240 Inwall Construction (Image Intense)

[melev]

Thank you for the eye candy, and the reply.

[mako199]

I can't believe I finished the whole thread...nothing short of amazing Weatherson.....spent a few days reading this thread..I think I need councelling now so says my wife.

Will be setting up my in wall 120 in the basement this fall and you definetly will be an inspiration to this......Thanks

Mike

[melev]

Mike,


To Reef Central

You sure picked the perfect thread to post your first post, and reading all 3 million pages must have been fun.

[Knyght]

Nice!

[weatherson]

Mike: Thanks for the kind words and I'm pleased you enjoyed your marathon read. Best of luck with the upcoming tank endeavor.

Knyght: You like that one too, huh?



This is a little late in posting but better than never. We headed north for the holiday weekend (4th of July) and a fellow club member/friend was kind enough to visit the tank to verify all was well. But, in fact, all was not. On Sunday, he and his Mrs. came in to find a "slight" sand storm in the tank. The culprit turned out to be slightly amazing and yet completely unexpected, at least to me.

The typical sand depth is around 2 to 3 inches toward the tank front. Here's a couple shots where the sand had been shifted about a bit:






Yes, that is the bottom pane of glass seen there. So you ask, where did all that sand get displaced to? Here's a graphical representation to answer your question:



So now you're thinking that there must have been a return line that came lose and aimed directly at the sand bed, right? Umm... not exactly. Here's a shot of the little culprit:



Yep, that's right, a little snail decided to make its way to the Penductor and probably was happily sitting there until the closed loop came on. Unfortunately, he lost his life for the sheer force of the water which must have been the equivalent of a fire hose at full pressure blasting a person out of a cardboard box. Unfortunately, times two, the remaining shell was lodged in place just in front of the nozzle in a position that was enough to disrupt the water flow and send it in a not-so advantageous to the tank direction. It now looks like I will be creating some anti-snail guards for the Penductors in an attempt to prevent this from happening again. So what's the moral here you ask? Don't think the simplest of small events can't have huge ramifications. So what's the irony here, you ask? This little event just had to happen when I was away for a few days. What are the odds? The good news is all is back to normal without any casualties... umm, except for the snail, that is.

Joseph

[Briankook]

Joseph, wow. Anything that can go wrong, does go wrong.
I noticed that you said the "closed loop came on." Do you have your closed loop pump on a timer? I'm trying to find ways to have intermittent flow with mine. I have 2 closed loops, one with 2 penductors & one with an eductor & a penductor & it is constant "blasting", but I have them aimed away from direct blasting of corals .
Thanks

[melev]

Lesson learned: Snails are evil.

[original-reefland]

Originally posted by weatherson
Yep, that's right, a little snail decided to make its way to the Penductor and probably was happily sitting there until the closed loop came on. Unfortunately, he lost his life for the sheer force of the water which must have been the equivalent of a fire hose at full pressure blasting a person out of a cardboard box.

Whoa.. that snail got one heck on an enema.

If the snail would have lodged himself downwards instead of upwards you think water would have went outside of the tank?

[jarhed]

Originally posted by melev
Lesson learned: Snails are evil.

Absolutely, positively true!!!! I have proof!!!

[DerekW]

Originally posted by weatherson
Yep, that's right, a little snail decided to make its way to the Penductor ...
So what's the moral here you ask? Don't think the simplest of small events can't have huge ramifications. So what's the irony here, you ask? This little event just had to happen when I was away for a few days. What are the odds? The good news is all is back to normal without any casualties... umm, except for the snail, that is.

Joseph

What's the odds it would happen while your away? From my experience, about 100%

Now, on the positive side, there might have been a possibility that if the snail was situated differently, the water may have went up instead of down, possiblt spalashing the lights or causing a wave or flow to go up over the edge of the tank and caused water loss or salinity change.
The poor guy maybe lost his life, but it might have been for the greater good of the tank.
Besides, we all love another weatherson diy project

[weatherson]

Briankook: Yes, the two closed loop systems are controlled by the Aquacontroller II on a 6-hour rotation. At 6 AM, the left pump comes on and then shuts off at 12:15 PM. The right pump comes on at 12 noon and shuts off at 6:15 PM. The left pump comes on again at 6 PM and shuts off at midnight. Both are off from midnight until 6AM when the cycle starts over again with the left pump coming on at 6 AM. The 15-minute overlaps provide a time of strong, random currents to disturb areas normally not hit by current. The midnight to 6 AM is a "calm" time for the fish. My attempt was to simulate a tidal current.

Marc & jarhed: Agreed!

original-reefland & Derek: It is completely possible that the direction of the flow could have been upward. But, I don't feel this would have been a real concern considering my lights have acrylic shields and the Penductor is located just before the edge of the 2' wide right glass top support. This should, in theory, keep any upward moving water within the tank. Either way, I will not wait to find out as I will be adding guards to prevent the possibility.

Joseph

[Stile2]

Hello Joseph,

I don't want to highjack your thread, if that was even possible.
But I really respect your ability and opinion when it comes to tank photos.
Check these out and tell me your honest opinion, what would you have done differently, etc.

Here is my Acropora.


And a Clown Shot.


And last my Zoas.


Thanks, I am trying to get better at this photography thing.

Keith

[melev]

Keith, that clown shot is breathtaking!!!

You named it appropriately. Now go post it in the Peekaboo thread in the Photography forum.

[Versus]

I started on page 1 after a "diy" link for background painting , I would like to comment on your tank but after thinking the thread was 16 pages not 100+ I am tired. ( well more like 70 then i just scrolled for pictures ) snail killer MURDERERRRRRRR

[ksarauer]

Originally posted by weatherson
A couple of an Emerald hanging out in an acropora. He better be Red Bug eating.

And his underside;

I had 5 Emeralds on 1 acro, small colony (~3 x ~4) do they really eat red Bugs? If not what could it be? The acro appears in good health. I rarely see the Emaralds tough a polyp, mostly grabbing from other areas.

[weatherson]

Keith: First let me state that by no means am I photographic expert. What-so-ever. Period. Nice photos. The only suggestions or things I would have done is to clean up the few slight imperfections, color corrected a little and sharpened a bit. As Marc mentioned, the peek-a-boo shot is my favorite of the three. Here's your original:



And here's my interpretation after the above mentioned alterations were done. Better? Maybe... maybe not.



Versus: Hey now, I didn't have any part in the snails death. It was deemed a suicide.

ksarauer: I was attempting to be humorous with the emerald/red bug comment. I've not seen the emerald actually picking at any of the acroporas it has climbed on. Mostly, it seems to just be resting there.

Joseph

[weatherson]

Speaking of suicidal snails... Not wanting another sand storm caused by another snail incident, I altered my Penductor and created a guard. This to prevent any critters from finding their way into the business end. I simply used monofilament (fishing) line that I threaded through some small holes drill in the Penductor. This should do the trick without altering the flow. Here's the Penductor as it was prior to this change:



And a shot of the guard in place showing the side and front:



Joseph

[Briankook]

Joseph, very good idea! I think they should be sold like that for aquarium applications. No snails are getting in there.

[AcroSteve]

Very nice solution.

[tenshi]

I've been watching your thread for so long without comment, just in aah all this time. But your peducator snail sucide solution is so simple and effective I just had to say something. My thought was to make a little fence of sorts around the base of the peducator of maybe the same material you used on the top edge of your overflow. But now that I see your solution, this is so much simplier and to the point. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your ideas with the rest of us.

[thewuf]

Man, you never cease to amaze - that is awesome! How'd you drill the holes? Teeny Tiny!?!

[GregM779]

Awesome idea, do you notice any difference in the flow from the line in the output?

[Typhon]

That is a great idea. I have already had 2 snails commit suicide in the penductors. Luckly I have a BB tank..

I am going to have try this mod..

[weatherson]

Briankook: Thank you. At least no snail whose shell size could get stuck and cause issues. Smaller, adventurous snails/crabs that can fit through will play circus snail/crab when the closed loop kicks on.

tenshi: Thanks for the kind words and you are very welcome. I too had considered using some sort of grate material as you mention. But, I then considered the need to clean it regularly and decided this solution would need much less attention. Always a plus in my book.

thewuf: Oh stop! The holes were drilled with the smallest bit I had around. It's a 1/16'th inch. A fairly useless size in general but for this application, very useful indeed.

GregM779: No, no difference at all. I had considered other patterns but the radial lines I thought would alter the flow the least. Seems to have been true. This, and the fact that the monofilament line is completely round and tiny in diameter.

Typhon: BB will prevent the bottom of the tank issues but what about the other, the top?

Joseph

[Typhon]

Good point!!! Luckly the flow has only been downward when the snails became lodged in the penductor.

I better get on the ball and make the screen mods on my penductors.

Originally posted by weatherson

Typhon: BB will prevent the bottom of the tank issues but what about the other, the top?

Joseph [/B]