400 gallon project

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Love the Vlamingi....beautiful fish. And the gorgonians.

[untamed]

In the Vlamingi photo you can see how that gorgonian is beginning to direct it's growth upward. A few arms are budding new arms vertically, while others have just decided to make the turn.

When I secured that gorgonian in the tank, it had a couple of arms that were nearly 2.5 feet long. I was unable to make it stand vertically because those arms broke the surface. So it ended up sort of angled, which has caused the growth direction change I just mentioned.

[untamed]

[Phanman]

Im always so amazed at your tank man... cudos!

[untamed]

Yup, sometimes it seems everyday there is something unique going on somewhere in the aquarium. It would seem that last night the sea hare laid eggs.

This egg mass is about 3" in diametre and maybe 3/4" thick. As usual, a picture does this more description than I ever could...


That grey and black speckled blob visible below the eggs is Mom (and Dad!?)

Apparently, sea hares are hermaphrodites...but I'm unsure if this means that they can actually fertilize their own eggs. Under a microscope, I can't yet determine if the eggs are dividing yet. We'll look again tomorrow.

It also seems that they do this at the end of their lives, so I'll have to keep a close eye on the health of the sea hare over the next while.

[mojo]

Looking amazing, and I'm proud for this to be my first post on Canreef. Early on you mentioned you were going to program your light rack to raise and lower over a several hour period - is this in place or did you abandon that idea? Also, do you keep your Aquatronica connected to your PC 24/7? Are you using the Ethernet module?

Thanks,
Mike

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Originally Posted by mojo

Looking amazing, and I'm proud for this to be my first post on Canreef. Early on you mentioned you were going to program your light rack to raise and lower over a several hour period - is this in place or did you abandon that idea? Also, do you keep your Aquatronica connected to your PC 24/7? Are you using the Ethernet module?

Thanks,
Mike

Welcome to Canreef

[untamed]

Originally Posted by mojo

Looking amazing, and I'm proud for this to be my first post on Canreef. Early on you mentioned you were going to program your light rack to raise and lower over a several hour period - is this in place or did you abandon that idea?

Thanks,
Mike

The aquatronica has the capability to control the light lifting by second and do a daily cycle... but I have yet to pursue that idea. There are a few hurdles to that plan:

1) As the lights lift, they hit the front door hinges about 1/2 way in their travel. (a design error on my part) That's no problem when I'm doing the lifting, but it would limit the automatic lifting to only 1 foot. I've since decided that 1 foot might still be enough to simulate a daily intensity cycle, so that's OK

2) The actuator has "up" and "down" buttons. The AQT can only power things "on" and "off". Making that translation would involve rewiring the actuator controller. I'm not sure I would want to relinquish total control of the lights to the AQT because I raise and lower these things all the time and it is easier to push the buttons that it is to touch the touchscreen (AQT software would require this to be a "right click", which involves more than just a quick touch.

3) Finally, there is the difficulty of the controller getting "lost" and not knowing what level the lights are actually at. If I were to manually move them during the daily cycle, the controller could drive the lights too high or too low and cause unpredictable damage or problems. This is really the most significant hurdle to the idea. There's no feedback in the system to tell the AQT where the lights actually are. A number of optical or pressure switches could be built in, but at that point it is just asking for trouble!

[untamed]

Originally Posted by mojo

Also, do you keep your Aquatronica connected to your PC 24/7? Are you using the Ethernet module?

Thanks,
Mike

Yes, I do keep the AQT connected via computer 24/7. There is a good thread about this on Reefcentral...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1292495

It seems that the AQT was not properly designed for this, while they never state that you should NOT do this. Suffice to say there are a few things that don't work properly when the AQT is connected to a computer.

No, I do not use the Ethernet module. I use "LogMeIn" to remotely access my system when necessary. Works perfectly and it was free.