apex003 Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 What's your take on retro-ing a 250W 20K into the Via Aqua hood? Is it doable? Why did you decide on 150W? Link to comment
Cesar Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Uchiha I have to tell you that's one nice tank. I've seen a couple of nice ones here and yours is right there on top of that list. It's an inspiration to see such a nice tank. It looks killer dude. Nice pic's. Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 17, 2004 Author Share Posted October 17, 2004 thanks cesar, those are very kind words apex003: the 150w retro is VERY doable...or i wouldn't have been able to do it! (i'm not that great of a DIYer, i'm still a noob) on a scale of 1-10 on hardness level, it's about a 7/10. all you're going to need is a lil patience and elbow grease to get the reflector out of the hood and after that it's smooth sailing. drill a couple holes, put everything back, and you're all set. it should only take about 3-4 hours to plan & complete the retrofit. prior to installing the retro, i was planning on a 70w retrofit. after doing a little research, i decided that if i was going to spend money on MH, i might as well get the biggest/most efficient setup that could fit inside the via-aqua hood. i asked around for dimensions of bulb/socket and i figured that since everything seemed like it would work, i should try it. 70w compared to 150w is a rather large diff. more than 2x the wattage, and the size difference between the two were minimal. anyways, i did the retrofit and i couldn't be more pleased. i highly suggest this retro if you have a via aqua, PC's can come NOWHERE NEAR the light output the MH puts out. if i had to change one thing, i would have probably gotten a 14k bulb... but that's it. again, thanks for the compliments Link to comment
xcajx Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 uchiha, first off, wonderful tank. Really impressive and probably how I would have aquascaped it too. I highly respect you work. I apologize if this has been asked previously, but it has been a while... how is the clam? Has it improved or changed at all since going from the 88Watts? I too, have maximas in my 88w nanocube and am going to MH so I am curious if there is a noticable change for them. Thanks again for posting, Chris Link to comment
bladze Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Now you made me to change my mind by selling all my small tanks and getting the tank and 150W retro. Beautiful tank. Link to comment
testrak Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 For the Via Aqua 15G tank, the 250W socket is too wide to fix in the hood. I think the hood is the same dimension as the 18G model except that it is shorter in length. I don't know if the 18G's hood is taller in height. If it is then perhaps the 250W socket will fit. Link to comment
newbiecarlz Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 awesome tank uchiha it looks fantastic! (so did your nanocube btw) i love the gorgonian and tubastrea.. i almost bought a via aqua when i was starting but changed my mind.. now i see the MH possibilities.. hmmm that could be my next tank i think does the tank get hot under MH? Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 17, 2004 Author Share Posted October 17, 2004 xcajx: hey, i read about your clams in ur nano-cube prior to moving to MH, i had my clam (T. Crocea) there too... for a couple weeks i think. to tell you the truth, the coloration of the clam looks the same when it was under the PC lighting as it does now under MH. the clam has MUCH more mantle expansion under the MH, my only guess is because it's happier under the new lighting... bladze: thanks! if u upgrade you won't regret it... hehe testrak: i haven't researched the dimensions for the 250w's. i was hesitant to do the 150w retro so for me the 250w was out of the question. if it does fit though, i'm sure the 250w retro would put out a considerable amount of heat as compared to the 150w. the 150w fits w/o a problem, and it's VERY doable... if you can't fit the 150's in the 15g tank, try a 70w retro... MH is worth the effort and EVERY PENNY. newbiecarlz: thanks! i was going to get the via aqua before the nano-cube, but i got the nano-cube first. i don't regret that b/c i learned everything i needed to learn from my nano-cube... and now that i have slightly more experience i spent time & money to do things right the 2nd time around heat is an issue w/my setup, so i run a fan on my light fixture whenever it's on. without the fan the heat would be uncontrollable. my water in the tank stays around 78-80 degrees with a heater, and my lighting has no effect on temperature (b/c of the fan). anyways, thanks for the compliments... this thread was pretty much dead except for me posting for the first 2-3 pages, but now it's getting a lil more publicity i'm glad u guys like the tank... makes me feel a lil better since i've spent so much time & $$$ on this hobby Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 17, 2004 Author Share Posted October 17, 2004 only thing left to add to my tank is: couple frags of some crazy blastomussa wellsi ... and perhaps some sort of BTA, so my clownfish won't keep getting stung by the hammer Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 If you can pull off a BTA successfully (i.e. w/o it moving around and stinging all your corals), please tell me how cuz I've been debating that idea over and over for awhile now. haha. Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 18, 2004 Author Share Posted October 18, 2004 i'll let you know how it goes, right now i'm battling some major algal growth and baby flatworms... it's pissing me off and i need to find some RowaPhos (phosphate remover) fast! once i get rid of that damned algae i will try a GBTA or a RBTA depending on availability Link to comment
kappa Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 I got a small maxima in my nano cube of 88 watts as well. The clam is going to move in a week to a 15g with 150watt 10k hqi MH. I still have a RBTA in my nano since the begining when I had my nano cube on week two. I found out that my rose likes to eat thawed out Formula one, and not thawed krill. My Rbta lives in the cave at night, and stretches out of the cave when the lights are on. My Rbta stoped mving after I started to feed it every 4-5 days. Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 18, 2004 Author Share Posted October 18, 2004 here's my "cool crazy clam collection!!" (nice alliteration for you) hehe, obviously i'm not going to keep em all... but they're so damn nice i couldn't resist taking a pic! Link to comment
appleajax Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 very nice tank:) do you have anything between the light and the tank to keep fish from jumping or is it just bare? Link to comment
kappa Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 One of the repeated warnings that I saw in my Spacelight mini 150w MH Manual is: Warning the light must be atleast 30cm away from the water surface." That's all it says, maybe it is the danger of heat? The bulb that came with the MH fixture is an aqualine 10000 which is actually a 13000k bulb, good for me, yay. I don't think I will need a fan for my setup, but I will add a 5.5 gallon sump to my 15g. Good job with your tank uchiha, it's great! btw, how much were the clams? Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 21, 2004 Author Share Posted October 21, 2004 thanks for the compliments appleajax... the tank is open top, there is no canopy to prevent fish from jumping. i currently have 2 true perculas in the tank and i highly doubt they will ever try and jump. kappa, i've always wanted to try the 13k or 14k bulbs out... because i think the 20k's are slightly dimmer than 10k's that i've seen on the 150w. as for the clams, they're $40... they've all been spoken for except the one on the left... and i'm only doing local pick up Link to comment
Weap0n_x Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Nice clams! Can we see a full tank shot? Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 25, 2004 Author Share Posted October 25, 2004 full-tank shot is on page 5 i think... i haven't added anything until then except for the clams and 1 more crazy coral... recently i bought my first acropora colony, and this is a beauty! i don't think i've ever seen colors like this before so it's my new "officially" favorite coral! hopefully it'll do well in my tank... i will update with a full-tank shot once i finish battling some algae problems X) but for now, enjoy this pic of my white w/baby-blue tip acro! Link to comment
DarkXerox Posted October 26, 2004 Share Posted October 26, 2004 Wow! thats an awesome looking acro there. I am seriously debating if I am going to go this route or not or just try the new nanocube. My dad has a 2x250W 14k w/ 2x96PC Hamilton system that he just upgraded to and it is doing really well too, so I really want to take the MH route now. However this will be in my dorm so I am not sure at the moment. About how much was the retrofit kit you got and where did you get the replacement glass? Thanks and your tank looks awesome! Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 26, 2004 Author Share Posted October 26, 2004 hey darkxerox, skim thru the previous pages to see the retrofit... i paid $200 for it including shipping + bulb from LampDr. the UV protectant glass i bought from michael's (arts & crafts)...they have a framing center that can cut glass to order. it's not tempered so it will crack under heat, you must have a fan blowing over the fixture to cool it. if you're getting a nano-reef for your dorm room, i suggest something smaller than 10g, b/c anything larger will be a pain in the butt to move... as for the acro, thanks! it's gotta be one of the coolest i've ever seen, i just had to grab it while i had the chance Link to comment
Friskaburger Posted October 26, 2004 Share Posted October 26, 2004 Hey Uchiha, i've been admiring your via aqua for awhile. UCSD huh? What year, I've got a ton of friends there. All asian and all from Arcadia High hahahaha. Anyways, I wanted to know if the MH affects the ambient temperature in your room? I'm guessing you have it in ur apartment? Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 26, 2004 Author Share Posted October 26, 2004 temp from MH does not affect the temperature in my room, well, i can't feel any effects anyways. i know just 1 person from arcadia (3rd year @ UCSD)... anyways, that's for PM not open discussion on the thread thanks for the compliments. Link to comment
Sushi Posted October 26, 2004 Author Share Posted October 26, 2004 here's another pic of the white + baby blue tipped acro, like i said, i can't resist showing this thing off, it's crazy! look at all the pretty colors! muhaha : also in the pic are: small frag of eagle eye zoanthids, red monti cap, brown (used to be purple) digitata, and green with greyish white tip frogspawn! (i'm gona move the frogspawn soon since it looks like it's annoying my eagle eyes... it was in a nice place but it would probably be best if i move it) Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted October 26, 2004 Share Posted October 26, 2004 That acro is just amazing. nuf said. Link to comment
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