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My obsession - 450g reef


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Aren't you pleased that you live in that Loudon county area where you have room for those ponies. Hopefully they won't eat you out of house and home. :lol2:

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Oh jeez! Sorry! I thought I had posted the seahorse tank info here.

 

OK! We took an old 29g tank, drilled it about mid way up for two 3/4" bulkheads, hooked in a Mag 5 pump and our Teco TR20 chiller which has a heater and UV built into it. We're just running the stock filter that came with the tank but running just carbon in it. The tank is beside the kitchen counter, between the dining room and the kitchen so it's easy to siphon water right down the drain for WC's. Then I'll carry three gallons up from the 150g mixing tub to refill the tank.

 

We have the water chilled down to 74, the chiller maintains it between 73.5 and 75 and it does a good job at that too. I moved about 20 lbs of LR from the sump on the big system into this tank. We did find some aiptasia on these rocks though so we need to zap those with aitpasia X. That is some truly amazing stuff. I highly recommend it.

 

Here is the tank a few days ago. The water is crystal clear now.

IMG_1379.jpg

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Oh, so lovely. How much research did you have to do/read before deciding to keep these? I was completely captivated by the sea horse display tank at the NADC meeting, then Doug's tank was tankl of the month and now you have some too! I'm hoping this means they're not as difficult to keep as I think they could be.

 

Can we see a current full tank picture please?

 

What are there names?

 

Congrats on the new additions!

 

Maureen

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A good friend of mine from NJ is an expert at keeping them. He raises and sells the fry all the time. He helped us get it setup with all the right equipment. They're not difficult to keep, but they do require cooler water. They eat mysis like it's going out of style.

 

We haven't named them yet. We'll give them a few days or a a week just to be sure everything is good. :)

 

Another really good place to read up on them is seahorse.org. Seahorsesource.com is a really good place to buy CAPTIVE bred seahorses too. The lady who owns that business is very willing to talk about them. Buying wild caught seahorses is a gamble. A lot of times they won't eat frozen and you'll have to provide live brine or some kind of live food.

 

One other thing. I see Kudas being sold as captive raised. There aren't any captive raised kudas, unless you know the hobbiest that raised them. Almost all of them come from pens in Vietnam. You just don't know what you're going to get with Kudas.

 

Ours are Reidis. Raising the fry of Reidis is not an easy task. If you're interested in raising the fry, try Kellogiis. Or give the lady at seahorsesource.com a shout and talk to her about it.

 

They are truly amazing animals.

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nice terry! Can't wait to see it. I have some macro algae for you when you are ready.

 

 

 

Great! I'm also glad you responded because it reminded me that we still have your key! We keep forgetting to stop by to give it back. Patti grabbed it one time she was over because, and she had a good point, she didn't know if we could get in if there was a power failure.

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is the guy who went into business for himself that worked at the baltimore aquarium still in business doing captive bred seahorses.

 

i got 2 reidi fro the booth at seahorses.org booth at macna...they both passed now but they were really cool and would eat mysis. but i gave them a live brine treat occasionaly.

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That was Jorge in Baltimore. He closed down about a year ago.

 

I got got 3 southern erectus froma girl in TN I met on seahorse.org. Great horses. S. Erectus fry not as hard to raise. They hitch at birth. I keep saying one day I will attempt.

 

Terry, no worries as of yet with the key. I kow where you live, and your stuff is better than mine, so I am not worried. :) I have some goodies for you I brought back from MI. I was going to give to you guys at the tour. We'll catch up soon enough.

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Taking care of Dougs tanks, including his seahorse tank, is what convinced us to learn more about them and get a SH tank up and running. They're truly amazing animals.

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(edited)

OK! A friend from NJ sent us some large macros and we also received a nice shipment from reefcleaners. We have a bunch of different macros now but it's still a bit sparse but it's getting there. The SH's definitely like the macros though.

 

New FTS (please ignore the dirty glass, I didn't notice how dirty it was until I saw this pic, apparently we have a little girl who likes to lean on the glass to watch the SH's):

IMG_1392.jpg

 

The start of our herd: :biggrin:

IMG_1393.jpg

 

The light should be here on Tuesday. That will help a lot. We're also getting a shipment tomorrow from reeftopia that includes 1,000 blue leg hermits. Most of them are destined for the predator tank though.

Edited by tbittner
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Terry & Patti,

 

I love the way your sea horse tank is coming along. Congrats! (And when I come and visit it will probably be MY handprints all over the glass!) They're amazing.

 

Have fun.

 

M

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We're also getting a shipment tomorrow from reeftopia that includes 1,000 blue leg hermits. Most of them are destined for the predator tank though.

 

Oh man, 1000 hermits... can you snap a photo when you put those in!? I just ordered 10... lol.

These tanks are amazing.

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lol

 

Yeah, I'm planning on video taping it. I don't know how long they'll last in there but I'm hoping that they clean up the mess made by the fish in this tank.

 

I'm looking forward to making a nice cup of coffee, sitting on the couch, and watching Patti and the kids count them out and making sure they're all alive. lol

 

Thanks! We're enjoying them more and more now that all the supporting work is finally getting done.

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  • 1 month later...

Just to let everyone know - the tank tour is rescheduled for Sunday Oct. 12, around/after 1pm - please feel free to come on out.......check out the tank tour thread for more info! We hope to see you all here!

 

Patti, Terry and family!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The tanks look great. How is everything going with them? I had a chance to talk to you all at the frag swap this year. Those are some really nice setups. I just had a few questions. Are you now done adding tanks or will there be more in the future? And the one question that I am sure everyone wants to know is... All together how much did It cost? Or have you never added it up because you don't want to know :lol: Did you take any pics of the tank tour party? Well keep me updated I look forward to seeing the tanks as they age.

Edited by LiVEWiRE
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(edited)

How much did it cost? Well..... Um..... :lol2:

 

Unfortunately we didn't take any pics. Patti and I were both really busy the whole afternoon. :biggrin:

 

I've been agonizing over a solid ATO for our system. The problem with magnetic float switches is the water level in the 150g sump tub. The water level in that tub fluctuates as much as 10" when I turn off the pumps to feed. They keep getting wet and stop working. Anyway, I've been researching other alternatives to the magnetic float switches. I've ordered in a few of these and I'm going to give them a try. I can very easily hook these into my controller hardware and read the water level in the sump from brimming full, to empty. If everything works like I think it will, I can use it to control automatic WC's too by detecting when the drain pump has drained the sump down to a certain level. This sensor can detect differences down to 1/2". That should be accurate enough for all sorts of functions. I'll also mount one over the 150g mixing tub so I'll know when it's close to empty too.

 

http://www.maxbotix.com/Performance_Data.html

 

We got the ultrasonic hooked up and mounted. Here is a sample of the readings from it with the aquarium water running normally. These distance readings are the measurement from the sensor to the surface of the water. Later during a WC, you can see the water level rising because the distance from the sensor to the water gets closer.

 

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 9.49328125 inches

Distance reading: 9.4746875 inches

Distance reading: 9.4746875 inches

Distance reading: 9.558359375 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.465390625 inches

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.4746875 inches

Distance reading: 9.483984375 inches

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

 

I did a water change starting about here. I turn off both return pumps and the water level in the sump rises a couple of inches until the water stops draining from the aquariums and the drain pump finally catches up and drains the sump. That is reflected in the readings.

 

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.56765625 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 5.002890625 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.49328125 inches

Distance reading: 9.558359375 inches

Distance reading: 9.483984375 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.5490625 inches

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 9.465390625 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.558359375 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 9.4746875 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 9.911640625 inches

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.558359375 inches

Distance reading: 9.4746875 inches

Distance reading: 9.539765625 inches

Distance reading: 9.49328125 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 8.6565625 inches

Distance reading: 8.63796875 inches

Distance reading: 8.665859375 inches

Distance reading: 8.63796875 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.684453125 inches

Distance reading: 8.619375 inches

Distance reading: 8.665859375 inches

Distance reading: 9.483984375 inches

Distance reading: 8.684453125 inches

Distance reading: 7.847734375 inches

Distance reading: 7.78265625 inches

Distance reading: 7.80125 inches

Distance reading: 7.81984375 inches

Distance reading: 7.791953125 inches

Distance reading: 8.1359375 inches

Distance reading: 7.80125 inches

Distance reading: 9.660625 inches

Distance reading: 7.773359375 inches

Distance reading: 6.4996875 inches

Distance reading: 7.791953125 inches

Distance reading: 7.810546875 inches

Distance reading: 7.7640625 inches

Distance reading: 7.78265625 inches

Distance reading: 7.754765625 inches

Distance reading: 7.791953125 inches

Distance reading: 7.791953125 inches

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Distance reading: 7.80125 inches

Distance reading: 7.810546875 inches

Distance reading: 7.791953125 inches

Distance reading: 7.773359375 inches

Distance reading: 7.810546875 inches

Distance reading: 7.81984375 inches

Distance reading: 7.829140625 inches

Distance reading: 7.8384375 inches

Distance reading: 7.78265625 inches

Distance reading: 7.7640625 inches

Distance reading: 7.754765625 inches

Distance reading: 7.810546875 inches

Distance reading: 7.791953125 inches

Distance reading: 7.78265625 inches

Distance reading: 7.791953125 inches

Distance reading: 7.810546875 inches

Distance reading: 7.7640625 inches

Distance reading: 7.847734375 inches

Distance reading: 7.7640625 inches

Distance reading: 7.80125 inches

Distance reading: 7.93140625 inches

Distance reading: 8.6565625 inches

Distance reading: 7.810546875 inches

Distance reading: 7.78265625 inches

Distance reading: 7.81984375 inches

Distance reading: 8.665859375 inches

Distance reading: 8.665859375 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.619375 inches

Distance reading: 8.619375 inches

Distance reading: 8.6565625 inches

Distance reading: 8.6565625 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.647265625 inches

Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.6565625 inches

Distance reading: 8.63796875 inches

Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.591484375 inches

Distance reading: 8.647265625 inches

Distance reading: 8.619375 inches

Distance reading: 8.63796875 inches

Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.60078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.619375 inches

Distance reading: 8.647265625 inches

Distance reading: 9.49328125 inches

Distance reading: 9.483984375 inches

Distance reading: 8.71234375 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.539765625 inches

Distance reading: 9.4746875 inches

Distance reading: 9.483984375 inches

Distance reading: 9.483984375 inches

Distance reading: 9.558359375 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.595546875 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.49328125 inches

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 9.521171875 inches

Distance reading: 9.511875 inches

Distance reading: 9.5490625 inches

Distance reading: 9.53046875 inches

Distance reading: 9.5490625 inches

Distance reading: 10.3671875 inches

Distance reading: 10.34859375 inches

Distance reading: 10.3671875 inches

Distance reading: 10.339296875 inches

Distance reading: 10.34859375 inches

Distance reading: 10.339296875 inches

Distance reading: 10.34859375 inches

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Distance reading: 10.3671875 inches

Distance reading: 10.34859375 inches

Distance reading: 10.33 inches

Distance reading: 10.357890625 inches

Distance reading: 10.34859375 inches

Distance reading: 10.34859375 inches

Distance reading: 10.376484375 inches

Distance reading: 10.31140625 inches

Distance reading: 11.231796875 inches

Distance reading: 11.231796875 inches

Distance reading: 11.20390625 inches

Distance reading: 11.24109375 inches

Distance reading: 11.31546875 inches

Distance reading: 11.20390625 inches

Distance reading: 11.2596875 inches

Distance reading: 11.24109375 inches

Distance reading: 11.231796875 inches

Distance reading: 11.24109375 inches

Distance reading: 11.231796875 inches

Distance reading: 11.194609375 inches

Distance reading: 11.250390625 inches

Distance reading: 11.231796875 inches

Distance reading: 11.268984375 inches

Distance reading: 11.24109375 inches

Distance reading: 11.2225 inches

Distance reading: 11.213203125 inches

Distance reading: 11.2596875 inches

Distance reading: 11.296875 inches

Distance reading: 12.105703125 inches

Distance reading: 12.049921875 inches

Distance reading: 12.161484375 inches

Distance reading: 12.040625 inches

Distance reading: 12.087109375 inches

Distance reading: 12.05921875 inches

Distance reading: 12.09640625 inches

Distance reading: 12.049921875 inches

Distance reading: 12.09640625 inches

Distance reading: 12.049921875 inches

Distance reading: 12.068515625 inches

Distance reading: 12.105703125 inches

Distance reading: 12.068515625 inches

Distance reading: 12.087109375 inches

Distance reading: 12.0778125 inches

Distance reading: 12.115 inches

Distance reading: 12.068515625 inches

Distance reading: 12.979609375 inches

Distance reading: 12.9703125 inches

Distance reading: 13.0075 inches

Distance reading: 12.98890625 inches

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Distance reading: 12.95171875 inches

Distance reading: 12.979609375 inches

Distance reading: 12.9703125 inches

Distance reading: 12.998203125 inches

Distance reading: 13.016796875 inches

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Distance reading: 12.979609375 inches

Distance reading: 13.0075 inches

Distance reading: 13.76984375 inches

Distance reading: 13.872109375 inches

Distance reading: 13.760546875 inches

Distance reading: 13.75125 inches

Distance reading: 13.8628125 inches

Distance reading: 13.779140625 inches

Distance reading: 13.760546875 inches

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Distance reading: 13.779140625 inches

Distance reading: 13.853515625 inches

Distance reading: 13.797734375 inches

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Distance reading: 13.834921875 inches

Distance reading: 13.872109375 inches

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Distance reading: 13.84421875 inches

Distance reading: 13.8628125 inches

Distance reading: 13.760546875 inches

Distance reading: 14.690234375 inches

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Distance reading: 14.718125 inches

Distance reading: 14.66234375 inches

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Distance reading: 14.6809375 inches

Distance reading: 14.66234375 inches

Distance reading: 14.77390625 inches

Distance reading: 14.671640625 inches

Distance reading: 14.718125 inches

Distance reading: 14.764609375 inches

Distance reading: 14.77390625 inches

Distance reading: 14.69953125 inches

Distance reading: 14.727421875 inches

Distance reading: 15.489765625 inches

Distance reading: 15.526953125 inches

Distance reading: 15.526953125 inches

Distance reading: 15.4990625 inches

Distance reading: 15.53625 inches

Distance reading: 15.526953125 inches

Distance reading: 15.53625 inches

Distance reading: 15.582734375 inches

Distance reading: 15.508359375 inches

Distance reading: 15.601328125 inches

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Distance reading: 15.53625 inches

Distance reading: 15.5734375 inches

Distance reading: 16.456640625 inches

Distance reading: 16.42875 inches

Distance reading: 16.4659375 inches

Distance reading: 16.438046875 inches

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Distance reading: 16.400859375 inches

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Distance reading: 18.185859375 inches

Distance reading: 18.1765625 inches

Distance reading: 18.204453125 inches

Distance reading: 18.2509375 inches

 

I turned off the drain pump here and turned on the refill pump from the new saltwater barrel.

 

Distance reading: 18.19515625 inches

Distance reading: 17.7303125 inches

Distance reading: 17.237578125 inches

Distance reading: 17.2840625 inches

Distance reading: 17.2840625 inches

Distance reading: 17.37703125 inches

Distance reading: 16.42875 inches

Distance reading: 16.438046875 inches

Distance reading: 16.44734375 inches

Distance reading: 15.4990625 inches

Distance reading: 16.512421875 inches

Distance reading: 16.42875 inches

Distance reading: 15.4990625 inches

Distance reading: 15.5734375 inches

Distance reading: 16.42875 inches

Distance reading: 14.718125 inches

Distance reading: 14.69953125 inches

Distance reading: 15.248046875 inches

Distance reading: 15.731484375 inches

Distance reading: 14.06734375 inches

Distance reading: 13.825625 inches

Distance reading: 13.779140625 inches

Distance reading: 13.80703125 inches

Distance reading: 13.9 inches

Distance reading: 13.797734375 inches

Distance reading: 13.834921875 inches

Distance reading: 13.797734375 inches

Distance reading: 13.890703125 inches

Distance reading: 13.825625 inches

Distance reading: 13.28640625 inches

Distance reading: 13.927890625 inches

Distance reading: 12.998203125 inches

Distance reading: 12.95171875 inches

Distance reading: 12.98890625 inches

Distance reading: 12.9703125 inches

Distance reading: 13.676875 inches

Distance reading: 13.6025 inches

Distance reading: 12.98890625 inches

Distance reading: 12.17078125 inches

Distance reading: 12.868046875 inches

Distance reading: 12.049921875 inches

Distance reading: 12.0778125 inches

Distance reading: 12.979609375 inches

Distance reading: 12.09640625 inches

Distance reading: 12.087109375 inches

Distance reading: 13.0075 inches

Distance reading: 12.115 inches

Distance reading: 12.180078125 inches

Distance reading: 12.0778125 inches

Distance reading: 11.547890625 inches

Distance reading: 11.296875 inches

Distance reading: 11.306171875 inches

Distance reading: 11.250390625 inches

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Distance reading: 11.213203125 inches

Distance reading: 10.339296875 inches

Distance reading: 10.655390625 inches

Distance reading: 10.339296875 inches

Distance reading: 10.33 inches

Distance reading: 10.320703125 inches

Distance reading: 10.357890625 inches

Distance reading: 10.33 inches

Distance reading: 9.56765625 inches

Distance reading: 9.56765625 inches

Distance reading: 9.5490625 inches

Distance reading: 9.49328125 inches

Distance reading: 9.539765625 inches

Distance reading: 9.56765625 inches

Distance reading: 9.502578125 inches

Distance reading: 9.911640625 inches

Distance reading: 8.665859375 inches

Distance reading: 8.63796875 inches

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Distance reading: 8.67515625 inches

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Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.69375 inches

Distance reading: 8.63796875 inches

Distance reading: 8.619375 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.63796875 inches

Distance reading: 8.628671875 inches

Distance reading: 8.610078125 inches

 

The sump is full and both return pumps are running at this point.

 

So far, this might be the best $30 I ever spent! :lol2:

 

Here are some pics of this gem.

 

As you can see, it's less than an inch square.

IMG_1707.jpg

 

We mounted it under a pvc cross and the pipe extends out across all four sides of the sump which is a 150g rubber maid tub.

IMG_1708Crop.jpg

 

IMG_1709.jpg

 

This weekend I'm going to take it off and mount it inside an electric junction box and seal it in there with silicone to protect it. So this mount is very temporary.

 

I built my own controller using hardware from icp-das. I have this sensor connected to an analog data acquisition module (7018) and the sonar sensor puts out a different millivolt reading to represent the distance.

 

http://www.icpdas-usa.com/analog.php

Edited by tbittner
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Thats a nice set up you have going. I have one thought on it however.

 

Back when I was in service, I had several accounts near the ocean and the circuit boards on the AC units would last for about 8 months and stop working. I found out the salt in the air was causing the boards to oxidize, so I started to spray the boards with clear varnish and that fixed the problem.

 

I see that the printed circuit board is over the water and I'm wondering if there would be a similar problem. It seems that salt gets everywhere..........but I wouldn't spray the black sensor part though.

 

Just my .02 Good luck with it.

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Thats a nice set up you have going. I have one thought on it however.

 

Back when I was in service, I had several accounts near the ocean and the circuit boards on the AC units would last for about 8 months and stop working. I found out the salt in the air was causing the boards to oxidize, so I started to spray the boards with clear varnish and that fixed the problem.

 

I see that the printed circuit board is over the water and I'm wondering if there would be a similar problem. It seems that salt gets everywhere..........but I wouldn't spray the black sensor part though.

 

Just my .02 Good luck with it.

 

I was having the same thought, also thiniking salt in the air could collect on the sensor it's self and distort the reading.

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(edited)

I'm going to drill a hole in a pvc cap, big enough for the black sensor to fit through, then silicone it shut. The cap will be attached to a T over the tank so it's suspended over the water. That should keep it safe and dry. Time will tell though.

 

The wires will run through the pvc and come out close to my acquisition hardware.

Edited by tbittner
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I'm going to drill a hole in a pvc cap, big enough for the black sensor to fit through, then silicone it shut. The cap will be attached to a T over the tank so it's suspended over the water. That should keep it safe and dry. Time will tell though.

 

The wires will run through the pvc and come out close to my acquisition hardware.

 

 

Thats a real innovative way to make a float switch. Nice job. I actually just bought one of these http://www.rabbit.com/products/RCM5400W/index.shtml and I'm playing around with making my own controller. I wonder how many folks here know how to do some embedded programming?!

 

Nice job! If you have any more diy electronics, I'd sure like to see it! :bb:

 

d

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That rabbit hardware is really cool stuff! It looks like you can do just about everything with it.

 

The hardware I'm using has their own OS running on each module. They give the purchaser all the source code for the OS and examples of how to modify and compile it. I haven't had a need to do that yet though. They also sell modules that run Windows CE and now that I've discovered that, I wish I would have bought those modules instead. Then I could put all my programs directly on the modules and my pc would only collect the results, occasionally. Oh well, what I have works great so I'm not messing with it. :biggrin:

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