Should have bought a Boat

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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Should have bought a Boat

Post by Redfish » Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:59 pm

This stuff could only happen to me, I have spent the last three Sundays, one rare day off, one Holiday and two sick days making two control panels in my tank stand. One is for the MP40 equipment and the battery back ups, Dave from LARC sold me two cable trays to run the wires thru. Everything was under the stand before, pretty much mounted on Velcro Pads I got from Lowe's. Didn't really look that bad, at least not to me, the wife had other thoughts on the whole mess though. The down side, every time I would reach under the stand to mess with something I would knock things off of their Velcro Pad, the further I would reach in, the more I would knock off, I would have to re mount stuff as I would pull my big hands back out from under the stand. So for all of you wanting to use Velcro strips to mount things under your stand, that's not the answer. I was hoping to mount all of the MP40 stuff, the Apex stuff, the Tunzi Top Off stuff, Gaming Box for the wireless system all in one Control Panel, didn't take long to figure out that wasn't happening, two Control Panels is what it was going to take. So I decided to put the second Control Panel on the front of my stand in front of my world class Top Off Tank that Wess made :) for me. I had thought of putting it on the left side of the stand, on the side of the Top Off Tank, came up with a reason that I couldn't do that though, this will be another of the seemingly growing Alzheimer moments I have been having lately, more on that in a bit. So the next day, was having coffee with the wife before she went to work and before I started on the second Control panel, she said you ought to put it around the side of the stand instead of the front of the stand, I told her there was a reason I couldn't do that, but dang if I can remember what it was. I couldn't remember what the reason was, here it is, Alzheimer moment, I decided the reason must have been that some of the equipment (pumps) didn't have enough of a power cord to reach all the way to the Control Panel and to the Apex if I made it on the side of the stand. So I got under the stand pulled the cords to see if they would reach to the side of the stand, they would :) so the Control panel was going on the side of the stand. Two hours into cutting the wood for the second Control Panel and getting a coat of paint on them, I remembered why I couldn't put the Control Panel there. Behind and above the Top Off Tank sits my Dosing pump, under the Dosing pump will sit my three gallon jugs for the dosing pump. If I put the Control panel on the side of the tank stand, I can't get the jugs out to refill them. So now I have to come up with a new plan for the Front Mounted Control Panel, re cut and repaint my dwindling stock of wood. So the control Panel is made, painted and mounted, and I am out of energy for the day before I get the wires and equipment moved into it, still have wires in a tangled mess running every where, this is where the two sick days come in. Wake up the next day start moving the equipment into the control panel and untangling the wires as I go, Control Panel is done, everything looks great. All I have left to do is re mount the power converters for the AI LED lights, they aren't going into the Control Panel, they will still be mounted on Velcro strips under the stand, in a different location though. Have plenty of room now though, all the other equipment controls are in the two Control Panels :) To move the Power converters, I had to unplug the lights, twice, the first time no problem, lights came back on and everything in my world is great. I had to unplug them again though :( I have three LED light over the tank daisy chained together, when I plugged the lights back in, the first light in the daisy chain didn't come back on and the AI controller for the lights didn't come back on either :( I have been sending E-mails back and fourth with AI today trying to come up with what was going on with the lights. It appears as though the Mother board in the first light is fried :( Not for sure here, but I think AI is going to send me another board for that light, the down side, they are out of stock till next week sometime :( The plus side, I have very few corals in my tank, and those that I do have, are under the other two lights that are working. I do have power to the controller, but its not working worth squat either. I checked to see if I could change the setting on the lights that are working, last night at lights out on my tank, I had to unplug the working lights, The controller is taking new settings, shows the new settings in the cycle, but the lights percentages don't change on the lights. I might end up needing a new controller also. So, when I got the second control Panel done, everything is right in my world, I am happy with the way everything turned out, all I have to do is turn the lights back on, sit back and have a beer and look at my handy work :) Bam, not so fast, take that you :( :( Why didn't I take up Fishing

Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: Should have bought a Boat

Post by Redfish » Fri Mar 08, 2013 7:44 pm

Got a reply back from AI, they will send out the new board next week to me. I just have to pay the $10 shipping cost, can't beat that deal.

Shadow1
Discus Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:59 pm
My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: Should have bought a Boat

Post by Shadow1 » Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:33 pm

Believe me you can throw way more money in a boat. Get a cane pole and a 6 pack and chill on the bank....

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bluwtr
Discus Member
Posts: 637
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:12 pm
My SetUp: 55g, 70#'s lr, 40#'s ls, 10 DIY acrylic sump, in sump skimmer, 1 Jebao wp20 and 2 Koralia 1050 controlled by a Smart Wave, DIY LED's--12 RB, 10 UV's and 8 CW.
Location: Gautier
Contact:

Re: Should have bought a Boat

Post by bluwtr » Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:30 pm

Damn Pete! You're luck sounds as great as mine. Hang in there. When you finally get all of the kinks worked out, your tank will take off. :thumbup:

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Gerwin
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Posts: 1498
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:41 pm
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Should have bought a Boat

Post by Gerwin » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:58 pm

OLD Guy like you once told me,
"three things I will never own again:
a boat, a swimming pool and a salt water fish tank" course then he giggled and said " let me get that yellow tang and flame angel, I got to hurry so I can get some pool chemicals before they close" :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: Should have bought a Boat

Post by Redfish » Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:05 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol: I will never got rid of the tank. Just kinda got me upset I get all the work done, am on my last step and one of the lights gets fried.

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