Chyendra Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 I took the metal caseing out because it was too big, and too heavy. I just didn't like it's bulkyness. It also enabled me to place the bulb further from the water. The ceramic endcaps are screw to the top of the hood and the refletor connects to it. You'll see how when you take apart a worklight. The fixture was a "Commercial Electric" brand 500w halogen worklight. I got it at Home Depot for about $8 I wouldn't recomend It however. I got it to work for me, but the bulb did not fit well into the sockets and I ended up chipping some ceramic of the end of the bulb. It still works thank goodness. What you need to do is find a fixture and just start takeing it apart and get creative! Make sure your bulb fits the sockets however, before cuting anywires, and makeing it unreturnable. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Un returnalbe, home depot will tanke anything back, i mean anything. Thanks for the photos, it is much more clear to me now. I cant wait to get my upgrade under way Jerome Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 well... alright! I finally found some extra cash and the time to go to my saltwater LFS (which happens to be a guys basement). and get a few more things for my nano! He didn't have a lot in stock, Well at least not anythign nano size He has this amazeing neon orange plate coral I've been eyeing for the last few visits (Not quite as awesome as Acoustic's but still nice) But the price makes me squemish.... I ended up buying a cute little candy cane frag for $10 and a skunk cleaner shrimp for $21. I pointed out a small frag of GSP that was in the sand and he said it was a piece that had broken off, and gave it to me for free! It's tiny, and unattached, but knowing what I've heard about GSP, It'll probably bounce right back. Here's a pic of my candy cane. It hasn't fully opened up yet. I have a towel over my tank blocking out some of the MH but my pics still look pretty bright. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 Here's the GPS.... It was open before he bagged it up for me, but has only opened slightly since being in my tank. I rubber banded it to a small piece of LR. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 Here's a cute picture of My Shrimp, The candycane, and some rockwork. My shrimp still needs a name. He is doing fantastic, moveing all around my rockwork, and especially likes my cheato in the corner of the tank. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 And finally, an updated full tank pic. I'm still not happy with the aquascapeing.... but I's working for the time being. Don't worry, those bridges are very stable Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Amazing. The MH really looks awsome. I'm hoping now that I've got a phosphate remover in my tank... It'll be -worth- a Metal Halide. lol. Link to comment
szesteve Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Hey Chyendra, Excellent work you've done. I really admire your grit... I wish i had more tools to do DIY stuff myself... Anyway, how did u do the top-up device??? Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 The top-off is really really simple, I works great and I can use it for doseing when I need to. It's just a 1gal jug, that sits just slightly above my tank. I have some IV (hospital style, I work at an animal hospital) tubeing, and a little roller that comes with the tubeing that controls the drip rate. I have it dripping from the jug into my hob. It's soooo simple. I have to adjust the drip rate every so often, but it's easy and I don't have to worry about a floatswitch or anything. Link to comment
alexmsw Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Really nice looking tank, great job! As for the shrimp name watch the movie "The Professional" and call him Leon. Link to comment
DitchPlains Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Awesome tank...but again...whats with repost the same old pics...you had this thread going awhile ago. Took you this long to add rock? Oi vey...talk about patience...lol Good lux Link to comment
DitchPlains Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 DOh, sorry Chyendra my bad, didn't see the other attahced thread....excuse me.....runs a n hides....EEEGADS... Nice pics, and tank.....awesome DIY Link to comment
CjBurden Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Very cool tank setup chyendra. Have to admire your ability to take it slow, I often have a hard time doing that (especially with reef tanks!). I saw this as you posted a link to it from my post about my minibow-5. I have been thinking about going with a 70watt halide, but I will absolutely end up going sps if I do that, and I'm not sure I want to go SPS at this point. I absolutely love sps tanks, but they are a little bit more work than I would like to do. I don't want to have to worry about a nutrient buildup as much, and I don't want to deal with kalk dosing for now. I guess we shall see though, I'm still trying to decide and since this tank is already up and running with softies (29 watts of light over it right now which is fine) and a working fuge, I'm not in TOO much of a rush. Was wondering how much you payed for your ballast, If it was a private deal with you and krakerG you'd rather not disclose thats fine. Was just trying to estimate a ball park figure for what I want to spend in lighting this tank. I also have a 90 Gallon tank that I'm setting up, and I'm likely going to either go MH in this one or that. Anyways I'm rambling, but I love your setup, it is quite nice. I look forward to seeing it fully stocked! One little tip for you that hopefully isn't coming too late. Acrylic is SOOO easy to scratch. I have literally scratched mine by rubbing a piece of dry lint free paper on it. I know everyone knows acrylic scratches easy, but I wish someone had warned me just HOW easy before I had to find out the hard way. Link to comment
chieferich Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 may a suggest something? if you are not familiar with pc case modding, people cut a blowhole in the top of their computer case, install a fan guard, and mount a fan to pull air out of the top. the first thing i thought was blowhole after seeing the pics. could work well for you and look cool if u have any heat issues.... great posting and good job. Link to comment
milhouse74 Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 So you used the Commercial Electric brand 500w halogen worklight, but what ballast and other parts did you use? Any pics of how you wired it? Thanks, Milhouse Link to comment
mcarland Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 Great looking tank! I read through this whole thread and didn't see my question answered, so if I missed the explanation, sorry... How did you fade the blue and black when you painted the back? I assume you used more than one coat of paint. Did you do blue, black, blue, black, or did you do blue, blue blue, black, black, black? Or fade the blue, and then cover the whole back with black? You used spray paint, correct? Unfortunately I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so if I'm going to do this right, I need all the details. Thanks! -Michael Link to comment
Chyendra Posted July 12, 2004 Author Share Posted July 12, 2004 I didn't want alot of blue, mostly black.. so i started with the blue and painted it thick at the top, and lighter as i went down, so by the time i reached the middle of the tank, I only dusted the blue paint on..... I then used the black paint over the whole thing.. so it looks like a black background from the back, but the blue still shows up really well. You really want to proportion is out so that you have about 1/3 blue to 2/3 black, because once you get the rock in there, it covers up alot of the black. Link to comment
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