The purpose of this forum is to allow people to showcase their tanks, and allow other uses to ask questions on equipment, livestock, methodology etc.
Specifically for Large Tanks with a Volume of 800 Litres and Above
Thanks Guys, good to have some others following along for the journey! This is my first proper journal so I'll try to be good and update! Been wanting to do a log on here literally since I started keeping fish many years ago
No luck on finding the calibration data for the dosing pumps, but I need to check the second doser I bought so I'll probably do the same process so I have a record of it's accuracy and precision.
I've had some unexpected and what I would consider major issues with the CTlite's... they don't pair to my phone, which is a Samsung Galaxy S8 I've contacted Aquadepot, who also distributes products like Neptune and Salifert and they've put me through to the company directly, who has not responded in over a week. I'm considering just getting a refund as they are useless to me in the current state. The alternative I'd be looking at, which I could have bought instead was AI Hydra's. From memory I think the Ct-lites could output about 250 par to the floor of a 2 foot tank, most of which comes from the blue and purple channels they offer.
What do you guys think of Ai 26's vs 52's? I'm in the middle of designing the light stand so I can't really finalise that until I have the light specifications. I'm trying to make it a universal model so it fits a variety of brands. Here is what I was thinking:
The plan with this or whatever hood design is chosen, was that the part that holds the light directly, will be painted with something called Krylon Mirror Coat Paint, which will basically turn the material into a high quality reflector and should give a reasonably detectable PAR boost = less power waste and lower power bills . It also should leave a nice silvery finish on the part we look at. Contrasting this against something like a black will go nicely I think and create a little texture to the hood, rather than make a boring box. I'm currently debating whether or not to design a fully CNC routed sheet that will can be bent (allowing any pattern I like). On the sides I also want to incorporate some kind of screw joint, which will allow the height of the part that holds the light to rise or lower, allowing the spread of the light to be adjustable after mounting. There's a couple of reasons I choose to put a hood:
1: The bracing around the tank doesn't allow the standard light brackets the ability to mount 2: I don't want to see the intense light from the light fixture itself - this is why I got the idea to make a reflector that beams down this otherwise wasted light.
The problem I'm having, or just procrastination is how I will do the stand to match and suit the dexion frame. For both the hood and stand I think I'm leaning towards acrylic/polycarbonate for both cost and water resistance. Guys have quoted me 3K for a polyurethane cabinet, which seems ridiculous in my opinion.
I'd like to incorporate something of this texture, but not sure how viable it is and how I would explain this to the fabricators:
Have just bought a Jebao DP4 dosing pump - and have the same annoyance over the mounting of the pumps.
Have come across your mod - to flip the tubes to mount it vertically...how has this worked for you - have you had any issues with the pumps drawing from the containers this way?
I know I know, it's been a long time with no updates... let's just say I was thrown about by a few less than reputable fish stores for months and months and didn't back off until they adhered to their warranty and statutory requirements. Both instances resulted in NSW Fair Trading getting involved (who are essentially useless mediators if the business refuses to co-operate), with one almost going to tribunal and the other being charged back for fraud by the bank. It's a shame this seems a growing trend that businesses in Sydney think they can get away with sub-par standards until they are threatened with people who actually know their rights. Needless to say it's no-wonder people leave the hobby.
So I was debating whether or not to move interstate, which meant the tank had to go on hold but now that I'm back in action in Sydney progress is moving forward again. I had two primary issues that needed to be resolved with the tank:
The drain line was very fiddly and wouldn't restart properly in the event of a power out - neither the sump nor the tank would overflow, but the pump would eventually out pump the water return and gurgle which isn't ideal long term and makes a lot of noise until someone could fix the flow altering the vales.
The cabinetry needed to be built around the metal rack
So as from above I tried numerous variations to fix the drain problem and none were successful. The issue fundamentally came down to the need for air in the siphon line in order to restart the line and then close off the air when the siphon was active to keep noise down. This was noticed because the only way I could restart the system with similar flow rates and not altering the drain valves was by opening the air barbs to allow air in the line and then shutting it back off to silence it and keep the siphon going. The one thing this wouldn't fix was the uneven flow regime back into the sump. It was bizzare that even with a fully opened valve, the siphon just wouldn't restart unless air was allowed in the line. Then I remembered the bean animal design with an air tube used in the water... I didn't quite understand what was going here as the bean animal design has one dedicated siphon line, another with the air line and then the emergency line. So I proceeded to put this air tube in the tank so that it would be submerged when the tank was full and emerged (exposed to air) when the power was out. Low and behold, the solution was found. I've attached an image of someone else's tank to illustrate the three lines in bean animals setup.
The only reason I can foresee as to why the siphon wouldn't restart is due to the pressure of water required to force air out being too high - this would be why designs typically have the siphon line placed notably lower than the other lines so there is a water buildup which creates enough pressure to restart and push the air out after a power out event. Alternatively I imagine that you could also put a hole in the sump pipe for the same return line provided it will be submerged when running and emerged when off.
As for the cabinet issue, after contacting a few trades with both never contacting me back or bothering to give me an actual price, I have decided to leave it as is for the time being.
So this means I'll need to sell off my cichlid breeding setup, which could take a little longer. It's good that I have a relative who's running an SPS tank where I could see first hand a lot of the issues faced with the stony corals... namely that I must invest in a quarantine system to prevent bugs entering the main system i.e. AEFW lol.
Are there any groups still running in Sydney for marine topics?
Good luck with it all John. I hope the problems you were having are soon a thing of the past.
As far as Sydney groups are concerned. You should look into joining MASS (Marine Aquarium Society of Sydney). If you send a PM to Sailfin (Wayne) he'll let you know how to join up.
MASS is actually having a meet at Bespoke Aquarium this Sunday. You could head over and say g'day.
I've contacted Aquadepot, who also distributes products like Neptune and Salifert and they've put me through to the company directly, who has not responded in over a week. I'm considering just getting a refund as they are useless to me in the current state. The alternative I'd be looking at, which I could have bought instead was AI Hydra's. From memory I think the Ct-lites could output about 250 par to the floor of a 2 foot tank, most of which comes from the blue and purple channels they offer.
keep it coming 
