AquaticEngineer

Reviving this thread since DrunkReefer ended up getting my coldwater cube tank and it looks like it may need a R134A recharge. It has I think what the call a "schrader" valve for the fitting on it and it needs only 10 ounces of coolant. Think we could bleed off the system and make some connection fittings to refill it using a small can of automobile AC recharge? The only thing I dont know how to do would be to completely empty the system and create a vaccuum in it so it takes a full charge. Any ideas? I hit up Taylor (PnkrckLives) about refilling it using automotive means, so we'll see

So now that I have both of my 110's up and running, I've decided to make one of them a NPS deepwater biotope and the other a tidal Oregon Coast biotope. There is a little bit of cross over in some of the inhabitants but not much. This'll give me a few more options on livestock and tank design. They will still be used eventually as the powerplants for filtration and cooling on the indoor tank. Oh yeah, and the monster display tank inside the house will still be the pylon idea

60 degree optic is in Definitely makes a huge difference on the focus of the light spread. Testing it side by side against a 400w halide this weekend, and then new par ratings next week. Gonna finish the wiring and housing for the light this weekend and then there will be photos

Well we kind of were between the Rockstars, cigarettes and smell of smashed mussels.

You must mean these AWESOME PICTURES right? I think its funny that we didnt even think to take pictures because we were to excited to get down there, lol. That's right, I'm the most hardcore tidepooler on this BEACH!!! lol.

As much as I want Seriously though, It depends on what your keeping. I only have 4 fish in the entire main tank right now, so the bioload is pretty minimal. The majority of the livestock is small inverts and anemones really.

New Pics of when we went colleciting. Not that great since we forgot to take pics until we were leaving since we were so excited to get down there and start collecting lol. :lol: That's right, I'm the most hardcore tidepooler on this BEACH!!! lol.

Quick question for you guys, what other things would you recommend for gear to go tide pool collecting? I already have: Neoprene stockingfoot Chest Waders Knee Pads Insulated backpack hand shovel Rock hammer Chisel waterproof flashlight water shoes and river sandals w/covered toe Lots of ziplocks and tupperware for short term retention Coolers and buckets w/ lids drilled for airlines for long term retention (ie the day and drive home) Power inverter and air pump with gang valves A couple large strainers for use as holding stations while collecting in one spot Any other suggestions or ideas for me?

I love the color choice and trim on the stand Do you have a wider angle shot of that shows the wall and orientation in the room? I am thinking of painting the wall behind my display tank, the back of the tank, and the stand matching black so It gives and even taller look than it already will be.

Thought I'd share the out look for my upcoming collection trip Here's the weather report: Partly Cloudy High 54°F Precip 10% chance Wind: From NW at 9 mph Tides for Barview starting with April 20, 2011. Low 9:03 AM -1.6 Tides for Garibaldi starting with April 20, 2011. Low 9:18 AM -1.7 Tides for Miami Cove starting with April 20, 2011. Low 9:33 AM -1.6 Tides for Bay City starting with April 20, 2011. Low 10:07 AM -1.4 Tides for Tillamook, Hoquarten Slough starting with April 20, 2011. Low 11:22 AM -1.0

All three of these are Greenlings, first one is a female Kelp Greenling, the second is a male Kelp Greenling, and the third is either a juvenile Kelp Greenling or a Rock Greenling. Took these photos at an asian market near Powell and 205.

Stopped by a local seafood market and picked up 6 live spot prawns for $4.95 Got em drip acclimated and in the tank but they are all still getting used to the new surroundings. I'll snap some pics of mine tomorrow, but in case you don't know what these are here is some images I pulled off of google.

These were done through water. I'll do both dry and wet measurements once we get the optics and more time to take measurements.

I have to re-wire the whole setup because I fried the converter plug that was running the fan when we were testing it. But it gives me the chance to move the LED driver into its own little prject box closer to the plug in so that the only thing sitting over the tank will be the LED, heatsink, and fan to cool it.

We are going to see how it looks with the optics and then decide if we want to change bulbs. It is a 6500k white LED, I think the next step on bulbs will be the 20k bulb and see if that is too much and then we will know if we need to supplement it, or step back to the 12k. Heres links to those bulbs: 50W 20K LED BULB $51.99 50W 12K LED BULB 50W 20K LED BULB FOR A LITTLE CHEAPER $39.99

Thats the awesome part is that even if you did buy 7 of them, you'd still be under $400 and only using 350w of power total and have 7 overlapping areas pushing 300 par at 8".

Well we got a PAR meter under the 50w LED last night and here's what we got: 8" it was putting out 300 par. 12" down it dropped to about 180 16" down it dropped to 100 or so. Keep in mind that this ratings were measured without any optics on it, and right now this light is casting almost as much light out to the side as it is straight down. I should have a 60 degree optic sometime this week which will direct all of that escaping light downward and then we will retest it again.

I like it too, I dont know if you can see it in the video but there is a ton of over hang on the light pattern. You can see it hitting the wall when I have it anywhere besides a few inches over the tank. So I'm hoping the optic will let me put the light more like 2-3ft over the tank and get the same spread. I dont know what all spectrums for sure they make them in, but they do sell on Ebay a 10k, 12k, and 20k. I dont know how true the spectrums are though and if you go with one of these as a primary light I would invest in a higher quality bulb like one from Bridgelux.

The light that is normally on the tank in the video is a very simply water proof LED strip light. The one I'm holding over the tank is a single DIY 50w LED with no optics on it yet. Total cost as is: $55. http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg100/Stuwobbe/?action=view&current=VID_20110410_214245.mp4

These ones are not dimmable. They do sell dimmable ones, but they are a bit more expensive, I wanna say right around $100 a piece on ebay just for the dimmable driver.

Got it wired up an made a quick disconnect power cable to run the driver and the fan. HERE'S THE LINK TO THE VIDEO

This heatsink is designed for the 10-100w sized multichip LEDS. Its designed be be used with a fan on it instead of having a large surface area to dissipate the heat on. This one is definitely less efficient than using a larger heatsink, but I was going for a very compact design overall so it was a tradeoff I was willing to make.