a miracle delivery... need advice

[solRNY]

We ever gonna see an updated picture of the actual tank???

hehhehe, its funny that you asked becuase i am actually waiting for a tank exchange @ 6:00, as the current one has a some silicon bubble issues not to my liking and i am extremely picky,

derek thought that it was best that they start from scratch and build me another, of which i thought was incredibly awesome, i was told that they probably did not make any money selling me a tank

in my eyes, Miracles Aquariums is by far second to none in customer service, they go out there way to make you happy, hell, they definitely traveled quite a ways as well

i will snap some pictures... sounds like this build is going in circles!

man, i sure hope my choice of lighting can grow some monster sps like yours Mark! heck, will probably end up using SE halide in the end, before that i will give T5s a try

 

[Haffs09]

Your light looks exciting, Lang!

What kind of bubble issues do you have? Do you have any pics?

 

[solRNY]

Your light looks exciting, Lang!

What kind of bubble issues do you have? Do you have any pics?

there was a few spots with tiny bubbles grouping, like speckles, heck i should have kept the current tank but he offered a rebuild, could resist

i mistaken the spacer used between the edges of the glass as a large bubble, learned that they use two types of spacers, a round one and one that looks like 'I", pictures were all blurry, very hard to take, sorry,

as for the lights, it was fun turning the dimmer back and forth, just wish they had a more powerfull model

 

[Capt_Cully]

Once they settle in, I'm sure you'll have no problem growing big ole colorful stony colonies Lang!

 

[superkat]

wait, wait.....THEY ARE BUILDING YOU ANOTHER ONE????? Wow. That speaks VOLUMES to customer service. Excellent. I wouldn't have passed up that offer either!!!!

 

[solRNY]

Once they settle in, I'm sure you'll have no problem growing big ole colorful stony colonies Lang!

i sure hope so

wait, wait.....THEY ARE BUILDING YOU ANOTHER ONE????? Wow. That speaks VOLUMES to customer service. Excellent. I wouldn't have passed up that offer either!!!!

like minds think alike

the rebuilt tank is awesome! almost idea in that it now has a bottom trim which does not fit into my stand top which is recessed, so i had to route 1/8" from all sides... and finally the tank is in its home

i didnt have a plan to hang the plasma unit so i laid it across the top of the tank and took some pictures last night, the bottom being white sort of simulates "whitish" sand, i am going to take some pictures with the black arcylic on the bottom to simulate "blackish" sand which is the look i am going for,

let me know what you guys/gals think, here is the plasma at 148W power, lowest setting:

 

[solRNY]

the plasma set to 148W power, lowest setting, too bad it wasnt more bluish, probably will have to suppliment with blue leds

side view, i think the spread is too wide at this distance above the tank, as i would like to hang it as high as possible with this 60x60 reflector it will put light outside the tank, probably will have to get a different deeper reflector maybe a 30x30,
the camera change ISO settings as i got closer to the light source thus making the surrounding darker, but it gives an idea of the light spread,

corner view,

 

[dreaminmel]

That's going to look sooo nice with black sand. Congrats on getting this far along! Got RO water collecting yet?

 

[solRNY]

the plasma set to 284W power, with dimmer knob cranked to max, to bad it wasnt more bluish, led suppliment required!

side view,

corner view,

 

[solRNY]

That's going to look sooo nice with black sand. Congrats on getting this far along! Got RO water collecting yet?

thanks mel! i am hoping the black acrylic will be a good black sand simulation
we have not made any RO water for this tank yet, i am going to get my lazy self into the basement tomorrow and start the framing

 

[oneradtek202]

im about ready to get over there myself and just do it for ya, get that darn thing going Lang! lol

 

[solRNY]

im about ready to get over there myself and just do it for ya, get that darn thing going Lang! lol

hhehehehe, rofl!! at least in your hands i know this setup can be beautiful! aren't u busy too with your new rimless!!

 

[solRNY]

a few more images of the plasma dimming from lowest to highest:

148W,148W,155W,
165W,174W,185W,
196W,206W,215W,
225W,235W,244W,
254W,265W,275W,
284W

 

[solRNY]

 

[pascal32]

The adjustability is very nice! can you control the intensity via a controller? i.e. ramp up and down from say and RKE or a Neptune?

 

[solRNY]

The adjustability is very nice! can you control the intensity via a controller? i.e. ramp up and down from say and RKE or a Neptune?

yup the terminal option allows for connecting a controller, i am thinking ramping it up to max white light while i am not home and then dimming down to the more blueish towards the end of the day, all with bluish led suppliment.

be interesting to see how the coral respond subjecting it to differnt colors lights thru out the day... sounds like it will grow more algea then corals

 

[alphaferret]

still looking sweet-your like papa john-better ingredients better TANK!

Alpha

 

[Vadimshevchuk]

Beautiful tank build and journal. I must say that miracles has some really nice customer service!

BTW we have the same ceiling light in our living room!

 

[solRNY]

still looking sweet-your like papa john-better ingredients better TANK!

Alpha

lol! thanks dean! your very kind
i think the more important ingredient is the chef... forever learning

Beautiful tank build and journal. I must say that miracles has some really nice customer service!
BTW we have the same ceiling light in our living room!

nice lights you have too i plan on relocated these lights to the adjacent room as it is hanging a horrid fixture at the moment.

 

[solRNY]

sorry for the very slow progress on the build, its so hard to get motivated as i second guess every move i make... but i do have a tiny update

we finally insulated the HRV external ducts, i did not used those insulation as advised earlier, it was just too difficult to get it, so we wrapped it with normal house insulation, hopes it will hold up, it sure is not pretty!

just for an experiement i set it to 15min/hr cycle for a week, and the house humidity got as low as 39% for serveral days! on the one day it was 30degrees in the morning i did not notice any water on the windows, it was soo dry my skin started to flake and itch, started to get static shock from my favorite blanket, and becuase my wife is sick she complained that is dryness is making her feel worst, so she turned the 15min/hour cycle off... resumed the normal turn it on when we need too. all this dryness is probably and mostly due to having the heater on, i am still not sold on the HRV yet...

talked to Robert over at Stray Light Optical, very pleasent guy to deal with, about exchanging the plasma unit 60x60 reflector for a more focused 30x30 reflector, this is a pic of that reflector which is slightly different,

this is of the 30x30 reflector light output,

this is of the 60x60 reflector light output,

even though the two is not a 100% indentical test, i can not tell the difference. Robert mentioned i would need a light meter to measure the difference. for me i would like to create, say like a torch flash light type beam that only illuminates the inside of the tank, much work left

Robert also mention that there will be a more powerful plasma unit out soon, dont know the details or specs yet, very excited