fantom

I just bought a yellow tang from Ocean Planet this afternoon. It's in Oxford Road. Think there are about 15 of them left - mostly small ones.

Material-wise, it doesn't cost a bomb but the time and effort involved does. The LFS at Balestier sells their own bare bones unit for about $120 (excluding pumps). I can do a full featured one for not more than that (more like less), inclusive of parts and labour, if anyone is interested. Actual cost will vary depending on features wanted. Please note that I don't include pumps - it's not appropriate as people would require or want different pumps based on likes and needs. If anyone is interested, please PM me. But please note that I will be away from 17/11 - 25/11 (that's why I made this unit :-) ) Adrianli, I suppose you connect the float directly to the mains? In my design, I don't do that. It's rather risky doing that. The float switch may not be rated for 240 volts in the first place. Should there be a short, nasty things can happen. I pump in only 12 volts to the float switch - you won't get an electric shock with this.

The last pic shows the second float switch which is attached to the pump. Anytime the water level falls below the float swtich (but still covering the pump), it will prevent the pump from being switched on.

Forgot to add earlier on that I used a two-pin connector for the mains. A three-pin connector (with a regular 3-pin plug) can also be used instead if preferred. The fourth pic shows the first float switch which is in the tank.

The third pic shows the insides of the unit.

The second pic shows the back of the unit.

Guys, I'm back with an updated version of the first auto water top-up device that I built. I've put everything nicely into a box and made some improvements. It has the following features: - Supports 2 float switches. One for the tank/sump and one for the water reservoir. The one in the tank/sump will turn the connected pump on if the water level drops. The one in the water reservoir will prevent the pump from running if the reservoir runs out of water. This prevents a possible trip should the pump be trying to pump air instead of water. Note that the second float switch is optional - you can do without it so long as you can ensure the reservoir always has enough water. - Indicator light which turns on when the pump is working. - Override button that allows you to turn the pump on although the water level may be still high. - Easy connection to float switches. Just press the lever and insert the wire to connect. This also allows you to use as long a wire as you like. - Only 12 volts of electricity runs through the flow switches. No fear of being electrocuted should there be a leak. - Has 2 connectors that allow you to connect 2 pumps, although I can't think of any use for the second one. See the attached pictures. The first pic shows the front.

Loonz, Where to get the Philips FL actinics? Thanks.

There's a bicycle shope in Balestier Hill Shopping Centre (where Nature Aquarium is) that's selling the titanium spokes for about $4.50 a piece. Currently, there's no stock yet but it should be in by end of the week.

Nature Aquarium Blk 1, Thomson Road #01-340 Balestier Hill Shopping Centre Singapore 300001 Tel: 62556051 (Opposite Thomson Medical Centre)

I'm using a 13W PL tube (Aqualux) - one side blue and the other white (9000K). I don't use a skimmer but I'm using a Ehein Liberty 150 filter. The Liberty provides the current as well as the filtering. I change about half the water every week. Besides that that, there's no other equipment in the tank. One thing good about placing the tank in the office is that the temperature is below normal room temperature. During weekends, it is at most at normal room temperature (the room is huge and so any fluctuation would be slow and not too large).

The sponge is still there, although it's not doing as well as the others, especially the anemone and the trumpet.

This one is from my office tank (a nano - 13 litres). It hasn't move from this position either, since I first placed it there. However, this one has eaten at least 1 damsel and 1 CBS - there was evidence in these two cases. It is a suspect in the disappearence of another damsel.

This anemone is from my home tank. I've had it for about six months now (I think). So far, no problems with it. It's in the same spot that I placed it when I bought it. It hasn' moved since then.

Actually, keeping a nano-reef can be quite successful. I have a 13-litre capacity tank sitting on my office desk for more than 4 months now. That's about 3.5 gallons. Take a look at the pic that was taken about a month plus ago. The only real problem that I had was loses to the anemone - probably because of the small tank size.

Archilles, $30 is for the 50 gallon box. Other LFSes usually sell for around $35 (plus minus a couple of dollars).

Guys, the total cost is as follows: 1 x micro switch = $0.90 1 x relay = $2.00 1 x AC adaptor = $4.50 1 x coaster = free (just kah poh from house) 1 x spent calcium supplement bottle = free 1 x 500ml mineral water bottle = free 1 x MacDonald's ice cream box = free wire = about $1.00 glue, solder, cable tie = negligible cost Total = $8.40 (or thereabout) Definitely under $10

Just to add my 2 cents worth of comments. I've used Kent Sea Salt, Tropic Marine, Read Sea Salt & Coralife salts and found the following from experience. Kent Sea Salt - difficult to completely dissolve. Tends to leave some undissolved salt even after hours of aeration. Tropic Marine - easy to dissolve. Seems to do the corals good. Is recommended by a number of LFSes. Read Sea Salt - easier to dissolve than Kent Sea Salt but not as well as Tropic Marine. Seems to work as well as Tropic Marine. Coralife - easieast to dissolve. Does not seem to be as good for the corals as Tropic Marine & Red Sea Salt. I'm currently using Tropic Marine. Archilles - the cheapest Tropic Marine salt I've found is from Pet Mart at Serangoon North. Bought 2 boxes at $30 each earlier this month. How much did you pay for yours?

Try this site. There's a whole list of LFSes in Singapore. http://www.aquaticrealm.com

Qixian Yes, it can be used for a 2ft tank. In fact, it can be used for any size of tank. The important thing here is how much water evaporation occurs before the switch is closed? In my tests, it took about 1cm of water height difference. So, if you use it on a small tank, then that 1cm will happen sooner. That's why I mentioned that it's best to place the floatation device in the sump. BTW, my tank is 2.5ft and I use a fan for cooling. If you're using a fan too, then it means that it will take a shorter time for you before the switch is closed (assuming you place the floatation device in your tank). Achilles Thanks for your feedback and suggestions. However, I'm too lazy to really do it up nicely. But I'll still keep it in mind. Maybe one of these days, if and when I have nothing better to do, I get to it. In any case, I'm happy to share this with everyone. Also, I cannot take total credit for this. The design was a joint effort with a frient of mine whose hobby is electronics. But I can take credit for the hard work :-) Last ly, this is still not the total design. There is still one more part to it that I will add later on after I'm satisfied that this part is working well. The other part is to ensure that should the amount of water for top up (i.e. the fresh water) fall too low (i.e. about to dry up) for any reason, the pump does not turn on. Else the pump will attempt to pump air instead of water! Any this may just cause an electrical trip to the whole house if the pump burns - disastrous. This other part is simpler than this first one. It requires one more micro switch and another flotation device of a slightly different design. Will add this here when I'm done with it.

The device mounted on the tank.

The stuff that's in the small box.

A pic of the setup.

Oops. Forgot the pics & diagram. Here there are.

Coincidentally, I will also be away for up to 2 weeks later in the year. I'm currently working on a solution which involves a tiny bit of electronics. I have not put it to use yet. I'm testing out the mechanics of it to make sure that it's working fine. So far so good. I'll be getting a pump in a few days time and put it to use. There's no direct connection to the mains, so it's safer. It makes use of a relay. Basically, it works like this: - A floatation device placed in the tank will float up or down depending on whether water is topped up or evaporated. - When the water level drops, the floatation device will press down on a micro switch. - This will cause a relay to turn on a pump that is connected to fill the tank. - When the tank fills up, the floatation device will float and release the micro switch, thus switching off the relay which in turn switches off the pump. I've attached pics of what I've done so far and also a diagram showing how the parts are connected (I'm no electrical engineer so a simple diagram is all I can manage - not a proper electrical kind of diagram). For the floatation device, I use a 500ml mineral bottle for the outer casing. I cut off the bottom of the bottle and mount it on my tank inverted. The micro switch is mounted on the cut edge of the bottle. I use a spent Calcium supplement bottle for the actual think that floats in the water. To this, I add a plastic coaster (see pics). This bottle is partially fill with water - you add or remove water to calibrate it. I've also added a light indicator that turns on when the circuit is complete i.e. the pump would be pumping water if it were connected. This is optional. The relay (including all the exposed parts) are housed in a small container (MacDonald's ice cream container) to prevent accidental touching of any live wires carrying 240V of electricity. Note that the relay uses only 12V DC so it's safe to touch it (I actually set the adaptor to 9V which I found is sufficient). It takes about 1cm of water level difference to turn the switch on and off. If you have a sump, it's best to mount it there. Lastly, you can buy the micro switch and relay at Sim Lim Tower. Very cheap too. The micro switch cost me 90 cents, the relay $2.00 and the AC adaptor $4.50.