Sam's Oceanic 120 - DIY solutions

[Sean Clark]

Whe you say "added the timers so they drop down on hinges for programming" do you mean that you have them on servos for time of day angle adjustments? If so I am taking my hat off.

Sorry. I just watched the video... well done. I totally misinterpreted that.

 

[Projects with Sam]

waaaay too much credit! :D
just what was on the video. I don't have a controller yet and my lights are old black box specials with on/off and dimming. I have three timers for the blues, the whites, and the t5s. Thankfully the lights I adopted separate the whites and the blues on separate cords so its possible to just use light timers.
Eventually I'll get fancy lights or I'll do dimmable t5 ballasts with reef-pi or off the shelf controller.
Though, I like where you're going with the angle adjustment idea! Wouldn't be too hard with a stepper motor and a bunch of extruded aluminum! I have lower hanging fruit still!

 

[Projects with Sam]

Amos the anemone has been moving around a little but has stayed on his little peak. He has plumped-up a lot.

My leathers are still jonesing from my salinity dip. I am hoping they come around now I've slowly raised that up.
*not sure he'll be Amos.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Finally took out some of my rock so I could appropriately chase-down and sump my duncan and zoanthid eating file fish. when I was there I scraped the algae off the bottom of my tank for the first and last time.

Here is as photo of my wire management solution with it mostly done.

I've been noticing the coral beauty hasn't been eating and has been getting really thin. The file fish chase was too much for him and he started swimming on his side. I put him into an acclimation box after force-feeding him a slurry of mysis and plankton with a syringe. Will see if he makes the night.

 

[Miami Reef]

Now I feel as special as all the other folks with well-or semi-well-thought out welcome gifs!

I made a model in Fusion360 then recorded the toolpath of milling it on a cnc.

You made this yourself? Wow!

 

[Projects with Sam]

The coral beauty didn't make it - passed yesterday. I should have paid more attention to see he wasn't eating. His symptoms were the same as before. I noticed in the tank he had troubles tracking food; he would see a tidbit that it looked like he wanted then he would swim towards it and completely miss. I don't know if it was neurological or poor eyesight or typical of angelfish (he was my first). It could have been poor eyesight from prior bad nutrition.

I should have taken him out of my DT and actively fattened him up a bit. With the kids and life it was too easy to just leave him in there and hope he was getting the nourishment he needed. He was a good fish... didn't eat my coral - well worth the $10 for the experience.

 

[Projects with Sam]

You made this yourself? Wow!

Yes! All on free software! Checkout the following apps:
AutoDesk Fusion360 - for the 3D modelling and toolpath - video showing how I did the 3D modeling and toolpath
OBS Studio - for recording the screen OBS tutorial - better then I could do file->remux video after recording.
HitFilm Express - for editing the video - I just used this to trim the video. They've got tutorials
GIMP - for making the animated gif from the video
FFmpeg - for making the animated gif from the video - forgot I'm running Ubuntu on the windows command line so had FFmpeg...

I can make an instructional video on my YouTube channel if its something you're interested in and are willing to subscribe. :D

 

[Miami Reef]

Yes! All on free software! Checkout the following apps:
AutoDesk Fusion360 - for the 3D modelling and toolpath animation
OBS Studio - for recording the screen of the toolpath animation
HitFilm Express - for editing the video
GIMP - for making the animated gif from the video
I can make an instructional video on my YouTube channel if its something you're interested in and are willing to subscribe. :D

I subscribed. I’m willing to take the risk of coming off as weird, but your personality is so cute haha. I like the little thumbs up you do.

:D

 

[Projects with Sam]

Thanks! no problems! trying to differentiate a little - also trying to look retro-ish / not too polished.
Some of my inspiration:
https://www.youtube.com/c/BobbyDukeArtshttps://www.youtube.com/c/IvanMirandaComthere are tons more but these pop to mind... I'll add more as I think of them I am sure.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

The coral beauty didn't make it - passed yesterday. I should have paid more attention to see he wasn't eating. His symptoms were the same as before. I noticed in the tank he had troubles tracking food; he would see a tidbit that it looked like he wanted then he would swim towards it and completely miss. I don't know if it was neurological or poor eyesight or typical of angelfish (he was my first). It could have been poor eyesight from prior bad nutrition.

I should have taken him out of my DT and actively fattened him up a bit. With the kids and life it was too easy to just leave him in there and hope he was getting the nourishment he needed. He was a good fish... didn't eat my coral - well worth the $10 for the experience.

10$ coral beauty, that is a great price! i had a coral beauty once they get some amazing purples that come thru, I try to start every new fish with all foods until it eats one type then a few weeks they will almost eat anything.
They are coral nippers sometimes I've had them mess with sps before, I'd love to have another one but until the tank is packed wall to wall with coral they can be questionable, when its packed full I feel like they do better, or its less noticeable.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Beyond stoked! I got a second-hand Apex Neptune Classic with a bunch of extras. Got it installed and now am trying to figure out the configurations.

Kind of feel like a sellout for not going reef-pi but I figure I need a basis for comparison.

 

[Projects with Sam]

10$ coral beauty, that is a great price! i had a coral beauty once they get some amazing purples that come thru, I try to start every new fish with all foods until it eats one type then a few weeks they will almost eat anything.
They are coral nippers sometimes I've had them mess with sps before, I'd love to have another one but until the tank is packed wall to wall with coral they can be questionable, when its packed full I feel like they do better, or its less noticeable.

Agreed. I have 6 different frozen foods and 2 different types of algae, 4 different pellets, live brine shrimp and largish krill for the anemones (but I cut it up for the fish too). I also try to dose everything in Selcon.

I saw a bi-color Angel at the fish store tonight for $50; I was so tempted to get it... But, with the death of my neon Dottyback and my coral beauty I am back to all reef safe fish so I want to keep it that way, like you said, till the tank is wall to wall.

 

[Projects with Sam]

New additions in QT:
Court Jester Goby
6 line wrasse
4 Banggai cardinalfish


was also supposed to get a green banded goby but we couldn't find it in the tank. I guess they sold it since Thursday :(.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Just added a cleaner shrimp, another algae blenny, and a green banded goby to QT as well so 9 critters in a 10 gallon... too many? To the 10 gallon I added a cycled internal filter rated for a 40G (from my other QT tank) some extra cycled clean filter floss from my DT sump (loaded with copepods) and my algae-laden mushroom-box/frag rack from my DT. These should make everyone happy and be able to cycle all the ammonia. I don't want to maintain 2 QT tanks.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Awhile back I posted an advertisement in the marketplace section as an entry for a contest here on R2R stating I'd trade 3D printing for corals. I didn't win the contest. I did however attract Adam's attention @Battlecorals and he contacted me to make a skimmer part to help him with maintenance. It was luck that I just seemed to know what he was looking for and was able to model it. nonetheless, I'm proud to comment that he wrote up this wonderful post about our interaction. Thanks Adam! It was a treat working with you!

 

[Projects with Sam]

Completed my (sub $50) DIY filter floss roller prototype! It works great at over 1500gph flow! I have a few improvements for MKII but MKI is operating great in the meantime. This one I made with a razor blade, drill, crazy glue, minimal 3D printed parts (just the engine holder and spent floss spool.) Its mostly made from extruded PVC ceiling tile and snap-in vinyl gutter screen.
Once I like a design enough, I'll carve it out of acrylic on the cnc and Weld-On it; though the PVC ones seem totally fine.

I'll post the video, materials list, and instructions on my YouTube channel when I get around to it so subscribe and click the bell to be informed of my videos.
motor: Amazon product ASIN B071KFSM8V

 

[Projects with Sam]

Taking out the DIY filter floss roller. The seem where I glued the two lengths of filter floss together caught on a cross beam as it was being drawn through and the plastic that attaches the roller to the shaft bent so the roller spins freely now.
I need to reprint the roller and I may heat-set a metal collar with a grub screw to make it attach more firmly.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Whew! Wild Friday! got the kids to bed then cleaned the skimmer...
everyone in QT is doing well despite the cramped conditions... I keep dosing prime and bio-booster so I don't kill the fish. water change tomorrow after prazi has enough time. I am sooo tempted to skip copper...
Clean skimmer:
Back to the manual filter...
Filter floss roller prototype in for modifications:

QT Fish Pics:

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Great build, your very good at making things. Can't wait to see more

 

[Projects with Sam]

Traded some 3D prints for corals with a local reefer I know!
It was about 40 hours of printing; 1.5kg of filament (my heaviest individual prints to date).

He hooked me up - I'll print him some more stuff.
These are all right after dipping so they're a bit mad.

superman sps


neon green candy cain


ding dang zoas, bowser or candy apple red zoas, 2 unidentified zoas, and a devil's hand leather.