Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
I think i found out what a spaghetti worm looks like when it's not buried in a rock or under the sand:
Frag Tank--FINALLY!!!
- Thread starter Rcpilot
- Start date
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
:shock:
Well, that's fugly as hell!!
Well, that's fugly as hell!!
hibye
Reef enthusiast
Put some gravy on it then see if your sixline eats it lol.
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
Striper wouldn't touch it, so I sucked it up in the turkey baster and fed it to an acan in the 30g DT.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Mine look exactly like that, except they are brownish/orange. Kinda fluffy.
I have rarely seen them out of the sand though, did you just see it floating around?
I have rarely seen them out of the sand though, did you just see it floating around?
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
It was crawling on the glass at first. I noticed it and just about jumped out of my skin. Ugly, ugly ugly. It fell off the glass and floated to the bottom. Thats when I grabbed the camera. I knew it wouldn't stay out in the open very long.
The acan gobbled it up like a chocolate candy bar. It wasn't until AFTER I squirted it from the turkey baster into the tentacles of the acan that my brain said, "What if it's poisonous and kills the acan?" :shock:
The acan is still alive this morning. I'm thinking that if the spaghetti worm was dangerous, they wouldn't hide in holes in rocks and under the sand. Most dangerous stuff just runs around out in the open. Screw it. The acan doesn't seam hurt at all. It was pretty cool to see the worm disappear when the acan grabbed it and curled up to eat.
The acan gobbled it up like a chocolate candy bar. It wasn't until AFTER I squirted it from the turkey baster into the tentacles of the acan that my brain said, "What if it's poisonous and kills the acan?" :shock:
The acan is still alive this morning. I'm thinking that if the spaghetti worm was dangerous, they wouldn't hide in holes in rocks and under the sand. Most dangerous stuff just runs around out in the open. Screw it. The acan doesn't seam hurt at all. It was pretty cool to see the worm disappear when the acan grabbed it and curled up to eat.
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
Check my "NEW CORALS" thread. I bought some palys and an acan this morning as soon as the LFS opened up. Ran home and started acclimating them.
https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/reef-talk/13313-new-corals-7.html
:bounce:
I love new frags.
https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/reef-talk/13313-new-corals-7.html
:bounce:
I love new frags.
Alexander
Reef enthusiast
Looks like you have yourself a fun little project
RAYRAY
Tiny Tank Club A+ Member
everything looks great. I started my sump build that you commmented on. Thank you!
Hope everything turns out ok!
Hope everything turns out ok!
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
I just spent the afternoon upgrading the lights on the frag tank.
I bought 2 light fixtures from Catalina Aquarium about 6 months ago. Each had 3 x 13w PC lights. 2--10K and 1 actinic in each fixture.
I got too looking at the reflector on the larger fixture (same wattage, just a longer fixture to fit on the tank) and determined that I could fit all 6 lights in the same reflector. Could I fit all the ballasts in the same fixture?
I had to do some rearranging inside the fixture, but I managed to get all the ballasts inside. I now have 78w of PC on the 10g frag tank. 4 bulbs 10k and 2 bulbs actinic---all 13w bulbs. It's MUCH brighter than with only 39w of light. It's double the wattage, but it doesn't appear to be twice as bright. It's significantly brighter, but not twice as bright.
I'm excited to see how it works out. I got a LOT of ballasts packed inside this fixture. I hope they don't get too hot.
I bought 2 light fixtures from Catalina Aquarium about 6 months ago. Each had 3 x 13w PC lights. 2--10K and 1 actinic in each fixture.
I got too looking at the reflector on the larger fixture (same wattage, just a longer fixture to fit on the tank) and determined that I could fit all 6 lights in the same reflector. Could I fit all the ballasts in the same fixture?
I had to do some rearranging inside the fixture, but I managed to get all the ballasts inside. I now have 78w of PC on the 10g frag tank. 4 bulbs 10k and 2 bulbs actinic---all 13w bulbs. It's MUCH brighter than with only 39w of light. It's double the wattage, but it doesn't appear to be twice as bright. It's significantly brighter, but not twice as bright.
I'm excited to see how it works out. I got a LOT of ballasts packed inside this fixture. I hope they don't get too hot.
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
RyanG
Reef enthusiast
Looks like a gorgeous nano farm to me RC.
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
Thanks Ryan. Now if those 2 emeralds would just eat a little more, this thing wouldn't be so green with hair algae and turf algae.
Bad news.
The PC light fixture is HOT AS HELL. :grumble:
I'm going to order a pair of 25mm computer case fans and a 40mm case fan tomorrow. I plan to put one 25mm fan on each end of the fixture and arrange them so that they blow air INTO the fixture. The 40mm case fan will be hacked into the top of the fixture to pull hot air OUT.
The 25mm fans move 1.93cfm and use 0.05amps. Thats 50 milliamps each. 100 milliamps total.
The 40mm fan moves 4.3cfm and uses 70 milliamps.
That gives me a total load of 170 milliamps. I got an extra 12v wall charger that I used to use for charging a 12v gel cell battery. We use them for our field tool box while flying. Run fuel pumps, charge airplanes, charge glow igniters etc... It has a 600mah output @ 12v. I plan to just plug it into the timer and set it to come on when the lights are on. It should handle a 170 milliamp load for 10-12hrs a day...no problem. Thats not even 50% duty cycle. We all leave our cordless phones plugged into the wall charger 24/7 and they don't melt. I can't imagine pulling 170 milliamps out of a 600mah wall charger would melt it or cause a fire hazard.
My fixture has little round plastic tabs on each end that can be punched out. Sorta like an electrical box with the round tabs that can be punched out. Each of the tabs on my fixture just happens to be about 25mm in size. Perfect for the computer case fans. They should screw in pretty easily.
I'll have to cut a hole in the top of the fixture for the 40mm exhaust fan. No big deal. I got hole saws and access to a drill press. 40mm is just a tick over 1.5" and I just happen to have a 1.5" hole saw in the airplane shop. I'll just punch a hole in the top of the fixture and screw it on.
Nothing left to do but wire them up off the wall charger. Should be an easy fix.
For now, I've disconnected 3 of the 6 lights in the fixture. Without a load on 3 of the ballasts they won't produce any heat, so this thing should run at the same temp it was before I stuff all this stuff in there. I'll have to run it like that until I can get the computer fans and do the mods.
I'm a little bit frustrated, but it's not like I hadn't thought about the extra heat. I kinda knew it was gonna get hotter with 3 more ballasts and 3 more lights in there. I just didn't expect it to get so hot. It's gotta be 130F on the outside of the fixture. I can't take a chance on running it for 8hrs while I'm at work tomorrow. Don't want to burn the apartment down.
Bad news.
The PC light fixture is HOT AS HELL. :grumble:
I'm going to order a pair of 25mm computer case fans and a 40mm case fan tomorrow. I plan to put one 25mm fan on each end of the fixture and arrange them so that they blow air INTO the fixture. The 40mm case fan will be hacked into the top of the fixture to pull hot air OUT.
The 25mm fans move 1.93cfm and use 0.05amps. Thats 50 milliamps each. 100 milliamps total.
The 40mm fan moves 4.3cfm and uses 70 milliamps.
That gives me a total load of 170 milliamps. I got an extra 12v wall charger that I used to use for charging a 12v gel cell battery. We use them for our field tool box while flying. Run fuel pumps, charge airplanes, charge glow igniters etc... It has a 600mah output @ 12v. I plan to just plug it into the timer and set it to come on when the lights are on. It should handle a 170 milliamp load for 10-12hrs a day...no problem. Thats not even 50% duty cycle. We all leave our cordless phones plugged into the wall charger 24/7 and they don't melt. I can't imagine pulling 170 milliamps out of a 600mah wall charger would melt it or cause a fire hazard.
My fixture has little round plastic tabs on each end that can be punched out. Sorta like an electrical box with the round tabs that can be punched out. Each of the tabs on my fixture just happens to be about 25mm in size. Perfect for the computer case fans. They should screw in pretty easily.
I'll have to cut a hole in the top of the fixture for the 40mm exhaust fan. No big deal. I got hole saws and access to a drill press. 40mm is just a tick over 1.5" and I just happen to have a 1.5" hole saw in the airplane shop. I'll just punch a hole in the top of the fixture and screw it on.
Nothing left to do but wire them up off the wall charger. Should be an easy fix.
For now, I've disconnected 3 of the 6 lights in the fixture. Without a load on 3 of the ballasts they won't produce any heat, so this thing should run at the same temp it was before I stuff all this stuff in there. I'll have to run it like that until I can get the computer fans and do the mods.
I'm a little bit frustrated, but it's not like I hadn't thought about the extra heat. I kinda knew it was gonna get hotter with 3 more ballasts and 3 more lights in there. I just didn't expect it to get so hot. It's gotta be 130F on the outside of the fixture. I can't take a chance on running it for 8hrs while I'm at work tomorrow. Don't want to burn the apartment down.
yote
In Memoriam
Gotta love those heat producers.
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
I ordered the fans from newegg today. 3 day shipping puts them at my house on Friday. I guess I'll run 3 lights this week and do the fixture mod next weekend. :mrgreen:
nudy6969
RUSTYS BROWN DOUGHNUT
cool nano
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
Sold some frags today. This tank is paying off. Made $40 this morning selling some zoas from the frag tank and a couple mushrooms outta the 30g tank.
yote
In Memoriam
Spot me a 20:mrgreen:
Cant beat that.Its always nice to have a hobby that will acutally pay for itself.
Cant beat that.Its always nice to have a hobby that will acutally pay for itself.
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
With all that overtime and Union money? No a chance buddy--you're rolling in the dough. :mrgreen: Now if work went south, and you needed cash--I'd be the first one to send it--you can bet on that.
I hacked a few out of the display today and acclimated them to the frag tank. Hopefully those will all attach to the rocks in a month. Then I can sell them off. I cut the following frags from the display tank and added them to the frag today:
2 small green fuzzy mushrooms
1 rock with 4 good-sized green fuzzy mushrooms
30-40 watermelon zoas
1 superman mushroom
I'm using the cash I got today ($40) to change the lighting in the frag tank. I need to get some new bulbs. One of my 10K blew out and I had to run over to the big box and all they had was 4500k. I'm placing an order tomorrow and going to get the following bulbs:
11000K x 2
12000k x 2
actinic 03 x 2
I already have 2 actinics, 1 4500k and 3 10000k on the tank. The bulbs I plan to order will give me a nice selection to play with. Right now my frag tank looks almost yellow because of that stupid 4500k bulb. Thats going to come out and be used as a back-up. I want to get some more blue in the light spectrum so my corals stay bright and colorful. I can already see the effects of the 4500k in just 2 days of running it. My pink palys are fading.
It is cool to finance my hobby with frags. It's not 100%, but every bit helps. More money for the house fund. We're trying to save money for a house. I had a boatload of cash saved up this time last year, but I lost my job around Oct/Nov last year and we used all that savings to survive. We'll get there eventually. If this fragging operation takes off, I might be buying a house sooner than I think and that would be really awesome.
Not holding my breath--just cautiously optimistic.
I hacked a few out of the display today and acclimated them to the frag tank. Hopefully those will all attach to the rocks in a month. Then I can sell them off. I cut the following frags from the display tank and added them to the frag today:
2 small green fuzzy mushrooms
1 rock with 4 good-sized green fuzzy mushrooms
30-40 watermelon zoas
1 superman mushroom
I'm using the cash I got today ($40) to change the lighting in the frag tank. I need to get some new bulbs. One of my 10K blew out and I had to run over to the big box and all they had was 4500k. I'm placing an order tomorrow and going to get the following bulbs:
11000K x 2
12000k x 2
actinic 03 x 2
I already have 2 actinics, 1 4500k and 3 10000k on the tank. The bulbs I plan to order will give me a nice selection to play with. Right now my frag tank looks almost yellow because of that stupid 4500k bulb. Thats going to come out and be used as a back-up. I want to get some more blue in the light spectrum so my corals stay bright and colorful. I can already see the effects of the 4500k in just 2 days of running it. My pink palys are fading.
It is cool to finance my hobby with frags. It's not 100%, but every bit helps. More money for the house fund. We're trying to save money for a house. I had a boatload of cash saved up this time last year, but I lost my job around Oct/Nov last year and we used all that savings to survive. We'll get there eventually. If this fragging operation takes off, I might be buying a house sooner than I think and that would be really awesome.
Not holding my breath--just cautiously optimistic.
Last edited:
yote
In Memoriam
Hope it does work out for ya Bud.Who knows,You could end up with enough in corals to retire early and actually have a chance to enjoy life a little bit.
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