Fishroom Remodel Has Begun!

[titus'reef]

 

he was happy in many tank. I was the mad one. 

[obrien.david.j]

Good looking fish!

[danlu_gt]

Very cool build!  Sorry if this was already covered but I didn't see it.  How are you venting your fish room?  Are you venting with negative pressure in the fish room or do you have some sort of balanced venting system?

[obrien.david.j]

19 hours ago, danlu_gt said:

Very cool build!  Sorry if this was already covered but I didn't see it.  How are you venting your fish room?  Are you venting with negative pressure in the fish room or do you have some sort of balanced venting system?

You're asking a good question, with a couple of aspects to the answer.

Situation:

• Display tank is in the house.   
  • Not shown in this thread very well, I run a push/pull vent system.     Fish room has blower, blowing air through wall and into the tank canopy.  Fish room has 2nd pipe with fan actively drawing from inside the canopy back into the fish room.   Idea - keep the house dryer.  (used to run Metal Halides, this system also kept the house from being hot)

 

• Fish Room itself, which is an extension of the garage.
  • 1st Dedicated door into the garage.  Generally I leave open, or open a crack.  Except on cold nights.   Garage gets opened/closed, and it's a large volume of air.
  • 2nd - fishroom has a 2nd door, going to the back yard.   Mounted an exhaust fan on that door, blowing OUT.  Haven't run it in the winter time (too cold), but generally let it run either on a timer or full time the rest of the year.   Was a blower (noisy), found this new model (in post below) and it's AWESOME.  Quiet.  blows more air, and variable speed.  Easy.

•  

[obrien.david.j]

Sad Day.   Vlamingi must have jumped overnight, pushing the tank screen out of the way.  Even though it's 2.5' x 2.5', it's not very heavy and not secured.  I'll have to secure it next.

He was healthy, great eater, had grown a bunch.   Only think I can of is my rockwork.  I'm running very minimal structure, with not much hiding space for a fish his size.    Going to fix that too, for remaining fish.

This is not what you want to find:

 

 

[albertareef]

Wow - sorry to see that David.  You have had some pretty bad luck with jumpers lately for a covered tank.  Hope the changes keep everyone else safe.

[obrien.david.j]

8 minutes ago, albertareef said:

Wow - sorry to see that David.  You have had some pretty bad luck with jumpers lately for a covered tank.  Hope the changes keep everyone else safe.

This is the first time in >30 years of reef keeping I've put covers on a tank.  (yes, I've lost some fish - but nothing at this rate)    The more I think of it, the more I lean towards my negative aquascape.  This is also the first time I've tried it.  all previous tanks have been Wall-o-Boulders.   (with plenty of caves/hiding places)

[albertareef]

2 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

The more I think of it, the more I lean towards my negative aquascape.  This is also the first time I've tried it.  all previous tanks have been Wall-o-Boulders.   (with plenty of caves/hiding places)

This is an interesting observation.  I tend to favor a "dense" aquascape myself and have an uncovered tank.  Definitely have lost some fish but tend to be the smaller "jumpers" that you would expect to try their "luck" at some point.  I just am partial to the look despite the husbandry challenges and current preferences for the more "open" design.  Probably a good thing since I tend to also like to keep a significant fish population.

[obrien.david.j]

Today's update, Changed the LED spectrum from "break in period all blue" to "longer term intended AB+."   Upped the light intensity to 30% (has been 10%).  Not the final values, but need to increase slowly.

These are Radion G4 Pro's.

 

[obrien.david.j]

On 2/3/2021 at 3:29 PM, albertareef said:

This is an interesting observation.  I tend to favor a "dense" aquascape myself and have an uncovered tank.  Definitely have lost some fish but tend to be the smaller "jumpers" that you would expect to try their "luck" at some point.  I just am partial to the look despite the husbandry challenges and current preferences for the more "open" design.  Probably a good thing since I tend to also like to keep a significant fish population.

And last night, I took my nice open/negative space "lagoon" end of the tank - and made it a "Tang"le rock pile.    I loosely stacked rocks to make multiple entrances/exists, and a few different sub sections.   Blue tang dove right in, and this morning saw a number of fish sleeping in parts of it.  May have to rethink if I need to actually make and glue a structure.

New Pile of Rocks

 

Even the Diamond Goby liked it

 

[titus'reef]

I know that Diamond Goby, 😂 

 

With the new minimalistic aquascape we do this days wish are lacking hiding places. I see that in my tank as there is not much places to hide. Good for flow and coral placement but fish struggle with it. 
 

[SuncrestReef]

My fish all sleep in the multiple caves in my aquascape.  It also seems to provide brief resting spaces during the day to get out of the non-stop flow. I will definitely be sure to create lots of hiding places when I rebuild my tank.

[SuncrestReef]

On 2/4/2021 at 3:25 PM, obrien.david.j said:

Today's update, Changed the LED spectrum from "break in period all blue" to "longer term intended AB+."   Upped the light intensity to 30% (has been 10%).  Not the final values, but need to increase slowly.

These are Radion G4 Pro's.

 

What is your target intensity as you finish ramping up?  I had the Radions at 80% mounted 9" above my tank before switching to ReeFi.  Here were the PAR readings with that setting:

[obrien.david.j]

15 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said:

What is your target intensity as you finish ramping up?  I had the Radions at 80% mounted 9" above my tank before switching to ReeFi.  Here were the PAR readings with that setting:

 

Funny you should ask.  I broke out the PAR meter tonight, and took three different measurements.

1. Current AB+ at 30%  :  Top of rock stack was 176, Middle of the open sand bed on floor of tank was 131
2. ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 50%  :  Top of rock stack was 272
3. ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 100%  :  Top of rock stack was 541, Middle of sand bed was 537

LED's are 7" over water surface, with diffusers (4 of 6).   Top of rock stack is ~14" below surface of the water.  Sounds like I'm going to be ending up around the 60% intensity range.   

But today, even at 30%, tank is Bright -- still very white.  Need to start planting, and growing.

 

[SuncrestReef]

2 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Funny you should ask.  I broke out the PAR meter tonight, and took three different measurements.

1. Current AB+ at 30%  :  Top of rock stack was 176, Middle of the open sand bed on floor of tank was 131
2. ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 50%  :  Top of rock stack was 272
3. ALL LEDs 100%, overall intensity 100%  :  Top of rock stack was 541, Middle of sand bed was 537

LED's are 7" over water surface, with diffusers (4 of 6).   Top of rock stack is ~14" below surface of the water.  Sounds like I'm going to be ending up around the 60% intensity range.   

But today, even at 30%, tank is Bright -- still very white.  Need to start planting, and growing.

 

Which PAR meter do you have?  My measurements were from the Neptune PAR meter.

[obrien.david.j]

32 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said:

Which PAR meter do you have?  My measurements were from the Neptune PAR meter.

Yup, all my measurements are from the Neptune PAR meter.  (I won it at a macna a few years ago.)

[SuncrestReef]

2 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Yup, all my measurements are from the Neptune PAR meter.  (I won it at a macna a few years ago.)

OK, I just wanted to be sure we were comparing apples to apples.

[SuncrestReef]

On 12/26/2020 at 9:30 AM, obrien.david.j said:

Holiday's Update;   Used one of the nice days to clean the salt water mixing container, and the rest of the time is all on the stand.  Mounting power supplies, and painting the hood/skin.   1st coat of primer is on.

Pro Tip, scrub brush on a stick didn't really clean the mixing container.  But Muriatic Acid does a fine job!

 

Here's one more pro tip when cleaning the mixing tank:

I cover the PVC fittings at the bottom with heavy-duty bubble wrap and a zip tie because it's very easy to damage it when maneuvering the tank around in the driveway.  This protects the union threads from getting chipped or cracked.

[obrien.david.j]

18 hours ago, SuncrestReef said:

Here's one more pro tip when cleaning the mixing tank:

I cover the PVC fittings at the bottom with heavy-duty bubble wrap and a zip tie because it's very easy to damage it when maneuvering the tank around in the driveway.  This protects the union threads from getting chipped or cracked.

Nice technique.

My approach was to use a 2nd union, and make a threaded plug for it.   (threaded-slip adapter, with slip cap glued on it - the white piece)   Then I could unthread the plug, leave the 1/2 union in place to protect the threads.   thread the plug back in, and the container holds water again.  or Acid/water mix.

(Yes, it's a different brand of union.  not ideal.  but it's what I had, and It Fits)

 

 

[obrien.david.j]

Little more PAR testing today.

• Display tank, top of rock stack:  144
• Frag tank : 243

Will need to keep ramping up display tank intensity.

Display Tank

 

Frag Tank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[obrien.david.j]

SnowMagedon has been good for some basic tank maintenance.   Yesterday I installed two diffusers I picked up from @Bicyclebill in mid January.  The middle pair of Radions were missing diffusers, and just got around to installing them.

Thanks Bill!

[SuncrestReef]

So much better with diffusers!

[obrien.david.j]

Another Milestone hit...  Original display tank, hood, and stand have been sold and picked up.   I refinished this stand in the late 90's, built the hood when our son was born (now 23 yrs old), and the tank is the 3rd on this stand.  Had it built to spec in 2006.   It's a good setup, and happy to have it goto a new home.  (and happy for the space back in my garage)

Thanks @Yourmedic, enjoy!

 

 

[obrien.david.j]

Latest Addition Completed, Foldable stainless shelves made out of plastic cutting boards with drip groves.

Problem statement:  equipment room is long and narrow.   No place to set things.

 

Shelves to the rescue! - Black to match the stand.

 

And White to match the wall.

 

[obrien.david.j]

Update of the day:  I got a question, Has Coraline Algae started.   Answer, Yes.  (snail was already covered, when I moved it over from the Frag tanks)