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One just can't give enough praise to anyone willing to paint their plumbing!! I'm a fan. Nice work.
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Looks very nice!
The first thing I noticed in your picture was the sticky rice basket and pot above you and to the left. Mmmm. That's just the foodie in me :mrgreen: |
Thanks Untamed! It is really the result of being anal about the details and having too much time on my hands. :razz:
Chef, You have a good eye. I am addicted to sticky rice after living in Thailand for two years and spending some time in the Isan. My wife picked up a few recipies and makes a pretty mean Namtok (?? I cant spell Thai names in english). - Chad |
Ahhh. Laab Namtok? It's my favourite!
I haven't lived in Thailand, but I've been five times (including during the Tsunami....phew). I lived in Malaysia when I was a teenager, though. I miss it something fierce :-) |
Haha yup its my favorite too.
I've been meaning to make a trip back there but our kids are still a little young for travelling... - Chad |
gee thanks guys. Now im hungry and have a wicked craving for some sticky rice. :eating:
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Yesterday I stopped by Gold's and picked up a Stealth heater and a thermometer.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070312001.jpg So far I am very impressed with the stealth - it has held the temp rock solid compared to my second hand ebo (which had water drops inside the glass!) - as an added bonus, it matches the red/black color scheme I have going on. I have one question though. This morning I found that the part of the heater that gets hot was covered with little bubbles, I blew them off but there appears to be a film or scale left on the outside. I could probably scratch it off or use some vinegar to scrub it but I am worried that it will just build up again. Is this a problem? Any thoughts? One final piece of equipment: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070312008.jpg This is my laboratory grade digital metering pump that is going to add topoff water at the exact rate of evaporation. Cheers, - Chad |
Ok, I figure that I should post an update of all my photos for those who don't like reading through all the thread.
First, here is a comparison of the conceptual sketches I did before I started the project - you can judge how close I came to my plans : http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...completed3.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070313001.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...completed2.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070313011.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...completed1.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070313006.jpg |
I started with a metal stand that I stripped and repainted, then came up with the idea to use eggcrate for the sides:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...9/enclosed.jpg I painted the eggcrate black - way cheaper than buying black eggcrate (and I think stronger too. http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/painted.jpg I started to go a little crazy waiting for the tank to be built so I polished up my ugly green Iwaki pump: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../061029008.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../061029011.jpg |
I drilled holes in the bottom piece of my stand to route the electrical cords for my sump equipment:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../061126002.jpg Then I painted everything and glued the powerbar, in a tubberware container to the underside of the stand - making it impossible for spilled water to get to the electrical: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070313012.jpg Added gfi plug in the rafters for my lighting and in the wall for the sump power: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...electrical.jpg Tank arrived: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070209046.jpg I chopped down my closed loop filter screen so it didn't protrude into the tank so far: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...9/strainer.jpg |
T5HO lighting arrived:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights1.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights2.jpg I assembled the pvc plumbing: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070302002.jpg Then glued it: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070301009.jpg Then hit it with some krylon fusion spray piant: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070303022.jpg |
Then added a few other pieces of equipment:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070312001.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070312008.jpg And a peacock mantis shrimp named Mac: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070306027.jpg And that brings us pretty much up to date! :razz: Thanks for looking, - Chad |
Im looking for a peacock mantis myself. If you don't mind my asking, does gold's aquarium have any peacocks left and would they ship to vancouver?
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Great thread Chad ! Thanks for taking the time to organize photo's .
I assume you removed those glue runs from the power bar , all in the interest of attention to detail of course :) :) ..................Dave |
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If you want an official recipe, I could work one up for you! I generally sort of....just throw a little of this in, a little of that....:redface: |
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You take a steak of beef and marinade it for a while in fish sauce, lime juice, and Thai chilis. Then you lightly sear it over a fire, then slice it up into thin strips. Then fry the strips with more fish sauce, lime juice, mint leaves, cilantro, red onions, dried chili flakes, and this powder that you make from toasting uncooked sticky rice until brown then grinding it into powder (adds a nice smokey flavour). I like to eat it with my hands just like they do in the Isan. Roll some sticky rice into a ball and flatten it and little and pinch some of the namtok up with it. Stuff it in your mouth. Dip some sticky rice in the juicy sauce. Repeat. Dang it X-Treme, now I'm hungry! :mad: - Chad |
YOU'RE hungry? Don't even talk to me about that now. Iron Chef.....I'd LOVE this recipe. Can ya do it with chicken too?
P.S. - Sorry for the thread jack. :redface: |
omg... im so hungry. I need this stuff. bad.
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Usually laab is made with the same or similar ingrediants but is ground/chopped more finely. (In the Isan they are a little hardcore and also add chunks of blood to the laab). I have heard of laab done with chicken but never 'chicken namtok' ?? Really no reason why you couldn't though. Usually when ordering food you state the name of the dish and then what meat you want it made with, eg, chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, squid... They are all interchangable. I wonder if the missus would be pleased if I woke her up to cook something... - Chad *** Photo updates starting on page 21 *** |
hey chad I was wondering, if you don't mind my asking, where did you get the "laboratory grade digital metering pump that is going to add topoff water at the exact rate of evaporation" and how much was it? It sounds pretty cool. Any comments on it?
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Hey Justin,
For sump dosing, normal topoff pumps will work. The reason I first came across this pump is I was looking for something that would be ultra accurate at dosing even very low quantities (like in a nano) and something that would be able to inject into my pressurized, hidden plumbing, without risk of back-flow. The pump is a diaphragm style chemical metering pump. This one is an 'A Series' made by Advantage Controls but some other big names are LMI Milton Roy, Pulsatron, and Prominent. They are not made for fishkeeping but are designed for lab work and industrial applications. The pump fires a piston which draws water in then pushes it down the line. The length of the stroke can be changed to adjust how much liquid is added each time and the frequency can be adjusted for how many times per minute (or hour on some models) the pump fires. With this model I am able to dose any amount from 0 - 0.63gph, and it is rated for up to 150psi! That means if I wanted to, I could put this pump in another room in my house or even in my neighbors' house and it wouldn't have a problem getting topoff water to my tank (I wonder if they would let me.... ). I really don't need this pump for my setup. The only reason I got it is I have used one in the past and am a sucker for a quality piece of equipment. They are super expensive and sell new for like $800-$1000US!!! You can get some awesome deals on them on ebay though. The first one I had cost $180 off ebay (an engineering firm was clearing some out) and this one I got for only $120US. It never came with any box but the seller claimed it was brand new. Looks like it's in good shape too. The person who has my original is a member of the board here and was talking about selling it for the same price I paid - $180. They have never used it, but even if they did it would be like it was brand new - they are made to dose things like chlorine and acid... so... ro/di water is easy peasy. - Chad |
Disaster
I cam home from work today and found that my coral life pump has quit (on the closed loop). The fan works but the pump does not run.
This bothers me a little because the pump has only been running since 03-11-2007. I will contact the vender and see what we can do. - Chad |
wow. that pump sounds amazing. If i ever set up a super nano and actually have tons of cash to blow (not likely) I will certainly look into one of those bad boys.
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Haha, if you look aound you can find sometimes find one for almost what they will charge you for a peristaltic 'aquaruim doser'.
As for my external pump - I have been talking to Nate and he has been awesome to deal with! I will be buying a replacement pump from him. Cheers, - Chad |
http://www.tylermerrick.com/content/css_notes.php
Hey Chad ,I just came across this site that has some good info on the Coralife skimmer , this might be redundant at this stage but just in case here it is ....................................Dave |
Dave,
Thanks for the link, it was really considerate of you to post it. For the next few days, I'm going to go wild fixing problems I never even knew I had :razz: At the very least it will help me get it dialled in properly. - Chad |
That dosing pump does sound very nice, but I'm not sure you'll have a lot of luck using for evaporation replacement.
When I first setup an evaporative replacement system, I tried to use a peristaltic pump, figuring that I could dial in the exact amount of evaporation. What I learned, was that I was always wrong. One day, too much..the next...too little. Evaporation isn't constant. It changes based on environmental humidity and temperature. In the end, I changed over to a float switch based system and it worked better. |
Concerning the rates of evaporation being slightly different every day, more common is the rate changing slightly between day and night. The level drops slightly during the days and rises more during the night hours. The minor changes in humidity temp etc are not enough to significantly effect the water level as a day to day average. Any significant changes, especially in a temperature controlled dwelling like a home of office, will occur from season to season - not day to day. And the tank is never left long enough without a water change to make a difference. I used one of these pumps to dose a 2gal nano for a couple years and it would take at least two weeks for the water level to creep less than one centimeter either up or down. Because I was usually doing water changes more often than that, it was never anything I had to address.
I have settled on the rate of 0.32ml 8x's every minute and for three days it has been holding the water level in my sump at the exact water line mark I drew on my sump with a sharpie - just under the line in the evening, and just over the line in the morning. If it looks like there is a net gain or increase in the level at the end of the week, I will increase or decrease the dosing rate by one stroke per minute. I wouldn't trust a float switch to do my topoff. Not saying there's anything wrong with it - I just think there is too much risk of it sticking on or off for my personal preferance. I've had the float in my toilette fail more than a few times and that has a more bouyant float, is immersed in pure cold fesh water with less mineral content, and never has algae buildup or snails, etc. Cheers, - Chad Edit: photo updates on page 21 |
Today I met with Nate and picked up another Coralife pump from him. He was super fair to deal with and I would highly recommed him to anyone looking for equipment.
Because I don't really have any other photos, I took this one to show my topoff return line. The tubing comes up through one of the holes that I drilled for electrical cords and injects FW into the first chamber of my sump 8 times/ minute. http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070325009.jpg Cheers, - Chad |
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I've gone both ways and the float switch worked way better for me. I'll offer two ideas that could give you peace of mind. 1) Use two float switches for redundancy. The chances of both switches failing at the same time is pretty remote. 2) Push the water in through VERY low volume irrigation drippers. That way, the system is incapable of delivering water really fast, even if the floats fail. If the float got stuck "on", it would still take 24 hours or more of continuous pumping before the tank level would start to rise. One question though...When you do a water change, it is only a partial volume change, right? You're not doing a 100% water change. So if your evaporative system has pumped a bit too much water in there, you will have diluted the system and will be running slightly low salinity. If you want to correct this during a water change, you'll have to adjust the salinity of your replacement SW higher to compensate. |
couple comments
Hey, things looking great had a couple comments, sorry if I missed any of this earlier in the thread.
- how does one get in touch with Nate, where does he work? - why did you choose to take out the bubble trap in your sump? have you any problems with the bubbles now going over the partition - I bet at lot of us could appreciate a price breakdown of your setup Thanks, ohh ya i'm looking forward to another tank video tour someday, hint hint, hehehe :) Take care, Nano |
untamed,
Thanks for the info. If I ever had to switch systems to a float, I would put into practice your safety measures. I can't see that happening though. As I said, I kept a 2gal nano for two years with one of these pumps and my salinity was always rock solid (amazing feat for a nano/pico that size). So far this one has been running for two weeks and all I have observed is the water level in my sump moving just above the line on my sump over night, and just below the line by the end of the day. I attribute this to the on/off cycle of my T5HO lighting. It is only a couple millimeters of drift and the difference in salinity is undetectable via refractometer. I have not observed a change in evaporation rates from day to day (only the day/night cycle which seems to be self cancelling). The tank is in my basement, and the house is temperature controlled via thermostat. Perhaps you findings are the result of the type of pump you tried to use for topoff. ??? I stayed away from peristaltic pumps when researching my topoff options because I felt that they were designed to be monitored and checked way more frequently than we usually would do topoffs by hand anyways. Also, the tubing stretches and wears as it pumps which affects the dosing rate. In hospital IV applications the tubing is swapped out so often it is baisically disposable. If you don't mind me asking, what brand of pump were you using? nanopodreefer, Nate can be reached via PM to "Nate". He is working for a wholesale company and can get some good prices. Also, as I found with this pump, he goes out of his way to take care of you. Sorry dude but I'm not ready, emotionally, to add up the cost yet :razz: - Chad |
It was a Kangaroo medical peristaltic pump, so maybe it just wasn't consistent enough. I could also have been that evaporation rate in my particular home was more variable.
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That's a good point too. I may have been lucky that my nano was in a large government building with air contitionioning too. ???
I bet I would see more fluctuation if my current setup was upstairs in my house where the temperature fluctuates a lot more than it does in the basement. Thanks for the great input on float switches - I'm sure it is the best way to go in certain applications. Cheers, - Chad |
First Corals
Here are a couple zoanthid colonies that I picked up. The photos are under the T5HO actinics. With the daylight bulbs they don't look nearly as nice:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070409058.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070409039.jpg Hope you like, - Chad |
sweet zoos. i gotta get me some o those
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Thanks Justin.
Well I added 20lbs of rock to the tank. You can't see it all in the photos because I put a big piece in the sump because it had some gsp on it. (After scraping off as much as I could, I am trying to kill the rest by keeping it in the dark for a while - just so it doesn't take over my rock-work). Hope you enjoy: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e91/honda919/4.jpg http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e91/honda919/6.jpg - Chad |
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