Coralgrowing http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog My saltwater aquarium adventures Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:47:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 en Cutting the Drain Hole http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/cutting-the-drain-hole/ http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/cutting-the-drain-hole/#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:47:42 +0000 Nico http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/cutting-the-drain-hole/ I got my bulkhead yesterday, so it was time to start drilling. First I had to move the freshwater fish and shrimps to the other tank. Catching all the little buggers took most of the day so there was no time left to cut the drain hole.

This afternoon I started drilling with my diamond tipped Dremel bit, nice and slowly. After about a million passes the cut was about ¼ thru the glass and the bit was as smooth as a baby ass. I went into the garage only to discover that I had no more diamond tipped bits.

The nearby hardware store only had one bit left, so I had to drive all the way across town to get some more. The drilling is progressing nicely although it takes a lot longer than I had hoped for. The cut is about ¾ thru the glass now, but I have to call it a day because it will be too dark outside in a little while.

]]> http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/cutting-the-drain-hole/feed/ Actinic Blues http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/actinic-blues/ http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/actinic-blues/#comments Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:25:10 +0000 Nico http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/actinic-blues/ I tested the t5 lights today. Those 20.000K lights are really blue! They will look awesome together with my 10.000K HQI light. You can see the combination of the lights in the bottom three pictures at sneppevej.dk

My bulkhead should arrive tomorrow, then the cutting of the drain hole will be started (as soon as I’ve emptied out the tank)

]]> http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/actinic-blues/feed/ I’ve Got My Huge Pump! http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/i%e2%80%99ve-got-my-huge-pump/ http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/i%e2%80%99ve-got-my-huge-pump/#comments Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:03:20 +0000 Nico http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/i%e2%80%99ve-got-my-huge-pump/ Today the delivery man stopped by with a big box of goodies. As I opened up the box and got the lights, the reflectors, the drainpipe, the pump and … that is all that came out of the box. The one thing I need first on this project is the bulkhead and it wasn’t in the box. There was a paper in the box though, it says that the bulkhead is out of stock and will be delivered asap.

Nothing I can do but wait. In the meantime I hooked up the pump for a test run. I have to say that the pump is pretty quiet, well as quiet as 15,000 l/h can be that is. The flow is enormous! I wonder if it won’t be too much for my tank and sump to handle?

The t5 lights will be tested tomorrow. Oh and if the supplier reads this: thanks for the extra reflector! You’ve send me 3 instead of the two I ordered and paid for :)

]]> http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/i%e2%80%99ve-got-my-huge-pump/feed/ Waiting For The Deliveryman http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/waiting-for-the-deliveryman/ http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/waiting-for-the-deliveryman/#comments Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:02:58 +0000 Nico http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/waiting-for-the-deliveryman/ I just found an incredible deal on a pump: 15,000 l/h (almost 4,000 gal/h) for only 88 Euro instead of the normal price of 269 Euro. This pump will be good for a display tank turnover rate of 62x which is a lot more than the 23x I have in my small tank now. That is a lot of flow, but searching the ‘net I’ve found people running even higher turnover rates, so I guess this pump can be used. Besides, the pump will probably not run the full 15,000 l/h, losses due to the plumbing will probably lower the output to 12,000 to 13,000 l/h which equals 49 to 54 times turnover.

I’ve also ordered 2 54W T5 lights with matching electronic ballast and reflectors. The lights I got are 20,000K and will be used in addition to my 70W 10.000K HQI, which is what’s in use on my small tank now.

I hope the lights, pump, bulkhead and standpipe are delivered by DHL tomorrow. As soon as I’ve got the bulkhead I can start drilling the bottom of the tank.

]]> http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/waiting-for-the-deliveryman/feed/ Do I Want a Bigger Tank? Do I? http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/do-i-want-a-bigger-tank-do-i/ http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/do-i-want-a-bigger-tank-do-i/#comments Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:28:06 +0000 Nico http://www.coralgrowing.com/blog/do-i-want-a-bigger-tank-do-i/ My wife just asked me “Why don’t you convert the big tank to salt water?” Are you kidding me? Upgrading from my current 86 liter (23 gallon) to a 243 liter (64 gallon), do I want to do that? Hell yeah! Lets go shopping!

I want to document everything involving the new tank for later reference, so I figured: why not add a blog to my site, so everyone interested can follow the process? So here we are, a brand new blog. I’ll have to create a template for it to match the main site, but right now I have different priorities: I have to go shopping for the big tank, before my wife changes her mind ;)

The big tank has been running with freshwater fish for a few years now. Since it’s not reef-ready (i.e. no drain hole in the bottom) I have some work to do, but first lets have a look at what I need to buy for my new tank:

  • Bulkhead
  • Lights
  • Pump
  • Sand

That’s basically it. I already have plenty of live-rock. When the LFS had a sale in their salt water section I got some pretty cool rocks. Later I found out that I had bought more then would fit in my tank. So now I have a tank filled with rocks and a few extra pieces laying in the garage. With all the little critters I see walking on the rocks in my tank, I figure the ones stored in the garage will be re-seeded quite fast once introduced to the system.

Time to search the internets and visit the LFS!

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