Tank Journal Archive
:D
Morning & a Happy New Year to you all.
Well Jen figured it was about time to play down the other end of the tank. I thought it was time to play MW3 or Battlefield 3! I didn't win the "discussion" :(
So we started here......
I dont know how much rock is in this part of the tank, but I know it's a bloody lot! It's very awkward to re scape with so much rock in a confined space to. Just had to move it all to one side & clear a space. I was getting pretty grumpy at times because I couldnt "see" the picture of how it would look with so much rock at the front of the tank. Finally got a space to work in & built a high rise apartment for the citizens..
Cleared away more rock working down to the left corner. The sump is now chocka block with rock! This is how that corner turned out...
So the re scape is done for now, until the next time. It's hard to get a full tank shot but this is close. Gives you an idea of what the thing looks like now.
Also had a play up in the right hand side again. Made a little island off the pile of rocks there. We were running out of room & no where to stick the smaller stuff. It's not to high & you can look past it to the sand bed behind it.
Found two huge bristle worms hiding under a rock. One slipped off the rock as I picked it up & was bigger & fatter then this one..
They weren't really worms, more like f@%king snakes! :eek I reckon if I looked away one of them would have had my hand for lunch! They are huge, but we are told good for the tank cleaning regime. They would easily be over a foot long. The one that got away was as thick as my finger & scary.
And some random pics to finish with....
That's about it for now,
K&J
Morning & a Happy New Year to you all.
Well Jen figured it was about time to play down the other end of the tank. I thought it was time to play MW3 or Battlefield 3! I didn't win the "discussion" :(
So we started here......
I dont know how much rock is in this part of the tank, but I know it's a bloody lot! It's very awkward to re scape with so much rock in a confined space to. Just had to move it all to one side & clear a space. I was getting pretty grumpy at times because I couldnt "see" the picture of how it would look with so much rock at the front of the tank. Finally got a space to work in & built a high rise apartment for the citizens..
Cleared away more rock working down to the left corner. The sump is now chocka block with rock! This is how that corner turned out...
So the re scape is done for now, until the next time. It's hard to get a full tank shot but this is close. Gives you an idea of what the thing looks like now.
Also had a play up in the right hand side again. Made a little island off the pile of rocks there. We were running out of room & no where to stick the smaller stuff. It's not to high & you can look past it to the sand bed behind it.
Found two huge bristle worms hiding under a rock. One slipped off the rock as I picked it up & was bigger & fatter then this one..
They weren't really worms, more like f@%king snakes! :eek I reckon if I looked away one of them would have had my hand for lunch! They are huge, but we are told good for the tank cleaning regime. They would easily be over a foot long. The one that got away was as thick as my finger & scary.
And some random pics to finish with....
That's about it for now,
K&J
Oh yeah, I forgot's to add this bit at the bottom.
Jonny Glover - Thanks for your comment's mate, we do try to keep things simple & make sure the citizens are happy. :)
Baldy - Your not that far away mate, if your ever down this way give us yell, coffee is always hot lol. :)
Jonny Glover - Thanks for your comment's mate, we do try to keep things simple & make sure the citizens are happy. :)
Baldy - Your not that far away mate, if your ever down this way give us yell, coffee is always hot lol. :)
vpreef - Thanks and yep, that is your goni in the centre there. The black clowns have decided to call him home now, he's just not use to it yet.
firebird - Thanks, we're pretty happy with it too. It took a lot longer then either of us anticipated, we just didn't realise how much rock was actually on that side of the tank. I really felt for Ken, leaning over the top of the tank - standing on a ladder mind you - for a good 6 hours or more, but he did a great job I think, even if he did get grumpy at times (He should of been wearing his grumpy old man T- shirt!):p
Megan - thanks, but which morphs are you referring to as unusual? Most we've just picked up on different live rock when we were buying it to stock the tank. We did buy a couple of really nice ultra blue morphs, but our Dragon thought it would be fun to throw the rock they were on around and killed them,:mad: the dragon is lucky he's not on the BBQ! :eek
Watching the tank is pretty entertaining, especially when we drop some seaweed in or just feed them anytime. It's funny, when ever we walk past the tank, the fish race us to the end we drop the food in just hoping they're going to get fed each time. It's cool to watch all the fish interact with each other and just watching them any time. You get to know their characteristics and you pick up when something isn't right.
Oh, and stay tuned, Ken has started on the LED for the other side of the tank, so more pics will be coming soon.
Jen
firebird - Thanks, we're pretty happy with it too. It took a lot longer then either of us anticipated, we just didn't realise how much rock was actually on that side of the tank. I really felt for Ken, leaning over the top of the tank - standing on a ladder mind you - for a good 6 hours or more, but he did a great job I think, even if he did get grumpy at times (He should of been wearing his grumpy old man T- shirt!):p
Megan - thanks, but which morphs are you referring to as unusual? Most we've just picked up on different live rock when we were buying it to stock the tank. We did buy a couple of really nice ultra blue morphs, but our Dragon thought it would be fun to throw the rock they were on around and killed them,:mad: the dragon is lucky he's not on the BBQ! :eek
Watching the tank is pretty entertaining, especially when we drop some seaweed in or just feed them anytime. It's funny, when ever we walk past the tank, the fish race us to the end we drop the food in just hoping they're going to get fed each time. It's cool to watch all the fish interact with each other and just watching them any time. You get to know their characteristics and you pick up when something isn't right.
Oh, and stay tuned, Ken has started on the LED for the other side of the tank, so more pics will be coming soon.
Jen
Finally got the light completed & up. Its made a huge difference to the the tank. The citizens seem to like the change also. :D
Other then that not alot has changed. Now that the light is done I need a new project. No idea what tho. Everything else seems to be ticking along nicely. All the cords are put away & the mass of light cords has gone. Down to just the two & one for the controller.
So what to play with next? Put a few colored sticks in the tank to see how we go with them. The Dallas seems to be going well, the others have only been in for two weeks or so.
Don't you hate it when you are about to take a pic, & along comes Moo,
Then you think to yourself, OK you win now get out of the way. So you take another pic,
And the bugger comes back round for another profile! Thinks he is all that dont ya know :cool:
Well thats about it for now. Take it easy all.
K&J
Other then that not alot has changed. Now that the light is done I need a new project. No idea what tho. Everything else seems to be ticking along nicely. All the cords are put away & the mass of light cords has gone. Down to just the two & one for the controller.
So what to play with next? Put a few colored sticks in the tank to see how we go with them. The Dallas seems to be going well, the others have only been in for two weeks or so.
Don't you hate it when you are about to take a pic, & along comes Moo,
Then you think to yourself, OK you win now get out of the way. So you take another pic,
And the bugger comes back round for another profile! Thinks he is all that dont ya know :cool:
Well thats about it for now. Take it easy all.
K&J
DavidS Just used super glue. I had read that it can blur/fade the lens, but I tried one & left it. It came up all good so just kept going with it. Didn't use a lot, just around the base of the lens.
Thanks for all the comment's guy's, :)
I brought a energy meter from Bunnings the other day & hooked it up today. I didn't set the price per kilowatt as I dont really want to know :rolleyes
These are the figures that the meter spat out today for those who maybe interested...
208x Cree 3W LED's running @40% 315 Watt & 2.01 Amp
208x Cree 3W LED's running @100% 590 Watt & 3.65 Amp
5x 250W Halides, 6x fluro's,20x 1WLED's 1320 Watt & 5.70 Amp
That's a reduction of power usage of- Min- 730 Watt or Max- 1005 Watt
It's running at 40% now but I think it will end up around 55 or 65% once the tank is used to the light change. After seeing this myself, I dont know why more aren't looking at changing to LED's. This unit was about $2500 to build , if you can, I would say go for it, you wont look back & neither will your tank. Just make or get something that lights your whole tank! right to the limits not just the main section with darker area's around the edges.
I am looking around for something to measure the par in the tank at different places, but no idea what the equipment is called or where to get one! :confused: If any one is interested I'll post that info up when I can.
K&J
I brought a energy meter from Bunnings the other day & hooked it up today. I didn't set the price per kilowatt as I dont really want to know :rolleyes
These are the figures that the meter spat out today for those who maybe interested...
208x Cree 3W LED's running @40% 315 Watt & 2.01 Amp
208x Cree 3W LED's running @100% 590 Watt & 3.65 Amp
5x 250W Halides, 6x fluro's,20x 1WLED's 1320 Watt & 5.70 Amp
That's a reduction of power usage of- Min- 730 Watt or Max- 1005 Watt
It's running at 40% now but I think it will end up around 55 or 65% once the tank is used to the light change. After seeing this myself, I dont know why more aren't looking at changing to LED's. This unit was about $2500 to build , if you can, I would say go for it, you wont look back & neither will your tank. Just make or get something that lights your whole tank! right to the limits not just the main section with darker area's around the edges.
I am looking around for something to measure the par in the tank at different places, but no idea what the equipment is called or where to get one! :confused: If any one is interested I'll post that info up when I can.
K&J
That's going to be a huge saving in power. I reckon you'd be saving ~$2 a day on a 10 hour cycle or so. Sadly the calculator I used pointed out the average cost of power per kilowatt hour in the US is about half of what we pay. Damn you coal powered power plants.
That saving is definitely worth consideration!
My thinking exactly - I figure its like investing in a solar panel - you pay a little bit more upfront and save a significant sum of money along the way. You've done such a good job of yours - I like the look of it as well.