Josh Murrah's 240G project.

tbmoore · Post by **tbmoore** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 5:08 pm

I am running a mag24 for my return..It is routed thru the 1/3hp chiller. You are most likly correct that the chiller would wk better with the lower flow but did not want to install another pump at this time..but is food for thought later on..

Deanna · Post by **Deanna** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 5:39 pm

We knew the power bill would go up....our powerbill in say June of this year was like $260...so ya know....we will keep the temp steady somehow!!!

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 6:18 pm

Well, keeping the temp steady looks like it'll be easy... with the
canopy and hood fans going on medium speed, the temp stayed
right at 81 degrees all day long, which is right where I want it. I've
also put the fans on a timer, so they will only come on during the
day when the MH's are on, to keep the evap. rate down. The only
concern we have right now is the amount of evaporation we're
having! We're still looking into getting a dehumidifier... the central
air takes it out no problem, but that puts a burden on the central air,
and of course, when the heater is on this winter, there's nothing to
take the water out.

Post by **snoopdog** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 8:01 pm

Well Josh the only real way to handle the evaporation is autofill with a VERY reliable float valve. It gets old handling that much water every day.

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 8:21 pm

Well, I'm running into yet ANOTHER problem... I have to
do some more testing to make sure, but I think the spectrum
of the MH's has gone yellowy since I'm blowing so much air
across them

I will do some more testing tomorrow to make
sure... the MH's kicked off before I could really compare tonight.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 9:21 pm

ShagMan wrote:I think the spectrum of the MH's has gone yellowy since I'm blowing so much air
across them I will do some more testing tomorrow to make
sure... the MH's kicked off before I could really compare tonight.

I really don't think that is possible. Until they have burned in good it would be useless to compare them. They may have just looked more blue before they were burned in.

Post by **snoopdog** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 10:05 pm

I agree, they color shift greatly. Most halides i have had in the past always started off bluer then shifted to white.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 9:01 am

ShagMan wrote:Dude, believe me, I already know it... I think that we may have
to invest in a dehumidifier... our A/C/heater core in the house
is already badly rusted from pulling out the amount of water it does...
it actually backed up this year (house is less than two years old),
because of funk blocking the drain line...the 100G evaporated about
a gallon a day, the 240G is evaporating more like 3-6 gallons per
day, and I know that's gotta be tough on a A/C unit. Where do you
go to buy a dehumidifier?? I'm totally stupid when it comes to
something like that.

pour a little bleach down it every couple of months to keep it cleared out. I used to have problems with it, until I started dumping a little bleach down the drain line about every 3 months.

Is your stand totally enclosed? I see you have 4 metal halide ballasts in there.. just a thought, but with all those ballasts and stuff under there wouldn't that make it pretty hot in there? If that is an outside wall that the tank is butted up against, could you put a dryer hose in it, and exhause the heat from under the stand to outside the house? I would love to be able to do that with ours, but it is in the middle of the house.

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 9:54 am

Yep, I found the trick with bleach out... oh btw, it doesn't take
much... I put bleach in, when the water was backed up all the way
to the drip tray.... when I put in the bleach, it STUNK up the whole
house hehehe...

On the yellowing lights, I think it could have been the fact that
I didn't clean up the glass, and I'm officially growing some light
brown funk in the tank, still cycling in I guess... I think this made
the tank look a little yellowy.

Here's the budget, other than a dehumidifier, I think I'm done
spending money, and this can be considered the final budget,
money spent on the 240G. It was a pretty cheaply done project,
considering the tank was $944 by itself, the stand/canopy was
only $250 all total (this saved a LOT), and the rest was equipment.
The sand ended up being almost free too (still have ten bags to
sell). The VHO's were $300, and the MH's were $580.

Code: Select all

cost     item 
$944.00  240G aquarium 
$50.00   sump (used 75G, thick-wall, no center brace) 
$50.00   refugium (used 55G aquarium) 
$10.00   rechaulk/refurbish the 75G 
$100.00  stand frame materials 
$40.00   canopy frame materials 
$120.00  installing outlets/circuits for power 
$232.85  main pumps (mag24 x 2) 
$128.90  heater (pro-heat II 1000w) 
$20.00   filter socks (order extra & sell, to cover shipping) 
$100.00  PVC plumbing for feeds/overflows/drains 
$25.00   salt (order 2 buckets, sell other for $50) 
$0.00    sand (order a pallette, sell the rest to pay for it) 
$18.38   wiring for MH and VHO lighting 
$129.75  MH spider reflectors / mogul socket/bracket x 4 
$170.96  MH ballasts (250w x 4) 
$281.25  MH bulbs (Ushio, 250W - 10K spectrum, x 4) 
$120.00  VHO bulbs, 4 x 160w 6 foot bulbs 
$30.00   VHO endcaps, 4 pairs 
$151.75  VHO electronic ballasts (4) 
$65.00   lights for refuge (two LOA flourescent fixtures) 
$110.00  doors for canopy & stand 
$18.00   fans (one for canopy, one for stand)

Grand Total: $2,915.84

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 2:57 pm

I ordered a dehumidifier, the big boy[tm] 70 pint per day unit from Sears, got it off eBay for $125 shipped. I hope it works! Our house is like a sauna in the living room during the day.

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 7:16 pm

ShagMan wrote:Here's the budget, other than a dehumidifier, I think I'm done spending money...Grand Total: $2,915.84

Hours and hours of relaxing fish watching....PRICELESS.

Enjoy your new tank!

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 2:42 pm

Well, here's an update:

general: The system is working great, I've pretty much let it run on autopilot... nothing exciting to report, the tank seems healthy.

Humidity: The winter, the dehumidifier ran all day long, and filled the bucket every day. We left it off at night. During this spring, the air conditioning has taken over teh task of taking humidity out, and we've stored the dehumidifier away... I'm still owrrying about the hot summer coming up, but we'll see...

Here's some current tank shots.

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 7:00 pm

Looking nice!

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 6:16 pm

Added around 100lbs of rock... story in another thread.

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:03 pm

new pic 3/21/2005... everything's looking GOOD... note kenya tree & colt growth, I've gone from 4-5 hairy mushrooms (far right) to 9 and counting, also check out the purple/blue mushrooms lower center, they've gone nuts too. No changes, and NO water changes since a year ago or so. No chemicals added, but I did run a calcium reactor for a while, I think the trace elements from the dissolved aragonite helped... question is, which one? strontium? iodide? I took the calcium reactor down because it grew a ton of purple stuff. I'm also going up on micron size on my filter bags soon, they get jammed with fine material too easily, and I'm lazy. Feeding is mostly Nori with occasional home-made frozen mash from different seafoods and flake foods mixed together.

My wife points out the new pic is under VHO only, I removed the metal halides... I think everybody liked, only exception was the flowerpot, he needed lots of light, ah well. The softies DEFINITELY prefer VHO only.