4' X 4' tank

My LumenMax reflector from sunlight supply arrived today and I hung it above the tank. The ballast and bulb are rescheduled to arrive Tuesday. I need to take some time and get my sump finished.

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Are you going to use a par meter to check the lighting output? I skimmed by some of the pages but no one really gave a precise statement in regards to the singel halide? Unless, I missed it?
 
ill have to swing by some time with a lux meter
but. im a lil concerned about your choice of lighting
at 400 watts with a 12k im not sure if your corals will grow as fast as you like

you have about 25 watts per sq ft
i have 43 and still think it isnt enough. im only getting 8k lux at 6 inch depth using a 65kk bulb
 
also the sides of the coral will be heavily shaded except for right under it.
you will also probobly want to lower the light a lil till the light just baraly "spills" over the sides of the tank

the most sucsessfull frag tank i have seen had lux readings using a 12kk bulb of 20k at the bottom of the tank ( 250 watter on a small tank)
 
I have the lights running and the 12k Reeflux on the 400 watt Icecap looks AWESOME! I couldn't be happier. The light spread looks very good also. I will have to borrow a lux meter to know for sure. The Killawatt meter reads 3.66 amps.
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Don't pay attention to the junk on the bottom of the tank. It is all ready cleaned up.
 
I just finished insulating the bottom of the tank. I used R-13 Fiber Glass between the 2X4s and used a vapor barrier over it. It was a pain because I had to move one column of cinder blocks at a time.
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I need to build the baffles for the sump tomorrow. I can then fill it with sand and salt water.
 
lol some how i eneded up with silica sand being added to my system...
that stuff settles on corals so badly and gets kicked up so easily.. i hate it lol.


sorry stupid rant lol


why did you insulate?

arnt you going to ac the room?
your going to want that tank to shed as much heat as possiable.
even with AC i get temps that tip the 90s in the tank on occasion
 
The tank is going to run two stage cooling. The first stage is 4 120mm fans over the sump for evaporation cooling. Those will run off my Ranco and kick on around 79 degrees. The second stage is my 1/2 HP Chiller which will kick on at 81 degrees. I am not going to AC the garage but I am going to run a large blower in the attic that will suck all the air out of the garage when the temp or humidity get too high. I want the system to be as temp stable as possible which is why I insulated the bottom (which is only 3/4 plywood and epoxy).
There is also going to be water vapor coming off the sump and I don't want it to condense on the wood. The vapor barrier and a fan will take care of that potential problem.

Silica sand sucks. Its great for diatoms though. I need to pick up around 100 pounds of Aragonite sand. I think I'm going to go down to Aquatic Ecosystems to buy some.
 
I coated the PVC rack in epoxy because I was not positive how the spray paint would hold up long term and I don't want anything to leach into the water. I spread some frag disks from the middle to the outside so that you can see the light spread and intensity.
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I just need to build the baffles for my sump out of acrylic and I will be done. The only problem is I dont have any of the tools to work acrylic. If anyone local wants to help out I will appreciate it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13476788#post13476788 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SoFloReefer
I coated the PVC rack in epoxy because I was not positive how the spray paint would hold up long term and I don't want anything to leach into the water.
Click to expand...

Is that the same stuff you used on the tank..??
 
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His wooden tanks look very similar in design to mine, but I like my design better :). That is a big facility though. One day I hope I can operate a facility that nice.
 
I just ordered an exhaust fan for the garage- a Nutone QT200. It moves 200 CFM so will exhaust the entire garage in 20-30 minutes. It pulls 1 amp and the sound level is 2 sones. Once it is installed I will be able to fill the tank with SW and coral. It should be less than a week.
 
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