DAHNIC561 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 My 400 watt halide basically blew up on me the other day. I am currently borrowing a 250 watt halide from a LFS, but need to replace my light. I have decided to do a DIY LED build for the Solana. I have done a couple of smaller builds before and have had GREAT success. I just want to know what others have done with LED's over solanas. What LED's did you use, how many, what colors, suggestions are welcome. Here is what I was thinking: (keep in mind that I am the King of overkill) 12 - 19000 - 21000k Cold White 3W LED's 12 - 9000 - 12000k Cool White 3W LED's 24 - Royal Blue 3W LED's 6 - Blue 3W LED's 3 - Red 3W LED's 3 - UV Purple 3W LED's total = 60 3W LED's Also 4 - Royal Blue moonlight LED's I was planning on 60 degree optics on everything except the Red, UV, and moonlights. I would have liked to do 80 degree, but 60 is the widest angle available for these LED's. All LED's will be run using 700mA dimmable drivers. I plan to have a total of 11 strings of 6 LED's consisting of 4 white strings, 4 RB strings, 1 blue string, 1 Red and UV string, and 1 moonlight string. I know that this is a lot of LED's for a 34 gallon tank, but I like to be able to completely customize the color, by turning different strings down, and I am thinking about upgrading to a 90g corner tank and want to build the light so that it will work for that too. Let me know what you think. damn 400w?...and your corals didn't hide all day...lol... Quote Link to comment
DAHNIC561 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Found the oddest pair of clowns at my LFS so you know i had to grab them...One is an ORA extreme misbar percula and the Other an ORA B&W ocellaris ??? Heres a Video of them crazy... Quote Link to comment
Hydronaut Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 1st post...and I'm here to join the Solana club. Basic details in the sig, and a build thread coming soon. Question though: How many of you run bare bottom? What are your opinions? Quote Link to comment
BigFeesh Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Just ordered my 34 gallon solana. Put me on the list. You guys will like build thread.this tank is going to be sweet. Quote Link to comment
adambreakey Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 1st post...and I'm here to join the Solana club. Basic details in the sig, and a build thread coming soon. Question though: How many of you run bare bottom? What are your opinions? I run bare bottom with my Solana. I love it. I vacuum out all of the settlement with my changes weekly - making my tank very clean. Of course, others love the look of sand... so it is all personal preference. - Adam Quote Link to comment
Hydronaut Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I run bare bottom with my Solana. I love it. I vacuum out all of the settlement with my changes weekly - making my tank very clean. Of course, others love the look of sand... so it is all personal preference. - Adam Thanks. I'm looking into bare bottom since I may pick up another mp10 - which will provide a boat load of flow. I would rather not have sand kicked up into the water column. At any rate, I will likely have a remote DSB in the 'fuge. BTW, I'm also located in Raleigh. Quote Link to comment
DAHNIC561 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 1st post...and I'm here to join the Solana club. Basic details in the sig, and a build thread coming soon. Question though: How many of you run bare bottom? What are your opinions? BB all the way homie... Quote Link to comment
BOMBreef Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Oh hey add me too! I don't know how I missed this thread....great stuff. Quote Link to comment
Hydronaut Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Here's a teaser render of my 15" x 15" x 15" sump/'fuge designed to fit in the stock Solana stand: I designed it to have a refugium taking up the entire front side in order to take advantage of the glass front of the stand. It will also accommodate an SWC Xtreme 120 Cone Protein Skimmer and an Eheim Compact+ 3000 return pump. I have already finished building it, with pics to follow in my Solana build thread coming soon... Quote Link to comment
ermartin Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Here's a teaser render of my 15" x 15" x 15" sump/'fuge designed to fit in the stock Solana stand: I designed it to have a refugium taking up the entire front side in order to take advantage of the glass front of the stand. It will also accommodate an SWC Xtreme 120 Cone Protein Skimmer and an Eheim Compact+ 3000 return pump. I have already finished building it, with pics to follow in my Solana build thread coming soon... that's a nice picture but I DON'T GET IT cant wait to see the real pictures as i cant figure out if it takes up the bottom of the stand how will you access anything... hurry up with real pics Quote Link to comment
Hydronaut Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 that's a nice picture but I DON'T GET IT cant wait to see the real pictures as i cant figure out if it takes up the bottom of the stand how will you access anything... hurry up with real pics In due time, my friend, in due time... However I will point out the the refugium is driven by the return pump using a tee and ball valve for adjustable flow, and then drains back into the sump inlet chamber on the back left. Quote Link to comment
floppyfish Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Just ordered my 34 gallon solana. Put me on the list. You guys will like build thread.this tank is going to be sweet. Pardon my ignorance... But where did you order from? I'm thinking of coming out of retirement and putting together a nano again(been 4-5 years). Looking around at these tanks at I love the style. Yet everyone(that I can find) is out of stock or says discontinued. What am I missing? My google skills usually don't fail me so badly! Quote Link to comment
ermartin Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Pardon my ignorance... But where did you order from? I'm thinking of coming out of retirement and putting together a nano again(been 4-5 years). Looking around at these tanks at I love the style. Yet everyone(that I can find) is out of stock or says discontinued. What am I missing? My google skills usually don't fail me so badly! yea current-usa likes to discontinue there best selling items much like the SUNPOD this has been discontinued. your going to have to try and find a used one. and like the SUNPOD's were when first discontinued since they are in high demand there wont be much of a discount on price unless someone builds something equivalent Quote Link to comment
floppyfish Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 yea current-usa likes to discontinue there best selling items much like the SUNPOD this has been discontinued. your going to have to try and find a used one. and like the SUNPOD's were when first discontinued since they are in high demand there wont be much of a discount on price unless someone builds something equivalent Thanks, that's what I figured. Didn't see much talk about it(being discontinued) the last few pages of this thread or the one on RC. Bummer though, I really like the looks of the tank/sand and I'm not looking to spend $2k on the 60. The search continues! Quote Link to comment
adolfo425 Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Can my tank thread be added to the list. Here is the link to it http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3449120 Quote Link to comment
ermartin Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Thanks, that's what I figured. Didn't see much talk about it(being discontinued) the last few pages of this thread or the one on RC. Bummer though, I really like the looks of the tank/sand and I'm not looking to spend $2k on the 60. The search continues! Yea I was surprised but all 3 sites i checked said Discontinued not "out of stock" Im actually thinking about going with a MrAqua 60 cube and stand and drilling it myself. but the almost 200$ shipping fee is holding me back. I might see if I can pick it up and save the fee as i plan on driving by the distributor next month and that's where they drop ship from Quote Link to comment
Aqua fire/medic Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hey guys, just picked one of these up off craigslist..... Was looking to upgrade return pump.... So what are more people using mj900, mj1200, or others? Quote Link to comment
Gamepro_inc Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hydronaut I like your sump design...do you mind if I steal it for my sump too? I am really thinking about drilling my solana. How do you plan on drilling the tank? Quote Link to comment
austinp Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Am I reading this correctly? A few post above mine, it says solanas are being discontinued?? Is this true ? Quote Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Just updated the list! If anyone need me to add someone please pm so i can add you on. thanks! David Quote Link to comment
jckisko Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Pardon my ignorance... But where did you order from? I'm thinking of coming out of retirement and putting together a nano again(been 4-5 years). Looking around at these tanks at I love the style. Yet everyone(that I can find) is out of stock or says discontinued. What am I missing? My google skills usually don't fail me so badly! Ecoxotic appears to have pulled the little bro version as well from their website... anyone hear if the Solana is being discontinued permanently? Quote Link to comment
lpsouth1978 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I have been working on a new LED build for my solana. It is WAY overkill, but I am looking at getting a larger tank and wanted to be able to use this over it when I get it rather than building another light. Here are the specs: Custom built 18x18 heatsink 24 - 20k 3w LED's 24 - RB 3w LED's 12 - 10k 3w LED's 6 - standard blue 3w LED's 3 - UV 3w LED's 3 - Red 3w LED's 4 - RB moonlight 3w LED's 12 - 700mA dimmable buckpucks 1 - 350mA dimmable buckpucks 60 degree optics All of the LED's amd optics were purchased from Satisled and my total cost for this fixture had been right about $500. Yes, that is 72 LED's over a 34 gallon tank. As I said, it is WAY overkill, but should work nicely over a larger tank as well (looking at a 92 corner tank). I am hoping that by putting so many different colors I can get closer to a full spectrum. I was unable to find a heatsink that was large enough to work over the tank, at least at a decent price, so I decided to build my own. It is sort of an unorthodox idea but it seems to be working. I got a 1/4 inch aluminum plate and attached a bunch of 1/4 inch "C" channel to it. these are bolted to the plate and have thermal paste between them and the aluminum plate. Here are some pics to give you an idea what I did. I am still working on all of the wiring, but so far I have all of the 20k, RB, and half of the 10k LED's wired. I set it up so that the 20K, RB, 10k, Satndard Blue, and RB moonlights will each be dimmable seperate from each other. The red and UV will be dimmed together since they are on the same buckpuck. This should give me unlimited control over the color mix and intensity of the light. Here are a few more pics of what I have so far. Here is a drawing showing the layout of the LED's that I decided on. The section at one end with no LED's it the back of the fixture. Quote Link to comment
kristonenicolas Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 just bought a used Solana 34 and cleaned her up! ready to add sand and rock tomorrow! Quote Link to comment
Jai1985 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 hey David what kind of wave maker is that and how are you controlling it? Here is mine again... Quote Link to comment
Jai1985 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Please add me to the list of Solana Owners http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=277519 Thanks, Jai Quote Link to comment
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