thru tunnel that picks up where the first one leaves of. My hope is that with the strong flow I have planned to shoot down both sides of the tank, I'll get a nice return flow coming back up the middle.
  I still have about 1/3 of the base rock left and I might add a bit more a little later if I have any room left. I need to save some space for the existing pieces that I'll be moving out of my current tank  Plumbing is coming along nicely, I have most of the drain lines fabricated and in place. The returns are temporarily mocked up with some 1 pipe, but since I have yet to make a final decision on a return pump so I have no idea if that is something that will be changing in the future. Right now its a tossup between a ReefFlo Snapper or a pair of Ehein 1262s. I really want a Tunze Master Electronic, but the smallest one they make comes with this really annoying habbit of turning itself on/off/on until it detects the impellar is rotating in the correct direction. Moving up to the next size gets me a controller that eliminates the problem, but at the expense of unneeded wattage, and a whole bunch of extra water. One of the things I saw when I stopped in at SoCal Creations was a drain line that connected directly to the tank a few inches below the waterline. I liked the idea so much I'm going to incorporate one into this system. (the 3/4 line running down the middle of all the pipes). This will allow the tank to drain to a pre-set level with little more effort than connecting a drain hose, and opening up a ballvalve. I'm getting too friggin old to be hauling 5 gal buckets every couple weeks.  Here is where I plumbed the ballvalve for the drain line.  The horizontal line with the pair of ballvalves is the mocked up 1 lines on the off chance I go with the ReefFlo Snapper. Swiching it over to 3/4 if need be will be a relatively easy fix.  Im hoping to get going on the top for the stand sometime in the next few weeks. Granite, Formica, Tile.... Only time will tell. Last edited by Putawaywet; 08/14/2006 at 04:05 PM. |
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#49
08/22/2006, 10:22 PM
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Brett,
Great progress! You can blame your power bill on the fiance and her hair dryer  I consistently hit the 300% of baseline every month, which gets you into the $0.33/kwh bracket. Bastards. But thats with a relatively small tank, an old inefficient 2000 ft2 house, and 3 daughters that make sure all the lights are on all day and the windows open while the AC is on. The last one included the 11 day stretch over 100 degrees, topping 116 twice. Where am I in Vegas? Sweet rockwork, buddy!
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"Not cheap, but silent and absofrickenlutely no bubbles" "Be sure and wear a speedo lest tangs nest in your britches" |
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