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Alemoki

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Over the past year or so a mate and I have been working towards building our own DIY lights. These lights were meant for my 5 foot setup but that has now been cancelled. Anyways, I will have 3 of these lights available to me for testing once completed which has left me with the idea of running one on my frag tank. This will free up the extra hydra 26 light which I will then chuck onto the main tank as well. So ultimately I will have 3 hydra 26s over a 24 inch cube!!

Overkill? Definitely... But I'm looking at reducing shading in the tank as much as possible and this will definitely help with that!
 
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Quick update

Tank is great except for the continuous algae on the sand bed...urghhh!
P1040574.JPG


Also got myself a new Bowerbanki yesterday! Falling in love with these corals
P1040564.JPG
 
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Did a rescape on the tank today to try and cluster the corals a bit better in order to make the tank look fuller instead of the sparcely placed corals before.

Here are the results!
P1040835.JPG


Need to start prepping soon for my vacation after Christmas where the tank will be in the care of my mother. Shouldn't be any sort of issues but you've got to prepare for the worst.
 
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So in other news, my 3D printer which I have been wanting to build and have been gathering pieces for for the past year has finally been built and is operational!

I built the BLV MGN Cube from plans off Thingiverse and I'm extremely happy with the whole design. It's a CoreXY printer with a full aluminium extrusion frame. Print volume is approximately 300mmx300mmx560m so quite a decent size as well.
IMG_20191215_154558.jpg

Here are some prints I pulled off
IMG_20191222_055233.jpg

This nozzle above was printed in ABS and the detail is crazy!

And a test Benchy out of PLA below
IMG_20191222_055313.jpg


It's allowed me to already make some cool Lil projects I've been wanting to do for a while like this coral photo booth. Basically just a hang on platform which goes in the tank and allows you to have an all black background for photography.
IMG_20191217_162509.jpg


And here is a sample photo off of the "booth".
IMG_20191218_103657.jpg


Also been prepping for my holiday in Mozam with some mates again this year so I was doing some cleaning on the tank before I leave this coming Wednesday until the 8th of Jan. It's a while to be gone but my mother is well trained on the tank and it should be fine while I'm gone.
Here she stands all squeaky clean!
P1040911.JPG


Hope everyone has a great holiday!
 
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New year with new plans!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

I've decided I'm going to slowly get rid of all the frags in the frag tank and run it as an anemone setup.

I've already bought myself an inferno anemone and have fallen in love with it!!

Here it is
P1050006.JPG
P1050014.JPG


Once the tank is running as a nem tank I may consider a pair of clowns
 
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Had to sell off my elegance coral today as it began outgrowing my tank....

Was a very sad day indeed as it was a prize piece of mine but nonetheless it has gone to a great new home!!

Here are the last few pics of it in the tank
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The last video of it


Size of it compared to my arm in the background
P1050049.JPG


In the box ready to be send off to it's new owner
P1050054.JPG


Next few days I must decide how to rescape the new space and whether or not I am to get more corals to fill the void or just shuffle around to fill again
 
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Did a small bit of a revamp on my dosing containers and ATO.

The previous containers were too small and I was having to fill to often so the new ones are 1750ml with me dosing 72ml per day I will only have to top up every 3 weeks which is way better.

ATO is now actually smaller, it easier to refill by just unplugging the reservoir and filling up by my RODI drum.
IMG_20200210_193412.jpg


Previously I would have to fill with buckets which was a mission.

The RODI tube now also feeds over my dosing lines to keep them from getting all crusty.
IMG-20200211-WA0036.jpeg


That's all folks!
 
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Noticed last night that the back of my sump is cracked

Need to get it fixed ASAP as it has a slight salt creep, but it could escalate at any moment!
 

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Amazing tank. love the progression you had so far and can't wait to see it fill up.
 
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Tank got a good cleaning with its WC today and I will be doing a few more during this isolation to try reset my micro elements which I believe have been dipping the last few months.

Pumps and back glass are nice and clean now !

P1050318.JPG


Also nice to see these locally caught South African zoanthids doing so well in the frag tank. The colour on them is amazing!

P1050335.JPG
 
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Due to me setting up another tank for my softies, I had to steal the frag tank light from this setup for a while. Luckily I have built another light for the softie tank and the frag tank is back in action here !

This means no more clutter in the main display.
P1050561.JPG



The frag tank already filling up
P1050565.JPG
P1050563.JPG


And a pic or two of some corals in the main system..

IMG_20200418_193433.jpg

My pink and gold mille

IMG_20200418_193358.jpg

Birdsnest above my red micro Lorde

Cheers!
 
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Been thinking about changing my lighting on my tank. Currently running 2 hydra 26s non HD and they have been awesome! But I'm just lacking the spread on this tank due to the tall scape and have been considering T5 for a while.

I've come across a guy near me selling an ATI SunPower 6 x 24W for a good price and I'm thinking of doing the switch....

What do you all think...yes or no?
 

Robertellis30

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Could always do a hybrid set up with t5 for the hydra. I think that’s what I’ll be doing on my next build.
 
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Could always do a hybrid set up with t5 for the hydra. I think that’s what I’ll be doing on my next build.
That is an option that I have looked at. Would mean I'd need to build my own hybrid T5 though and then have a spare hydra sitting around doing nothing unfortunately
 

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That is an option that I have looked at. Would mean I'd need to build my own hybrid T5 though and then have a spare hydra sitting around doing nothing unfortunately
Haha boet iv been playing with this idea, if i end up with that ATI fixture. Reefbrite led bars (couple of ali express options also) are main supplementary option. I did come across the Zetlight Lancia 2, they retrofit into T5 fitting where the normal bulb fits. Only down side of the zetlight is only 24w per fitting. But is app controlled.
Next option, getting 2 x 2x24w t5 aqua medic fixtures in a frame with 2 x 26hydras which you have

#lockdownthoughts haha
 
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Haha boet iv been playing with this idea, if i end up with that ATI fixture. Reefbrite led bars (couple of ali express options also) are main supplementary option. I did come across the Zetlight Lancia 2, they retrofit into T5 fitting where the normal bulb fits. Only down side of the zetlight is only 24w per fitting. But is app controlled.
Next option, getting 2 x 2x24w t5 aqua medic fixtures in a frame with 2 x 26hydras which you have

#lockdownthoughts haha
Likely I would just wack two Chinese orphek bar rip offs on each side for some actinic led looks bud lol.
 

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Absolutely stunning reef!!
 
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Was bored today and I've been needing to get a light or something going for the frag tank. Reason being, if I sell my two hydras for the T5 setup, I'll need to sell my frag light as well as I only have 1 operational director...

I had a whole bunch of T5 ballasts and bits lying around so I made up a dual 24W T5 unit with what I had. This should be enough for the frag system and I'll probably add some supplemental LEDs to it later on as well.

Here are some pics:
IMG_20200428_141625.jpg

Making the fish scale pattern on the aluminium


IMG_20200428_151859.jpg

Bent body to 30° angle

IMG_20200428_173405.jpg

All wiring and pieces attached and tested.


IMG_20200428_173422.jpg

Underside with bulb in place to test fit the tube

I have also started work on making LED bars to mount onto my possible future 6 bulb ATI fixture. The bodies and mounting brackets are already put together and just need the internal workings now.

Pics of that below:
IMG_20200426_163950.jpg


And that's it for now!
 
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