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Simon Garratt

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Well. things have been a bit slow on the tank over the last few weeks due to changes in my day job which im sure most are aware of now. So it was great to recieve some of the upgrade plumbing for the wave plunger this week.



So here ya go...a 3" tap and bulkhead to replace the existing 50mm one that exits the back of the tank.


3inch%20tap%20upright.jpg





3inch%20tap.jpg


With a bit of work on the eggcrate LR supports that go over the closed loop strainers and a new 90mm hole in the back for the new plumbing, hopefully it should see me starting to fill with RO by the end of next week..

So fingers crossed the tank dont tip over once ive hung that tap on the back..
grin.gif


regards
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Simon Garratt

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OK, time for that long awaited update.

Well, It's got salt water in at last, and most of the rock. At present most of the surface rock sits right at the water surface at the lowest tide mark, but I'm going to be adding a few more select flat topped /plating pieces that will stand well clear of the water in the near future.

Heres some teaser shots.

3/4 low tide with upper rock just below the surface.



IMG_0566.JPG


As you can see, there's 'alot' of flow going on, especially at the surface, hopefully it should allow me to try some high energy corals like A.humilus etc in the most turbulent areas.

IMG_0567b.jpg


Just to give some idea of the amount of flow going on.

IMG_0568b.jpg



Breaking the surface.

Some of the upper rock is just exposed at lowest tide (more to be added). with large areas also available for coral placement that rest just 10mm or so below the surface with turbulent flow across them.

IMG_0706b.jpg


IMG_0707b.jpg


Tester coral sitting in just a cm or so of water.

IMG_0710b.jpg


Main tank at the start of the tidal phase with just a couple of inches of water gone from the main display. It takes approximately 3 hours to reach lowest tide, and 3 hours to return before connecting back up and overflowing to the sump.

IMG_0691b.jpg






And just in case you were wondering...

The plunger is built, It works, and its plumbed in. (although admittedly I need to stiffen the base plate)....theres so much force exerted between the motor and rocker arm pumping that piston up and down, the base plate is flexing which I'm not happy with at all, so a couple of solid acrylic 25x25mm strengthening bars are going to be bonded across the top of it to get rid of this problem.

The other job i need to do, is make a cover box for the motor to protect it from the worst the tank can throw at it.

As you can see, I had to make the body quite tall to allow for the variable water level which rises and falls with the tank during tide changes. (the level in the body at this point, shows the tank at low tide)
IMG_0720b.jpg


Now you know why i needed the silly sized Tap.

IMG_0721b.jpg


12vDC variable speed Motor and gearbox seems well up to the job. During testing at half speed (I didn't want to crank it right up because of the base plate flexing) it was delivering a full wave front to back that was 4" at the back of the tank and 2" at the front, and that was against all 4 sequences running.

IMG_0722b.jpg


So basically, thats where things stand.

Everything is running fine (bar the need to mod the plunger slightly before I'm happy to run it fully unattended) so its just a case of letting it all settle down and seeing where it all takes me...success or oblivion..

Next job is to build the seagrass tank and a selection of frags in to see what copes with exposure and what wont.


When i get 5, I'll put up a HD video on Youtube.


Regards and happy reefing to all.....
 

Simon Garratt

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many thanks Guys.

Some of you will have seen a sneak peek of this video at the frag swap in the opening section of my talk.

Here's some footage of the now functional wave plunger running on the tank at low tide.

I've only set it to a 6" stroke at the moment, so its running at about 50% of what it could potentially manage, but the effect is still quite good at this stage for the minimal 15W motor employed for the task. theres allot of water shifting around even without any pumps turned on (as in the video).

Surprisingly the effect isn't dampened at all when the sequences are running. I suspect this is simply due to the direction I'm firing them, which is upward at 45deg from the bottom, rather than horizontally which would normally work against any wave action.

Note the snails which have no objection to being left exposed in shallow water. If they get stranded high, they just hunker down and wait for the tide to come back in and then carry on regardless as they would naturaly..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3SGltcQMAE


The tank is currently settling down, just coming out of its initial algae phases. Since this video was shot, I've placed a few tester corals at the lowest water line which have the upper branches exposed for around 4-5 hours per day (across two tides) and these are doing fine after looking at them through a Nanoscope for tissue condition. In fact you wouldnt even guess the A.Humillus was ever exposed, the polyps are strait back out as soon as the branches are under water again. The other tester acro which i havent managed to identify yet is doing fine as well although polyp extention on the exposed branches seems minimal whilst tissue condition is still good.

Plan now is to stick in a load more species and continue to observe which species can handle it and which cant.

More updates and images soon.

All the best.

Si.
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sltloser

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Simon- great idea for your tank, i love how you've been able to engineer a way to create different tides within your tank. I think that picking a specific environment and attempting to re-create it is a step forward for many reef aquarium enthusiasts, and wish more would try this. I myself am trying to re-create the environment found around lizard island in the GBR. It's fun and exciting doing research and figuring out what exactly you can put together from a specific area. But enough of my chatter, i was wondering how things have been coming along, do you have any updates? Much appreciated
-Brady
 

strgazr27

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Kings Park, NY
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Just spent quite some time reading and watching. What an amazing system. I also have to say that after looking at pictures of the old tank I don't think I have ever seen a home aquarium look like yours did. Stunning is not even a good enough word.
 

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