Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[nineball]

Originally Posted by dave.m

Birders call it "digiscoping": you get your umpteen million dollar camera mounted on your megabucks triod, you get a $0.75 plumbing fitting that will mount on the camera's lens on one end and hold the Nanoscope on the other. Never tell Peter how little it cost. Just present him with a bill for your services.

Or have I already said too much?

Dave.M

Its ok Dave, as long as there are no pictures or hand drawings......I'll never get it! ! !

Peter

[Mangodude]

Beautiful Sohal! Have you considered getting a Clown Tang? (Acanthurus Lineatus)

[nineball]

Originally Posted by Mangodude

Beautiful Sohal! Have you considered getting a Clown Tang? (Acanthurus Lineatus)

Clearly it is a beautiful fish but I am happy for the moment with the balance I have achieved with the current population. The Sohal is the peacemaker and so far he is not aggressive or in any way threatening to anyone or anything else. My fear is that the harmony might be jeopardized by introducing another foot long fish. Then again.......raise this issue in another year and I just might go WOW EXCELLENT SUGGESTION!!!

Peter

[Rybren]

Here's a link to a description of Randy Holmes-Farley's live Arcti-Pods feeder.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=33

It may provide some food for thought as you continue to investigate possibilities.

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by dave.m

Birders call it "digiscoping": you get your umpteen million dollar camera mounted on your megabucks triod, you get a $0.75 plumbing fitting that will mount on the camera's lens on one end and hold the Nanoscope on the other. Never tell Peter how little it cost. Just present him with a bill for your services.

Or have I already said too much?

Dave.M

I didn't realize bird fanciers were doing this already, makes sense.

[dave.m]

I was in a blind at a conservation area. The guy beside me set up a 20X $2500 spotter scope on a really fine $600 four-legged mount, stuck a little plastic fitting on the eyepiece he had made out of a 75¢ plumbing part as an adapter and mounted a $20 throw-away digital camera on it. The pictures he was getting were stunning to say the least.

I'm sure that a man of your esteemed talents (not being at all facetious here) could do something similar with the Nanoscope.

Dave.M

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by dave.m

I was in a blind at a conservation area. The guy beside me set up a 20X $2500 spotter scope on a really fine $600 four-legged mount, stuck a little plastic fitting on the eyepiece he had made out of a 75¢ plumbing part as an adapter and mounted a $20 throw-away digital camera on it. The pictures he was getting were stunning to say the least.

I'm sure that a man of your esteemed talents (not being at all facetious here) could do something similar with the Nanoscope.

Dave.M

Is there a better quality birder scope out there that performs better than our nanoscope? Furthermore, can I use it to see the nude beach on Centre Island from my 22nd floor apartment? I can't even distinguish sex with my field glasses

[nineball]

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

Is there a better quality birder scope out there that performs better than our nanoscope? Furthermore, can I use it to see the nude beach on Centre Island from my 22nd floor apartment? I can't even distinguish sex with my field glasses

You are looking through the wrong end then. My problem is I probably wouldn't recognize it if it was going on in the same room.........

Life is entirely too short.......

Peter

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by nineball

Life is entirely too short.......

Peter

You are looking at it through the wrong end

[Opcn]

Amazon sells thermoelectric wine chillers that amount to basically a minibar fridge.

Bacterial blooms are going to happen if the food slush spends a significant amount of time at a significant temperature. I think that the answer is to run the feed line out of refrigeration and immediately meet it with a "T" that carries a loop of tank water past. If the loop runs constantly it will be dumping tank water heat into your cooler but if you squeeze out a bolus of food and then run the loop for 2 minutes then shut it off you can avoid that problem and be sure that you sweep most of the food in warm places out. Also the more feedings per day you do (and by extension the less time between feedings) the less time that food is going to spend hanging out in a warm tube.

[mr.wilson]

or this... http://stores.maxumsupply.com/-strse...002/Detail.bok

[lbaldrey]

Beautiful!

Some of us can only dream of replicating such works in our tanks.

[3seconds2live]

Maybe I missed it but what was a list given on what type and size of frozen food is wanting to be auto fed? Does the food need to be rinsed first?

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by 3seconds2live

Maybe I missed it but what was a list given on what type and size of frozen food is wanting to be auto fed? Does the food need to be rinsed first?

Frozen brine shrimp (45%), mysis (45%), & cyclops (10%). We are currently rinsing thoroughly with RO/DI and would like to continue to limit Po4.

[Padrino]

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

Just because you are en engineer, doesn't mean you can't be a brick layer, a moon shuttle conductor, an escalator for that matter. I asked for contributions from geniuses, but expect solutions from the SubGenius. I treat feeding systems like my wife, keep them in the dark


This isn't a back door R&D project. I would love nothing more than to buy an off the rack feeder and call it a day, but I haven't found one yet. It may very well be out there, but I haven't found it yet.

We have the option of mixing all the fresh (previously frozen) foods together in one container. This is much more simple than multiple feeding bottles with valves and mixers etc. I'm not concerned if the foods classify and come out in non-homogenous portions. The fewer hoses and moving parts connected to the bottle the better, as these will need cleaning. If the bottles have a simple release mechanism like a solenoid or automated gate at the bottom, it limits the sticky parts. I can pre-rinse the frozen food to remove phosphates or we can try, a perhaps over ambitious, system whereby a cube is pushed out of a blister pack and dropped into a small holding tank filled with water. the tank would be filled and drained repeatedly until the "juice" is removed. This step will thaw the food and dilute it to a safe consistency for travelling down a slurry pipeline and through a return pump.

The idea here is to dose frequent small portions. A single blister pack can be kept frozen with a dead silent Peltier cooler. The hot side can be used to help melt the cube, kill bacteria or to create energy to drive the device itself (using the difference in temperature between the two sides). A single cube doesn't need much area to rinse and dilute. Multipacks can be used for variety or a mixed food like Rod's or Roger's can be utilized. This kind of unit could be used for any size tank, even a nano. Peter's feeder would just need to be refilled daily rather than weekly/monthly. We only need to freeze or cool the area of a blister pack (small thermal mass) so the Peltier cooler doesn't have to be big.

Amen

I am an engineer as well and perhaps I may be able to help. As you mentioned sometimes less is more. I try to use this philosophy as much as I can in the manufacturing field. You also mentioned that you wanted to ensure that the frozen food was properly diluted or thawed. What if you stick with your idea however install a magnetic stir rod that can be found at any science store (i have purcased some at different lengths from a science store across from yorkdale mall for cheap) It does add another small device however you could then consistently ensure that all frozen/fresh food was mixed in and you could keep in it suspension prior to letting it out.

Now to help maintain a clean resevior you could mount this above the tank or the last section of your sump like you suggested somewhere and use a surge style method by emptying it all directly into the sump. You could then just run whichever pump you will use to fill the resevior to complete the cycle 1 or 2 more times to ensure the resevior is fully clean. If you use this method, you could add less food each time which would allow the slow release of food. One thing that I havent figured out yet was you wanted to thoroughly rinse the food with RO/DI prior to adding to the tank, Ultimately if you can utilize the same resevior to do both tasks, that would be ideal.

let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
Rob

[D5HP]

How often is an acceptable fill period? So can this thing go two days before needing attention or are you looking for a week out of it?

I like the magnetic stirring idea Padrino...that's great.

[bioload]

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

or this... http://stores.maxumsupply.com/-strse...002/Detail.bok

Or this...http://www.osion-china.com/details.asp?id=37 .... http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/32...ispenser_.html


For someone with the time and a bit of $$ on their hands......modification of an ice dispenser .....no need to to melt, mix, and keep cold. Just add frozen cubes to the storage container and time the dispesner (instead of switch). My only conern off the top of my head would be consistent dosing quantities.

......and maybe a bit too loud

[AzLoki]

Team 9ball, wonderful job!

Peter, amazing tank and a perfect build thread. This thread has inspired(read infected) me with a desire for my own personal bit of the ocean. Thanks for setting a great standard for me to follow thread-wise and aspire to tank-wise. For now it's a nano for me, but I will use as much as I can from this thread and scale it to fit my tank and budget.
Maybe one day they will let me past security to head up north and see the wonders you have created, til then I'll enjoy all those hi-res pics and vids you post up.

-Eddie

[Ldagger]

Just a thought, if you use a ball that floats, perhaps size of a rachet ball, and place it into a simple drip container to where it will close the bottom opening once enough food drains out. Oils float to top, food sinks to bottom.
place on slow drip add frozen cubes daily. perhaps would need to mark the waterline to fill too each time. never done, just idea

[chingchai]

Originally Posted by nineball

You are looking through the wrong end then. My problem is I probably wouldn't recognize it if it was going on in the same room.........

Life is entirely too short.......

Peter

Peter. You are exactly right.
Life is entirely too short.
Let's enjoy it every moment that we can.

All the best,

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by Ldagger

Just a thought, if you use a ball that floats, perhaps size of a rachet ball, and place it into a simple drip container to where it will close the bottom opening once enough food drains out. Oils float to top, food sinks to bottom.
place on slow drip add frozen cubes daily. perhaps would need to mark the waterline to fill too each time. never done, just idea

Very original, outside of the box idea. I didn't think of the oil separation principal. It's definitely a good design factor with oily mysis shrimp.

Maybe adding lanthanum chloride to a feeding vessel is a good way of removing phosphate without losing fine particle food for invertebrates and small fish.

[ti-christ]

Peter, I have seen on picture that you have ventilation duct run over your reef tank. Did you take any special consideration to avoid rush on the duct (or ventilator)? After the initial installation, did you have see any sign of rush on it? I am wondering if salt may be present in the evaporated water!

I also have a good idea for your frozen food auto-feeder. During the week-end, I will draw a sketch and I will sent it to you.

[ebonline]

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

Our newest plan is to use an Eheim feeder filled with powdered coral food that will drop food into the last compartment of our sump. Manual tests have proven that all the food makes it into the display with even distribution. This will get us away from the current feast or famine feeding regime. It will also allow us to feed at night when poly extension is better in many corals, and offer better food dosing quantity control.

The goal is to create a fish and coral feeding system to give Peter more time to enjoy the tank from the safety of his chair. Now that we have added a collection of big tangs, the feeding frenzy is significant. The best way to assure that the slow guys get fed is to add a lot at one time and mix small (cyclops), medium (brine shrimp), and large (mysis shrimp). I don't like the fact that the fish associate certain areas of the tank as feeding stations, as it creates a "begging for food" response. I think we can feed fresh (previously frozen) foods via the same delivery service through the return pump.

Any kind of venturi or actuator valve can fail, and if the feeding vessel runs out of water it can introduce air into the display. The safest system we can think of is a refrigerated hopper that leads directly to the sump return intake like a slurry. We need it to dose food and mix water in small amounts to protect the pump and outlets from clogging. The surprise feedings will be in small increments spread out throughout the day. This is how fish feed in nature, particularly fish with a fast metabolism like anthias. We will thaw food every few days and reload a refrigerated holding vessel of some sort.

There are kinds of details to work out, so we are looking at it on and off when the subject comes up... well here we are again It has to be...

1) Compact.
2) Quiet.
3) Reef safe (non-metallic contact areas).
4) Cost effective.
5) Easy to keep clean.
6) Fails safe in case of over feeding jams.
7) Free of bacteria blooms.
8) Reliable.
9) Energy efficient.
10) Easy to fill and set dosing rate.

Any ideas from you geniuses out there???

Mr. Wilson,
Why can't instead of a slush mixture you just drop in frozen cubes, etc. into the sump from a small freezer and just let it thaw slowly in the sump and feed through the pumps similar to what you are already thinking with the powder foods. Seems like that will be easier to build than a device that thaws to a slush form then drop into sump. Just my 2 cents!

And guys tank looks amazing and was nice to get caught up after being away from boards for a while....Keep up the good work!

[Allmost]

hello ,

how are the moorish Idols doing ? are they touching the beautiful Sponges you have ?

may I ask what you are feeding them currently ? anything special ? or just whatever the tank gets fed [mysis, bb, nori ...]


Lastly, may I ask what salt you are currently using ?

thanks,
Ata,

[nuccadoc]

Originally Posted by ebonline

Mr. Wilson,
Why can't instead of a slush mixture you just drop in frozen cubes, etc. into the sump from a small freezer and just let it thaw slowly in the sump and feed through the pumps similar to what you are already thinking with the powder foods. Seems like that will be easier to build than a device that thaws to a slush form then drop into sump. Just my 2 cents!

And guys tank looks amazing and was nice to get caught up after being away from boards for a while....Keep up the good work!

I was thinking the same thing. The only downside is the food would not be rinsed.