Tank turned 49 this year

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I think that would be kind of costly adding extrusions, heavy also but I am not sure. That fixture is suspended on a counter balanced pulley system now. I think it would be a lot cheaper to just take my existing aluminum tubes and make them a little closer together, then add another tube so I would have 4 tubes. I can easily make another fan housing and was thinking of re-designing it anyway.
I just need to get this started before boating season because if I don't, it will be next winter's project.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I just ordered 10 more 3 watt LEDs and a driver. The next time I go to the hardware store or HD I will get another 5' aluminum square channel and just build the thing. My reef now only has 36 LEDs and the tank is 6' long so it is way under lit. This will increase it to 46 LEDs which is still not real bright but that's what I want to stay with for now. I still need to find an enclosure to house the fans as mine will be to small. I will probably just build another one from PVC 4X4s unless I can find a small piece of 6X6 as I don't want to buy a 10' piece of the stuff. I may even have a piece left over from my fence. Put some end caps on it and add the fans. I have the acrylic for the splash guard. Now I just need a few hours before boating season and that is the toughest part.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I had to change this on my PT Cruiser today and I am happy to say that I can still crawl under a car. It's not real easy to get up, but I still got it. This is a motor mount I think. It was rattling as the rubber bushing is shot. I really didn't pay attention to what it's function was but it is called a lower strut and it goes from the frame to the engine. When I was a mechanic they didn't have front wheel drive cars except Toronado and that was the last year I worked as a mechanic. That was in1968. So they didn't use this part. If I get time, probably next fall, I want to change the bushings on the A frames because I like my cars sounding brandy new and to achieve that, you need to keep changing bushings. I can't wait to start collecting those amphipods and mud. My tank misses all that and the early summer is when amphipods spawn by the millions and they swarm all over the place. I will be there with buckets.
Tomorrow I will start working on the boat outdrives as it is almost boating season and there is a lot of preparation and (and money to be spent) to get it ready for the water)
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Last week during a snow storm I took my wife to my favorite restaurant on Long Island, where we ate while watching the snow fall on the sea and the beach. This beach is not far from where I will be collecting in a few weeks. Hopefully, it won't be snowing then.

 

jaws789832

Member
If I could find live worms at my LFS, I would go buy my fish some too.
My white worm culture is not doing as well as I would like.
Still have some live worms but I think they need some fresh dirt
And a box made for growing worms that might work better. o_O
I still haven't found any of the kind of worms you buy for your fish.
I am ready for the ice & cold weather to be gone.

You can buy them online at aquaticfoods.com I have used them several times. Worms arrive alive and in good shape. They also sell a worm keeper to keep the worms in the fridge. If you decide to keep them in the fridge you do have to rinse them every day or every other day to keep them from dieing off and to keep the smell down


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Are you talking about white worms or blackworms?
That link is for West Coast (California) Black worms. I was just reading up on them. I'm not sure if it's the same kind of black worms that you get Paul.
But it does say "all black worms sold in the U.S. are raised & shipped from California" so maybe they are the same kind. :dunno:
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Getting the boat ready, changing oil and painting outdrives. Collecting season is almost here. If anyone wants to go collecting grass shrimp or amphipods (during the week) let me know. But not for a month or so. Of course, if you are in Montana, it may not be worth it
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Today I added 12 more LEDs on a 5' square aluminum housing to supplement my 36 LEDs that I didn't feel were bright enough. So I increased the lighting by 25%. That is enough light for now. I didn't yet connect the fan to this new strip as doing that requires quite a bit of labor because I have to rebuild the entire fixture and I don't think that could happen until the fall so I hope it doesn't get to hot. After it runs a few hours I will check it out for heat.
This is the strip I added.



This is the original 3 strips. Now there are 4

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I checked my tank a little while ago and noticed it was almost overflowing. I see that a float switch is stuck open. That float is many years old and I don't think I cleaned it in over a year so it was good that I was home. Now of course from all the fresh water going in there I could keep kissing gouramies if I like.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
My car rattles were the stabilizer links (stupid, stupid, stupid) I tightened them and didn't think they were the problem, but I was stupid. I don't know how I let that go by. Some people even suggested that to me. But sometimes I am just stupid. The stabilizer bar links are the easiest and cheapest thing you can change, especially if you have a sawzall because you normally just cut them off which is what I did with the other one. This one I fought with because I wanted to match the new one up to it. Now it rides like a new Cadillac. This is the old one.



I finished so fast that I had time to grind some barnacles off of my propellers. This one is still dirty. Collecting season is coming up fast and I need those amphipods. Thousands of them

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
That new 5' LED strip I built with the 12 LEDs on it gets hot so I don't leave it on all day. I temporarily mounted it to my existing LED fixture but still need to remove the entire fixture and make a new fan housing which incorporates this new strip into it. Right now, there is no air flow through it and it makes a big difference. The new strip is about twice as hot as the ones where the fan pulls air through it. I just need some time which is in short supply. I also need an operation on my right hand as one of my fingers gets "stuck" if I grab something. It probably happened from waving at Supermodels, even though they don't wave back. I have had that operation before on a different finger and it is not that bad, it is almost a Sissy operation but you can't use that hand for a month or so and I won't be able to salute or anything like that. I am not sure how I will prep my boat for the water but I may have to ask someone for a little help with mundane things. Anyway, that is neither here nor there and my tank is doing well. My book is finished and I can't wait to get myself a signed copy. I need 2 of them for each of my Grand Kids even though they probably won't care one bit about fish but they certainly get an education about them weather they want to or not. I already started when they are on the boat.

I took a picture. I just love bluestripe pipefish, razor shrimpfish, ruby red dragonettes and mandarins which were camera shy but still hang out at the feeder. I actually don't know how anyone can keep these types of fish without having a feeder such as this one. These are my types of fish and I hope to find some more oddballs but they rarely come on the market as many people can't seem to keep them and if I don't buy them the day they come into the store, they croak

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
OK, I don't even know where to get it yet, but I think I will soon. I know it is an E Book and a written book on real paper that they make from wood which is the same stuff we used to make trees out of.
No title yet but something will click. Still looking for a Supermodel for the cover but no luck yet.
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Hope your on the mend now Paul, here's an idea for extra cooling power, even without the fan this could help. When I built my square tubing fixture I welded an extra C-channel inside towards the led mounting surface. You could easily thermal epoxy one into any of your existing tubes to get some extra heat dissipation without a ton of extra weight. even if just til you get a fan hooked up.
I get about 90° junction temp without fans on (convection only), and 80° with airflow at about 500 cfm.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
That heat sink inside a heat sink would just put the extra heat into the outside channel as it has no plase else to go. The fans cool it off really well and it is lighter, If you added those heatsinks to the outside of the channel it would work much better.
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Vent holes are definitely needed in the tubes to allow intake and exhaust convection. You have open ends, and I assume a slot/hole for the fan. Efficiency is tough to guess, but the passive internal air current can do quite a bit.
I use holes along the sides, and top of the tube to do this as a fan failure backup. When the exhaust fans are on, they pull air into all ports.
I'm sure your fan setup will be fine regardless. ;)
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I have 2 fans on mine, yes there are holes in the tubes that draw air through. The tubes are almost room temperature
 
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