Aflac's 240 gallon buil

[Aflac01]

and yes i know the light is askew, ive ordered some magnets that im going to glue to the heatsink and use that to attach to the frame of my stand...that should even it out nicely.

 

[Mitch5]

nice tank so far

 

[Patrick F]

Hey Aflac,

I'm really glad things are coming along well for you....just a quick question about the leds do you visually see a big difference with and without the optics on? My led experience is somewhat limited but all the setups that I have personally seen were without.

Everything looks like it is coming along nicely though :thumbsup:

Patrick

 

[Aflac01]

Patrick...yes i can see a difference with the optics....though i never tried it on the tank without the optics, but during the set up when i first turned it on the whole room turned blue, but when i put the optics on the roof (since i had it on the table upside down) turned really really blue, it was very impressive, and from the reading ive done the optics really up your PAR numbers.

 

[Aflac01]

Well i put in an order for some more LEDs and parts....going to start work on replacing my MHs, going to just add 36 LEDs to start and take down one of my MHs and see how that goes. I am building it very modular so adding more over time will be very easy, and when i get to where i think i need to be if its not enough....i can just add more sections. and i know we were talking about if this will save money....and ive been doing a lot of research and math and it looks like it deffinatly saves money in the long term. these LED's should last about 11 years before you start thinking about needing to replace them.....and just looking at the cost of MH bulbs in that same time period it would pay for the whole led fixture about 3 times.....and that dosnt even bring into account the savings in electricity, power consumption for lighting will probably be cut in half.....and that adds up to significant savings as well. ill post pictures when my parts show up and i start the build....it should be good times.

also patrick....i forgot to mention in the last post that my tank is 30 inches deep....with a tank that deep you need the optics to get the light down that far....most people using no optics are using it on shallower tanks where you do not need the penetrating power....

 

[dossfj]

I love the unusual black on black look. Not for everyone but really makes a startling difference to see a tank like that every once in a while.

Question-how do you like your skimmer so far? I've been looking at the SSS6000, and before I dump that kind of money I would love to hear some real feedback.

 

[Aflac01]

Well got my next set of LEDs in, started building last night....probably wont finish after work tonight, but hopefully tommorow. as for my skimmer its been working great, real easy to adjust....and its huge....and awesome....ha.

 

[dossfj]

Thanks alot foor the info, good luck!

 

[Aflac01]

ok, well its been a while since i posted and there has been a lot of progress. have my quarantine tank all set up and put the first batch of fish from the qt into the tank on Halloween, its good to have fish in the tank finally, but the corals and inverts have been doing amazing, left side of the tank is all led lighting, right side is metal halides....still havnt switched over yet. Also set up a frag tank so i can quarantine corals as well....i have not finished the light for that yet but the guy living in it for now dosnt need light. I have discovered the joys of the stomatopod and am setting up a tank for one....the tank hasnt arrived yet, it will go to the right of the couch you see in front of the frag tank and will be plumpbed into the main system so he will have good water quality....but for now he is living in the frag tank....and is incredibly cool. the last one is a video of me feeding my mantis earlier today....i especially like how he cuts the krill clean in half.

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[Aflac01]

ok, well its been a while since i posted and there has been a lot of progress. have my quarantine tank all set up and put the first batch of fish from the qt into the tank on Halloween, its good to have fish in the tank finally, but the corals and inverts have been doing amazing, left side of the tank is all led lighting, right side is metal halides....still havnt switched over yet. Also set up a frag tank so i can quarantine corals as well....i have not finished the light for that yet but the guy living in it for now dosnt need light. I have discovered the joys of the stomatopod and am setting up a tank for one....the tank hasnt arrived yet, it will go to the right of the couch you see in front of the frag tank and will be plumpbed into the main system so he will have good water quality....but for now he is living in the frag tank....and is incredibly cool. the last one is a video of me feeding my mantis earlier today....i especially like how he cuts the krill clean in half.

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[ROCKMAN_1]

Great build. I like the video of the mantis.