Moving to the Basement with 180 gallons + 125 gallons + 75 Sump
- Thread starter bigwave
- Start date
Another step closer
Reef angel ordered. http://www.reefangel.com/Default.aspx
This will be the brains of the whole operation. I'll have it control the lights, heaters, and water change system. Lots of other options for what it can do later down the road.
Reef angel ordered. http://www.reefangel.com/Default.aspx
This will be the brains of the whole operation. I'll have it control the lights, heaters, and water change system. Lots of other options for what it can do later down the road.
Today I finalized my light order. It will be a custom 5' long LED setup, and all the parts should come in over the next couple weeks. Possibly I over ordered the LED's but I would rather have too many, than too few!
Short term plans, are to put a few plants in it, and hang a MH or come florescent over it for a bit, till I get the rest in.
I mentioned the Reef angel earlier, but though I would give it a plug, and a bit more detail here.
The "Reef Angel" is a little micro-controller based on the Arduino platform. It is 'open source' both for hardware and software. That basically means you can get the plans, download the code, and build the entire thing from scratch, if you wanted too. However generally it is easier, and often cheaper to let 1 person build a lot of them, and get bulk rates on the capacitors, resistors and etc...
My setup is a Base unit, which comes with a Controller, 8 controlled outlets, 1 temperature probe, 1 ph probe, and 2 float switches. That runs you about $220. I have 3 heaters, which will be set to about 85 degrees, and the Reef angel will actually control the outlet they sit on, and keep the temp closer to 83. If for some reason the RA sticks the outlet controlling the heaters in the on position, the warmest things should get to will be 85, which is fine for the Discus. PH probe will just be used for curiosity, since I don't really care about PC. The Float switches will be fail safes, to let me know if I need to shut a pump down, or stop adding water to the tank.
I also added a PWM Expansion, which is basically another micro-controller ($89) that will allow you to dim/brighten the lights however you want. I plan on doing some sunrise sunset things with it. Basically I will have 3 banks of LED lights, and the first (leftmost) will turn on, at %10 power, and over an hour ramp up to the full brightness I select. Then at hour #2, the middle set of LEDs will come on, again at %10, and ramp up over an hour to full power, followed by the third, also over an hour. For sunset the same process will be followed, except they will dim over an hour, and then go off. I'll have to experiment with exact timings, but it should look cool.
This module can also simulate cloud cover, storms and even lighting, but I don't think the discus will like lighting!
The other outlets will be for my main pump, feeders, and the lights.
Someday I may ad wireless functionality to it, but at the moment I don't plan to.
I also ordered a second temperature probe, either for another tank, or maybe to monitor the lights. I don't know exactly, but it was cheap, so I threw it in.
Short term plans, are to put a few plants in it, and hang a MH or come florescent over it for a bit, till I get the rest in.
I mentioned the Reef angel earlier, but though I would give it a plug, and a bit more detail here.
The "Reef Angel" is a little micro-controller based on the Arduino platform. It is 'open source' both for hardware and software. That basically means you can get the plans, download the code, and build the entire thing from scratch, if you wanted too. However generally it is easier, and often cheaper to let 1 person build a lot of them, and get bulk rates on the capacitors, resistors and etc...
My setup is a Base unit, which comes with a Controller, 8 controlled outlets, 1 temperature probe, 1 ph probe, and 2 float switches. That runs you about $220. I have 3 heaters, which will be set to about 85 degrees, and the Reef angel will actually control the outlet they sit on, and keep the temp closer to 83. If for some reason the RA sticks the outlet controlling the heaters in the on position, the warmest things should get to will be 85, which is fine for the Discus. PH probe will just be used for curiosity, since I don't really care about PC. The Float switches will be fail safes, to let me know if I need to shut a pump down, or stop adding water to the tank.
I also added a PWM Expansion, which is basically another micro-controller ($89) that will allow you to dim/brighten the lights however you want. I plan on doing some sunrise sunset things with it. Basically I will have 3 banks of LED lights, and the first (leftmost) will turn on, at %10 power, and over an hour ramp up to the full brightness I select. Then at hour #2, the middle set of LEDs will come on, again at %10, and ramp up over an hour to full power, followed by the third, also over an hour. For sunset the same process will be followed, except they will dim over an hour, and then go off. I'll have to experiment with exact timings, but it should look cool.
This module can also simulate cloud cover, storms and even lighting, but I don't think the discus will like lighting!
The other outlets will be for my main pump, feeders, and the lights.
Someday I may ad wireless functionality to it, but at the moment I don't plan to.
I also ordered a second temperature probe, either for another tank, or maybe to monitor the lights. I don't know exactly, but it was cheap, so I threw it in.
Okay, sorry for the long break in updates, but we been busy! And to cut to the chase, fish are now in their new home and happy. The lights are not done yet, and I just got the water change and feeding systems finished, so things are good.
1 Mistake is that I left to big of a gap in at the edge of the aquarium. Just big enough for 1 and 3 year old kids to fit through!
The new "SuperFeeder" which I do like a lot:
The discus, I will be getting more, but not till I get back from vacation. These four don't pester each other too much yet.
Misc Fish:
And everyone must be happy, since I am finding eggs (from the Panda Cory?) and nests (the bolivians?).
Still lots more to go, but it has been a good start so far I think! I also need to find some windex and clean the glass, but just haven't stopped to do that yet!
Goodnight all!
1 Mistake is that I left to big of a gap in at the edge of the aquarium. Just big enough for 1 and 3 year old kids to fit through!
The new "SuperFeeder" which I do like a lot:
The discus, I will be getting more, but not till I get back from vacation. These four don't pester each other too much yet.
Misc Fish:
And everyone must be happy, since I am finding eggs (from the Panda Cory?) and nests (the bolivians?).
Still lots more to go, but it has been a good start so far I think! I also need to find some windex and clean the glass, but just haven't stopped to do that yet!
Goodnight all!
livebearerfreak
you are hypnotized! LOL
Not really much to show, it is super simple. The top tank drains straight down into the bottom tank. It drains straight through the wall to the sump. That has 1 big pump that returns to the top tank! End of story, except a tube out to the septic, which you can see in an earlier picture. I will see if I can get a better shot of things, but really there just isn't much to it, no fancy overflows or anything.
And now I have Bolivian eggs! :woot:Yay something must be going right in here! One intersting thing is that I have only 1 rock, and they filled it with eggs. Even it is just a large hunk of flourite that happned to be in the flourite bag. I need to put some more in I suppose.
Mom guarding:
Dad in another spot, but he does come over the the rock. They white spots in this picture are panda cory eggs, I think? :huh:
Dad in another spot, but he does come over the the rock. They white spots in this picture are panda cory eggs, I think? :huh:
Navyscuba
The Fish Envy
