It all began with a blue idea!

well, at this stage, simple, hardy fish is my only option now. I travel a lot and need to rely on the kid, and domestic to clean glass and feed fish..

As for filtration, LR and DSB!! Plus some bio balls in the overflow.

At the moment, i am running cold water (heaters arriving next week). Have a removable bag of charcoal until water stabilizes and some filter floss to catch the debris.

Got LR and pumps arriving next week, with thanks to SOMEONE on this forum!!:)

Then think i will have to visit the estuary for some mullet to help me with my cycle!

Thx for the compliments.. am very proud... Furthermore it is proof that you don't have to have money oozing out of your pockets to set up a tank..

To date the whole setup has cost me under R2000!!!
 
mike if i may make a few suggestions:

forego the bioballs in the overflow chamber, actually leave it empty.. this will allow the water to properly MIX again so that the oils/proteins can be properly delivered to the skimmer and skimmed out...

as for the mullets, i would leave these out untill the tank is matured or at least has run 1-2 weeks with LR present as this will be your most stable sorce of bacteria.. adding the mullet will add a more advanced waste than the tank is able to deal with at this point and will more than likley result in an algae out break of some sort..

another tip to curb algae growth is to limit lighting of the tank in the first 2 months of it maturing.. the light is the catalyst that causes the undecided chemistry to blossom in an algae outbreak..

good simple filtration in the form of LR, a good skimmer and a good healthy dsb are the basic and simplest of filters needed here..

i dont mean to intrude on your plans but merley to open your mind to the new school way .. it took me sometime to adjust aswell as what i did in the past did work but i did sit with a high nitrate value on one or 2 occasions.. not ideal for coral.

i now sit close to zero if not zero..i feed heavily to ensure my fish can have a healthy immune system to fend off possible illness... so the skimmer for me is a must..
 
Help... I have some livestock, but i didn'tput it there!!!

I woke up this morning to find some strange little white Gogga cruising around my tank!!
He is way too small and way too fast to photograph, and equally not easy to see, so here goes the description to the best of my ability...

he is about 7mm long. Cylyndrical in shape.. 3-4mm in diameter. I can make out a dark eye, and flagella-like dorsal growths and WOW is he fast...

Must have been a egg in the sand i collected from the beach!!

Any ideas?!
 
So.....

It's been i while since my last update and thought i'd share my new developments with you all.

I stood in the local hardware store, staring at the multiplug on the shelf... So that will be the return, that the heater, another heater... oh, and the lights...

Looks like i'll need 2 multiplugs... Like hell!!! Imagine all those wires... plugs... sphagetti!!! I don't think so!

This is my bright idea in progress:
31224bfe94c5c9552.jpg


31224bfe94eb450ed.jpg


This is my self-contained, illuminating switches with light timer. One 16A plug exits the unit to go to the wall and the rest is history.. Plus it only took me an evening to put together after i'd planned it out.

I secured it into the cabinet and voilla!!
31224bfe9625e897a.jpg
 
Mrabkin, this is what I am looking at to do, but have a bit of trouble with the wireing - i am blond.. please tell some more and show some diagrams :D

also more about the timer- only one channel>?
 
cool.... give me a day or so... will draw you a diagram and post it up... I am no electrician, but this just worked with no sparks, shocks or damaged equipment!! was very proud!! and cost a total of R500 including the timer.. Stay tuned.
 
Qaiser said:
I must say all the hardwork on that cabinet paid off.Whats the price on that fitting without the timer
Click to expand...

Well, if you go to an electronics shop... you will get the box for around R80. The swithces are R7 ea. The silicone cable is R2.50 p/m. Connector blocks at R12 each.

The components are surprisingly cheap, The most expensive item was that timer at around R250.

The hardest part of the entire exercise was opening the gaps in the PVC box for the swithches to sit in. Will be posting a wiring diagram this weekend and show step-by-step instructions for fitting.

To date the entire tank setup has cost me just short of R3000... cabinet, glass, 2nd hand pumps and equipment, ALLES!!! (Maybe its cos I'm Jewish... HEHE!)
 
LOL!

Awesome Mrabkin, that would help me a lot... I am moving house, and this is one of the projects I want to implement during the move.
 
Will something like this work? or am I missing something?
24554bffab10480a1.jpg
 
I think I must do something simular. Great idea with the electric.
 
Apologies for making you wait... Your diagram looks good.

Have drawn this for you, hope it will help. instructions to follow:
31224c000164448b2.jpg


SETTING UP THE BASICS OF THE SWITCHBOX:

1. Connect + (red or brown) from the mains onto a terminal block, and bridge this block so that each connection will hold a positive charge from your mains.
2. For each switch you have installed, run a red wire from the + terminal block to one of the terminals on the switch (in most cases, it does not matter which terminal on the switch you choose.)
3. Connect - (blue or black) from the mains onto a terminal block, and bridge this block so that each connection will hold a neutral charge from your mains.

THAT IS THE BASIC SETUP FOR YOUR ELECTRICAL BOX, TO INSTALL AN APPLIANCE SIMPLY FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Connect the + wire to the open terminal on a switch.
2. Connect the - wire to the neutral terminal block. (any open terminal will do).

AS FOR THE TIMER....

Most timers have a simple IN/OUT wiring system, in which case you connect a + from the + terminal to the IN slot of the timer. Next connect your lighting by connecting the + to the OUT terminal of the timer, and neutral to the neutral terminal block in your switchbox. (shown above)

In the case of a more complex timer like I have chosen, which allows for two outputs that work against each other, the same will apply. This time connect two lights into the NORMALLY OPEN and NORMALLY CLOSED slots respectively. This allows for your sump light (or other) to be on when your main lights click off... and visa versa.

TIPS TO ASSIST IN KEEPING YOU (AND YOUR FISH) ALIVE:
1. Always make sure mains are unplugged when you work.
2. At no time should the + and - wiring touch, or meet on the same switch, terminal or joint.
3. Ensure that the box you choose is completely waterproof, as most of the appliances one gets for tanks have no earth, and therefore will not trip the mains if somthing goes wrong.

Hope this helps! feel free to ask anything you don't catch!
 
Wow, looks like I'm posting faster than you guys are answering!!

Anyways, Mike is a very excited boy today... He has been staring at his newly added live rock all day! Not only that, but his tank has some nice flow to it since the powerheads have gone in!

Well, as always i'm getting ahead of myself... the reason i am posting is to update the thread on the lighting that went in a few days ago.

I started by adding 2 x 150w MH lamps and a T5 blue to tweak the colour, as shown below:
31224c010e29d90f6.jpg


The problem is that by the time I arrived home from work the next day, my water temp was sitting on 32 deg, and as i opened my hood i caught a WAFT of hot air like opening an oven door!!

Thank the big guy upstairs there were no fish!!

So back to the drawing board he goes!!!
And this is what the drawing board offered:
31224c010ee020fc6.jpg


The only problem is when my tmer clicks on in the morning it sounds like a jet is taking off in my living room!! These fans are CrAzY powerul, am currently investigationa a way to slow them down a bit in the hope its a little quieter!

With the temp problem solved, I have come up against one slight hiccup... advise welcome as always... I am now evaporating about 6l a day and that means a weekend away will leave my return pumping sweet nothing!!

I have considered a sheet of glass between the lights and the water but it gets so salty that my light is disturbed and dull...

Aside from that, my water is a bit murky with the nely added flow and LR but i am slightly concerned with one thing..

If i watch a particle of whatever is floating around at the moment, it seems to go around and around without finding the overflow. Will these numerous little specks of sea-dirt eventually settly? Find their way to the overflow?

Am i missing somthing?
 
Wow, looks like I'm posting faster than you guys are answering!!

Anyways, Mike is a very excited boy today... He has been staring at his newly added live rock all day! Not only that, but his tank has some nice flow to it since the powerheads have gone in!

Well, as always i'm getting ahead of myself... the reason i am posting is to update the thread on the lighting that went in a few days ago.

I started by adding 2 x 150w MH lamps and a T5 blue to tweak the colour, as shown below:
31224c010e29d90f6.jpg


The problem is that by the time I arrived home from work the next day, my water temp was sitting on 32 deg, and as i opened my hood i caught a WAFT of hot air like opening an oven door!!

Thank the big guy upstairs there were no fish!!

So back to the drawing board he goes!!!
And this is what the drawing board offered:
31224c010ee020fc6.jpg


The only problem is when my tmer clicks on in the morning it sounds like a jet is taking off in my living room!! These fans are CrAzY powerul, am currently investigationa a way to slow them down a bit in the hope its a little quieter!

With the temp problem solved, I have come up against one slight hiccup... advise welcome as always... I am now evaporating about 6l a day and that means a weekend away will leave my return pumping sweet nothing!!

I have considered a sheet of glass between the lights and the water but it gets so salty that my light is disturbed and dull...

Aside from that, my water is a bit murky with the nely added flow and LR but i am slightly concerned with one thing..

If i watch a particle of whatever is floating around at the moment, it seems to go around and around without finding the overflow. Will these numerous little specks of sea-dirt eventually settle? Find their way to the overflow?

Am i missing somthing?
 
Ya your posting so fast you do it in dubbles:lol:. Haha it's kind of slow on MASA at weekends, no internet at the job where you can use up all the cap and not pay for it. About the evaporation, it will be allot because metal hallides are extremelty hot. You'll have to have a auto top-up or you'll have to manually fill the water every day( this can become very strssfull for fish and inverts as the salinity changes drasticly. It's actually very good for the detritus "sea dust" not to settle as when it settles it gets time to decompose and turn into nitrates. It will in time be sucked into the overflow or get stuck on a piece of live rock.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom