Mojado's 40-Breeder build - now w/FTS

[Mojado]

I know I want flush mounted doors. I also really, really want raised panel doors, but router bits sets are $120, at least. . .which is pretty steep considering I'm just going to make two doors and probably never use the bits again. I search the internet and find a set for $35! I take a chance on them. I play around with them, adjust a few of the bits a little bit and I'm good to go. I've never used bits like this, nor made doors, so the playing around helps me familiarize myself with the router bits.

Ernie Hudson, in Ghostbusters, says, "WE GOT THE TOOLS, WE GOT THE TALENT!" Turns out, if you have the right tools, you need very little talent. I mock the doors up, they look good, so I glue them and clamp them down to dry. I shoot the door with tacking brads in a few places to make sure they hold.

 

I fit check the doors with the cabinet and it is looking good! This is my second wood-working project and it is coming out really nice, I think.

I go a little cheesy and order seahorse handles for my doors.

[Mojado]

Sand with 120 grit, wipe dust off with tacky cheese cloth, sand with 220 grit, wipe off with tacky cheese cloth, apply MinWax wood conditioner. I then apply stain, wait 5 minutes, wipe off excess, let it dry. Sand with 220 grit, wipe with tacky cheese cloth, stain again, wait 5 minutes, wipe off excess, let it dry. Lightly, lightly sand with 220 grit, wipe with tacky cheese cloth, then brush on clear satin polyurethane coat. Let that dry, then apply hardware (hinges, door handles, latches).

[frags]

Nice very Nice

[Mojado]

Not sure if it was even worth putting pictures up of this, but here they are. I washed some Argonite and FINALLY put got some saltwater flowing thru this tank! I was probably too anal about washing the sand, but I rinsed it out a fist full at a time.

[Graver]

sharp stand build! Impressive

[Mojado]

sharp stand build! Impressive

Thanks, man!

[MGDMIRAGE]

Beautiful stand!

[Mojado]

Now for the light. I put A LOT of thought into the light. I found that metal halide grew things really nicely and gave nice shimmer, but they put out a lot of waste heat. LEDs, on paper, seemed like the way to go. They gave out the nice shimmer and had a long life as compared to metal halide and T5 lights. However, when I went down to my LFS, he always steered me away from LED. So I was all set to buy a 6 bulb T5 light fixture, not looking forward to the periodic bulb replacement$ nor the secondary LED moon light kit I was going to have to rig up, nor the timers that I'd have to coordinate.

 

This all happened back before I started making my stand, btw. . .in the planning stages. I knew I'd have to consider the lighting rig and how I was going to mount it when planning my stand. In any event, in one of my visits, I saw that my LFS had replaced one of its metal halide lamps with an LED fixture. I asked, "What gives? You told me to stay away from LEDs!?!" He then showed me the GHL Mitras LX. It grew stuff like metal halide, gave shimmer, no need for moon light LEDs, longevity that LED brings, built in controller (precluding the need for timers) . . .I was in love! The only thing that I had to do, was grease the skids with the wife. . .as it was NOT cheap. I spent the next several months slowly working it in and making the case for the "nice light". When I finally told her the price, I justified it by saying that the cost was covered by the fact that I had recently fixed the refrigerator and stopped us from dropping some serious cash on a new one. . .it was a wash! She said OK! So I buy the Mitras LX and mount it with the help of a plumb bob.

 

Since the tank has saltwater flowing through it, I really don't want to empty it out, so I fit a piece of plywood into the recess of the top black aquarium plastic brace (I definitely don't want to dunk my new light). On the plywood, I mark where the light's suspension wire attachments would need to be for the light to fit directly over the tank. I use a plumb bob to mark the ceiling and attach the hardware there. I then install the light. Looks really nice!

 

Oh, on the last pic, over on the left, is my first ever wood working project I did back in 2006.

[Mojado]

I moved the return into the sump towards the front so that my skimmer can be in the back. This will allow me access to the skimmer cup for cleaning and allow me to change out socks quite easily. I also have a heater in the skimmer section. I have nothing in the refugium section. I run carbon, purigen, and phosguard in media bags inbetween the two sponges right before the pump section. I also put a silencer thing I rigged up (modification of a design I saw online) going into the sock. Everything is super silent. The return pump is a Sicce 3.0. I have a digital thermometer in that section as well that I used to set the heater in the skimmer section.

 

Thoughts, comments, concerns?

[notwithit]

Great build. What made you choose mithras over something like a razor? They both seem very very good.

[Mojado]

Great build. What made you choose mithras over something like a razor? They both seem very very good.

Thanks!!!

 

With the Razor, you had to commit to a light kelvin rating. With the mitras, you can dial in ANY temperature light.

 

Also, with the razor, I noticed there were fans on the bottom of the light. I couldn't tell if the light was sucking air from the bottom up into the light for active cooling or if that was the air exit. I didn't want to take a chance and have that be an air intake, since it provides an entry point for water splashes to enter into the light. I can see them using the fact that hot air rises to supplement the fans . . .which means the razor would be sucking up air from its bottom. The mitras takes in air through the top and shoots it out the sides. . . the bottom is completely sealed, so I liked that solution better from a light-reliabilty stand point.

 

The mitras also had double the LED clusters as the razor, so that should provide a more uniform light across the tank.

 

Then the controller on the mitras is INSANE! I can add as many programming points throughout the day as I need and dial light from 6k (iirc) to 20k. The controller then interpolates what the LEDs will be doing inbetween those points using a crazy number of LED brightness transition settings so that the steps through the profile are super smooth. Add in random cloud patterns (which look super cool and natural) and you have a light that really is amazing. The thing also matches the moon phases of your location. It is INSANE! It is pricey, but if you can justify it to your SO, I'd highly recommend it.

 

So, I think the razor costs $450, but you have to commit to a light temperature. The mitras does it all. Double up on the razor to get the capabiliy of the mitras and you're at $900. Factor in double the LED clusters and awesome controller and they are nearly equal, I think.

[notwithit]

Thanks!!!

 

With the Razor, you had to commit to a light kelvin rating. With the mitras, you can dial in ANY temperature light.

 

Also, with the razor, I noticed there were fans on the bottom of the light. I couldn't tell if the light was sucking air from the bottom up into the light for active cooling or if that was the air exit. I didn't want to take a chance and have that be an air intake, since it provides an entry point for water splashes to enter into the light. I can see them using the fact that hot air rises to supplement the fans . . .which means the razor would be sucking up air from its bottom. The mitras takes in air through the top and shoots it out the sides. . . the bottom is completely sealed, so I liked that solution better from a light-reliabilty stand point.

 

The mitras also had double the LED clusters as the razor, so that should provide a more uniform light across the tank.

 

Then the controller on the mitras is INSANE! I can add as many programming points throughout the day as I need and dial light from 6k (iirc) to 20k. The controller then interpolates what the LEDs will be doing inbetween those points using a crazy number of LED brightness transition settings so that the steps through the profile are super smooth. Add in random cloud patterns (which look super cool and natural) and you have a light that really is amazing. The thing also matches the moon phases of your location. It is INSANE! It is pricey, but if you can justify it to your SO, I'd highly recommend it.

 

So, I think the razor costs $450, but you have to commit to a light temperature. The mitras does it all. Double up on the razor to get the capabiliy of the mitras and you're at $900. Factor in double the LED clusters and awesome controller and they are nearly equal, I think.

Thanks for explaining. I was thinking of pulling the code out of the razor and seeing if I could get my dev friend to spice it up and make it have more points for light intensities. You are right about the 16k only thing... Tis interesting. I've heard its one of the best lights so far though.

[Mojado]

Thanks for explaining. I was thinking of pulling the code out of the razor and seeing if I could get my dev friend to spice it up and make it have more points for light intensities. You are right about the 16k only thing... Tis interesting. I've heard its one of the best lights so far though.

Yeah, I think the razors come in two flavors, 10k and 16k. The default mitras profile has low level 4k light at sunrise and sunset; medium level light at 6k mid morning, mid evening; bright 12k light during mid day . . .with crazy smooth transitions. It then goes to 17k moon light.

 

I created a profile using its computer software. My new profile does bright 14k for 10 hours, then goes to 18k at 25% intensity for a few hours at night for haunted house effect, then 17k moonlight. I tried 16k, 18k and 20k during the day, but that was too blue or too purple. I played around and settled on the 14k. . .nice mix of white and blue. The light allowed me to play around with light temperatures to get the tank to look EXACTLY to my liking.

 

A little more for the mitras and you can have your tank look just like you want it, since lighting makes all the difference with how the coral look . . .and since it is a matter of preference, you can dial the light to YOUR liking. With all the $$$ that goes into the hobby, having a light you can dial to your liking makes a world of difference.

[notwithit]

Yeah, I think the razors come in two flavors, 10k and 16k. The default mitras profile has low level 4k light at sunrise and sunset; medium level light at 6k mid morning, mid evening; bright 12k light during mid day . . .with crazy smooth transitions. It then goes to 17k moon light.

 

I created a profile using its computer software. My new profile does 14k for 10 hours, then goes to 18k for a few hours at night for haunted house effect, then 17k moonlight. I tried 18k, but that was too purple. The light allowed me to play around with light temperatures to get the tank to look EXACTLY to my liking.

 

A little more for the mitras and you can have your tank look just like you want it, since lighting makes all the difference with how the coral look . . .and since it is a matter of preference, you can dial the light to YOUR liking. With all the $$$ that goes into the hobby, having a light you can dial to your liking makes a world of difference.

 

 

Interesting. I'd be curious to see how that effects the actual coral needs. I know that the LED's can "trick" our eyes into making it look nice while not actually being beneficial.

[Mojado]

Interesting. I'd be curious to see how that effects the actual coral needs. I know that the LED's can "trick" our eyes into making it look nice while not actually being beneficial.

Yeah, the software allows you to control the intensity of the 6 or 7 different LEDs independantly, then tells you the equivalent light temperature from the amalgam of LED brightness. So, I'm setting it based on what the software says is the equivalent light, not based on eyeballing it. This is another plus for the mitras, the software support.

[rb1685]

Great looking build! I haven't talked to Maddevil in a while. How's he doing? He gave me my very first coral over two years ago!

[Mojado]

Great looking build! I haven't talked to Maddevil in a while. How's he doing? He gave me my very first coral over two years ago!

He's doing great. He's out of the hobby for a bit, though.

[rb1685]

I'm planning a 40B build. Which return pump are you using?

[Mojado]

I'm planning a 40B build. Which return pump are you using?

I'm using a Sicce 3.0. Works great. I got it turned all the way up. With headloss, it's probably pushing 460 to 470 gph.

[rb1685]

Awesome. That's the one I was looking to use.

[Mojado]

Awesome. That's the one I was looking to use.

Mine hummed a bit when I first started using, more than I would have liked or expected based on their "silent" claim. It has since quieted down A LOT in the couple of months that my tank has been up and running! I'm happy with it.

[Steensj2004]

Shoulda gone with a Radion! Lol , nice build. Any FTS? Love the stand,especially the color!

[d'Espresso]

sweet build and great build on the stand!

[BattleAthletics]

Awesome build, way to rep h-town.

[Mojado]

Shoulda gone with a Radion! Lol , nice build. Any FTS? Love the stand,especially the color!

Everyone has their favorite light. Haha. : ) FTSs coming. I like that color a lot. Minwax's Red Mahogany 225

 

sweet build and great build on the stand!

 

Thanks!

Awesome build, way to rep h-town.

Thanks! The Rockets and Texans are looking to be great this year!