Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

squirrel's 40g CAD 2.0 - Stuff n Junk


squirrelieygrrrl

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 395
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Subscribed. Did you have the aquarium and supplies shipped to you or did you pick them up?

FYI for the interested. I was a group buy participant. My tank an Artisan 50 came in Friday. On a pallet, well wrapped and packed with styrofoam, hard and soft cardboard, etc with no damage. I had a little confusion on the bulkhead and Eddie responded to an email in a few hours. I am in Atlanta. So my shipping and service was good so far.

Link to comment

Nice setup! Personally, I think you should custom a 250w MH pendent as you suggested and put atinics on the sides. Though, it would not be a big deal to put 2 150w over it and call it a day.

Link to comment
squirrelieygrrrl
Get the vertex LED. Seems better than the AI to me...

 

after a whole lotta cross comparison with different led fixtures, i think im still sold on the AI Sol Blue. i just cant seem to find another light that offers what the sol does. plus how friggen cool is it that the controller can do cloud, lightning/storm, full calendar lunar cycles, and full calendar daytime lighting schedule with seasons. not that its necessary, but totally awesome! omgomgomg

 

 

FYI for the interested. I was a group buy participant. My tank an Artisan 50 came in Friday. On a pallet, well wrapped and packed with styrofoam, hard and soft cardboard, etc with no damage. I had a little confusion on the bulkhead and Eddie responded to an email in a few hours. I am in Atlanta. So my shipping and service was good so far.

 

sweet ken!

 

thanks for the info. glad you got it in good order and your happy with it. shoot me a pm once you start a tank thread! cant wait to see what you do with it. :)

 

 

Nice setup! Personally, I think you should custom a 250w MH pendent as you suggested and put atinics on the sides. Though, it would not be a big deal to put 2 150w over it and call it a day.

 

thanks socal!

 

i think thats what ive come up with too after more digging. to custom a 250w halide. probably a lumatek ballast, with a 12X12 reflector( possibly lumenarc mini ii). with two AI Sol Blues on either side.

 

though probably in interim ill toss a couple of 150w over the tank just to get it started. the AI's are going to take me a while to save up for cuz there so stinking expensive. lulz.

 

should i get a dual multi channel ballast to run the 150's and then when im ready convert it to the 250? that might save me a bit of money so im not double buying equip.

Link to comment

I agree.. go all LEDs and take the MH completely out of the equation. All the corals in my 20L are happy with the LEDS and if you want to go with the Japanese tank effects and spotlighting, you could always do 1 SOL fixture and then two or three PAR lamps to accent it.

 

Plus.. I must say your wooffie is sooo cute.. I love wolfdogs.

Link to comment

The Vertex Illumina can do all of the things the AI can, plus more. Plus the new ones are more powerful than the AI. Plus, you can control it wirelessly from a computer or mobile device. Plus it doesn't look like a brick of aluminum. Plus, there are banks of LEDs every 6 inches for better coverage.

 

Except you can't buy them in the states because of that stupid patent. I love being Canadian! lol

Link to comment
squirrelieygrrrl
I agree.. go all LEDs and take the MH completely out of the equation. All the corals in my 20L are happy with the LEDS and if you want to go with the Japanese tank effects and spotlighting, you could always do 1 SOL fixture and then two or three PAR lamps to accent it.

 

Plus.. I must say your wooffie is sooo cute.. I love wolfdogs.

 

hmm.

 

the only thing is, every japanese spot lit reef ive ever seen uses mh for its major lighting. they usually supplement that with an array of other fixtures.

 

That does look like a real nice Light. all those modes make the price worth it to me.

 

same here!

 

+1 on the SOL

 

+1 ur dog being awesome :)

 

:D

 

since ive made no real progress with the tank(holding pattern till more equip shows up)....

 

a couple obligatory woofie shots!

 

DSC02221.jpg

 

DSC02198.jpg

 

The Vertex Illumina can do all of the things the AI can, plus more. Plus the new ones are more powerful than the AI. Plus, you can control it wirelessly from a computer or mobile device. Plus it doesn't look like a brick of aluminum. Plus, there are banks of LEDs every 6 inches for better coverage.

 

Except you can't buy them in the states because of that stupid patent. I love being Canadian! lol

 

i did look into the vertex, but i doubt id ever use that much user control. im one of those set it and forget it kinda gals. much less the fact i cant get the damn thing any how!

 

pffft! a whole lotta help you are! ;)

 

 

Vertex is nice it's just way too $$$. And the patent which doesn't have an affect on me either :P

 

that and the dimensions of their smaller fixture dont really work for what im trying to achieve.

Link to comment
squirrelieygrrrl

alright,

 

after more thought, i think im still going ahead with the mh/ai idea. i havnt come up with any thing else that seems as appealing to me. trust me ive done copious amounts of research on the subject, mind numbing amounts.

 

in the mean time, as its gonna take me real time to save up for my long term idea. probably 4 months or so. im gonna pick up a couple of cheap 150w/t5 fixtures from ebay. there uber cheaply made, but im only gonna use them temporarily.

 

cheap lights

 

once i get my actual long term lighting i might keep these for a 40g cubeish tank i have that i got from pismo for a frag tank.

 

i also found the rock i want, any one had any experience with this company? http://www.liverocknreef.com/liverock/inde...tail&p=8699

 

sand, salt, and heater should be here by friday. i also made some progress with the tank space prep and setup. we finally laid the ply, and in a day or two ill be framing it out and lining it per my plans.

 

we made a mod to the stand so it would accommodate the bulkheads that eddie sent. apparently they were a little too large for the hole cut in the stand, so me and a buddy of mine thats been helping me with my build took a router to the plumbing hole and widened it a little. more pics to come of the setup and tray build soon.

 

one of the reasons im pushing along my build as quickly as possible is that things keep declining with my 16, no matter what i do i cant seem to get it under control. ive had no losses, but things just dont look so good. tests all seem with in normal ranges. and im doing massive water changes all the time. honestly im kind of over it, its turning out to be more trouble than its worth. i have racked my brain, done serious digging to find out what the heck the prob is and i just cant seem to come up with a reasonable answer.

Link to comment
captainbastard

I guess it just depends on how much you wanna feed. I have the Nac7 in my 40br and it seems like its always pulling out lotsa gunk, never rests.

Link to comment
squirrelieygrrrl

well i guess ill know once i get water in the thing! lulz.

 

i was considering combining it with a bio pellet reactor as well. so that might help take some of the dependence off the skimmer.

 

any one have any input on my temp lighting/rock choices?

Link to comment

Honestly, I don't know why the japanese are using MH as the main lighting when they have the led spotlights unless they are using bulbs that don't have the needed PAR values.

 

The Par bulbs being sold by Nanocustoms, RapidLed and BoostLed are all good and you don't need any MH to use as the main light. There just isn't any feasible need for it.

If they were not adequate for coral growth, my sps wouldn't be growing in a tank that is just over two months old. The nice thing about them too, is with the spotlight effect, you are not wasting light on the glass. It is more concentrated, which means few algae issues on the glass and less cleaning for you. The light is more concentrated on your rocks and sandbed where you want it.

Link to comment

I had the same fixture over my 45 cube. It's a decent fixture for the price, but you will need to upgrade the bulb, so take that into account when you think about the price. I used a pheonix 14k and a reeflux 12k with good success, but the stock bulb is junk. With a good bulb, this fixture will grow softies and LPS just fine on that size tank but my SPS never grew or colored up with it. I was very happy to upgrade to a 250w and now everything is growing better. For permanent lighting, I like my 250 MH except the heat (I have a canopy). For your size tank, I think a t5ho led combo would be really nice too. I've seen some beautifully colorful reefs under t5hos and the LEDS will give your the shimmer and pop that T5s lack.

 

let me know if you decide to go with it the 150wMH t5 fixture for a temporary situation... I'm THINKING of selling mine, and it has a reeflux 12k in it. Mine is technically an Oddysea brand, but the fixture is identical to the ebay one.

Link to comment
squirrelieygrrrl
Honestly, I don't know why the japanese are using MH as the main lighting when they have the led spotlights unless they are using bulbs that don't have the needed PAR values.

 

The Par bulbs being sold by Nanocustoms, RapidLed and BoostLed are all good and you don't need any MH to use as the main light. There just isn't any feasible need for it.

If they were not adequate for coral growth, my sps wouldn't be growing in a tank that is just over two months old. The nice thing about them too, is with the spotlight effect, you are not wasting light on the glass. It is more concentrated, which means few algae issues on the glass and less cleaning for you. The light is more concentrated on your rocks and sandbed where you want it.

 

i unno.... quantifiable results? :lol: sorry. what ever it is that theyre doing theyre doing it right thats for sure. so thats what im trying to replicate. ive always been amazed by these uber clean, insanely lit sps dominant tanks with excessive lighting.

 

i like the idea of keeping the lights high off the tank and utilizing barn doors or a light box raised high to keep light spill down. using mh may be relative to the fact that the lights are kept at a minimum of 12in over the water. though on some of those tanks it appears to be even higher. hence the need for an excessive amount of lights, and only using led for color supplementation and coral spotlighting. i have a feeling that the optics are not as effective on the leds when theyre that high off the water.

 

not that im discounting an all led reef, i have seen the results that they yield. i was half kidding when i said i didnt trust them. i know they work, but i totally want to take the lighting thing to the inth degree, and use a combination of fixtures with varying color temps, and varying types of light. though we use par to measure values, there may be many other things that we cant measure in light that may also be effective for certain things. im no lighting guru so everything im saying is based on deductive reasoning.

 

I had the same fixture over my 45 cube. It's a decent fixture for the price, but you will need to upgrade the bulb, so take that into account when you think about the price. I used a pheonix 14k and a reeflux 12k with good success, but the stock bulb is junk. With a good bulb, this fixture will grow softies and LPS just fine on that size tank but my SPS never grew or colored up with it. I was very happy to upgrade to a 250w and now everything is growing better. For permanent lighting, I like my 250 MH except the heat (I have a canopy). For your size tank, I think a t5ho led combo would be really nice too. I've seen some beautifully colorful reefs under t5hos and the LEDS will give your the shimmer and pop that T5s lack.

 

let me know if you decide to go with it the 150wMH t5 fixture for a temporary situation... I'm THINKING of selling mine, and it has a reeflux 12k in it. Mine is technically an Oddysea brand, but the fixture is identical to the ebay one.

 

thanks chy!

 

glad to know the thing will at least work temporarily. id totally pop on your old light if youre in to it. maybe even ill send it back to you once im done with it. call it rent-a-light! :lol: one of these fixtures would probably suffice, i could use my sunpod for the other half of the tank.

 

what im realizing more and more is that the idea of using all three types of lighting over the tank is a real possibility.

 

 

 

 

more progress made! small victories my friends!

 

i finally have pictures of whats been done.

 

DSC04201.jpg

plywood laid, carpet cut, tack strips removed! wooo!

 

DSC04208.jpg

tray framed! its thrilling i know..... :lol:

 

DSC04209.jpg

hole routed! (if thats a word) you can see what it looked like before(lower) and after(upper). sorry i forgot to take a before but you get the gist.

 

in a few days we will be screwing the frame/tray together and im going to get the vinyl sheeting laid. i will also be drilling a hole in the bottom of the rear panel and placing a small lip in the stand so that the water exits my ghetto 'drain' and into the tray. i havnt worked out the volume of the tray yet, but it looks like it would hold a fair amount of water. oh! and i finally got my return pump. yay!

Link to comment
doppelganger
but i totally want to take the lighting thing to the inth degree, and use a combination of fixtures with varying color temps, and varying types of light.

 

If that's the case maybe T5's? Lots of bulb combos you can tinker with ;) unless your really set on going MH. But u'll probably lose lots of the spotlighting effect. You can get some crazy colors tho if u don't like going pure led. I still like ease and spotlighting of the par bulbs tho but that's just my preference.

Link to comment

Or T5 plus Par 30 for shimmer and spotlight... Best of both worlds, colour, heat, spotlighting and intensity. You can overdrive the T5s too if you want

Link to comment
squirrelieygrrrl
Or T5 plus Par 30 for shimmer and spotlight... Best of both worlds, colour, heat, spotlighting and intensity. You can overdrive the T5s too if you want

 

fine. i can see i have to put more deep thought into this one... i need less options...

 

 

Just popping in to subscribe...though I've been following it sense the name was just a string of buzz words :P

 

hey ya pyro.

 

yeah i know. shameless self promoting! changed it cuz ur so right its terribly tacky. :lol:

 

 

Go with aquaillumination LED's x2. Not like you've been really frugal in this build... I say go for it.

 

:blush: i know..... but i sooooo want these lights!

 

 

I love the woofie!

 

thanks clifford!

 

 

If you want to go the somewhat cheap route you can do two sunbright slimline led lights...

 

http://reefbuilders.com/2011/02/14/slimline-led-reef-light/

 

not cheap on the permanent fixtures, just cheap on something temporary while the tank cycles and i can afford something i really want.

 

 

 

 

i just cant seem to let the MH idea go.... so i am pretty sure ill be pulling the trigger on at least one mh light. if it just dosnt work out for what ever reason, i can always use it for the empty 40 cube that i have. id like to turn that into a frag tank eventually.

 

in addition to the MH/AI Sol idea im now considering adding some t5's to the mix, because im insane......:naughtydance:.

 

thanks guys, i blame you all....

 

so there is some moderate deep thought that really got me no where but back to my initial plans. lol..... so much for making any progress there...... or maybe im just stubborn.

 

more schtuffs from TB coming for next week, nothing thrilling though. filters for the ro/di, and coral rx..... really just disaster abatement for the 16.

 

also edited my "soon to come" list

Link to comment
hey ya pyro.

 

yeah i know. shameless self promoting! changed it cuz ur so right its terribly tacky. :lol:

Hey, no problem. Its better to have people watching than talk to yourself like I do in my threads :P

 

Oh and Hi, from one wolf to another.

 

2011-02-12142918.jpg

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...