Congrats on the new fish bro. Looking forward to the pics.

New Fish Day!
 

Tonight I added a nice little Dragon Goby.

I need a good hardy sifter and figure this is the one. Normally I would not shop at the "big store" but happened to be there and they were only $19.99. Hard to resist that price. They fed it and it ate without reluctance.

Hopefully he fits into the community.

My six line is definitely investigating the new guy.

pictures picture pictures!!!

Yes. Pictures are needed. Time for a new FTS.

I will try get some in the next few days.

Asterina stars were getting out of hand so I added a Harlequin shrimp.

They were beginning to bug my zoas. SO I needed control.

It has been in there about a week and a half and today I actually saw it eating stars.

The funny thing was... it was eating a starfish off of a hermit crab.

pictures?

RBTA
 

My rose bubble tip has also split for the first time. Once it decides to start roaming, it will be up for grabs.

Under a rock right now and not about to rearrange to remove it. Not going to hurt anybody where it is sitting.

FTS from my iphone
 

There's the FTS :biggrin: Looks good Pat!

crappy phone pic though. outta focus. too lazy to upload from a camera ha ha!

My favorite Acan Lord...

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/910e324e.jpg


The beginnings of my auto water change system...

My reservoir. Soon I will begin the actual system. Plumbing fresh and salt reservoirs to the tank upstairs. The tank is directly above so it should be a snap. With this new build stage comes an " electrical panel" and stand I am building myself. The panel will have switches for isolating devices without unplugging... At say feeding time. Off off off go the circ pumps for target and sump return off for water change etc.

If anyone has ideas or help... It is welcome.

Here is my current mixing tank. 20g food grade. Large return pump and Heater inside. No residue as water ever stops circulating. Currently I do 5 minute water changes. But I stop carry the bucket.

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/1eb7d449.jpg

My favorite Acan Lord...

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/910e324e.jpg


The beginnings of my auto water change system...

My reservoir. Soon I will begin the actual system. Plumbing fresh and salt reservoirs to the tank upstairs. The tank is directly above so it should be a snap. With this new build stage comes an " electrical panel" and stand I am building myself. The panel will have switches for isolating devices without unplugging... At say feeding time. Off off off go the circ pumps for target and sump return off for water change etc.

If anyone has ideas or help... It is welcome.

Here is my current mixing tank. 20g food grade. Large return pump and Heater inside. No residue as water never stops circulating. Currently I do 5 minute water changes. But I still carry the bucket.

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/1eb7d449.jpg

Looking great Patty! Things are starting to grow in nicely! Keep it up!

Cheers,

Chris

Purple Death and LPS
 

A few shots from today. iPhone takes pretty good shots all things considered. Recently discovered the photobucket app so photo updates will be much more timely.

Purple Death Paly
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/58285c37.jpg

LPS Random

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/21e80d64.jpg

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/122d14e1.jpg

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/932b6420.jpg

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/c55472a0.jpg

My little pal. My neon will gladly sit in my hand if offered.

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/6a0fa6a7.jpg

Sketching begins!!
 

The next phase of the build has started. dedicated circuit and electrical panel / custom stand.

I have need to run a dedicated circuit for my tank. Old house with mixed up circuits. In order to work in the kitchen I must shut my tank down too. not ok.

I plan to have switches in place to isolate pumps or shut down for maintenance or feeding.

Anyone have a good source for plans or diagrams?


Involved as well will be a new custom stand.

Run two circuits if you are able. Redundancy in case one circuit breaker or GFCI trips. That way you can split your loads & only lose half in the event of a mishap.

Good plan. I'll run lights and power heads on one and return pumps and heater and skimmer on other. Ensures circulation in case one circuit pops.

Thoughts on that?

I have about 10 devices to plug in. And planning 4 extra openings.

You can run multiple independent GFCIs or combination of unprotected and protected on a single circuit so unless your load is high you won't gain much with two circuits. The redundancy gained with two circuits is really only related to the actual breaker tripping which is highly unlikely and unless you have two return pumps with one on each circuit you haven't gained any additional protection anyway. You can also run 20amp instead of 15amp.

Also keep in mind anytime you modify a component related your household electrical you're technically suppose to bring that area up to code, this can be an issue with older homes.

Please explain. I would assume by installing new wiring and breakers that it would be up to code?

I bought the Alberta electrical codes book, but I don't get it ha ha.

I have a friend who is an industrial electrician. I am hoping to gain some help form him too..

Should be OK if you're installing a completely new circuit in a new area but for example if you were say upgrading a circuit in your kitchen then technically I believe you're suppose to bring up all kitchen electrical to current code. The code now is very different from when your house was built. Safest bet would be to run external conduit right to the fish tank so the new circuit could only be affiliated with the tank itself.

Of course it doesn't necessarily mean much, I doubt you're pulling permit so you don't have to worry about an inspection, it's more if you do some other renos down the road that you do pull permits which anything you do now could come up later.

I'd suggest just running 2 x 15A to the tank and plugging a rack-mount dj switch thingy into each. beats messing with a wall of outlets.

I'd certainly run more than 1 circuit. I tripped mine already so I had the luxury of shuffling things around.

I assume you already have at least one 15 A circuit near your tank now to run things? For safety if not already done, you should be able to have a GFCI receptacle installed in place of the standard receptacle for starters. Then you can think about running a second circuit for redundancy, or even check some of the other receptacles that may be in the same room/area. If you're lucky & they are close enough and on another breaker, then you don't need to do much at all, except maybe install another GFCI. After that, as lastlight suggests, some good quality, heavy duty power bars or dj thingys. If you don't mind opening up the drywall a bit, you could even install a double box in place of a single box and have four receptacles where there were only two before. Could be a code issue though as sphelps suggests. Sometimes what you find when you start opening boxes is not pretty, particularly in older homes.

https://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1...04a.JPG?psid=1

Some scary stuff I found in the basement hallway. Found some more in my bathroom for the light above the sink last week. Some days I wonder how my place hasn't burned down yet. I've got most of the electrical replaced except some of the circuits running through exterior walls.

My basement has a false ceiling. I have to run new lines but will be the easiest part.

The current plug is in the living room but when it was done in the 70s they wired it to the kitchen circuit.

Not sure what you are asking about with being near the tank... Unless you mean the plug in?

There must be more than one plug in receptacle in the living room other than the one you're using now? How far away from the tank? If too far, then no good since you don't want a long extension cord running along the floor.

Might actually be a good thing that the current one is wired to the kitchen circuit though, because chances are, some of the other plug ins in your living room are on a separate circuit. If so and they're not already loaded up to the allowable power limit, you could run another branch from one of those to a new plug near the tank and have the redundancy of two circuits without having to run a whole new line including circuit breaker.

Probably a good idea to have your electrician buddy to have a look see before you get too far into anything.

This is partially being done out if necessity. I am doing some renos and power
In areas needs turn off.

The plug being used is the only feasable one. Again. I am running directly from the breaker box.

I'm in a similar situation. I ran the electrical to my fishroom first and then ran an extension cord from the fishroom through the floor to my tank upstairs. So the tank upstairs is on a dedicated circuit and I can shut all the other breakers off throughout my reno. Nothing's reliably labelled on my box either so this has made life much easier.

I've since drywalled around and finished around this cord going into my fishroom. It'll have to be cutoff at the end and just left in the walls at this point when I'm done lol.

I plan to run right into a gangbox or whatnot that will be built into the stand.

Most likely the switches with a plug combo and one for each device. So I run the device plug into the cabinet, plug it in and flick a switch.

No extension cords what so ever. Also plan to seal the cabinet from moisture or potential tank leaks.

is this what you mean?

http://www.topdjgear.com/gemsp19racmo.html

Corals
 

Quality is not tops as taken on my iPhone. Much quicker to update this way. Sorry in advance to any critics ;)

German Blue Polyp Digi (from Dez)
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/ea454a22.jpg

Birdsnest
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/92d3fc1c.jpg

Unknown
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/9906dee4.jpg

Candy cane
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/abd20be4.jpg

Gorgonian. Polyps are never out but today I fed cyclopeeze and BANG! Polyps.
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/e4d93fc2.jpg

Orange tip torch
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/699b2517.jpg

Brain coral also loving frozen cyclopeeze
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/b7f393c0.jpg

Acan... Also feeding time.
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/63b5c08f.jpg

Greman Digi again
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/2174a36d.jpg

AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS OF RUNNING BIO-PELLETS.... I can finally say "I think they are working"

I used to have a small cyano issue on my sand bed. I have gone through three sand sifters (rainford, sleeper, dragon) as a means to reduce it.

NOW, I have no sifters at all AND no cyano. Really not much algae to speak of either!

Any thoughts?

What about algae on the glass? Does it prevent that?

No ha ha! I wish.

I should say... none of the usual nuisance type algaes.

I think glass algae is inevitable.

:twised:

good news....

ya glass algae is unavoidable.

My new digi. Thanks Snappy!

Opened last night within hours of being home.

Bad iPhone pic. Sorry. :wink:

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/cf166f98.jpg

Very nice frag Paddy, looks healthy.

Wow, that's purty
I am having so much tank envy with everyone's posts
I hope my new tank arrives soon

Nicer in person. This was an iPhone pic. Polyps are lavender in color.

And Jason it's healthy alright. Fat!

Hopefully it likes my tank.

Coral
 

My Brain under Blue+

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u.../BrainBlue.jpg

My Monti... was given to me a Poker Star... but I do not believe it is. Anyone have a positive ID?

I was thinking Rainbow Monti.


http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...yob/Monti3.jpg

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...yob/Monti2.jpg

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...yob/Monti1.jpg

Found this on the web which I believe is accurate.

Pokerstar monti
Rainbow monti

Nice pics btw, you get a new camera or something?