240 Inwall Construction (Image Intense)

[weatherson]

A few new shots taken today...

Joseph

[melev]

Those two starfish are so colorful and happy, Joseph. GREAT shot.

That last acro shot is stunning too!

[selgado]

Love the double stars. Very nice contrast.

[george_grat]

Man, that is professional photos, very good!!!

[tang_man_montreal]

Hey! do I see 6 legs on that purple linkia?

Beautiful, top quality shots as always Joseph!

[Bax]

I was going to set up my own 240 but it would be so much easier if you just let me move into your fish room. I'll bring a cot and sweep the floor, do water changes and stuff.

Just amazing pics!

[DerekW]

Bax-LOL....wait in line.

Joseph, how long have you had the stars, mine always seemed to do wonderfully for months, looked as good as the day i got them, then suddenly dissappear. I doubt I could ever keep one as long as a year

[jarhed]

Checking in again, and again....... I'm completely stunned at the beauty of your tank. Such a wide variety of life! Seriously, the neighborhood kids would do good to visit this thing! May keep them away from tv for a few years! Better than anything on the Discovery Channel, thats for sure.

[whodah]

Originally posted by whodah

incidently, i hooked it up to my icecap 660 which is currently firing mixed bulbs:
2 x 54W T5's
2 x 110W VHO

and the kill-a-watt read 304W

HTH!

there was a question if i was measuring watts or va. here we go!

[NexDog]

Been a while since we had a full body shot.

[countertopguy]

Hey Joseph,

Long time reader, first time poster. As it has been said many times before, I am grateful for your contributions to the hobby and to reefcentral. I am in awe of what you have achieved and inspired to make my small set up as the best it can be.

To my questions; In the early days of the tread (before the split) you spoke about your top-off system. At that time you were looking at a number of ways to utilize a larger top-off reservoir to prevent cycling of the RO/DI.
You discussed some options, one of which used a smaller reservoir placed higher than the main with a pump sending water up from the main container and a drain allowing the overflow to go back to the main container. This allows you to gravity feed from the small container to the sump for top-off,(using a float valve) but still maintain a large container of RO/DI water.

Is there a reason you did not choose to go this route? I am considering this option and would love to hear your thoughts.

Also, have you ever used these Uniseals?


What is your opinion of them?

My apologizes if this has been covered. I have made it to pg. 65 of the first section and needed an answer to continue with my top-off.

Thanks

Steve

[weatherson]

Sorry for the delays in replying but it's been hectic lately so I am catching up. I'll attempt to do so tomorrow. RC is about to go down now so there's not time enough right now. Hang in there.

Joseph

[bheron]

Hey Weatherspoon, great pics! How are those stars (linka?) doing? I'm curious b/c I love how they look but I always read how difficult they are to keep. I'd be interesed in any details you have.

[weatherson]

melev, selgado, george_grat: Thank you and I'm pleased you liked them.

tang_man_montreal: Yes, it has six legs. The burgundy Linkia can have five or six.

Bax: Hmm... my required maintenance may have just been minimized for me. Thanks.

DerekW: I've had the blue-patterned guy for over a year. The orange hasn't been in my tank that long but was in another CVR club member's for I believe more than a year. So combined, that one is well over a year now. The burgundy is the newest and only been in my tank for a little over a month. I do feed fairly heavily so this may have something to do with their success in my tank.

jarhed: Thanks for the kind words. The children that have seen the tank always tend to stare with open mouths and hit me with the usual barrage of questions... "What's that?... And that?... Is that alive?". It's well worth it all just to see this.

whodah: So, either your ballast is not as efficient, the combining of VHO and T5 gives it issues or T5's in general require more juice. What is your voltage at your house?

NexDog: I'll try and get one soon. I did rearrange a lot of the corals so it's looking quite a bit different than the last.

countertopguy: Thanks for the kind words and it pleases me that you were able to gain from this little project of mine.

As far as the top off design, I didn't use that option since I came up with a better solution. You can see that in the following thread...
Anti-RO/DI Cycling ATO Reservoir Device
The main reason was that I wanted a completely mechanical and non-electric device. As in no float switches and solenoids. I just don't feel comfortable in relying on them even though many have used them for years trouble free.

I have seen the Uniseals but personally, wouldn't use them for anything permanent where regular PVC and glue can be utilized. Again, it may be a personal thing but I always attempt to predict and alleviate potential problems, especially considering what is at stake.

Joseph

[weatherson]

bheronspoon: Couldn't resist. You beat me to posting but read above for your answer.

Joseph

[bheron]

I never can on that one!

Wow, thats great stuff. Of course I'm not gonna run out and get one and proclaim that you said they're good to keep. Rather, its just nice to know that its possible and that someday I will try one if the opportunity presents itself.

thanks!

[weatherson]

Here's a quick full tank shot I took today. Not the best but it should give a good idea of how the tank is doing.

Joseph

[melev]

It is doing great!!!!!!!!

[whodah]

i'm at a loss here on the IC thing...

but hopefully we can get an answer from icecap!

i look forward to an explanation. we've got to be looking over something or assuming something incorrectly...

[weatherson]

whodah: I can see how a difference in voltage could effect the results but not with a variance of that much. I'm interested in what IC has to say.

Joseph

[whodah]

oooooooook, here we go!

• Volt = 120.8
• Amp = 4.56
• Watt = 313
• VA = 550
• Hz = 59.9
• PF = 0.56
• KWH = 1.54
• Clock = 4:56

[just dave]

Yummy.

You must be very diligent about keeping the pink crusties off the glass and fixtures. It was my plan in the beginning but after a while I just gave up.

[weatherson]

Compared to...

Volts = 116
Amps = 3.68
Watts = 256
Volt Amps = 424

Note the voltage as I suspected. Any electricians out there to confirm this for me?

just dave: Thanks and yes I am very diligent about keeping any growth from forming on my glass, whether front or back. My rational for this is that I feel it helps to make the corals and such, what we want to be looking at, stand out that much more. In my opinion, the rewards are greater than the time spent.

Joseph

[DerekW]

suppose you are still using your mag scraper for that?

[countertopguy]

Joseph,

Thanks for the reply. I have read both the discussion on this thread and the DIY thread about your RO/DI Cycling. At one time I was going to go with float switches, relays, etc but after studing what you have done I would like to do more of a non-mechanical "gravity and float valve" set up.

I wonder what you think of this...


I "borrowed" this idea from you. It think it was one of the solutions you mentioned when trying to fix your RO/DI cycle. Basically the raised container would allow me to use gravity to feed my sump (on the other side of the house). I would need to use a small pump to send water to the raised container. This will allow me to save some space by using the same RO/DI container to feed the top off and the make up water container.

I'll use a float valve at the sump to keep the water level constant.

Can you (or anybody else) see any major flaws in this?

Thanks for looking

Steve