SuncrestReef

Here’s a video I recorded of a pod under high magnification:

11 hours ago, Lexinverts said:

Hi everyone,

We are looking forward to having our next meeting on Sunday April 23rd from 1-3 pm at Woody's Seahorse Aquarium and Supply.

106 NE Russet St, Portland, OR 97211

We'll have food and drink and lots of good reefing conversation. We're planning a fragging demonstration for the meeting (more on this soon), and we will be raffling off a ReeFi Uno 2.0 Pro!

Club members will get a free raffle ticket when they arrive to the meeting.

We'll post updates to this thread as we finalize plans.

If you think you will come please RSVP below so we can bring enough food.

Hope to see you all there!

Just to clarify:  Paid Supporting Members of PNWMAS will receive one free raffle ticket (or two for Family subscribers), which is one of the benefits of your supporting membership at all club events.  Otherwise, raffle tickets are available for purchase at $5 each or 5 for $20.  If you're not yet a paid Supporting Member, you can sign up following the instructions posted here:

13 hours ago, melanie said:

@BeardUp do you know if I can get the new base unit, if the trident will work? If I am understanding correctly this base unit kind of is an upgrade for the classic without having to buy a whole new system.

Yes, that base unit is all you need.  The Trident will work with it, and you can connect all of your other modules to it.

Just be aware you’ll need to reprogram everything because there’s no seamless upgrade process.

One more thing I'd like to point out:  The Apex is only capable of reporting on a single alarm condition at a time, which I consider a major design flaw.  When using alarms defined on the probe settings screen, there's no way to prioritize which alarm is more important when multiple conditions exist, and it will only report one issue.  For this reason, I prefer to place all the alarm conditions in the program code under the EmailAlm output.  Because the Apex processes all those commands from top to bottom with the last one that's True being the condition that is reported, this allows you to place the low-priority conditions at the top and the high-priority conditions at the bottom.  I explain this strategy in my Apex Alarms tutorial:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/neptune-apex-programming-tutorials-part-6-alarms.707/

I'd highly recommend you convert your current alarm settings to program code rather than using the probe settings.  It's a small pain to make the change, but is a safer approach in my opinion.

1 hour ago, shaywood said:

Hello. Thanks for the reply.  My EmailAlm is set to Auto.  I think below is what you are requesting.  I see no reference to the pH.  If I need to include it here, why are there options to toggle alarm settings in the Inputs screen?

It's no problem that the code under the EmailAlm output does not mention the pH.  The Apex can trigger alarms both from the program code as well as the settings on the probe itself.

The reason I wanted to see the program code is in case something there might override what you had set for pH, but that does not appear to be the case.

Hopefully a reboot will resolve the missing alarm issue.  You could try a quick test by changing the pH threshold to be higher than the current reading, then see if it reports an alarm.

17 hours ago, shaywood said:

Thanks for checking.  The pH was below the set point for several hours.  It's odd there's nothing in the alarm log. I just rebooted the APEX and got an a separate alert about a pump being off. Weird. Maybe it's just related to pH.

Please post the program code from the EmailAlm output.  Also, did you verify your EmailAlm dashboard slider was set to AUTO?  That's required for any alarms to be processed, even the ones that are defined on the probe settings.

I once had aiptasia riding around on a snail. 😞

12 hours ago, nojust1 said:

I’m hoping to borrow a par meter. What’s the process?

thanks,

kevin

First, you must be a paid Supporting Member of PNWMAS to use the club's PAR meters.  This link explains how:

Instructions to reserve the PAR meter are listed in the first post of this thread: 

When's the last time you ran an ICP test?

5 minutes ago, Manny Tavan said:

i run my whole house with a generator and a suicide cord during power outage. Simplest solution if you know what you're doing. If you don't, there is a reason why it is called a suicide cord

Also keep in mind, an improperly connected generator can feed electricity back into the local power grid, putting utility workers at risk when they're repairing power lines and equipment.

55 minutes ago, ShoeCrew said:

Hello, I am new to generators. It seems like there is a bunch of things to consider.  do you guys have a generator transfer switch installed to your house? Which generator would you recommend? Do you have natural gas conversion? 
 

Thanks

I have a whole-house 22kW generator with auto-transfer switch and powered by natural gas.  It's an expensive investment, but it saved my tank several times as well as provides ultra convenience to use everything in my house during any power failure (including furnace, A/C, oven, fridge, laundry, etc.), even a prolonged outage lasting many hours or days since no refueling is necessary.  See my post here:

4 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

Next step of this project, Install Clarisea roller mat.   New Plumbing arrived today.

At first glance, I thought you were just re-posting a photo of your avatar, but now I see this is a different set of PVC parts. Gotta love those 3-way wye fittings.  I'm surprised you didn't stick with the same color.  🤣

Here are a couple of ours.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

24 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Santa is good to everyone!

And there is one other reefing ornament in the picture to be found.  I only called out the obvious one.

Anyone spot it? 

A very stealthy seahorse!

10 hours ago, islandVib3s said:

I hope everyone's tank does well, freezing rain? Lol where I'm from it's called hail or snow...what's the difference? 🤣

This sums up the differences.  Once you’ve experienced freezing rain, you’ll understand why it’s such a big deal.

1 hour ago, Webfoot said:

Anyone have a good way to get an alert if you have a power outage while you’re asleep (assuming you don’t have a controller)?

PGE here in the Portland area sends out text alerts if you sign up for it.  Last week when I heard the nearby electrical transformer explode and my power went out, I got a text from PGE less than 2 minutes later.  They also send follow up texts with status updates and estimate how long before repair.

Not sure what’s available in your area, but worth checking with your utility company.

Last week an electrical transformer near my neighborhood exploded causing a blackout that lasted over 4 hours.  Even though I no longer have an aquarium, I'm still so glad I invested in my whole-house generator!  I was the only house in the area with power.

What a nightmare!

On 12/12/2022 at 7:34 AM, obrien.david.j said:

Great to see everyone yesterday.    Here's a few snaps I took.

I have that look on my face when you just remember you forgot to turn off the stove before heading to the party...🤣

Great party today!  So glad to see many of you after years of no contact.  And congratulations to all the raffle winners, frag swap participants, and the white elephant participants.  Happy Holidays to all of you, and I hope your reef tanks thrive through the new year!!!

Looking great!

You can accomplish this using virtual outputs, which is covered in my tutorials linked above.

At Sunday's PNWMAS Holiday Party, we will hold a white elephant gift exchange.  If you'd like to participate, just bring a wrapped present (reefing-related or not, $10 limit, and family-friendly only) to the party.  Each participant will have a chance to pick a random gift to open, or to steal a gift that someone else opened.  Due to time limits, a gift may only be stolen once.

See you on Sunday!

Unfortunately, that’s not possible.  The Apex can only make decisions based on probe readings or conditions you program.

See my extensive series of Apex tutorials for more details:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/authors/suncrestreef.93940/

I'll be there.