test fitting everything.
My new 400 G tank
- Thread starter Crusty Old Shellback
- Start date
One down, two more to go.
Three finished lights and sealed. They are placed 24" on center so that the flashings would not overlap.
OK here's a couple of pics of the tank. I'll explain more in my next post of my obserevations thus far and what I may change.
Tank with difusers on the lights.
Tank without diffusers. You cans ee some of the shimmer lines.
Tank with difusers on the lights.
Tank without diffusers. You cans ee some of the shimmer lines.
prop-frags
SPS Slave
I applaud your plans to make your set up more "green". Seems like a very responsible thing to do. And your angel is absolutely stunning! Good goin!
Ok I'll answer the questions and then make a post of my obeservations so far.
Thanks everyone for the compliments.
The Goni I've had for several months. My LFS gave it to me as it wasn't doing good in teh store and teh wife wanted it. It's been doing great till a few days ago. It hasn't opened up in a bit. I don't feed it or do anything special with it. Matter of fact, I don't do anything special with anything in my tank, just feed the fish and let nature take care of teh rest.
KISS princpal.
I'm not really trying to make my setup more "green". Man I hate that term. I'm just tyring to lower my $300 a month electric bill. 3/4 of my bill is to run this tank. So anything I can do to lower that is a plus to me and money in my pocket. I love my Angle, I've had him for several years now.
Carl, no need for a PAR meter. I never even took measurments when I had my MH lights over the tank so I'd have nothing to compare the numbers to.
I used a roof sealant made for Alunimum flashing I picked up at HD. You've seen my work so you know I want to do it right the first time.
Thanks everyone for the compliments.
The Goni I've had for several months. My LFS gave it to me as it wasn't doing good in teh store and teh wife wanted it. It's been doing great till a few days ago. It hasn't opened up in a bit. I don't feed it or do anything special with it. Matter of fact, I don't do anything special with anything in my tank, just feed the fish and let nature take care of teh rest.
KISS princpal.I'm not really trying to make my setup more "green". Man I hate that term. I'm just tyring to lower my $300 a month electric bill. 3/4 of my bill is to run this tank. So anything I can do to lower that is a plus to me and money in my pocket. I love my Angle, I've had him for several years now.
Carl, no need for a PAR meter. I never even took measurments when I had my MH lights over the tank so I'd have nothing to compare the numbers to.
I used a roof sealant made for Alunimum flashing I picked up at HD. You've seen my work so you know I want to do it right the first time.
My observations so far.
First off, Saturday and Sunday were cloudy here so I couldn't tell a whole lot. I do have light over the whole tank now which I didn't before, hence the light mover. On the few occasions that the clouds were gone, I had the beautiful shimmer lines that I remember from diving on the reefs of Pago Pago.
In the morning when I get up, it's like looking out on the reef early in the morning. The light is slowly coming up. Same as at night as the sun goes down, the light slowley goes away. Who needs timers and automatic dimmers.
As for the light output. I did notice yesterday afternoon when I got home that where the center of the main light is, it is very intense with beautiful shimmer lines you can't get from ANY artifical light bulb. PERIOD! I've also noticed that there are three distinct areas of intense light, due to having three 10" tubes providing the light. No big deal I don't think as far as I'm concerned. I've also noticed that this area of intense light moves around the tank as the sun moves over the sky thru the day. So it will be interesting to see how things react to this.
As for the overall look of the tank, I think it looks completely natural, just like on a real reef. There is no artifical "blue" color to the light. No constant intensety of the light throughout the day, it varys all day long. The color is not "yellow" but then again, it's not "blue white". It just looks like what I remember diving on the shallow reefs.
So far I have only played with a few things. One being the diffusers that came with the lights. With them installed, you get a more even light across the tank. However, you loose the intense light with the beautiful shimmer lines. So I've opted to leave them off for now.
One of the other things I'm trying for now is I placed an extension on the tubes at each end to bring the light closer to the top of the tank as well as "Aim" the beam more on the rock piles at each end of the tank. For now, I'll leave the center as it is and see how things go. I need to find a good sunny weekend to watch the tank over the full course of the day and see how thinsg play out as far as light goes. Once I can do this and take some pictures, I'll post them up with my thoughts. Enjoy.
First off, Saturday and Sunday were cloudy here so I couldn't tell a whole lot. I do have light over the whole tank now which I didn't before, hence the light mover. On the few occasions that the clouds were gone, I had the beautiful shimmer lines that I remember from diving on the reefs of Pago Pago.
In the morning when I get up, it's like looking out on the reef early in the morning. The light is slowly coming up. Same as at night as the sun goes down, the light slowley goes away. Who needs timers and automatic dimmers.
As for the light output. I did notice yesterday afternoon when I got home that where the center of the main light is, it is very intense with beautiful shimmer lines you can't get from ANY artifical light bulb. PERIOD! I've also noticed that there are three distinct areas of intense light, due to having three 10" tubes providing the light. No big deal I don't think as far as I'm concerned. I've also noticed that this area of intense light moves around the tank as the sun moves over the sky thru the day. So it will be interesting to see how things react to this.
As for the overall look of the tank, I think it looks completely natural, just like on a real reef. There is no artifical "blue" color to the light. No constant intensety of the light throughout the day, it varys all day long. The color is not "yellow" but then again, it's not "blue white". It just looks like what I remember diving on the shallow reefs.
So far I have only played with a few things. One being the diffusers that came with the lights. With them installed, you get a more even light across the tank. However, you loose the intense light with the beautiful shimmer lines. So I've opted to leave them off for now.
One of the other things I'm trying for now is I placed an extension on the tubes at each end to bring the light closer to the top of the tank as well as "Aim" the beam more on the rock piles at each end of the tank. For now, I'll leave the center as it is and see how things go. I need to find a good sunny weekend to watch the tank over the full course of the day and see how thinsg play out as far as light goes. Once I can do this and take some pictures, I'll post them up with my thoughts. Enjoy.
Reefski's
Active member
i too like the shimmer lines and light moving around the tank. my tank is a little different and there is definite brighter and shadier areas through the day.
i have had some LPS corals bleach from too much light. one Favia in particular was partially under an overhang and the more shaded part was fine for a while but the part exposed to the high light bleached as summer approached.
i get some very high PAR values during peak hours.
it would be interesting to see how the values vary over the day and in different parts of your tank.
you can get some idea of the variation at least by using the light meter on your camera.
Carl
i have had some LPS corals bleach from too much light. one Favia in particular was partially under an overhang and the more shaded part was fine for a while but the part exposed to the high light bleached as summer approached.
i get some very high PAR values during peak hours.
it would be interesting to see how the values vary over the day and in different parts of your tank.
you can get some idea of the variation at least by using the light meter on your camera.
Carl
gofor100
New member
Great write-up Crusty... I'll be following along since, as you know, I'm planning a similar set-up.
Reefski- do you have to make any adjustments to your lighting for the different seasons, or do you just shade the corals that are more sensitive to light by placing them under overhangs? Also, do you use any supplemental lights?
-Chad
Reefski- do you have to make any adjustments to your lighting for the different seasons, or do you just shade the corals that are more sensitive to light by placing them under overhangs? Also, do you use any supplemental lights?
-Chad
KoralKeith
New member
That's crazy
Tall ladder and drain half the tank for waterchanges. That's about the only way to get in and clean it. As for moving stuff around, A good pair of heavy duty tongs work for liftng and moving rocks. You learn to adapt.
Ok, I've made one more "mod" to the light system. The room that the tank sits in is my sun room addition and it has 4' X 4' windows all around. The tank is backed up to the west end wall and runs N/S for the length with the back facing west.
Originally I had made some plywood pannels to replace the windows behind the tank. They are removable so I could work from the back of the tank when needed. Well yesterday I removed the wood pannels and reinstalled the original windows. Talk about a drastic improvement on the lighting. As the sun was setting, the front half of the tank was showered with shimmer lines and really bright sunlight. It covered almost all of the front half of the tank. All except the far right end. It will be interesting to see how all this new sunlight affects the corals.
On another note, the first weekend I have at home, I plan on taking some pictures throughout the day, say 2 hour intervals, to document how the sunlight covers the tank. I'll post them when I do.
Reefski's
Active member
i have the high light stuff at the brighter end of the tank. one end gets much more intense light than the other. the low light end has only a few mushrooms.
i don't have many corals. mostly anemones and one big Heliopora, and a few other corals.
i do suppplement a little light in the morning and the evening for a couple of hours for my pleasure mostly. one 400 watt halide over the anemones.
i run it a little longer in the shorter days of the year and on rainy days i might leave it on all day. starting soon we usually have June gloom here near the coast with overcast mornings or days. it is gray outside right now which will burn off in a few hours.
i think Ray has the same weather i do. like Ray said the light on a reef is variable and only intense for a few hours mid day.
my tank is also 36" deep. i made a piece of plywood with foam on it that lays on the top of the tank that i can lay on and stick my head in the tank with a snorkel on. i don't do this very often. one day my trigger took a little bite on my lip that drew a little blood and caused me to recoil quickly and wack my head on the light rail which hurt more than the little bite.
i now feed the fish before doing any of that kind of work.
Carl
Yep, good ol June Gloom setting in. I'm about 75 miles up the coast from Carl.
I do not have any suplimental light right now. I'm toying with the idea of adding some blue LED's for coral colors but I'm still doing some research and waiting to see how things work out with what I have.
That's funny Carl that your pink tail bit your lip. Mine dosen't even come near me when I'm cleaning. But my clowns always take chunks out of my hand. I don't know how they know it, but they always bite the webbing between my finger and thumb. Hurts like he!!. Even when I swipe at them to scare them away, they still come back to bite me so I have to keep my hands moving in the tank at all times.
My Majestic Angle on the otehr hand likes for me to feed him. I haven'y tried hand feeding him yet but i think I could as he's not scared and sits just under the water waiting for me to drop in his pellets.
I remember my Moorish Idol was never scared. Even when I was cleaning the tank, he'd swim right by my hands with no problems. My Copper Banded Butterfly is almost the same way, not scared of much.
I do not have any suplimental light right now. I'm toying with the idea of adding some blue LED's for coral colors but I'm still doing some research and waiting to see how things work out with what I have.
That's funny Carl that your pink tail bit your lip. Mine dosen't even come near me when I'm cleaning. But my clowns always take chunks out of my hand. I don't know how they know it, but they always bite the webbing between my finger and thumb. Hurts like he!!. Even when I swipe at them to scare them away, they still come back to bite me so I have to keep my hands moving in the tank at all times.
My Majestic Angle on the otehr hand likes for me to feed him. I haven'y tried hand feeding him yet but i think I could as he's not scared and sits just under the water waiting for me to drop in his pellets.
I remember my Moorish Idol was never scared. Even when I was cleaning the tank, he'd swim right by my hands with no problems. My Copper Banded Butterfly is almost the same way, not scared of much.
Reefski's
Active member
most of my fish are the same way. following me around looking for a handout. the Copperband is not shy at all.
the Maroon Clowns were fierce so i got rid of them. now i have four black and white's. there is a breeding pair and two immature ones and they are a little protective but not too bad. interesting they are all siblings and all four are different sizes depending on ranking.
Carl
the Maroon Clowns were fierce so i got rid of them. now i have four black and white's. there is a breeding pair and two immature ones and they are a little protective but not too bad. interesting they are all siblings and all four are different sizes depending on ranking.
Carl
I got rid of my Gold striped maroon as well. The male jumped out of teh tank and the female was nasty so I got rid of her.
I now have two pair of Ocallaris clowns and it's the breeding pair that seem to like to attack me. The other two don't seem to care much.
I now have two pair of Ocallaris clowns and it's the breeding pair that seem to like to attack me. The other two don't seem to care much.
gofor100
New member
I was actually planning a heavily stocked SPS tank with clams on the bottom (but it would probably be a 24" to 26" tall tank). So to compensate for the variable lighting the sun provides (I'm also near the coast, and will be closer when we move to Laguna- in Orange County) and to keep the nice colors in my SPS, I was thinking of still running 2X250-watt MH's and maybe some T-5's in conjunction with 3 14-inch Solar Tubes on a 84"L tank. Since I'm currently running 2X250-watts on my 60 gallon (I know, overkill, but my clams/corals seem to like it), the lighting costs won't be much different month-to-month.
I'd definitely be interested to see a sun-lit tank that is SPS dominated...
Good stuff guys! Looking foward to the pics Crusty.
-Chad
I'd definitely be interested to see a sun-lit tank that is SPS dominated...
Good stuff guys! Looking foward to the pics Crusty.
-Chad
