An unforseen fork in the road

Very nice Bret!! When you fire up the lighting I would like to come over and see it. I think it's going to be brighter than you think.

Nice to hear that all the planning on your stand worked the way you wanted it to, even if it was sooner than you planned.
 
Mucho gras everyone!

Actually I took a quick road trip to Reef Geek yesterday and picked up a case of bulbs, another couple Vortec's and a couple, three bags of sand that he had marked for clearance. Greg cut me a great deal and gave me a group buy price on the bulbs since I bout 25 of them. That helped considerably to offset the sales tax.

Right now I'm running:

4x ATI Blue plus
4x ATI Blue Special
4x ATI Pro Color

But I also picked up some actinics and GE daylights just in case.

However, as of about 45 minutes ago 2 bulbs just went out on me. I'm not sure if I lost a bulb or a ballast. I'm assuming one ballast for each power cord, but maybe there's 2 ballasts per cord, in which case losing a bulb would take out it's partner no?

I can tell that at least one of the bulbs is trying to light by looking at the tank but I can't plug them in and visualize the bulbs until my other half gets home to give me a hand.

Ken, if I get the lighting sorted out I'm home all weekend. Feel free to drop in. Otherwise, my next weekend off is after New Years.

Brett
 
Brett, I don't know what ballasts are used in your fixture, but usually it's two bulbs per ballast. Have you checked the igniter? I think that's what it's called. It's the little can thing that makes the funny sound when the bulbs are trying to light, or is it all electronic?

Are you kidding, this weekend it's pandemonium and mayhem with Xmas just around the corner :D Thanks for the invite but maybe after the holidays.
 
Haven't checked the igniter yet Ken, but I did turn it off for about a half hour and then back on again and they all stayed lit for a good hour or so before I called it for the night. So at least I know it's not the bulbs.

I did take a peek in the louvers on the box and can see what looks like 6 mag ballasts so you're right on the money about 2 per ballast. The bad news is no e-ballasts, which I was really hoping for, the good news is 6 ballasts means there is a chance I might be able to mod it and add 3 more cords. As it is now 4 bulbs is darn bright, way more than I'd prefer for sunrise and sunset. Two bulbs would me more ideal. Six cords and six timers and my lighting would ramp up and down quite nicely I would think.

I'll run them again tomorrow and see what I get.

Change of subject here... watching all that flow going round it's quite tempting to just go get a few bags of salt and dump it in and call it a day. Taking the time to drain the tank. sump, as well as purge the lines is starting to seem like a real bummer of a task right about now. Kinda makes me wish I had used RO instead of tap water. Oh well!

G'night all ...Brett
 
T5 HO bulbs should run on a program start ballast to run at spec. They can run on instant start but I think the life may be effected. Either way, its an electronic ballast with no little can.

Quite often the problem is corrected by gently rotating one of the effected bulbs in its sockets to get better contact at the pins. You can also move an effected bulb to a diffent location to see if the problem moves (the bulb is bad). It the problem does not move it could be the ballast or a manufacturing defect (like a poorly crimped connector) in the fixture that made it past QA.

Merry Christmas. Thats one YOWZA!! setup you've put together there, man.
 
Thanks for the heads up Howard. Sfiligoi doesn't have the world's greatest instructions so it's going to take a bit of snooping around before I know how it's all put together. I'm sure I'll get the light sorted out one way or another. Right now the light has been off for the last several days as I drained the tank in preparation for saltwater. But since I doubt I can make a water delivery happen anytime before New Years I guess I'm going to have to be patient for just a little bit longer.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!


Brett
 
Unfortauntely no, but once everything is up and running I'll be happy to extend my hospitality to anyone who shows up with one in hand. Bonus points awared if you can appreciate a nice highland single malt.

brett
 
I tried getting a camera shot with the lights on and unfortauntely my white balance was not adjusted properly. The eyes they see white, but the camera she sees blue.

Brett
 
i was looking at your pictures and i must say your stand makes me nervous. can you give some more info on it. i don't see any cross/diaginal bracing at all. Long beach was the epicenter for one of california's biggest quakes.

i can't tell if there is any kind of padding, foam or otherwise under the tank. is there?

Carl
 
The stand is constructed out of 1.5" .125 wall welded steel tubing. The divider walls, flooring and upper deck are 3/4" ply and the entire thing was coated in Linux to prevent oxidation. On top of that a 2nd piece of 3/4" ply is glued down to the upper decking for added support under the tank. I figure if we take a hit out here big enough to bring down that tank then I have bigger issues to deal with than some water on the floor. If nothing else, it will help put out the fire from the ruptured gas line.

In all honesty, I worry more about the upstairs neighbors becoming downstairs roommates if the big one hits. That and the fact that everything will more than likely be toast if the power is out for more than a day or two. I have 24 hours of battery backup and then I start rounding up the kids so we can begin making bubbles in the tank with straws.

Padding is .5" bead foam insulation. I wouldn't have even given it a second thought as padding is generally only used in glass tank installs but SoCal felt it certainly couldn't hurt and brought the padding along when they delivered the tank so down it went.

Brett
 
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awesome plumbing.....very neat and clear....even someone babysit your tank will know where the flow go...:-)
 
socal built my tank too and they didn't bring me any padding when they deliverd the tank, they did say the warranty is no good without the padding. we know how valid that warranty is now and my tank doesn't even have water in it yet to test it.

Carl
 
I am currently upgrading to a 350 and was wondering why you decided to go with the T5s instead of MH and is your tank going to be SPS dominated?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11454288#post11454288 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefski's
socal built my tank too and they didn't bring me any padding when they deliverd the tank, they did say the warranty is no good without the padding. we know how valid that warranty is now and my tank doesn't even have water in it yet to test it.

Carl
Click to expand...

They certainly made no mention of a voided warranty in any of our conversations. The impression I got was they felt it just added extra protection and certainly wouldn't do any harm. I asked if they coupld provide a pad and they said they could if I liked. I found out the day of delivery they swung by the hardware store and picked it up on the way over.

Obviously their shutting down the business kills any warranty, and trust me when I say I have gone over my tank with a fine toothed comb looking for any and all possible future issues. But at some point you just have to stop beating yourself up with those "what-ifs" and move forward. I couldn't even begin to fathom the honest to god reality of a waranty claim on a tank this large. At the very least we would be talking about having to remove and house all livestock and rock, drain the water, disassemble the equipment and pay to have the tank shipped back to the maufacture for "inspection"? And then what? I sit around and wait while they decide if they are going to honor the claim? From the stories that are floating around warranty experiences on tanks in this hobby seem to be extremely hit or miss, with some turning into all out fights that drag on for half a year or more. So when I weigh the prospect of having no warranty against how many hoops I would have to jump thru to get a warranty claim honored on a tank of this size I see a no-win in pretty much both cases.

However, with that said, I do sleep a whole lot better at night knowing that SoCal built this tank over some of the other vendors that are out there.

As for your tank having no padding it sounds like there is still time to remedy that. Couldn't you call a couple guys over and lift the tank up and slide a pad under it while it is still empty?

Brett
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11454900#post11454900 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redbug1
I am currently upgrading to a 350 and was wondering why you decided to go with the T5s instead of MH and is your tank going to be SPS dominated?
Click to expand...

To be honest I really have no idea what I will do as far as animals. On two seperate occasions in the last year I seriously considered saving myself the headaches by turning it into one giant vivarium/dart frog tank. No joke!

SPS held my attention a year ago, but some nice big softies and anemonies swaying with the currents are starting to sound really nice right about now. I've also aways had a fondness for gorgonians. Being an SPS farmer is just starting to sound really labor intensive, especially so with how widely established the the likes of AEFW and red bugs have become. Regardless, with T5 my options are open no matter which way I decide to go.

As for my reasons for all T5:

1. I am done running a chiller.
2. I have been a fan since it first began to catch on.
3. I like the ability to mix and match bulbs for different lighting effects.
4. Big tanks lit solely with T5 are kind of rare in the U.S.
5. I like to be different.

Brett
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11452436#post11452436 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Putawaywet
Unfortauntely no, but once everything is up and running I'll be happy to extend my hospitality to anyone who shows up with one in hand. Bonus points awared if you can appreciate a nice highland single malt.

brett
Click to expand...

Lagavulin from Islay because its possess notes of iodine, seaweed and salt.
 
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