Tank Journal Archive

[A Barnes]

For those of you who are interested and following along, i thought i'd post a little update after being bored over the weekend.

Tank has been doing well, and things are becoming far more stable with the dosing pump being added, so i really didn't have much to do over the weekend. With my boredom i decided to re-mount my light. I was using the AI hanging kit with the Hydra 26, hanging it through the stock hockey sticks that came with the tank, which worked.... just not perfectly. So i went into Bunnings and bought some 10 mm x 20 mm aluminum tube, drilled a few holes, and there we go, a nice solid fixed light mount. It did lift the light around 100 mm, but that's probably a good thing, giving me more spread and more even light across the tank.

I've also re-fitted my dosing containers, using some 6 mm acrylic tube, and some 6 mm John Guest Bulkheads. Decided having curled shitty looking silicone tube running though a crappy hole in the top just didn't work, so i plumbed in some 6/4 mm acrylic tube and used some dice bulkheads to just make things neater and look better. The issue i ran into was the acrylic tube didn't seal in the JG fitting, so wouldn't draw any liquid. After talking to a mate about it, i cut some small lengths of silicone tube, heated and stretched them over the tube to create a joiner. Now if i ever change containers, i can just take the JG fitting off, and refit to new containers, and I'm also making sure i get as much out of the container, without drawing and crap from the bottom of the container, so win win!

A few weeks ago i also added a large Marine Pure block to help with filtration, and hopefully help with de-nitrification, i added one of the large 8"x8"x4" blocks, and trimmed it down a tad to fit in my fuge, should be enough filtration.. just :p

Anyways, no good pics of fish and stuff, just a couple to show what I've done :D

New light mount

Dosing pump and STC

Bulkheads and Acrylic Tube with silicone joiner

Dosing Conatiner with bulkhead and acrylic tube (inside)

Marine Pure

FTS with new Rock added on LFS

New Rockwork

 

[Sam Parker]

Nice one. I'm surprised the hard acrylic tube didn't fit the bulkheads though, mine seem to?

 

[A Barnes]

Yeah so was i, fits in just wont seal properly. Jammed it in as far as i could but just wouldn't seal properly. Supposed to be 6mm tube, and is a 6mm bulkhead, so go me beat.

 

[Sam Parker]

Looking at it further, I wonder if you were creating a too strong of a seal. Do you have a breather hole in the lid of those dosing containers at all?

Could be the issue

 

[A Barnes]

Looking at it further, I wonder if you were creating a too strong of a seal. Do you have a breather hole in the lid of those dosing containers at all?

Could be the issue

Yeah, have a breather, i did a blow test on the fitting, was the tube not sealing. Silicone obviously fine in the top, i think the tube just wasn't in far enough??? but i couldn't physically jam it in any further, tried pulling it out a tad, twisting, tried teflon tape, nothing worked. Happy with the silicon joiner, adds a bit of flex to i don't have to be too careful with it when taking lids off etc.

 

[MagicJ]

The tank is looking good :)

How do you find the light 'pollution' (for want of a better word) in the room? I have always mounted my light in a hood which limits the light spread in the room and makes it easier to look at the tank, especially when your eye's are below the level of the light fixture.

I have some John Guest Bulkheads (or should I say, the Chinese equivalents) on the slow boat at the moment and plan on replicating what you have done with your dosing containers.

 

[A Barnes]

To be honest i would never have called it "pollution". Tank is in my study upstairs, where i spend a lot of time, and having residual light from the tank in the room gives an awesome atmosphere while on my PC. Usually means i don't need the room light on too :p

We got our bulkheads from here in Aus, i think they worked out to be around $5 each shipped, and arrived in just a day or 2 and really happy with the quality of course. I think the best thing with this setup is fitting to new / bigger containers in the future will be really easy, just drill, unscrew, and re-fit :D

 

[Sean81]

Hi A Barnes, an option I did for the light was making a mount so you can can have a single light pole, if your into DIY. My mount screwed up under the tank. Ignore the light, it's temporary. How do you like your 26 on the 120?? I'm thinking similar.

 

[A Barnes]

LOVE the 26! Couldn't be happier with the light on this tank. Getting excellent from all corals, coverage is perfect, and the light looks sleek too!

I do get a bit of shadowing (to be expected with any lighting unit like this) and almost thinking of adding a second unit and just dialing them right down, but that's not really in my budget right now.

As for the light mount, i really CBF pulling the tank out to get back there and screw around with the light mounts, i really like the way it is now, it gives me the option for more light if i rob a bank :p, or even potentially to add a floating hood, something I've considered but not really sure i want.

 

[Sean81]

LOVE the 26! Couldn't be happier with the light on this tank. Getting excellent from all corals, coverage is perfect, and the light looks sleek too!

I do get a bit of shadowing (to be expected with any lighting unit like this) and almost thinking of adding a second unit and just dialing them right down, but that's not really in my budget right now.

As for the light mount, i really CBF pulling the tank out to get back there and screw around with the light mounts, i really like the way it is now, it gives me the option for more light if i rob a bank :p, or even potentially to add a floating hood, something I've considered but not really sure i want.

Yeah I was unsure if I should use two primes to seperate them to reduce shadows but you seem very happy with the 26. Thanks.

 

[slin1977]

Any updates?