A Golden Reef Tank (v2)
- Thread starter halmus
- Start date
I’ve done some cleanup on the frag tank over the last week. Added a gyre under the eggcrate to blow across the bottom of the tank. Keeps the crud from accumulating and the coral appreciates the increased flow.
Did some fragging last weekend. I added some disks in the display next to some encrusting corals so they can grow naturally onto the plug and I can remove later. Prepping for the DBTC I’ll host this summer. Should have a lot to contribute this time.
Did some fragging last weekend. I added some disks in the display next to some encrusting corals so they can grow naturally onto the plug and I can remove later. Prepping for the DBTC I’ll host this summer. Should have a lot to contribute this time.
Thanks. It makes it easy to “frag” the frags when they’re on square tiles like that tacked together with a little glue.
Once the frag grows out over the plates, just break the glue joint. Glue on a new one and let it grow out again.
I’m tying to get some starter mini colonies going in the frag system with the various encrusting corals I have on hand. But I have to glue a plug onto the existing colony in the display first. The coral grows over the plate and then I can break it free and move to the frag system. That’s an eye sore and less convenient. My tank is a pain to reach into especially 30” down where most of the encrusting corals are growing.
Branching and plating coral are easy enough to break free in the display. Not so much with purely encrusting coral.
Once the frag grows out over the plates, just break the glue joint. Glue on a new one and let it grow out again.
I’m tying to get some starter mini colonies going in the frag system with the various encrusting corals I have on hand. But I have to glue a plug onto the existing colony in the display first. The coral grows over the plate and then I can break it free and move to the frag system. That’s an eye sore and less convenient. My tank is a pain to reach into especially 30” down where most of the encrusting corals are growing.
Branching and plating coral are easy enough to break free in the display. Not so much with purely encrusting coral.
I bought the camera. It plugs into the security system I have on the house. So, I’ll view the tank live through my security footage.
I bought the acrylic dome from Amazon because a clear dome is difficult (for me) to produce.
Everything else I built to extend the dome into a water resistant housing or I scavenged parts from old reactors and put it together. So, this is a big hack job.
The same thing would work for a stand-alone IP Camera rig. You don’t need a CCTV to plug into. But if you’ve already got it, why not?
I bought the acrylic dome from Amazon because a clear dome is difficult (for me) to produce.
Everything else I built to extend the dome into a water resistant housing or I scavenged parts from old reactors and put it together. So, this is a big hack job.
The same thing would work for a stand-alone IP Camera rig. You don’t need a CCTV to plug into. But if you’ve already got it, why not?
I would like to make this more interactive. Not right now though.
Time isn’t there and I don’t have easy access to a CNC or laser etcher to build precision pieces I would need. I don’t want to interfere with the esthetics of the display so the camera would really need to be streamlined in design. I wish my current Camera DVR system supported a PTZ camera but I think I would need to upgrade the main box.
I still have long term plans to build an interactive camera on the back end. But who knows when or if that will happen.
Time isn’t there and I don’t have easy access to a CNC or laser etcher to build precision pieces I would need. I don’t want to interfere with the esthetics of the display so the camera would really need to be streamlined in design. I wish my current Camera DVR system supported a PTZ camera but I think I would need to upgrade the main box.
I still have long term plans to build an interactive camera on the back end. But who knows when or if that will happen.
The camera is installed. It’s not HD which is unfortunate. Also, I think the focal point for the camera is further out than ideal for this application. The image is blurry. I didn’t really have much of a choice on cameras if I wanted to integrate it straight into my existing security system. It doesn’t have an option to change the focal point but I might be able to play around with it manually. The acrylic housing didn’t distort the image long distance in bench testing. So I don’t think that’s the issue.
Overall, I’m not super happy with this setup yet. I know there are plenty of other stand-alone camera options out there I’d like to play with. IP cameras. Nest. Lots of options. The acrylic housing was the easy part.
Even though the first attempt was disappointing, I can still see the fish swimming. I have better visibility of what’s happening than I did before. So, it’s going to stay until I figure out something better.
Cris pointed out that it needs a wiper to keep clean. Noted.
Let me know if there is any interest in this from the community. I might have to become a sponsor and start production...
View attachment 16425
Overall, I’m not super happy with this setup yet. I know there are plenty of other stand-alone camera options out there I’d like to play with. IP cameras. Nest. Lots of options. The acrylic housing was the easy part.
Even though the first attempt was disappointing, I can still see the fish swimming. I have better visibility of what’s happening than I did before. So, it’s going to stay until I figure out something better.
Cris pointed out that it needs a wiper to keep clean. Noted.
Let me know if there is any interest in this from the community. I might have to become a sponsor and start production...
View attachment 16425
Also, NDaquarist stopped by to check out my system. We talked about my refugium. I have had a hard time growing cheato. Probably because my system runs pretty low nutrients (my guess). It can grow slimy nasty snot algae well and mangroves. That’s it currently but it does the job of providing a home to pods and snails.
I’m considering enlisting his help to do a remodel of the fuge again. Maybe transition to a deeper sandbed. I have about 20 mangroves still trying to root and that would give them more to dig into.
The long term goal for that system was always to have it more representative of coastal zones. Eventually put some pipe fish or possibly seahorses in there.
So, I wanted to move our conversation public so that you can all learn from my mistakes. Hopefully some successes as well.
I’m considering enlisting his help to do a remodel of the fuge again. Maybe transition to a deeper sandbed. I have about 20 mangroves still trying to root and that would give them more to dig into.
The long term goal for that system was always to have it more representative of coastal zones. Eventually put some pipe fish or possibly seahorses in there.
So, I wanted to move our conversation public so that you can all learn from my mistakes. Hopefully some successes as well.