Category Archives: Pets

I’m really happy with the way I’ve set up my LED lights and industrial timers. I’ve got control over 9 rows of lights in total and I can set any combination I like so I’ve got something like this:

Morning
– 1 white light in the middle
– 3 white lights left middle and right
– 3 white and 3 blue lights left middle and right
– 6 whites and 3 blue lights left middle and right
– 3 white and 3 blue lights left middle and right
– 3 blue lights left middle and right and one middle white light
– 1 blue light in the middle

Hard to describe! But basically I’m trying to emulate a sunrise and sunset throughout 10 hours. See photos below for 2 shots, one at 4pm, the one after at 9pm.

4pm.

9pm.

I got a lot of goodies in the mail yesterday and had so much fun putting it all together (in the zone!).

Bubble Magus BM-T01 Dosing pump + accessories. The dosing pump has a micro-computer in it and it’ll allow me to automatically dose the correct amount of Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium to the tank in order to keep my levels correct for keeping acropora corals (the pinnacle of reef keeping!).

My weenie bike parts scale is actually being used for it’s intended use! Instead of using brand name aquarium products, for Calcium I’m using Damprid. For Alkalinity I’m using Bi-Carb Soda and for Magnesium I’m using Epsom Salts, all of which I sourced for 1/5th the price of branded goods from the local Coles.

Containers for Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium.

Computer all dialled in and ready to go.

Hoses in position on the sump.

The engine room (I’ve also installed a carbon reactor which is a lot more efficient than putting a bag of carbon in the sump).

Ph meter lets me check the Ph at a glance. One less water test I have to do = a good thing!

2 little nano-mags placed permanently on the top braces allow me to clean the glass easily (so salt creep doesn’t block the lights!).

Geeking out, hard.

Mia’s 4.5months old now. We’ve let her into the bedroom over the past few weeks and she’s not peed on the bed again (she did twice when we first got her). Last night we decided to not lock her up in her kitty room and she ended up hanging out in our bed, purring her head off for hours at a time, walking all over our faces and finally settling in and sleeping in between us. Yay!

We set this up in 2007 and it’s still going strong. Last night Tony gave me the thumbs up to quote up an ADA set-up. I’ll be designing and quoting up a new tank which will be the same width (4ft) but deeper (2ft) and it’ll feature 10mm starfire glass. A new cabinet + hood needs to be sorted out too (I’m more than happy to help out!).

Almost done! Today we test fitted the doors before painting them.

These kitchen hinges are so awesome. Totally concealed and very adjustable after fitting which will make it easy to line up the doors perfectly.

Top left: there’s the little bastard who’s kicking up all the coral sand into my corals and making my water hazy!

Shame about the visible hinges at the top huh? If you know of any solutions to hide them please let me know. Bit grey outside today so painting tomorrow!

SPS Frags.

I bought some SPS frags off a reef forum member. Small Polyp Stony Fragments (SPS Frags) are pieces of acropora corals which are broken off mother colonies to start new colonies themselves. SPS are harder to keep than most other corals (I’ve tried in the pat and mine only lasted a few months), kinda like the holy grail/top end of reef keeping.

I figure I start with aqua cultured frags from a guy off the forums rather than buy big pieces which have been plucked out of the ocean. Cheaper, frags are more acclimatised to living in an aquarium and better for the environment too.

If all goes well hopefully my tank will end up looking something like this in future!

My hood is painted and done!

2 angled edges under the hood lid make it easy for me to get my fingers under the lid to pull it up and open.

Hood lid open looking up at the LED lights (holes cut through a wooden shelf built into the hood).

Concealed LED lights from the top sitting on their own shelf.

Framing of the lower stand tomorrow, then doors!