★ 110 Gallon (In-Wall Office Dream SPS Reef Tank) ★ PROJECT GENESIS [Total Automation, DIY & More ]★

[Fudsey]

I'm addicted to messing with my tank even when I shouldn't anonymous

 

[WallyB]

My obsession with Coral Additives was inspired by @shih87

Ever seen his SPS tank.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/shih87-reef.213249/page-9#post-6513849

Beautiful but he doses everything possible.

 

[WallyB]

BINGO!!! ( ALK MONITOR COMPLETED: * Liquid Control* )
** Perfect Samples/Reagent & Rinse // NO BUBBLES **

So I gave up on trying use Programming to Over Come the Accuracy and Bubbles (with the Air Line Syringe TIPS).

I ripped apart things a bit. And made the effort to replace the TIP's and the tubing to proper Dosing Lines (Not Air Lines).

Everything WORKS PERFECT. PERFECT! DEAD ON ACCURATE!!!!!

I already wrote all the Code/Functions. This liquid control was the last hurdle.

All that's left is Assembling all the Puzzle Pieces into Sequence.

5 MILES LEFT ( or about 24 hours ) till LIFT OFF!! (if no new bugs come up)

And this is the SHIP! (with old tips)…..The New Tips will be in the VIDEO.

 

[Fudsey]

Congrats Wally ! !

 

[WallyB]

Congrats Wally ! !

Thanks.....

I worked till the wee hours of the morning.
2 miles left.

 

[Janci]

BINGO!!! ( ALK MONITOR COMPLETED: * Liquid Control* )
** Perfect Samples/Reagent & Rinse // NO BUBBLES **

So I gave up on trying use Programming to Over Come the Accuracy and Bubbles (with the Air Line Syringe TIPS).

I ripped apart things a bit. And made the effort to replace the TIP's and the tubing to proper Dosing Lines (Not Air Lines).

Everything WORKS PERFECT. PERFECT! DEAD ON ACCURATE!!!!!

I already wrote all the Code/Functions. This liquid control was the last hurdle.

All that's left is Assembling all the Puzzle Pieces into Sequence.

5 MILES LEFT ( or about 24 hours ) till LIFT OFF!! (if no new bugs come up)

And this is the SHIP! (with old tips)…..The New Tips will be in the VIDEO.

Wow, that looks great.
I love the use of the frag grating. It is the perfect touch.

I will start thinking on new projects....

 

[WallyB]

Wow, that looks great.
I love the use of the frag grating. It is the perfect touch.

I will start thinking on new projects....

Thanks @Janci ,

You have a keen Eye, to notice the Black Frag Egg Crate.
Let's see if you can find the other parts I RE-USED (I'll give some clues, and maybe you'll NOTICE THEM)

There is a lot of re-use in the AQUAmon Monitor Lab.
As I was building and looking for a part, I would wander the house, boxes, junk supplies.
It's was hacked together as I found things. (There never was a original Blue-Print/Design)

The photo isn't bright, and you'll see more in the Video of the Sides, back.

Here is a list of re-use Parts:

- Obviously I re-used an (Broken) All in-one Printer/Scanner. (Ripped off the top and gutted it).

Have one more (Broken Fax/Printer), but I do plan on possibly making the Next Alk Monitor V2 a Compact Portable (single Tank) version (since I learned how things need to work, and can simplify this prototype).
This main LAB will be used to figure out more Water Tests ( I want Phosphate!! )

- The Main Motor that moves the Test Vial (Back/Forth) is the Printer Head Motor, and the Printer Ink Cartridge Holder on a track that holds the vial Robot Mechanism.

- The Printers (Paper Tray) is Open to above and holds a tray is the Waste Water (Collector/Reservior)
- The Little round speaker above the Touch Screen was inside the Printer. (Great looking and fits the décor)

- All the Black Foam Like material is Left over (Flooring Underpand for Strip Flooring)
---------> That's stuff cut's like butter, but is firm and moldable into the Shapes/Trim you see.

- Black Frag Egg Crate make up some of the Walls (Make the Monitor Light)
- The Structure (looks like Egg Crate) came from my Son's Construction Set (Rokenbok)
- The Motor at the Tip of the Robot arm came from the Printer (It pulled paper thru the fax)
- The Yellow Funnel Shaped Stirring Tip on the Robot Arm/Motor (The Tip on the 1ml Salifert Test kit Syringe)
- The Yellow Twisted Soft Tip on that Tip is a short piece of (Grass Whipper Snipper Cutting Line)

- The Syringe like Tips come from a Hanna Alk Tester (you get one with each Regeant)
- Wtih the change to better tubing. I changed the Tips (Made from 3ml Soft Plastic Pipettes...I use to feed Fish Melted Frozen, Do Water tests, etc)

- The Clear Calibration Cup (comes from A Pepto-Bismo Stomach Medicine Cap)
- The 3 Grey Buttons on right came from a Old Computer Panel (decades old)
- Lots of Electical Tape, Dyno Label Tape, Tie-Wraps and plenty of Hot Glue.

- Now can you find two pieces, clearly seen in Photo (left side)? (Both came from Broken MaxiJet Pumps Covers)

There is other junk you can't see.

Not much was bought to make it. Some Electronics, and the Kamoer Peristalic Pumps.

So it's truly a Eco-Friendly Alk Monitor. Saving the Planet and Keeping Land Fill waste less filled.

 

[WallyB]

NEW TANK LOOK ( New Frag Mounted & Some Rock Scape Adjustments)

BEFORE

NOW

Instead of tackling the Dead Flow Spot with Flow, I just FILLED in the Right side with Rock Pieces.
Gave me more Coral Mounting Space too.

It doesn't look that Great right now....Actually to me it's the worst refresh I've ever done on the Tank.
But with Some Luck and the ALk-Monitor things might get Better.

 

[WallyB]

That's Copperband Butterfly should be Finished QT any day.

I need him badly.

When mounting the Frags, I noticed there is Baby Apatsia spouting up ABSOLUTLY EVERYWHERE.

 

[WallyB]

SPS CATALOGED ( Before they Fall , Before I Forget )

After Fresh Gluing, best to label things.... (next few days things can disappear, and hard to notice)

 

[Janci]

Nice collection.
Do you notice any growth in the past weeks/months?

 

[NY_Caveman]

That Turbinaria really took off.

 

[WallyB]

Nice collection.
Do you notice any growth in the past weeks/months?

You are joking. Or at least don't know.

I killed almost all the SPS I had.

This is all new stuff.

Well not all new, and I didn't kill everything . I killed a lot (at least 50-60%), some recovering.
What's weird is a few HIGH END Acro made it. Mostly Cheap stuff died, and some I replaced.

I did have some grow till things went bad.

His is the last CATALOG photo what I started with back in March of this year. (LOTS missing)

 

[WallyB]

That Turbinaria really took off.

Yes it did. And I am terrified now. It's getting small pockets of damage.
The Tubunaria will recover fast, if I find the reason for degredation.

I think I found the cause of my last Damage ( Cracked pump ) Small amount of copper into tank
Just found out last two days. It was that Hydor Koralia I added to the Dead Flow Spot.
Almost killed me since Tank was High Voltage.

For Tubinaria growth .....let's compare to another PAST KILLED PHOTO.

2018-08

 

[WallyB]

I FINALLY ( SMASHED THE TITANIUM WALL ) ALK MONITOR (BIG BUG)

So I've been quiet about the ALK Monitor.
Was suppose to be done a few days ago.

I hit a BRICK Wall. Or more like TITANIUM Wall. (I PANICKED, Freaked at first)

In a nutshell, since I don't want to get too technical.

-> The SD Card I had all my Alk Monitor running on went Corrupt. (in a way that I could not CLONE my hard work)
-> Not crashed, but I couldn't back it up.
-----> I couldn't move forward without a backup. (Months from now I will forget how I built the code)
-----> I had to have a CLONE SD card, to have a replacement BACKUP.

So I kind of had to start all over. (Not write code, since I copied that daily).

I kind of had to re-install the Operating system. Then re-assemble stuff.
Then I found that newer Operating system didn't work with some code, since I fixed that with small re-writes.

Just NOW I got everything back together. Now I CLONE, and hope it will work this time.

Then I'm done if all re-testing works.

What a NIGHTMARE, but it's actually GOOD LUCK!!
Happening now, it's 3-4 days lost.
Happening a year from now, would be the End of the Alk Monitor. Or take weeks to figure stuff out.
Now I will be protected. (If another SD card crashes. 5 minutes to restore to a new Card)

REMEMBER.....KNOW THIS......ALL SD Cards corrupt (eventually). They only have a limited WRITE count.
So many writes, and they are useless.
So don't think you can keep you Camera PHoto's on there forever.

Same applied to SSD drives. *actually Solid State Drives are Worse **

********************************************************
** NEVER BACKUP your precious photos to a Solid State Drive ***
********************************************************
A good old fashion (slower) Hard Drive is way safer.
If a SSD corrupts (it's gone!!!! ) You cannot take it apart to fix!!! Or even partially recover some stuff!!!!!!!!
If a hard drive goes (good ones Rarely do, unless dropped), they can be taken apart.
And you can take out the DISK and do partial, or complete recover!

I backup my work, family photos, to SSD for speed, and then every few months backup SSD to a Hard Drive.
Then once a year (Christmas time), I clone the Hard Drive to another (and give to my Brother in Law) to take to his house. (That protects me in-case House and computers burn down **

Sure you can do online backups, but I have 3.5 TB of photos, and stuff.
And what if the Online company goes out of business.

 

[WallyB]

AQUARIUM (ELECTRICAL SHOCK)

As I mentioned I got a shock from my Tank. Hydor Pump failed and put AC into my Tank.

All the details on this thread I started.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/★i-am-alive★-please-read-★tank-almost-★electrocuted★-me★-gfci-never-tripped-missing-ground-probe-passing-on-lesson-to-all-reefers.666317/#post-6743762

Made this Video today...…To Test how GFCI Outlets work (with or without Ground Probes).
OR HOW THEY Don't WORK.

Maybe you'll learn something.

My Very first Voice Narrated Video on YouTube so pardon the NON New-Anchor Quality.

 

[Fudsey]

Hydor Koralia pumps are the worst, had 2 of them do the same to me about a month apart. Never again...

 

[WallyB]

Hydor Koralia pumps are the worst, had 2 of them do the same to me about a month apart. Never again...

Yup. That is around 5 that failed on me. 3 originals, which were replaced for free, and 2 of those failed.

I still have one Hydor Koralia left in my SPS DT. Black Friday deals are going to find me a replacement to remove that one too.

 

[Fudsey]

The Coral Box Jebao pumps are on sale at Reefbreeders.

Wave Makers - ReefBreeders.com

The ReefBreeders Reef Power RP series has 4 unique pump sizes to choose from. They are the perfect wave-maker for your aquarium.

www.reefbreeders.com

 

[WallyB]

APTASIA CONTROL IS HERE ( Copperband Butterfly ) ** MINI **

I picked up the Copperband Butterfly from "Carl the QT Guy".

I asked for NOT A LARGE ONE, and got exactly what I asked for.

Smallest Copperband I've ever Seen!!!

But he is 100% healthy. Treated in Copper and Meds.
Eatting Mastick, Mysis and Frozen Brine Shrimp.

HE WAS GOING to got into DT, but I'll get a larger one.

Perfect to Keep the Refuge Clean of Apatasia

And there is plenty of Aptasia….!!!