Wrangy's Reef Dungeon (Waterbox 170)

[GBRsouth]

Obviously, being in Aus makes it more difficult for you as I'm not aware of any Aus made controllers. Doesnt mean they dont exist, just that I'm not aware of them. As beautiful as your country is, and as much as I've traveled, I havent been as of yet.

We don't have locally made controllers that I'm aware of, but can get the apex and all of it's attachments, except for the EB832 energy bar, because of our different style electrical plugs. So there is a functional, but less attractive looking alternative for our market.

 

[Wrangy]

My tank is in the unfinished side of our basement.
What I discovered was that when work got the busiest for me, (inevitably right around the holidays) equipment would fail and it would happen when I wouldnt be able to get to the tank for a few days, and I didnt know it had failed.
Having a controller that would notify me when a piece of equipment failed would have saved me alot of money, and time in the past. Because of that, I will be buying a controller in the next 18 months or so.

It's less about wanting to geek out on the techie side of things for me. There are people who enjoy that side of the hobby, and I dont begrudge them that at all. For me it's more the ability to figure out something's going wrong and shutting it down and replacing it before things get to a catastrophic tipping point for me.

My wife is awesome and is supportive of me being in this hobby, but doesnt know (or want to know if I'm being honest) all the intricate details of what makes things tick. She's happy looking it briefly and knowing that it makes me happy.

If Georgia is more into the hobby than my wife is, and is able to let you know something's wrong and how to intervene, then you're good to go. If not, you might really consider some form of controller, even a rudimentary one.

No, they arent cheap. Like anything else in this hobby, it will take you down yet another rabbit hole of money and hours spent on the internet researching, asking questions and trying to learn more. However, when you look at what you've already got invested in your tank in terms of money and time, it's a drop in the bucket, and it will help you succeed and survive the inevitable equipment failures without missing a beat (or more importantly), losing anything.

Obviously, being in Aus makes it more difficult for you as I'm not aware of any Aus made controllers. Doesnt mean they dont exist, just that I'm not aware of them. As beautiful as your country is, and as much as I've traveled, I havent been as of yet.

I would look at what controllers have the best support in Aus and lean heavily towards them.

Just my thoughts, and worth exactly what you paid for them.

Thanks for the input on the Earmuff...my 40 breeder is too small for one, but there are other I might be able to get away with now that I know the door isnt completely shut on keeping sandbed wrasses.

Thankfully due to the position of the tank, every day when I leave and get home from work I check the tank as it's right next to the garage. Georgia is also pretty switched on with tank stuff so can generally tell when things are wrong and we can work it out I'd love to get a controller one day but at this stage it's simply not on the cards for me. Maybe down the line and potentially if Ecotech release one too.

Additionally Australian support for these sorts of products is woeful so until we get some reliability from the manufacturers and the importers, I can't justify spending on such a crucial piece of equipment.

We don't have locally made controllers that I'm aware of, but can get the apex and all of it's attachments, except for the EB832 energy bar, because of our different style electrical plugs. So there is a functional, but less attractive looking alternative for our market.

There's a couple of bits and bobs but nothing really solid just yet.

 

[Wrangy]

Visited one of the local LFS's yesterday and they, had some cracking sps!

And I mean weeellll, the tank officially has sps in it now! exciting times haha still battling the algae **** or whatever it is but it's improving and we're winning the war!

 

[Maxx]

Thankfully due to the position of the tank, every day when I leave and get home from work I check the tank as it's right next to the garage. Georgia is also pretty switched on with tank stuff so can generally tell when things are wrong and we can work it out I'd love to get a controller one day but at this stage it's simply not on the cards for me. Maybe down the line and potentially if Ecotech release one too.

Additionally Australian support for these sorts of products is woeful so until we get some reliability from the manufacturers and the importers, I can't justify spending on such a crucial piece of equipment.


There's a couple of bits and bobs but nothing really solid just yet.

I completely understand the support side concerns.
Using a product with limited or even lackluster support is frustrating at best.
When it's an item that controls life support for the tank, it's beyond frustrating.

I'm glad Georgia is on the up and up on tank maintenance and problem solving.

 

[Wrangy]

I completely understand the support side concerns.
Using a product with limited or even lackluster support is frustrating at best.
When it's an item that controls life support for the tank, it's beyond frustrating.

I'm glad Georgia is on the up and up on tank maintenance and problem solving.

Yeah it can be really shocking here with support. A few years ago ATI Powermodules were having issues with fans dying and then the units overheating and dying so instead of help out the customers and support everyone, ATI just stopped selling to Australia completely.... it's terrible sometimes haha

Yeah, I'm pretty lucky with how switched on Georgia is!

 

[Wrangy]

Things are pretty quiet in the office today so I did a pretty major clean and overhaul of the nano! It was ***** gross beforehand so you're not allowed any pics of before! But here's after!

And one of the nicest torches I've ever seen too!

 

[YHSublime]

Glad you have SPS now! I’ve been waiting a long time for this... for you!

 

[Wrangy]

Glad you have SPS now! I’ve been waiting a long time for this... for you!

I'm over the moon! It's such a huge step forward for the tank!!

Nano has cleared up nicely this morning too!

 

[Wrangy]

So in the coming week or two I'm going to start culturing my own brine. The, pretty much, only brine shrimp supplier in Aus retired and there's basically been none around aside from a few people with smaller supplies. So with that being the case and that I want to culture something fun (considering mysids too) I'm going to set up a couple tubs for brine culture and see if I can create a self-sustaining population for myself and if any other friends want any. Either way we'll have to wait and see because I need to find some eggs first and get the tubs going!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Ahhh yes. The grind for stonies! Congrats and good kuck with the new additions! Tanks coming alive!

 

[Wrangy]

Ahhh yes. The grind for stonies! Congrats and good kuck with the new additions! Tanks coming alive!

Thanks mate! It's certainly getting some life now haha

 

[Wrangy]

So in some further planning on the brine front I'm slowly working through things and what to do to manage this and not have it completely blow up in my face straight away haha

I've been doing some research on artemia because there's not a lot of actual information out there and no one wants to share their methods for obvious reasons but it's been good. I'm going to try and attempt to keep two cultures of brine growing self-sufficiently so I don't need to be regularly hatching new brine and being wasteful of the eggs. I've found some plans on cultivation tank/tub setups and might try something simple in one and a more complex option in the second and determine which will be the best moving forward from there.

In terms of food and nutrition I will be trialling a mix of things like yeast and spirulina powder but the aim is to find a culture of tetraselmis sp. to get running so I can feed them that as that's what I've read is best for cultivating brine to keep them alive and breeding.

The things I'm still researching is filtration/waste management and what to do if I can get reasonable quantities running. The plan at this stage is to give any excess brine of phyto to a friend who lives nearby and sells it and uses it for breeding projects.

 

[Wrangy]

So despite a crash after my weeks absence sick and a general lack of care for other reasons the nano is looking really nice again!

 

[YHSublime]

I want to jump back to the prices in your LFS, they look really decent (more like phenomenal) for the sizes!

 

[GBRsouth]

I want to jump back to the prices in your LFS, they look really decent (more like phenomenal) for the sizes!

Are you sure you want to know that? It could lead to jaw-dropping envy!

 

[YHSublime]

Are you sure you want to know that? It could lead to jaw-dropping envy!

Maybe, but then I'll just flash you photos of my Apex to even out the scales

 

[GBRsouth]

The Apex we can get, it's the EB832 energy bar we can't get.

 

[Wrangy]

I want to jump back to the prices in your LFS, they look really decent (more like phenomenal) for the sizes!

It is true we're pretty lucky with prices but for what we make up in price we definitely lack in variety because we can't get imports from Indo and other places!

I think we shouldn't pick on each other because the prices of gear in the States makes me want to cry compared to what we pay haha

 

[Wrangy]

Don't forget to always stir up your media folks!!

 

[Maxx]

The Apex we can get, it's the EB832 energy bar we can't get.

Why cant you get the Energy Bar?
Customs? Or do you guys use some weird plug configuration?
What current do your houses run on?

I'm totally willing to buy you EB8's to trade for Aussie Gold Torches and acro's.