Aaron's Australian Reef Project
- Thread starter aaron
- Start date
Well my wife Alice just got back from visiting her parents in New York and brought me back a couple of 250W ice cap MH ballasts. I found a guy on RC selling 240Volt MH ballasts and got them for a really good price as he wasnt getting any takers in the US.
I have bought a cheap 4foot MH and T5 fixture and plan to cut it down to 3 foot and rewire two 250W Mh's into the unit.
I made a start on the weekend and wired in the new shorter t5's and the new ballast
pictures to follow when I get a chance.
I have bought a cheap 4foot MH and T5 fixture and plan to cut it down to 3 foot and rewire two 250W Mh's into the unit.
I made a start on the weekend and wired in the new shorter t5's and the new ballast
pictures to follow when I get a chance.
no one wants to see me, all white and pasty at the end of winter bending over with my head in the fishtank.
I have just noticed an outbreak of aptasia on the bottom most rock (under the big flat one on the left) So its looking like it will all have to come out so I can kill them. Its going to have to wait a while though, as there is a radical dust storm here in Sydney today and I have covered the tank to stop it filling up with dust. check out this picture from this morning.
I have just noticed an outbreak of aptasia on the bottom most rock (under the big flat one on the left) So its looking like it will all have to come out so I can kill them. Its going to have to wait a while though, as there is a radical dust storm here in Sydney today and I have covered the tank to stop it filling up with dust. check out this picture from this morning.
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tank looks great! Do you have any natural light on it? That could really help with the lighting.
Cool pic of the dust storm...I'm sure its terrible to live through it, but it looks great as a picture. Cant wait to see the tank filled with life, good luck
Cool pic of the dust storm...I'm sure its terrible to live through it, but it looks great as a picture. Cant wait to see the tank filled with life, good luck
It would seem just looking at the tank, that there is a fair amount of ambient indirect light sunlight, but nothing that's going to help with coral growth. I have tested it with a friends light meter and it hardly even registers. Even on a really bright sunny day.
I am just waiting on a couple of 250W bulbs so I can make the brackets for the MH's and put the light unit back together. Then I will be calling up the wholesalers on the barrier reef and putting through a big order.
I am just waiting on a couple of 250W bulbs so I can make the brackets for the MH's and put the light unit back together. Then I will be calling up the wholesalers on the barrier reef and putting through a big order.
Aaron, yes we would like to see pics of you all white and pasty with your head in the tank.LOL Come on amuse us a little.:biglaugh:
Sucks about the aiptasia though! Don't you just hate how they always pop up where they are so hard to get to?:irked:
I saw the pics on the news last night and again this morn about that dust storm.yuck Hope it don't last long!!!
Sucks about the aiptasia though! Don't you just hate how they always pop up where they are so hard to get to?:irked:
I saw the pics on the news last night and again this morn about that dust storm.yuck Hope it don't last long!!!
Well the wind died down a little and we got a day to clean everything up - dust managed to get into every corner of the house, Its a good thing I have glass covers for the tank.
Then the follow day the wind picked up and we had a second dust storm. Not as bad as the first one but pretty bad. I havent even bothered to clean up yet and everything outside is filthy.
While I am waiting on the last few parts for my lights I took an old sea clone skimmer and turned it into a phos ban reactor. I will post some new pictures when I get a chance.
Then the follow day the wind picked up and we had a second dust storm. Not as bad as the first one but pretty bad. I havent even bothered to clean up yet and everything outside is filthy.
While I am waiting on the last few parts for my lights I took an old sea clone skimmer and turned it into a phos ban reactor. I will post some new pictures when I get a chance.
Well I have been busy these last few weeks - the bulbs finally turned up for the lights and I was able to make the correct sized brackets and finish wiring up the light unit. I didnt think to take any photos of the work in progress, I just wanted to get it done. I also bought a couple of 3W royal Blue LED's to use as monlights and wired them into the old MR11 lamp holders to allow me to aim them where I want them.
Once I had the MH's wired up I fired them up and noticed they were two different colours. On closer inspection it seems that AquaDepot sent me a 10K in a 14K box, so that has to be shipped back to Perth to be replaced. Nothing is ever simple....
Once I had the MH's wired up I fired them up and noticed they were two different colours. On closer inspection it seems that AquaDepot sent me a 10K in a 14K box, so that has to be shipped back to Perth to be replaced. Nothing is ever simple....
Well I have had a lot of trouble lately with the tank - my friend got me a great deal on some cheap metal halide lamps from a importer company in Western Australia.
Of the first two bulbs they sent, one was a mispackaged 10K lamp in a 14K box. so I sent the 10K lamp back and they sent me a new lamp out. The replacement lamp arrived broken, so I contacted them again and they sent me another replacement. This one appeared intact on arrival, but did not fire for more than a few seconds. I contacted the company again and this time was met with a much more suspicious response. I was asked to ship the previous two lamps back at my expense and they would send me another one. They ended up sending out two in the confusion.
So after a week i received my replacement lamps with were about 1/4" longer than any of the previous lamps It was a bit of a struggle to get it into the lamp holder so I was not really that surprised to discover it had broken after a couple of days use.
I pulled the unit apart and re drilled the mounting holes to accommodate my last lamp, made sure it fit nicely and fired her up. everything finally looked good for about three weeks...... then the original lamp which had been running about two months blew!
Here's a shot from the side - the view from my bedroom while everything was running nicely.
Of the first two bulbs they sent, one was a mispackaged 10K lamp in a 14K box. so I sent the 10K lamp back and they sent me a new lamp out. The replacement lamp arrived broken, so I contacted them again and they sent me another replacement. This one appeared intact on arrival, but did not fire for more than a few seconds. I contacted the company again and this time was met with a much more suspicious response. I was asked to ship the previous two lamps back at my expense and they would send me another one. They ended up sending out two in the confusion.
So after a week i received my replacement lamps with were about 1/4" longer than any of the previous lamps It was a bit of a struggle to get it into the lamp holder so I was not really that surprised to discover it had broken after a couple of days use.
I pulled the unit apart and re drilled the mounting holes to accommodate my last lamp, made sure it fit nicely and fired her up. everything finally looked good for about three weeks...... then the original lamp which had been running about two months blew!
Here's a shot from the side - the view from my bedroom while everything was running nicely.
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a couple of shots of my seaclone fluidised bed filter,
Next project now that the weather is getting hot is to fix a broken chiller that was given to me.
Its a Hailea 1/2 HP chiller that is showing a "P2" error in the LED display. no mention in the book or anywhere on line what "p2" refers to.
I have contacted Hailea but have had no response so far.
Next project now that the weather is getting hot is to fix a broken chiller that was given to me.
Its a Hailea 1/2 HP chiller that is showing a "P2" error in the LED display. no mention in the book or anywhere on line what "p2" refers to.
I have contacted Hailea but have had no response so far.
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Like almost everything in Australia, corals are quite expensive compared to the US, however the quality is maybe a little better as most things have not had to be shipped very far.
I order all my corals through my friend who orders directly from the wholesaler in Cairns. They air freight it to Sydney the same day and we collect it from the airport. The range varies depending on what has been collected each week but you can contact them and ask for specific things and they will keep an eye out when they are on the reef. The other thing I have noticed is that even among other reef keepers selling to each other the prices tend to be really high.
Here are a few more tank shots.
I order all my corals through my friend who orders directly from the wholesaler in Cairns. They air freight it to Sydney the same day and we collect it from the airport. The range varies depending on what has been collected each week but you can contact them and ask for specific things and they will keep an eye out when they are on the reef. The other thing I have noticed is that even among other reef keepers selling to each other the prices tend to be really high.
Here are a few more tank shots.
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Aaron!!!!!! 
Yikes...how did I miss this thread?
Great to see you have a tank again...a very cool tank.
Have definitely enjoyed your thread so far. The fish look as though they are floating in air! Love the location of the ATO (I am still running your old one..lol), and that was amazing how they pumped the water UP 40' :spin:
..I assume you will continue using sea water...how big will the water changes be?
The corals look great, funny to see the torch in it's home country while we ooh & ahh here when we see the same piece. Thumbs up on the aquascaping too.
Your YT and clown pair are still going strong and are moving into a larger tank in the next few weeks
My best to Alice :hug:
Yikes...how did I miss this thread?
Great to see you have a tank again...a very cool tank.
Have definitely enjoyed your thread so far. The fish look as though they are floating in air! Love the location of the ATO (I am still running your old one..lol), and that was amazing how they pumped the water UP 40' :spin:
..I assume you will continue using sea water...how big will the water changes be?
The corals look great, funny to see the torch in it's home country while we ooh & ahh here when we see the same piece. Thumbs up on the aquascaping too.
Your YT and clown pair are still going strong and are moving into a larger tank in the next few weeks
My best to Alice :hug:
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