Our Progress To-Date on New 135RR (Image Intense) - Page 98

dmiannay · #**2426** 09/17/2004, 10:15 PM

Things are looking a lot better

Give it time and the corals will bounce back. Seriously consider the phosphate test kit and Phosban real soon since getting phosphate levels lower sooner rather than later will help cut off the food supply for all those nuisance algaes.

Was the person taking care of your tank overfeeding while you were away? I see you have a bit of a sand bed but do you also run a protein skimmer in your sump? How about the daily light period... how long do you keep the lights on?

FishMel · #**2427** 09/17/2004, 10:34 PM

I have an in-sump skimmer, but if I don't take it out and clean it completely once a week it stops producing bubbles. I can't figure it out. My photo period starts with the actinics at 9am (halides on a half hour later) and ends at 10pm.

Where did you buy the Phosban?

dmiannay · #**2428** 09/17/2004, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FishMel
I have an in-sump skimmer, but if I don't take it out and clean it completely once a week it stops producing bubbles. I can't figure it out.
I suggest you step up the skimmer maintenance and do daily cleanings. It will help get the "bad stuff" out which then lowers the amount of bad nutrients feeding the nuisance algaes.

My photo period starts with the actinics at 9am (halides on a half hour later) and ends at 10pm.
Try shortening the photo period to 12 hours for the actinics and 7 hours for the MHs. Less light will also reduce algae growth and the reduced period will not harm the corals. On a real reef the total hours for intense lighting are from around 10AM to 4PM (6 hours) so having the MHs on for 12 hours is excessive IMHO.

Where did you buy the Phosban?
I just picked it up from an LFS here in our area. I don't remember what I paid for it but it was reasonable and each dose lasts for a month.

HTH!

melev · #**2429** 09/18/2004, 12:32 AM

kang seung han,

[welcome]

Lovely pictures, Doug!

ChloroPhil · #**2430** 09/18/2004, 07:31 AM

Cathy and Doug,

Things are really looking up in there! Have you added the closed loop you were talking about yet? I've got a quick question about your feeding regimen. When and what do you feed your soft corals? I've got a Favia frag that hasn't grown a lick in the months I've had it. Right now the tank gets DT's and Cyclopeeze.

Cathy,

How's the nano looking? I'm sure all these big tank folks would love to see the eel and it's home....

FishMel,

I'm sorry that your tank was covered in that algae, but I have to admit that I thought it was quite beautiful. Good luck in getting the upper hand in your battle!

Best,
Phil

dmiannay · #**2431** 09/18/2004, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ChloroPhil
Cathy and Doug,

Things are really looking up in there! Have you added the closed loop you were talking about yet?
Very funny

I've got a quick question about your feeding regimen. When and what do you feed your soft corals? I've got a Favia frag that hasn't grown a lick in the months I've had it. Right now the tank gets DT's and Cyclopeeze.
We just feed phytoplankton for the most part and occasionally cyclopeze. I've read about all the excellent coral food recipes and we'll likely get around to mixing up a batch some weekend soon. Not looking forward to the smell

Cathy,

How's the nano looking? I'm sure all these big tank folks would love to see the eel and it's home....
Cathy's away for a couple days with her parents as they pack up her grandmother's apartment in South Carolina. Her GM was moved to an extended care facility a couple weeks ago so the family converged this weekend to pack up all her stuff and disperse it among the family members. There were several items Cathy really wanted that mean a lot to her. Kind of a bittersweet moment for all of them

Anyway, if you look back at pages 90 & 92 of this thread you'll see the Dwarf Moray along with several of the beautiful corals starting to flourish in the tank. Things are coming along real well for the nano!

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**2432** 09/19/2004, 05:45 AM

doug very good advice i just reduced my metal halide hours we shall see !

dmiannay · #**2433** 09/21/2004, 11:49 AM

Marc & Keith,

My schedule is set and I'll be available to get together at Marc's place Monday evening, October 18th. Can you please check to see if Travis can be available at that time?

Thanks guys... I look forward to meeting you in person!

melev · #**2434** 09/21/2004, 03:27 PM

I'll contact him and find out.

melev · #**2435** 09/22/2004, 06:25 AM

Doug, Travis agreed to that date. Because it is about a month away, please remind me about a week early, so I can remind him too.

electric130 · #**2436** 09/22/2004, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dmiannay
Yes, we're getting there... finally! Now, if I could only figure out how to control the canopy fan speed to slow them down some and hopefully reduce the noise. I've tried rheostats and they weren't adequate. I've now tried three-speeed fan controls and they did not do the trick. Its kinda funny... after I wired in the Hunter Fan Control the speed was the same (slightly slower) on both the Hi and Low settings and fastest on the Med setting. Go figure They are simple to wire in to the fans... nothing to wire backwards. I tried wiring them both possible ways with the same result.

Are there any electrical geniuses out there who might know how to throttle a 5" Orion 115VAC fan? There must be some type of variable resistor/potentiometer/rheostat that can do the job. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

TIA for your suggestions.

Great tank. I've heard about this thread, but this is the first time i've seen it. don't know if you ever got an answer to this or not. i didn't read every page, but most of them.

a light dimmer just adjusts the voltage going into the circuit. this will not work to control an AC fan which works off of rotating magnetic fields. the rotation is caused by the oscillation of the AC current at 60Hz. the only way to change the rotation of the fields is to change the frequency. you'll either need a fan controller to do this or buy a variable speed AC fan. when you change the speed on a table fan at home, you're using different coils inside which affect the speed due to placement. or like the ceiling fan that i have in my bedroom has a remote control for the speed. there's an electronic module that you install into the fan. you set the fan mechanically to high and the electronics adjust the speed by changing frequencies.

Quote:

Originally posted by dmiannay
My two 5" (127 mm) AC fans are 130CFM apiece. In ignorance I went for the highest CFM rating without considering they'd be louder than the lower CFM versions. Live and learn.

your 130 CFM fans are 46dB. Orion also makes that same fan in a 75 CFM model that's 26dB. that's more than twice as quiet (since dB is not linear) you have model OA119AP-11-1xx what you should look into for quieter fans is model OA119AP-11-3xx. you can see the different models at: http://www.orionfans.com/html/oa119.html www.alliedelec.com doesn't show them on their catalog page, but if you do a search, you'll find the part number and you can put in a special order request. If you're still not happy with your current fans, i'd recommend looking into these.

dmiannay · #**2437** 09/22/2004, 11:20 AM

Welcome to our world JR! Thanks for stopping by and imparting a little of your valuable insight. It was one of your threads, after all, that inspired me to create the centralized electrical control system for our aquarium! Although I couldn't use the same components you did (since I assume yours are actual surplus C-130 parts!) I did discover the American DJ units in another thread and designed a solution based on them. So, thanks for all you've done to inspire many here at RC... your contributions are invaluable!

As for our fans I'm only using one at the moment since it keeps the temps down quite nicely all by itself at full, unregulated speed. However it is quite noisy, but over time we grown accustomed to it

I never did find an acceptable lower noise solution, but after reading your post I now understand what steps can be taken. For us it seems the better approach might be to replace the existing units with the 75 CFM units and then run them both rather than just the one I'm running now. Clearly with both running I'd have more airflow than with the one unit now but I could implement some type of frequency modifier to slow them down a bit.

You mentioned in your post that I should have been using fan controllers instead of light dimmers. Quite honestly I assumed the Hunter Fan Controllers would have done exactly that but unfortunately they didnâ€™t. Can you recommend a good fan controller (variable, not stepped) that would do the trick?

dmiannay · #**2438** 09/22/2004, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Doug, Travis agreed to that date. Because it is about a month away, please remind me about a week early, so I can remind him too.

Great, Marc... thanks! I'll send a reminder along about a week beforehand.

electric130 · #**2439** 09/22/2004, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dmiannay
Welcome to our world JR! Thanks for stopping by and imparting a little of your valuable insight. It was one of your threads, after all, that inspired me to create the centralized electrical control system for our aquarium! Although I couldn't use the same components you did (since I assume yours are actual surplus C-130 parts!) I did discover the American DJ units in another thread and designed a solution based on them. So, thanks for all you've done to inspire many here at RC... your contributions are invaluable!

Thank you very much for your kind words. I try to help when I can. My switches are not C-130 switches (that would have been cool though), but they are "surplus" from another job

Quote:

Originally posted by dmiannay
For us it seems the better approach might be to replace the existing units with the 75 CFM units and then run them both rather than just the one I'm running now. Clearly with both running I'd have more airflow than with the one unit now but I could implement some type of frequency modifier to slow them down a bit.

if you had 2, you'd be moving 150CFM, but your dB would only be around 30 then (can't remember the exact formula for adding up sound dB's). so I would say that this would be better than what you already have.

Quote:

Originally posted by dmiannay
You mentioned in your post that I should have been using fan controllers instead of light dimmers. Quite honestly I assumed the Hunter Fan Controllers would have done exactly that but unfortunately they didnâ€™t. Can you recommend a good fan controller (variable, not stepped) that would do the trick?

do you have a link or part number for the controller you used? it may have been designed to only be used with certain Hunter fans that are modified somehow? not sure. I'll look into it if you can provide some more info.

dmiannay · #**2440** 09/22/2004, 12:13 PM

JR,

The more I think about it the more I like the smaller CFM fan solution. I believe I'll head in that direction but still need a solution to slow them down a bit so I don't have too much cooling.

The Hunter fan controllers are standard issue that you pick up at Home Depot or Lowes... I did not special order them. I'll check for the part number when I get home tonight.

hammerhead_77 · #**2441** 09/22/2004, 02:10 PM

I'm not sure if you want to go this way, but I am running 12v DC fans. I run them off a variable power supply so that I can have them going full bore during the day and then run them on 9v or even 6v in the evening so the noise is much lower. I use computer case fans that I got on sale for about $9 each.

electric130 · #**2442** 09/22/2004, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dmiannay
The Hunter fan controllers are standard issue that you pick up at Home Depot or Lowes... I did not special order them. I'll check for the part number when I get home tonight.

I was in Lowes today and looked at the fan controllers. I saw 2 different kinds that were wall units. They had ones that were around $18 and then the more expensive ones for $36 and up. The cheaper ones were just a wall unit that looked like a regular dimmer. These specifically had to be use with Hunter Original fans that are "electrically variable." If you don't have that model or have any other brand of fan, you neede the more expensive models that had the wall unit as well as a control unit that mounted in the fan. The control unit is what I was refering to on my ceiling fan that controlled the frequency. If the controller that you bought doesn't have both parts, it won't work how you want it to. Even if it was $40, it would still be cheaper than 2 new orion fans since the 5" models are $25 each. If you can take back the other controller you bought, then you're only $20 away from your solution.

Trickman2 · #**2443** 09/22/2004, 06:31 PM

You guys are doing this all wrong...
Computer fans are the way to go. Here are the controllers.
All you need to do is buy a Adapter. They are pretty cheap. I will try to rembeber where I got mine.

http://www.svc.com/fanandtemman.html

Even Better is computer fans with led...You can make moon lights and fans at the same time. Cheap too. COmputer fans can cost anywhere from two to 20 bucks. Also they have Db ratings so you know how loud it is going to be. Wiring is easy cause they already have the molex connectors. Easy to replace when to go bad. Millions of options. Computer FANS ARE THE WAY TO GO. Trust me. Also the low voltage makes them Ideal so you don't short out and fry your fish.

http://www.svc.com/ledfans.html

dmiannay · #**2444** 09/22/2004, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Trickman2
You guys are doing this all wrong...
Computer fans are the way to go. Here are the controllers.
All you need to do is buy a Adapter. They are pretty cheap. I will try to rembeber where I got mine.

http://www.svc.com/fanandtemman.html

Even Better is computer fans with led...You can make moon lights and fans at the same time. Cheap too. COmputer fans can cost anywhere from two to 20 bucks. Also they have Db ratings so you know how loud it is going to be. Wiring is easy cause they already have the molex connectors. Easy to replace when to go bad. Millions of options. Computer FANS ARE THE WAY TO GO. Trust me. Also the low voltage makes them Ideal so you don't short out and fry your fish.

http://www.svc.com/ledfans.html

Thanks for your comments. One big problem I have is the cutouts in my canopy were made for the 5" Orion fans I bought and already installed 6 months ago. I've never been able to find computer fans in the 5" (127mm) size and I'm not too interested in installing a smaller fan and fudging together some type of blank to take up the gap bewteen the smaller fan and the large opening.

Any idea if there are any 5" computer (DC) fans out there?

rjwilson37 · #**2445** 09/22/2004, 11:02 PM

Another shot of my Snowflake Eel who comes out for a photo shoot around 3 times a day. He is very timid and nice still after having him for almost a year, it is to bad yours did not work out for you.

Trickman2 · #**2446** 09/23/2004, 12:17 AM

http://www.svc.com/ledfans120.html

here are 120mm Fans. You can alway mount them to a piece of acrylic or wood to reduce down.

Trickman2 · #**2447** 09/23/2004, 12:41 AM

beautiful tank, I would hate to see you wipe out all your fish because of a electrical issue or burn down your house. Running 12 volt fans is much safer. All you need is a 12 volt DC transformer 1500ma or smaller and you are totally their.

Trickman2 · #**2448** 09/23/2004, 12:45 AM

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=129-322

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**2449** 09/23/2004, 04:47 AM

RJ i have a snowflake that size it is reef safe it does not bother any other fish ?? or soft corals ??

Trickman2 · #**2450** 09/23/2004, 10:35 AM

Snowflake Eels are reefsafe. If you look at their teeth it will give you a clue that they like to eat Shrimp and Crabs and things like this. Advantages to snowflakes are they stay small. Pretty and they don't get to big. With that being said I had a snowflake to, but he sealed his own fate. He went down the overflow and in the micron bag and from their he took a visit to the Water pump. Needless to say he didn't survive. I replaced him with a Zebra Moray bought him 08/07/2002. He is still doing very good. Very Awesome Eel and he can't get down my overflows to ruin my filtration. Also he looks Fierce and Menacing when he is pretty Harmless.