My new Solana 34

[txbonds]

After two Biocube 29's cracked on me, I picked up a used Solana 34 from forum member Forddna (thanks).

 

Current fts 09/03/10

 

Haven't made any real major changes to the tank yet. However, I did make a filter sock holder for the middle chamber to help clean the water from sand particles.

 

Shot using temp lighting. Can't wait to see it with the Aqua Illumination LED's.

 

Tank Equipment Setup

 

LIGHTING

On Order - Aqua Illumination SOL Super Blue

 

ATO

Tunze Osmolator - In box and needs to be installed

 

SKIMMER

Tunze 9002 with InTank cup - want to eventually replace this I think.

 

RETURN PUMP

At moment I'm using an extra Biocube 29 pump. I like reduced flow for skimmer. May replace.

 

WAVEMAKER

MP10wES - Installed on right side glass. Not shown in pictures above.

 

HEATER

Currently Tetra HT-20 100w, but have a Marineland Stealth Pro 150w sitting in the box to replace the tetra soon.

 

CONTROLLER

Undecided and still researching.

 

FISH / LIVESTOCK

Pair Ocellaris Clowns

Tail Spot Blenny

Randall's Goby

Pistol Shrimp - Currently in hiding

 

CLEAN-UP CREW

Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber

Fighting Conch

3 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs

3 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

6 Assorted Snails

 

CORALS

Green Hairy Mushrooms

Green Fluorescent Mushrooms

Various Green, Red & Blue Mushrooms - Hitchikers on Live Rock

Green / Purple Frogspawn

Pom Pom Xenia

Various Red, Orange, Green & Brown Zoa's

Molten Lobo Brain Coral

 

So far, I love this tank so much more than the biocube. The tank is so much easier to view. I didn't realize how closed in that biocube looked and how tough it was to see with the curved glass corners.

 

Thanks for taking a look. Will update pictures as the tank progresses.

[txbonds]

Just got finished aqua scaping this morning. Everyone is present and accounted for except my emrald crab, but I'm guessing he hitched a ride on one of the rocks when I transferred everything back over. Will keep an eye out for him over the next few days.

 

Until I can get an MP10ES or similar, I'm using the two Koralia Nano's on a coralife light timer strip. Just the day/night item to simply perform a back and forth power flip for a basic wavemaker. Set the little flip switches for about 10 or 15 minutes per side.

 

Sorry, no lights yet, so natural sunlit pics only at this time.

 

FTS

 

Left side

 

Right side

 

 

Tips, comments and feedback requested and welcomed. Thanks for looking.

[BigBad82]

Sorry to hear about your biocube, but in all honesty probably a good thing as I think the solana is a much better looking tank. The mp10es will be a great upgrade once it comes but you're in good hands with koralia's for now. With regards to your lighting which is on order are they putting out the right colour temperature?

[txbonds]

Sorry to hear about your biocube, but in all honesty probably a good thing as I think the solana is a much better looking tank. The mp10es will be a great upgrade once it comes but you're in good hands with koralia's for now. With regards to your lighting which is on order are they putting out the right colour temperature?

 

What do you mean regarding the color temperature?

 

I ordered the blue version that comes with 8 white, 8 blue and 8 royal blue leds all cree XP's (72 watts total I think). I think you can adjust the temperature as needed by mixing the colors.

[BigBad82]

Sorry wasn't familiar with the unit as from UK just checking with you. Gonna be one slick setup once you get that up lighting unit up and running.

[txbonds]

Sorry wasn't familiar with the unit as from UK just checking with you. Gonna be one slick setup once you get that up lighting unit up and running.

 

No problem. You just made my heart jump thinking there was something I didn't know about the light. LOL

 

I'll post some pictures of the color once I get it and install it.

 

Thanks for the comments.

[txbonds]

Picked up a GFI outlet adapter today:

 

 

Also made some modifications to my stand. Added brackets in all of the corners and under the shelf for additional support (these stands don't seem extremely sturdy by design). Also added a wood strip across the front under the drawer for support.

 

 

Lastly, I cut an opening in the rear of the shelf to pass cords and power adapters through, and I notched the front of the shelf to allow my 3 gallon water bottle to slide in. This will be my top off reservoir.

 

 

Can't wait for my lights to show up.

[txbonds]

Well, unfortunately I didn't try the tunze top off pump in the bottle first. It is about 1 or 2 mm too large to fit through the bottle neck. I've tried everything from heating and stretching the bottle neck to shortening it and still it won't go.

 

Crazy thing is I got the idea from someone else's picture, but can't seem to find it now so I'm not sure how they got theirs to fit.

 

Will have to look for a larger neck bottle I guess.

[txbonds]

Painted the inside of the door glass with satin black paint. Hard to get a shot due to all the reflections but you get the idea compared to the picture above where you can see through the door:

 

Couple more shots of the rock scaping

 

Installed the tunze 9002 skimmer with intank cup. Had to use the stock magnets to mount it with as that's all I had, but I think some magnets for the side would make it easier to mount. This skimmer may be one of the few that fit, but it's a pain to service on this tank. I'm pretty sure I want to replace with something else.

 

I'm still only running a skimmer, a filter sock, and the actual live rock and sand. Am still wanting to try some Cheato, but have to figure out where it can go due to the filter sock (which I love by the way). May have to shorten some filter socks to create room underneath for the cheato.

[kthehun89]

I'd take out the filtersock and make better use of the middle chamber. chances are the majority of the water passes around it and it certainly takes up allot of space. In my solana, I built a little rack with egg crate and I run floss, fuge,sponge in descending order.

[rO.oster]

very clean mods to your stand, the corner brackets and reinforcement definitely not a bad idea.

 

your scape looks superb in the solana!

[d'Espresso]

Very cool mod.

 

Welcome to the club, i will add you on the list bro.

 

Nice Scape too!

[txbonds]

Thanks everyone.

 

On the filter sock, the water has to pass through it mostly because I cut a piece of starboard to the same size as the prior insert and then cut a smaller hole for the sock. I'm sure some gets around it, but after just replacing the prior one that had been in for 2 or 3 days, I can say it catches a ton of stuff. Keeps the water looking crystal clear.

 

I do want to run some cheato though, and that is why I am thinking of cutting the depth of the socks down a bit. These are 4" diameter by 10" long. Would be nice to find some a little shorter.

 

 

Anyone have any ideas on how to hang my aqua illumination module when I get it? I was thinking of buying a solana light just to steal the mount pole but figured there are cheaper options. I planned to get out to walmart and target today and see if there are any floor lamps that could be cut up and retrofitted to make a stand for the LED's. I kind of like the idea of simply have a floor standing pole that curves up and over the tank. Would be easy to move and reposition for cleaning and maintenance.

[Lawnman]

Just go to lowes or home depot and get conduit.You can bend it and paint it. Look at last months tank of the month.Sushi did this for his Elos mini.

[txbonds]

Just go to lowes or home depot and get conduit.You can bend it and paint it. Look at last months tank of the month.Sushi did this for his Elos mini.

 

 

Thanks. I found a shot where they used a similar approach for their new aqua illumination nano fixture on the display at MACNA. It looks like it should work for the one I ordered as well, but will wait to get the light before i buy supplies. Here is the example I'm talking about: http://reefbuilders.com/2010/09/03/ai-nano...controls-reals/

 

On a side note, I found a cheapie 14watt Coralife 10k single 24" fixture with T-5 bulb in it at a local store and grabbed it just to have a temp option on the tank until the LED's get here. It was all I could find locally.

[txbonds]

09/20/10 - UPDATE

 

Received my aqua illumination super blue module and controller. I'm mounting the controller under the hutch of the near by desk next to the MP10wES controller.

 

I looked all over lowes for ideas on how to mount the led module and this is what I came up with:

 

Idea of how it will look

 

How I made it adjustable for height

 

Test fitting aqua illumination module

 

 

I'm using the glass lid so I'm not too worried about the copper oxidizing and dripping into the tank but I'll be painting the copper tubing with flat black paint so it blends in better with my tank trim and puts a barrier on the copper. More pictures to follow when it's all complete and installed.

 

If you want to build the same, here is what I used:

 

Parts List

1" Schedule 80 pipe = 4 foot long with holes drilled every 1 inch

1" schedule 80 pipe clamps (x4)

clevis pin or similar to adjust copper pipe height

3/4" type F copper tubing - 10'

3/4" copper 90 degree angle (x1)

3/4" copper Tee (x1)

3/4" copper end cap (x2)

10-32 brass 3" screws (x2) & #10 bronze washers (x2)

1/2" plastic spacers

6-32 brass 1-1/4" screws (x3)

#6 brass washers (x6) and nuts (x3)

rubber furniture pad (x1) - below schedule 80 pipe to protect floor

 

Tools used

Pipe cutter

Inside/Outside Pipe brush

Copper pipe epoxy (could use torch and solder/flux as well)

drill with various drill bits & screw driver bits

[txbonds]

Copper tubing painted and aqua illumination module mounted. Now just need to get wiring/controller run and I'm all set:

 

 

 

[txbonds]

Just fired up and programmed the controller. Didn't have a way to adjust white balance on this computer, so the color is way off but it resembles a 20k MH somewhat. I've got white set at max intensity of 20% and blue set at max intensity of 40%, with auto sunrise/sunset mode going.

 

 

 

And the light wiring cleaned up a little

 

 

And controller next to MP10wES controller which is currently on lagoon mode at about 50 or 60 percent

[csal1-175]

Looking really good !!

[txbonds]

Looking really good !!

 

 

Thanks. I'm making some progress slowly.

 

Need to get a controller next.

[csal1-175]

Thanks. I'm making some progress slowly.

 

Need to get a controller next.

yeah they make life easy...lol

[northstar1357]

Tell us more about the light, i was thinking about getting that light but ended up getting Nanotuners LED for my cube. Now i wish i had purchased Aquaillumination instead. it looks so nice. Not that i dont like Nanotuners Led. its just thats i like the sun rise/set mode

[txbonds]

Tell us more about the light, i was thinking about getting that light but ended up getting Nanotuners LED for my cube. Now i wish i had purchased Aquaillumination instead. it looks so nice. Not that i dont like Nanotuners Led. its just thats i like the sun rise/set mode

 

 

I did the same. Bought the nanotuners DIY parts initially for the biocube hood and when I got the solana decided to just get a prebuilt unit with the aqua illumination module. Glad I did now as building the light bracket was a big enough pain without also having to build the light.

 

That said, from what I can tell now after about 10 to 12 hours of the light being setup, the controller is awesome. You can set the date and time for the unit. Then you can set the sunrise and sunset times. You can set the sunrise and sunset durations. And you can turn on/off lunar cycle. Next you can set the max light intensity for white and for blue, as well as for night time white/blue.

 

The unit feels cold to the touch, so I'm not sure if it ever gets hot. The fan is either super quiet or on a thermostat and just hasn't run but either way I've heard zero noise from the setup. Regarding the overall appearance, it's not too bad. I wish it would have come with a black plastic housing and black heat sink to be more low key, but the white housing with silver heat sink doesn't look terrible since your eye isn't really drawn to it when you look at the tank.

 

Setup is simple. The light includes a small power brick like the one included with the MP10's. It has ample cord to reach from the light and down into the stand. The controller also comes with a long cord so that it can be somewhat remotely mounted. The controller has one rotary knob that is also a button. Couldn't get much simpler to adjust.

 

I have my set at a 1 to 2 ratio of white to blue. White at 20% and blue at 40% for the daily maximum intensity. I think it might randomly mix those intensities as it ramps up towards maximum during the day because you can see some very slight color shifts. It seems to very realistically simulate the sun movement though with the sunrise/sunset features. My color in general seems to match somewhere around a 20k bulb I think as it has a little more of a blue color. The nice thing is that under the blue led's the coral colors really pop.

 

The unit I chose is the SOL Super Blue, which I believe has Cree XP leds in it with 8 white, 8 blue and 8 royal blue. They are arranged in 8 circular pucks that can be swapped out should you ever want to change or upgrade down the road. I'm thinking because they are the XP's that they will get really, really bright and the XP's are pretty efficient.

 

 

This the kind of stuff you wanted to know? Your question was pretty generic...........

 

 

I forgot to mention above that I offset the mount about 1 or 2 inches to the left of center so that it wouldn't block the cord pass through drilled into the center of the stands back. If you look at the front of the pipe mount you can see where I then compensated for that offset to get the light back on center. (notice the shorter pipe on one side)

 

If anyone reads this and decides to build their own version, I thought this would be useful to know.

[txbonds]

Here are a few update pictures to show how tank is doing after just 5 days on LED lighting (sorry for the white balance, haven't figured out how to correct in camera yet):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rck]

Thats looking killer! The lights really nice!