Durso's 180 gallon in wall tank. - Page 2

NexDog · #26 06/29/2006, 12:09 AM

If I didn't have an A/C unit my tank would be fried and it's struggling even with it. Right now I'm having to put the A/C on in my adjacent office and have some of the access doors open.

I just spoke with our A/C guy and he is organising not a higher power A/C unit but a decent exhaust fan to put behind the ballasts and ducting over the canopy fans. With those heat sources eliminated I think the A/C unit will do the job well.

original-reefland · #27 06/29/2006, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
So normally you don't run the a/c unit? I've had mine running for the past 4 weeks around the clock, although the compressor only runs during the day time when things heat up, and the fan runs all night.

Nope, normally I don't need it. Buy June, July and August are the common times I need to turn it on. I left it running for several hours, tank cooled down to 82.5*F and I turned the halides on. When I checked the tank an hour after lights off the tank was only at 83*F.

original-reefland · #28 06/29/2006, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by NexDog
I just spoke with our A/C guy and he is organising not a higher power A/C unit but a decent exhaust fan to put behind the ballasts and ducting over the canopy fans. With those heat sources eliminated I think the A/C unit will do the job well.

I do something like that as well, I have 4 inch insulated duct directly connected to the light hood sucking the hot air out and venting to the outside. I used non-insulated duct at first and the duct got very hot to the touch. Switched to insulated duct and it really does help remove much of the heat. The ballast are also enclosed and connected to the lighting vent.

This page shows some pictures, but it shows the non-insulated duct.

http://www.rl180reef.com/180/pages/l...ce-cooling.htm

NexDog · #29 06/29/2006, 11:38 AM

Yea, sweet. Need to hook myself up.

original-reefland · #30 07/03/2006, 09:17 AM

240-Reefer and myself were in the need of some more frozen mush. He came back from shopping with a little bit more than I expected. But it made an awesome batch of frozen mush!

We had such a volume of ingredients that we had to make it in two batches. The two batches were then combined and bagged and placed in the freezer.

The viscosity of the mixture was adjusted with RO/DI water, Garlic Guard (liquid garlic extract) and Kent Micro-Vert.

The following ingredients were used in this mixture:

Frozen Ingredients:

1 ¼ Frozen Bars Cyclopeze
4.0oz Frozen Blood Worms
3.5oz Frozen Brine Shrimp
3.5oz Frozen Daphina
3.5oz Frozen Emerald Entree
3.5oz Frozen Formula One
3.5oz Mega Marine Algae
3.5oz Frozen Mysis Shrimp

original-reefland · #31 07/03/2006, 09:19 AM

Dry Ingredients:

30 grams SeaVeggies Red Flake
1.5oz Formula One Marine Pellet
1.0oz Omega One Marine Flake with Garlic

Fresh Ingredients:

14 Cherry Clams (meat & juice)
1 full fish filet (whitefish)
4 Squid (finely chopped)
8 Cocktail Shrimps
8 Large Scallops

original-reefland · #32 07/03/2006, 09:25 AM

The mixture was placed into freezer zipper bags with 10 to 12 heaping tablespoons per bag.

15 bags were completed, then placed into the freezer.

It is not uncommon for a mixture like this to have an unpleasant smell. However, the addition of garlic extracts really give it a decent smell.

Caution to the use of squid in frozen mixtures. The squid is rich in oils which makes a skimmer go nuts. You must watch your skimmer closely for several hours after feeding. You may have to turn off the skimmer to prevent it from overflowing. And I warned 240-Reefer about this before he left....

240-Reefer has a very large EuroReef CS-500 skimmer which proceeded to dump 30 gallons on his floor overnight... and not clear water. nasty brown gunk.

You get that mess cleaned up yet?

rhdoug · #33 07/03/2006, 09:27 AM

Nice mixture! Last time I chopped fish/shrimp/clams/etc, I froze it first. Makes it easier to chop/blend when its frozen. And it's time to do it again.

Dudester · #34 07/03/2006, 09:49 AM

Interesting comment about the squid ... I was under the impression that oils, such as those in food preparations and those from our skin, cause a skimmer to shut down as opposed to "going nuts." I use squid in my mixture as well, but my skimmer doesn't respond as you suggest. Maybe it's because mine is just a Remora HOB skimmer, but it completely shuts down for about an hour after every feeding.

Oh yeah, nice food mixture, looks like a nice balanced diet containing palatable foods for all of your fish and corals. Did you prefer the Kent Micro-Vert over other multivitamin supplements, such as Selcon?

original-reefland · #35 07/03/2006, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dudester
Interesting comment about the squid ... I was under the impression that oils, such as those in food preparations and those from our skin, cause a skimmer to shut down as opposed to "going nuts." I use squid in my mixture as well, but my skimmer doesn't respond as you suggest. Maybe it's because mine is just a Remora HOB skimmer, but it completely shuts down for about an hour after every feeding.

Oh yeah, nice food mixture, looks like a nice balanced diet containing palatable foods for all of your fish and corals. Did you prefer the Kent Micro-Vert over other multivitamin supplements, such as Selcon?

Normally my skimmer produces less foam after my hands are in the tank. But when squid is in the mix it really goes nuts. I have to take a picture of the skimmer waste collector. It's 3/4 full now, dark and nasty.

We wanted to use Selcon instead, nobody locally had it.

original-reefland · #36 07/03/2006, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rhdoug
Nice mixture! Last time I chopped fish/shrimp/clams/etc, I froze it first. Makes it easier to chop/blend when its frozen. And it's time to do it again.

Interesting. Never thought of that.

original-reefland · #37 07/03/2006, 10:18 AM

Came home the other night to find my Purple Tang in distress and having a "problem". I dunno what he ate, but I bet he wished "Ex-lax" was one of the ingredients added to the mush.

I was really worried that something bad would happen, it took him about 35 minutes to complete this "movement". He was fine in the morning. My guess is that some of the macro algae in the sump made it up to the display earlier in the day.

rhdoug · #38 07/03/2006, 10:34 AM

yeeeouch! I would thing that the "greens" would help him move things along instead of clogging him up like that. glad he's ok.

NexDog · #39 07/03/2006, 10:59 AM

That pic is absolute classic.

melev · #40 07/03/2006, 11:13 AM

The food looks really good, as well as your documentation.

I'm happy to read your Purple Tang is doing better today. I've seen that occur myself in the past, and I just want to help my poor fish out so badly.

original-reefland · #41 07/03/2006, 01:59 PM

Last picture for today, my yellow sand cucumber Holothuria sp. was out doing its typical deposit feeding. Took time out of its busy schedule to pose for this picture.

original-reefland · #42 07/04/2006, 12:12 AM

Found my copperbanded butterfly dead tonight. No clue what the cause is. Plump and healthy looking. Was swimming around fine this morning.

melev · #43 07/04/2006, 12:20 AM

Sorry!

fishdoc11 · #44 07/04/2006, 08:31 AM

That sucks

original-reefland · #45 07/20/2006, 02:19 PM

Been having some high temp issues over the past two weeks (I'm sure lots of people are). The tank is reaching 85 with the lights off and a fan blowing on the sump 24/7. A few times I just killed the halides for the day. When I do run the lights its only for a few short hours as the Aqua-controller turns them off once tank temperature passes 85*F.

So far one SPS has bleached and slowly lost tissue branch by branch. I made four frags from it, one of the frags looks like it will be lost as well. Still showing pale tissue on the remains of the parent , no clue if whats is left will survive. Neither frags nor parent show any signs of polyp extensions and it was a very fuzzy looking acropora.

http://www.rl180reef.com/180/pages/c...a/acropora.htm

I have a second acropora looking questionable, faded a bit, but otherwise normal. Everything else looks fine.

I have a portable room AC unit which cools things down to 83 with the lights on. A chiller is in my future plans... just not in the budget yet.

I hooked up my kill-a-watt meter to the AC and its drawing 14 amps. A chiller has to be more efficient than that for a two degree drop.

RGibson · #46 07/20/2006, 03:35 PM

Is your chiller inside the house?

melev · #47 07/20/2006, 05:38 PM

Rich, that is a large Window AC. Mine pulls 800watts or 8 amps (8000 BTU, coincidentally). I keep it at 78F and the tank runs from 79 to 81F daily.

Sorry about your coral situation. That is a stunning piece.

GSchiemer · #48 07/20/2006, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RGibson
Is your chiller inside the house?

Probably not, since he doesn't own a chiller.

Rich,

My A/C cools the room to 78 and the tank rarely goes above 80. I'd suggest getting additional fans and blowing them across the surface of the AQUARIUM. That will help, I'm sure.

Greg

original-reefland · #49 07/20/2006, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Rich, that is a large Window AC. Mine pulls 800watts or 8 amps (8000 BTU, coincidentally). I keep it at 78F and the tank runs from 79 to 81F daily.

Sorry about your coral situation. That is a stunning piece.

It's a 10,000 BTU floor unit on casters linked to the dryer vent system to exhaust to the outside. I'm also floating 2 litter bottles frozen. I find two of them drops the tank temp 1*F in about 20 minutes. Which helps brings the temp back to 84ish.

The parent colony is a total loss, two of the frags are a loss. 3rd is showing signs of lost tissue. 4th is faded even more and will likely be gone in 48 hours.

It could be worse.

original-reefland · #50 07/20/2006, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GSchiemer

My A/C cools the room to 78 and the tank rarely goes above 80. I'd suggest getting additional fans and blowing them across the surface of the AQUARIUM. That will help, I'm sure.

Yeah, I think that will be the best bet short term.