Garfs SPS cube

[Garf]

Update. I’ve now restricted pH to 8.25ish (which is where my last tank sat). Apart from some Wobblyness initially in Alk consumption there appears to be no net loss in productivity. Going to be hacking away at some worms soon;

Edit - may as well add a pic of my CO2 production facility, lol

 

[Garf]

Update pic;

 

[Garf]

Fluval nano light and Melted AI primes put away, hello new(ish) light;

 

[Garf]

To hell with silence;

 

[EricR]

To hell with silence;

The sad part is, as an HOB user with no (physical) room for sump,,, that actually IS fairly quiet compared to my mess. DOH!

 

[Garf]

The sad part is, as an HOB user with no (physical) room for sump,,, that actually IS fairly quiet compared to my mess. DOH!

You know that foamy plasticy stuff that comes in thin sheets with electrical goods? Ive utilised that to stop salt creepiness and reduce noise. Prolly not an option you could use, or could you? Lol

 

[EricR]

You know that foamy plasticy stuff that comes in thin sheets with electrical goods? Ive utilised that to stop salt creepiness and reduce noise. Prolly not an option you could use, or could you? Lol

I have a 3D printed "diffuser" that basically blocks and spreads the downward waterfall so I'm fine with that but thanks for the tip.
*my house has all kinds of loud shenanigans going on all the time so tank noise isn't really a concern for anyone anyway

 

[Garf]

I have a 3D printed "diffuser" that basically blocks and spreads the downward waterfall so I'm fine with that but thanks for the tip.
*my house has all kinds of loud shenanigans going on all the time so tank noise isn't really a concern for anyone anyway

I haven't a skimmer, I've never got on with them, or to be honest understood fully their function. I thought I knew, years ago, but their usefulness appears to deminish, as I get older.

 

[EricR]

I haven't a skimmer, I've never got on with them, or to be honest understood fully their function. I thought I knew, years ago, but their usefulness appears to deminish, as I get older.

Same -- never owned a skimmer. *have only mechanical HOB filter
I get the point (several benefits that would be of interest to me) but, without a sump, HOB skimmers seem too sketchy to me (from reading,,, never actually tried one).

...been doing fine with no skimmer so leaving it alone

 

[Garf]

This month, an update pic of the tank, and an odd infinity mirror effect when looking down the edge of one of the pains of glass, lol.
Oh yeah, added an auto feeder and changed my bag o’ sand to oolitic.

 

[Reefering1]

Following

 

[Garf]

This months mod, refitted old prime lights at 7000K to supplement current light. Acclimation mode starting at 50% for 5 days. This takes light wattage from maybe 170 watts to maybe 250 watts.

 

[Garf]

This month's tasks included replacing my 4.5 year old return pump, which after cleaning looked like new. Also, I threw out the old heaters and replaced with a digital type, which are controlling the temperature within a much tighter envelope. The old temperature controller is now basically an alarm/emergency overheat shutoff. I cleaned the sump while I was at it. This little tank is now consuming 2.5DKH, up from 1.5 at Christmas and all jumps in consumption coincided with adding light. Same dosing, nearly all evaporation with kalk and Randy's DIY 2 part (added a third part mag with aqua forest balling equivalent). Daily dosage of iron, manganese and iodate (No idea how much of each). 1.5% daily water changes.

 

[Garf]

Not much of an update tbh. Not a lot has changed. I’ve been fiddling with using pH to monitor Alkalinity but at present salifert is just less hassle;

 

[Featherweight]

Looking good

 

[Garf]

Not done one of these before, looks simple, probably means I've cocked something up;

 

[Garf]

Anyone else got an electrical cupboard nearly as big as the tank? Lol.
Turns out the battery backup combo works perfectly. I was concerned when I checked the voltage whilst the battery charger was powered up and found fluctuating voltage leaving the 24 volt transformer to power my return pump. This voltage was wobbling alarmingly from 20 to 30 volts, rapidly. When the charger was disconnected, a steady 24 volts as expected. After an unfruitful googling I decided to check the voltage leaving the original pump transformer and that too was extremely wobbly, so problem over. The pump controller is obviously used to smoothing out these voltage fluctuations. So, now just to tidy the box up, and put a lid on it;
A pic of the old box, new box, Battery Management screen from battery app, both with charger unpowered and powered.

 

[Garf]

On the battery topic, for some unknown reason the charger decided it would stop delivering power to the battery/pump. When I checked the battery app the battery was at 75%. Turning the charger off and on again resolved the issue and I'm hoping it is a one off glitch. Suppose I'm going to have to check every three or four days now, at least for a while.

Edit - I've ordered a cheap voltage alarm, see if that works.

The wife has given me this goni, that's been in her tank for a couple of years. And a pic of our bruiser, 7 month old Max;

 

[Garf]

First impressions of the cheap low voltage alarm are quite ; Running a simulated 8 hour outage today, to see if the alarm, alarms, lol.

 

[Garf]

24hrs into my 8hr test, lol;