180G Office Reef Tank

[michika]

Originally Posted by JDigital

Even as I sit here at my desk, I can see the male working away on that mountain, mouthful by mouthful....

Nice!!

He is totally taunting you.

[kien]

Couldn't help but notice Mt. Sand as well. Apparently it's a conversation piece!

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by kien

Couldn't help but notice Mt. Sand as well. Apparently it's a conversation piece!

It actually is the most discussed thing in the tank with my co-workers.. that and the size of the foxface... They think he is big..

[michika]

Originally Posted by JDigital

They think he is big..

If only they knew!

[JDigital]

That face is how it started out when I received my goodies yesterday..





I got around to getting the basics of the install done last night at the office, was there till 10pm on a Friday.. I like to think I'm pretty tech savvy so I was hoping I could set the rest of it up today. The tricky part was going to be setting up the network connectivity as this is a office network and I believe we have DHCP running so that would be a challenge to work around without making any changes to our system.

This is sorta how I felt after 6 hours at the office today.

Well I put the new bulbs in last night, but didn't get a chance to see them as my lights were off for the night.

Gotta say.. I'm kinda disappointed in the color. I was expecting the 15K to be a bit more blue that what they really are.. Wasn't expecting 20K by any means (nor could I find 20K Moguls in Canada) but these are a lot more white than I was hoping for. Very bright though.

I got moving along with the controller today as well but am also a bit frustrated with it for a few reasons.

1. Being that I am connecting this to our company Network which is setup with DHCP. This is giving me all sorts of headaches trying to even FIND the Apex on the network let alone using the iphone app. Needless to say I gave up on it after about 1.5hrs of playing around. I will have to get our IT guys to give me some direction on this next week.

2. I'm not finding the programming as user friendly as I was hoping it would be. Perhaps it is better to do via the web browser.

3. I'm actually more worried about my temperature now that I have a much more accurate reading. It's getting upwards of 81.2F (when I left the office today.. and likely drops 77 in the evenings. I contribute this ALL to the MH lights. I never expected to have temp swings that large with over 200G in water volume in an Air Cond. building. I think right now my only option it to pick up a couple cheapo fans to mount next to the lights to blow the hot air away from the tank.

On the plus side I am happy I DO have a good idea of what my temps are and I can now shut off certain things (like my skimmer) when temps get high. It's nice to see what my pH is on a regular basis too.

Hopefully I can fix a few of these things that are bugging me and stabilize the daily temp swing.

[kien]

Yup, that definitely sounds a lot better in your thread.. Although the halides would fit in my thread too.

Also, nice toys!!

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by kien

Yup, that definitely sounds a lot better in your thread.. Although the halides would fit in my thread too.

Also, nice toys!!

Do you have heat issues kien?

[kien]

Originally Posted by JDigital

Do you have heat issues kien?

Only if my AC is off, or busted like it was last year.. That was part of what caused my wipe out last spring/summer.. we didn't have AC and I didn't have the time to address the heat issue compounded with other issues. Anyway, we finally got a new AC unit last fall and it has kept my temp at around 80 or 81 on most days. 82 on those days where we hit 35 and over. So ya, heat is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed somehow. Mind you, come October it is a total non-issue. Once fall/winter rolls around the AC is off and it is generally cold enough outside to not have to worry about overheating at all.

[kien]

Originally Posted by JDigital

I contribute this ALL to the MH lights. I never expected to have temp swings that large with over 200G in water volume in an Air Cond. building. I think right now my only option it to pick up a couple cheapo fans to mount next to the lights to blow the hot air away from the tank.

My office shuts off the AC over the weekend. When Monday rolls around the office is stinking hot!

My temp swings from 77 to 81 daily during the summer. I keep meaning to bump the low end to 78 or 79 to reduce the swing but I've been too busy (lazy) to get around to that, even though it's a fairly simple thing to do and I could have easily finished doing it in the time it took me to type up this post (that's how lazy I am). I think the important thing is that: 1. the temp doesn't climb too fast, which it typically doesn't. 2. The temp doesn't stay at the high end for too long, again, it doesn't. I hit 80/81 at around 6 or 7pm, and then the halides cut out at 8pm. Anyway, my corals seem to be fine with it.

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by kien

My office shuts off the AC over the weekend. When Monday rolls around the office is stinking hot!

My temp swings from 77 to 81 daily during the summer. I keep meaning to bump the low end to 78 or 79 to reduce the swing but I've been too busy (lazy) to get around to that, even though it's a fairly simple thing to do and I could have easily finished doing it in the time it took me to type up this post (that's how lazy I am). I think the important thing is that: 1. the temp doesn't climb too fast, which it typically doesn't. 2. The temp doesn't stay at the high end for too long, again, it doesn't. I hit 80/81 at around 6 or 7pm, and then the halides cut out at 8pm. Anyway, my corals seem to be fine with it.

I actually gave some thought to raising the low end of the temp up as well, but then thought that the temp would actually get higher (82-84) seeing as your starting temp in the morning is already higher.

I'm currently about the same as you. My low temp of 77-78 in the morning (7am) and raises to about 81-82 by around 4:30-5pm when the lights shut off..