launchnukes
New member
Looking good. Looks like you're doing your homework. What a build!
Matt's 5000ltr Display
- Thread starter d3hree
- Start date
d3hree
New member
Thanks LN
I got a little more done this week.
I finished the electric ring in one half.
I set up the nitrate reactor, a deltec NFP616.
The reactor is fed diluted vodka via a 1ml peri pump. This size reactor requires 40ml per day. The peri pump is on a timer to come on for 10mins 4 times per day.
An orp probe and mv controller control a solenoid attached to a 150ml per min peri pump.
When the reactor reaches -170mv the soleniod will open and new tank water is fed into the reactor.
d3hree
New member
With the 600ltr vat containing 493ltrs of Royal Nature goodness I was able to transfer the current fish stock into it.
The "old" 500ltr tank will become a QT tank for the new system.
I had some old aquarays from a tank a few years back. I rushed out and bought 8 of them following a conversation with a TMC rep when they first came out ( dont trust what a rep tells you) I was told that these lights would penetrate 4ft of water leaving usable PAR on the bottom. After installing the lights I bought a PAR meter and established that unless your tank is 4" deep these lights are pants and can barely keep water and sand alive.
Anyway, they are ok for a QT tank.
I built a shelf that will sit above the QT tank and fixed 4 aquarays to the underside of it using Epo Putty.
Its good practice to keep new fish under low light until they settle so these lights will be ideal
The "old" 500ltr tank will become a QT tank for the new system.
I had some old aquarays from a tank a few years back. I rushed out and bought 8 of them following a conversation with a TMC rep when they first came out ( dont trust what a rep tells you) I was told that these lights would penetrate 4ft of water leaving usable PAR on the bottom. After installing the lights I bought a PAR meter and established that unless your tank is 4" deep these lights are pants and can barely keep water and sand alive.
Anyway, they are ok for a QT tank.
I built a shelf that will sit above the QT tank and fixed 4 aquarays to the underside of it using Epo Putty.
Its good practice to keep new fish under low light until they settle so these lights will be ideal
d3hree
New member
Dont do it Dave!..hang on to your cash! Work is pretty intense at the moment and this is supposed to be our quiet time. In January we get really busy usually through to April/May. Everytime I do something to the build I notice another 10 things that need doing so xmas is going to be long odds!
TheFishTeen
New member
Im REALLY curious about this black box....
d3hree
New member
I was asked to give my opinion on some new equipment that will be launched in 2012. It is fixed to the wall in that area and the manufacturer asked me to make sure no images of the equipment were shown on my thread. When posting pics of this area I will mask out the equipment until it is launched.
TheFishTeen
New member
Im thinking a Deltec teleportation device? :lolspin:
Faisal1976us
New member
Amazing setup ,,,,
d3hree
New member
Northside Reef
Premium Member
Really late to this build thread. really awesome stuff, and wow you're an amazing artist. I was looking at that concept drawing (on page one) for longer then I want to admit trying to figure out what was holding it up lol.
Hi Matt
Your system is amazing. Love all the electric socket, you can never have enough of those.
I am making moves into useing the Royal nature salt, cleaning dirty mixing vats is getting on my nerves. Where do you get your salt from ?
All the ground work you have done with the tilling and insulation is paying off, the photo's make your sump room look like a vets surgery. Im now thinking of tilling the floor of my little sump room and boarding the walls with white plastic cladding.
Thank you again for the inspiration, keep up the grand work.
Cheers Martin
Your system is amazing. Love all the electric socket, you can never have enough of those.
I am making moves into useing the Royal nature salt, cleaning dirty mixing vats is getting on my nerves. Where do you get your salt from ?
All the ground work you have done with the tilling and insulation is paying off, the photo's make your sump room look like a vets surgery. Im now thinking of tilling the floor of my little sump room and boarding the walls with white plastic cladding.
Thank you again for the inspiration, keep up the grand work.
Cheers Martin
d3hree
New member
Hi Martin
Thanks for the compliments, the photos must make it look better than it is! it still feels like a building site to me.
I loved the cleanliness of Royal Nature and how easily it mixed, the water was gin clear in an hour or so and that mixing nearly a full bucket at once.
I got my test bucket from Paul at Ocean Corals but since reviewing it I have had a fair few shops offer me it. I will be going through a fair bit and buying a pallet at a time. Anyone with a J&K account will be able to get it in for you, they also distribute Bubble Magnus in the UK so if your local shop has those then they could get you some.
Cheers
Matt
Thanks for the compliments, the photos must make it look better than it is! it still feels like a building site to me.
I loved the cleanliness of Royal Nature and how easily it mixed, the water was gin clear in an hour or so and that mixing nearly a full bucket at once.
I got my test bucket from Paul at Ocean Corals but since reviewing it I have had a fair few shops offer me it. I will be going through a fair bit and buying a pallet at a time. Anyone with a J&K account will be able to get it in for you, they also distribute Bubble Magnus in the UK so if your local shop has those then they could get you some.
Cheers
Matt
matt .. these are new on the market
It’s been quite a while since we’ve heard of news in the development of metal halide aquarium lights so the PacificSun Helios is the first new metal halide in a long while that makes High Intensity Discharge seem sexy again. The PacificSun Helios is a pendant-style metal halide fixture with an eight-sided reflector which is optimized for use with 250 and 400 watt metal halide lamps with the E39/E40 mogul base single ended socket. The Helios metal halide fixture is made to be paired up with one of three PacificSun metal halide ballasts and this is where the Helios gets fun.
The R1 ballast is your typical on off metal halide ballasts, albeit one with electronic internals and a two year warranty. The R2 ballast has a manual dimming knob that allows adjustment between 50, 75 and 100% power intensity, the likes of which we’ve seen from several dimmable metal halide ballasts already, but the top tier ballast for the Helios is where it’s at for 2011.
The R3 ballast was specifically designed for PacificSun and it has wireless communication and “fulling dimming capabilities” for sunset and sunrise simulation and attenuation of PAR values. The R3 will buddy up with an external wireless PWM controller to do it’s untethered tricks and it will be controllable by PC/tablet/Andoid phone.
Official release date is still tentative but the prices won’t be too bad, starting at 350 Euro for either the 250 or 400 watt R2 ballast, but US pricing still has to be worked out of course. With so many aquarists now looking to ditch their T5 and metal halide replacement routines for LEDs, those in the market for more light or bigger tanks now have less reason to necessarily get an LED light since metal halides are still an excellent source of efficient lighting with broad spectrum light output including UV.
stewart
It’s been quite a while since we’ve heard of news in the development of metal halide aquarium lights so the PacificSun Helios is the first new metal halide in a long while that makes High Intensity Discharge seem sexy again. The PacificSun Helios is a pendant-style metal halide fixture with an eight-sided reflector which is optimized for use with 250 and 400 watt metal halide lamps with the E39/E40 mogul base single ended socket. The Helios metal halide fixture is made to be paired up with one of three PacificSun metal halide ballasts and this is where the Helios gets fun.
The R1 ballast is your typical on off metal halide ballasts, albeit one with electronic internals and a two year warranty. The R2 ballast has a manual dimming knob that allows adjustment between 50, 75 and 100% power intensity, the likes of which we’ve seen from several dimmable metal halide ballasts already, but the top tier ballast for the Helios is where it’s at for 2011.
The R3 ballast was specifically designed for PacificSun and it has wireless communication and “fulling dimming capabilities” for sunset and sunrise simulation and attenuation of PAR values. The R3 will buddy up with an external wireless PWM controller to do it’s untethered tricks and it will be controllable by PC/tablet/Andoid phone.
Official release date is still tentative but the prices won’t be too bad, starting at 350 Euro for either the 250 or 400 watt R2 ballast, but US pricing still has to be worked out of course. With so many aquarists now looking to ditch their T5 and metal halide replacement routines for LEDs, those in the market for more light or bigger tanks now have less reason to necessarily get an LED light since metal halides are still an excellent source of efficient lighting with broad spectrum light output including UV.
stewart
d3hree
New member
Thanks for this Stew.
About 2 years ago I bought 6 ballasts and 4 lumenarcIII reflectors in preparation for this tank.
About 2 weeks ago I bought 4 twin 54w (432w) razor units to act as actinics for this tank.
I can honestly say that if I decided now to change my mind regards the lighting of my tank then i would very quickly become homeless and divorced!
A lot has changed in our hobby over the past two years since I decided to go with lumenarcs and t5s, leds have progressed greatly, plasmas and so on. If I knew then what I know now and could have my time again I would still buy the same equipment.
Your pacific sun MH lights sound good, the R3 ballast especially. But I have guineau pigged my fair share of equipment in this hobby and for me to even consider those ballasts I would want to see tanks running with them for a few years problem free. By that time I dare say led optics would have evolved and even plasma kelvin ranges will have some choice.
I appreciate the heads up Stew but this boat has sailed :beer:
About 2 years ago I bought 6 ballasts and 4 lumenarcIII reflectors in preparation for this tank.
About 2 weeks ago I bought 4 twin 54w (432w) razor units to act as actinics for this tank.
I can honestly say that if I decided now to change my mind regards the lighting of my tank then i would very quickly become homeless and divorced!
A lot has changed in our hobby over the past two years since I decided to go with lumenarcs and t5s, leds have progressed greatly, plasmas and so on. If I knew then what I know now and could have my time again I would still buy the same equipment.
Your pacific sun MH lights sound good, the R3 ballast especially. But I have guineau pigged my fair share of equipment in this hobby and for me to even consider those ballasts I would want to see tanks running with them for a few years problem free. By that time I dare say led optics would have evolved and even plasma kelvin ranges will have some choice.
I appreciate the heads up Stew but this boat has sailed :beer:
lol the boat has sailed ,, i like that ,, yeah like you say the light format for marine tanks is moving now at a very fast pace ,,, even leds,, are in some cases showing much better punch though water than a m/h ...
stewart
TheFishTeen
New member
Hey, the boat may have sailed but there isn't an ocean for you to sail it on! When can we except water? Oh, and great job on this entire project. Very well built.
