Greg's 75g

[gregzz4]

Tonight was a total-loss for studying
I opened some paper mail and ended up dealing with some personal crap until 8pm
By then I'd decided it was OK to put some time into modifying the canopy

I've realized some limitations and see I need access doors on the ends, so here's what I have so far ...
Doors are cut, sanded, primed and painted inside
Tomorrow, right before studying, they will get a coat of black on the outside and ends. Then another coat of black after studying before bed



For my home-made food, so far I'm having success using a Foodsaver jar/can lid on a small glass container thingy
Each night I open it briefly to grab a cube and I'm not yet seeing any signs of freezer burn ...



And, because I was growing very tired of dealing with a True Union ball valve to adjust the return flow/overflow level in the DT, I finally (after 6 months) got around to re-doing the plumbing with a Gate Valve that I bought, you guessed it, 6 months ago







The 3rd nem has moved into a spot that I am sure it's not going to like long-term
I'm hoping it doesn't move into any SPS territory anytime soon as I, have I said it before ?, don't have time for extra stuff
Jeez, I almost forgot to add the nem pic
I gotta get some sleep ....

The third nem is the one inside the overhang, underneath and to the right
It used to be between the two others
And, the big one looks like it's going to split again



So much to do, and so little time to sleep
Thanks for looking
I hope to have better updates once I'm caught up with, well, life

[mrhasan]

This is possibly the most well sorted out medium sized tank in here Greg I have always stalked your tank thread but its time to come out and say the truth: its dazzling

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

This is possibly the most well sorted out medium sized tank in here Greg I have always stalked your tank thread but its time to come out and say the truth: its dazzling

You must have my tank confused with someone else's, but I'll take the nice words. Thank you Raied

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

You must have my tank confused with someone else's, but I'll take the nice words. Thank you Raied

Not really. I haven't seen anyone putting so much effect on what's outside the tank itself

[gregzz4]

Disappointing update for me, but maybe it'll help someone else ...

The home-made food is going to have to stay in the freezer for now

Our Bangaii (Banggai?) has never really eaten the new food, so last night I added a small amount of Mysis for him
Now tonight everyone is being picky about the new food
All they want is the Mysis

I'm currently making a new batch of food;
4oz Mysis
4 cubes cyclopeeze (just 'cause it's what's left)
4 cubes plankton (same reason)
Some garlic and omega aminos

I think it was too soon to try the new food blend as nobody is full-grown yet
I hope to use the food when they get bigger, but who knows
Nobody is over 2-1/2" , so I chopped the mix fine
It's probably too small for bigger fish and I'll have to give it to J&L or something ...

FM

[gregzz4]

I took the home-made food to J&L and all their fish ate it up like it was a last meal !
Good thing as I don't want to waste it

I'm gonna stick with the mysis diet for now with my fishies and hope they will become more hungry/adapt to a different diet once they are bigger

If you've been following, you'll know that after I installed the new light surround, I found some limitiations with it
While I was building it I thought, Nah, there's no way I'll need more room than 33" of access, but while I was cutting the wood I was asking Myself about having doors on the ends. Myself told me there's no problem, there's lots of room, so I carried on

Well, it turns out that Myself was quite wrong and I needed doors on the ends
I tried to access an area last week and couldn't get to it, so Myself shouldn't plan stuff without consulting Me first

Here's the mods I made
Sorry for the poor lighting shots
I'll get better pics up one day ...

[Coralgurl]

You should have consulted with "I". You see "I" always knows best, me and myself seem to forget who's boss! Keep that in mind next time you start second guessing!

Nice work as always!

[Rice Reef]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Disappointing update for me, but maybe it'll help someone else ...

The home-made food is going to have to stay in the freezer for now

FM

Greg, maybe your fish don't like your cooking?

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Rice Reef

Greg, maybe your fish don't like your cooking?

Ya, that's it

I've had the Flu since Sat, so I stayed home Mon thinking about the auto-feeder, and Tues afternoon I got lucky with a wandering RBTA. I poked it a bit and it floated, so off to J&L I went for a store credit

Tonight my brains were still scrambled from a left-over fever so, once again, no studying
Next week, I promise myself, I'll hit the books HARD

So, I got the auto-feeder mounted tonight
Thanks to my wife, Donna, for suggesting the final location

It's an Eheim, with the little fan. If you're familiar with it, you know it's best not mounted inside a canopy as it can, besides getting splashed etc, cause the food to clump as the fan will draw in moist air from the tank

Well, after weeks of thinking about it, this is what I came up with

A 3/4" Forstner bit for the hole and some bent acrylic for a mount




Some fibreglass bugscreen to keep the fan clean, and some foam to keep it airtight, so there's no tank air entering the container
In the first pic you can 'just' make out the red fan on the feeder
I used 2 layers of 3/16" foam, so there's lots of room for air to enter
The foam holds the mesh in place against the door




Another piece of acrylic covered in sunscreen to keep the feeder from getting too much Sun from the lights. Could cook the electronics, or cook the food ?




Mounted and ready to go (forgot to re-position the light-blocking foam around the hinges before this pic)
I used the factory screw to mount the feeder through the acrylic
You'll see I made the mount a bit sloped (food is heavy near the end of the container)
This is so the container doesn't run out of food when it's still partly full



Easy access for re-filling or re-programming



Many online have complained about this particular feeder being too touchy, and I agree
After some testing, I decided to tape the trap door in the position I like, and then I taped some paper over the end so I could get the 'perfect for me' amount of food
I was careful not to leave any tape exposed to food so there is no clumping



I will adjust the food as needed, but for now it seems to work great for our small fishies and Donna can now not worry about the poor guys going hungry @ lunch if she's tied up with work