My 90 In Wall Project (Photo Intense)

[aberg12012]

Dude I have 2 admit it looks awsome..Gonna have 2 stop by some night with a few beer and stare at it for awhile..Might need my drool cup...AAA+++ all the way man...

Wow, a triple A plus! Thanks man. I've got alot of work to do on it yet. I guess thats most the fun of it though. I tend to loose intrest once there is nothing left to modify or "tweak."

Sucks I got ordered over till 2 am this mornin. I can't wait to get home, since my new lights are waiting at my back door.

 

[daddavis1]

I know its a week later and things may have settled down abit so is all that live stock moved over now.

 

[aberg12012]

I know its a week later and things may have settled down abit so is all that live stock moved over now.

Yep, what you see is all of the pre-exisiting live stock. Sorta sparse right now, but once everything settles down with my new house, and I get used to paying the bills I'll see how much spare cash I got for frags.

On the update note:

Over the past week I ran two dedicated 20 amp lines to the tank with 2 intermatic timers for the lights. I then wired in the 400 watt Iwasakis.

Gotta love high speed flash sync. Those Iwasakis are bright. I actually wear sun glasses back there while they are on. Otherwise I see black spots for hours. :lol:

Last night I got my auto top off set up and running. What a pain to keep it from siphoning. I had to drill a small hole in the hose just above the water in the garbage can to break the siphon, since the water in the garbage can comes up higher than the other end of the tube.

Then also last night I cleaned up the ol' 55 gallon tank with a razor blade and stripped all the old caulking as well. Man was that stuff nasty looking. The tank is very old, and very stcratched up. It's prefect for use as a sump. I had 1/4" glass cut earlier in the day for the dividers. After cleaning and stripping I caulked it all back together and installed the dividers. Couple more days till the silicone hardens 100% and I'll be swapping out the 20L that is far too small for a 90.

 

[aberg12012]

One more thing, I finally figured out the problem with my overflow gurgling and flushing. The problem was I had the drain pipe submersed too far in the sump, causing back pressure. So the water had to rise up to push through the pressure, then it would flush, then rise... etc. I trimmed the drain pipe so it's just barely under the water, so it's still quiet enough. Both my home made Durso and AGA's standpipe work perfectly now. Man what a waste of 50 bucks though, now that I see how easy making a Durso really is.

 

[aberg12012]

So now, for a little comparison of lighting. First pic is w/ only VHO's running. (10k and Actinic URI.) Second is with VHO's (both running actinic) and 2x65 watt PC's (running 7,100k blue bulbs.) I really like the blue bulbs. They arn't actinic, but they sure balance out the strong yellow of the 400 watt Iwasaki's. Third photo is the same as #1, only with the old 175 watt Ushios (10k) running. #4 is same as #2 w/ the Iwasaki's running. I can't get over just how bright, and hot those things are. My electricity bill should be intaresting.

All taken with the same white balance setting, for comparative reasons.

 

[masterswimmer]

Looking good my friend. I'm 'feeling' pic #3 with your old Ushio's.

Keep up the good work,
Russ

 

[aberg12012]

Looking good my friend. I'm 'feeling' pic #3 with your old Ushio's.

Keep up the good work,
Russ

Heh... yea I "feel" the same way.

But to be honest, the difference is mostly through the eyes of my camera. Comparing the real deal, I do like the new Iwasaki's with stronger actinic/blue supplementation running better than with the ol' Ushios. (Maybe it's the 120 bucks I spent on the bulbs that's got me convinced... lol) I'm really starting to "dig" the intensity too. Through the camera it seems to be an obvious choice for the Ushios, but reality looks a little different. I have a feeling my custom tone curve of the camera needs some tweaking.

What I'd like to do, is go back and take more comparative photos. This time, using the same shutter/apurture/ISO settings to also show the difference in intensity as well. Trouble is, I only have one set of moguls so it would require re-wiring.

 

[aberg12012]

Oh yea, and some of you have probably notticed by now, my RBTA apears to be splitting after the move. I really wish it wouldn't. It'll look like crap for a month afterwords. I prefer it to be nice and big, in one peice looking nice. Not to mention, that fire clown is really hard on it's host. So when it splits, it's only half the size and dosn't put up with her as well.

 

[FlipFlops24/7]

What I'd like to do, is go back and take more comparative photos. This time, using the same shutter/apurture/ISO settings to also show the difference in intensity as well. Trouble is, I only have one set of moguls so it would require re-wiring.

You better be shooting in RAW Alan! What lenses do you have for your D70? I just got my Rebel XT yesterday and spent the rest of the day messing with RAW files for the first time.


Awesome awesome tank by the way.

 

[aberg12012]

What lenses do you have for your D70?

I mostly use the kit lense, but I do have a set of Sigma macro zooms from my other Nikon film body that I only use if I either need the extra focal length, or the macro. Otherwise the kit lense is a bit sharper. Eventually I'd like to pick up the 50mm f/1,8. I think my kit lense would take a back seat to the 50mm prime most the time.

Awesome awesome tank by the way.

Thanks! I'm honored to hear that. Now I need to get in gear, and order some clean up critters so it dosn't end up looking like my old sewer system of a 75.

 

[Zombies026]

well with a great idea I had running through my head the other half shot me down right away..I was surfing on e-bay and saw a 750 gal tank reef ready..LoL we all know what came from that-nothing..I tryed to sell her on it but the price tag,its always the price tag..I mean come on its only money right??LoL..I guess she thought 3,500 was to much money,plus it didn't help when I told her she could put in some overtime..LoL...O well maybe next time..LoL

 

[aberg12012]

LOL Here's an idea...

sell the wife and buy the tank!

It's a win-win situation! And with that big of a tank, you'll pretty much be married to it anyways!

Does the 3500 include shipping? :lol:

With a tank that large, I'd say it'd be easier to build your own tank... on site. Thats like a small swimming pool!

 

[mwitten]

HERE IT IS!

...

Spent the last 2 days (which included all night last night) moving aquariums and other "critters" of mine. What a royal pain. Just got the lights up and running an hour ago. Can't wait to get the bulbs for the PFO's.

Aberg,

What are the dimensions of your "window" opening , if you don't mind my asking? Also, how high off the floor is it? I am getting ready to do a similar install with a 120 gallon, 48x24x24, and this looks like a similar "viewing area".

This looks great, by the way! I am impressed! I also appreciate your posting the project...

-Mike

 

[aberg12012]

Hi Mike, and thanks!

Off the top of my head (not home right now) the opening is 46" wide (two studs were removed, 16" on center) and about 22" tall. Tank is a 90 overflow, and the opening just covers up the black trim on the top/bottom, and the side corners (with the ugly silicone caulking) are also covered up.

The 120 should be the same. A 46"x22" opening would cover everything up nicely I would think.

 

[aberg12012]

For those of you intarested, since it's been a while here are some updates:

The tank was turning into a hair algae green house, just like my old system was. Of coarse there was a bit of it that got transfered over as well. But the glass and overflow also had nice brown algae growing on it that I was cleaning every day. I then picked up a load of snails and hermits. Since then I barely have to clean once a week, and they keep the overflow and the bottom starboard nice and clean. Finally coraline is starting to grow on it, rather than brown hair algae. I still am suprised at how well the snails and hermits keep things cleaned up. The only thing I clean now is the front glass. The rest is snail food.

As far as lighting, I purchased a new dual 250 watt standard PFO ballast, and 10K XM bulbs. The 400's were just too much light, and half of it was wasted shining out into the room. I couldn't stand knowing that so much of my electic bill was going towards not only lighting the tank, but also the entire basement behind it. I now have spider reflectors for the 250's, and to be honest the tank seems to get just as much light with the better reflectors as the 400's were with the flat reflector. Much more effecient, and I can actually work back there w/o sun glasses now. :lol:

Here's the latest pics, from a couple days ago. Nottice how it's still nice and clean looking. I hope to keep it that way through the years.

 

[mako56]

Ya good old wps I think they love all us crazy people. I just ordered a 180 gallon and am going to put it in the basement in the utility room with a hole into the family room to view it. Liking all your ideas and will be using some. Lookin very very nice a living picture.

 

[aberg12012]

Mako...

I'm glad it gave you some ideas. And thats exactly what it is... a living 3D picture.

On a related note, my RBTA finally split. It had been threatning it ever since I moved, and I'd been trying to keep it happy so it wouldn't. Well, last night it finally did. Now both halves are starting to wander all over the tank. I hate when that thing splits. It had been sitting on the same rock, where I want it, for the past year or so. Not anymore, and now it'll take another 6 months to get them back up to size. And all the while my fire clown will be beating the crap out of them both. Time to banish her to the fuge I guess. :rolleye1:

 

[FlipFlops24/7]

Alan, if you ever want to sell that rBTA, keep me in mind please

 

[mako56]

I have a green anemone that has split three times and I see in the tank that there is a baby one now too. I had to get some of them out because they were stinging my corals I wish I would of done it in there wondering stage because I had a hard time getting them out. I put them in a smaller tank I have and it looks like they are coming around but it took alLot out of them. Now I still have two and the baby in the tank. If anyone looks at this and has an idea how to get them off the rocks advice would be appreciated.

 

[aberg12012]

Alan, if you ever want to sell that rBTA, keep me in mind please

Sorry, but a couple close friends would probably disown me if I didn't give them first dibs. But I'm planning on keeping both clones, if they live through it. I can't tell, but it almost seems like they arn't completely splitting. I saw the one clone pulling away the other day, but now it's moved back righ against the other one, and I can't see if they are seperated completely or not. Maybe they'll live happily next to eachother, or maybe they just havn't completely riped apart yet. I guess we'll see what happens by May 15th.

Mako...

Besides risking tearing their foot, I think the only thing you can do is to remove them with the rock they are attached. If your trying to get rid of one, maybe encourage it to move onto a small rock that you can remove.