ac7av tank build

[thatguy559]

what kind of ballast do you have. you are more then welcome to try out one of my electronic ballast to see if they fire up to the 250w

 

[ac7av]

They are the silver box electronic Odyssea ballasts. I did mod them to actually get 250 watts out of them. That is why I am very familiar on how they power up and to what wattage. Im not sure why they are not pushing these bulbs very hard. From the wright ups I read on the mod the results were as good as using an icecap ballast. Full output power and run cooler because there is a lack of heat sink thermo bond with the original design that is addressed in the mod along with replacing the final output drive transistor.

As long as the plugs are the same I would like to take you up on the offer to try your ballast just to see the difference.

Ill snap a picture and pm you with it.

 

[thatguy559]

i didnt use the factory plug i cut it off and hard wired it to the socket. what kind of plug is on yours

 

[ac7av]

Here are a couple of pictures
first picture is the new bulb. As you can see is just says blue on the bulb
the second picture is of the box. I hop this is the bulb you were all talking about because I noticed it looked generic on the packaging and bulb. It does say on the side of the box made in japan by phoenix electric company with some ballast information. 250 watt ansi spec M80. I don’t know what the M80 is for. The third is a picture comparing the new bulbs with the old 15K bulb. I think you can tell the new and old. The new bulbs look nearly the same color as the 03 actinic bulbs. I also rechecked the wattage today. The line voltage is 119vac and wattage is 164 watts on the new 14K and 240 on the old 15K.

 

[ac7av]

Here is a picture of the plug on the light fixture and ballast. The light fixture has the metal prongs.

 

[thatguy559]

oh i dont have that connector, how does that watt meter hook up i might want to borrow it to set my different percentages for my plasma

 

[thatguy559]

looks like the bulb is not firing correctly

 

[ac7av]

So I’ve been making some changes to the tank this last week. First I finally reinforced the floor inside the cabinet to be able to support the weight of the new fuge and sump made from actual tanks and not Rubbermaid containers. As with all my projects, some changes will need to be made to over come some clearance issues that I wasn’t expecting or thought I had accounted for. Over all I am very happy with how its all working. The drain into the fuge is very quiet and no longer will cause any salt creep because it is in its own compartment. The water flow threw the sump needed to be changes a bit. I had originally planed on having the water that drains into the skimmer compartment connected to a 90 and tube running to the lower water column but I hadn’t accounted for the way the plumbing from the skimmer comes up out of the water. The vertical pipe for the output adjustment was in the way so I had to remove the 90. I will have to come up with something a little more low clearance to solve that problem. The water shooting straight out of the tube is going to cause a lot of salt creep and makes a bit of noise splashing agents the side of the skimmer. It is nice to actually see the skimmer working now. I could only see the top of it before in the Rubbermaid containers. I have it in a compartment that holds the water level steady at just under 10 inches witch I believe is the optimal level for this skimmer. The baffles to the return pump area seem to be doing there job and now I can install a actual auto top of in this thing. I am so excited. I a couple of days or maybe tomorrow I will get the sand and greens into the fuge and lights mounted over it.

 

[TJL]

Hey Erik, great job on the re-do love the simplicity of the fuge layout. Let me know if you need any rooted Caulerpa or Chaeto for it.

Todd

 

[tat2z_21]

Damn it Todd always beating me to the punch. I was going to offer him the same thing. I do like the baffles and everything seems to be flowing good. Awesome job.

 

[ac7av]

I appreciate it guys.

I kept some in a 10 gallon that is nearly half full of greens just for this occasion so I’m good on the greens for now.

The floor on the right where the Rubbermaid container was, really bowed. It took some work getting the braces in there. I had to hammer it in after prying up the floor to get it started.

I cleaned my skimmer out completely before putting it in so it too an hour or so to get back to normal. I had to drop Luke from reef filtration an email to get a new shaft for the pump. I took it part to clean it and the shaft was snapped clean in half. I don’t know why it was still working. It doesn’t seem to be affecting it but I want to get a new one in it anyway. I wonder how that happened. It was snapped so cleanly I had to look closely at it to make sure it wasn’t suppose to be that way. Strange.

So anyway the really cool thing will be to have the skimmer working 100% all the time instead of only in the morning when I top off the water. How cool is that? How excited can one get about stuff like that before it seems strange?

Anyway Im a huge procrastinator. If something cant be done in one day I can really can put it off. I got the tanks to do this in the summer time. How many months it that now?

 

[thatguy559]

looks good you should post a vid of the flow. i must say i was a little confused about the silicone but now i see what you meant

 

[ac7av]

I will try and get a video today. I plan on incorporating the second quiet one pump that I have to increase flow and do the bubble thing you were talking about.

The siliconed in pipe is in my opinion a lot stronger and will never leak and never need the gaskets replaced like bulkheads. The added plus to this is the almost 2x volume capability of the fitting over a bulkhead fitting witch reduces the pipe size under the drill size by a lot as you know. I will try and get a close of how that is put together.

 

[ac7av]

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/19341762?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0"></iframe>

 

[ac7av]

I see red !

Since getting the skimmer in it new home I’ve noticed that the liquid in the skimmer is very red. Here is a picture but the camera with the flash doesn’t really pick it up to well but its like cool aid drink mix or cranberry juice. Its very red, like I’m sucking the blood out of the water or something. Anyone ever see that before? The foam in the cup is the usual brown but the liquid is red. Very strange. I thought at first it was the lighting in the new tank but that’s not the case. It also smells a lot more then it use too.

 

[NC2WA]

if it smells then the skimmer is doing its job..:0

Are you using RO water?

Brainstorming:
Have you tested for iron in the water?
could be brown/red algae which is good to get out.
since the skimmer was not working as well before, maybe this is a burn in cycle and this is the junk is getting out?

 

[ac7av]

Ya
I know it has never worked to its potential until now. It could be getting stuff out that was there all along but never had a chance.

No I have not tested for iron
The water in the tank is not red but like I was saying before I have been having a wicked problem with red slime algae or cyan bacteria.

What ever it is I have been getting a full cup every day of it is its much smeller then it ever has been.

 

[ac7av]

I cleaned the cup after taking that last picture. Look at this after less then 2 hours.

 

[NC2WA]

this could be reminesce of red algae in the tank/skimmer

 

[Chichas01]

that is some crazy skimmate! Wondering what your feeding?