Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
unfortunately those actuator don't fit my needs. I decided to go with a stepper motor and a screw mounted in the center. I have to acquire all the components but once I do I will get started on it.
My rendition of 300
- Thread starter Sisterlimonpot
- Start date
unfortunately those actuator don't fit my needs. I decided to go with a stepper motor and a screw mounted in the center. I have to acquire all the components but once I do I will get started on it.
lpsouth1978
New member
When I had my 300 we built a custom LED light and used a winch and rail system to move the light up and down. Because the winch was built for vehicle (12 volt) use, we used a motorcycle battery connected to a battery tender to power it. It worked great and even had a little key fob remote to operate it.
reef_of_flames
Member
Subscribed!
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
Thank You! My tank has the same dimensions as yours. The choice for 8 XR30's was 2 fold, I wanted to try as best as possible to distribute par evenly throughout the tank and eliminate light hot spots. My lights are 9" off the surface and roughly 19" apart on center (8" between each unit). Having 8 allows the lights to interact with each other giving more consistent par levels and will allow the lights to run at a lower overall intensity and hopefully prolong life expectancy.
With that being said, with every channel at max and overall intensity at 100%, the par levels of these Gen4 Pro's are off the charts. I have no doubt in my mind that 4 of these would be plenty for an SPS tank. Although when considering light distribution and Ecotech's recommendations of one XR30 covering a 24"x30" footprint at 9" off the water , you're right at the edge of their recommendations and may have low light areas in between each unit. I personally would still orient them lengthwise, although, you may consider mounting them turned 90 degrees front to back as well as raising them up to 11" to get better color distribution as well as even par.
Are you on the fence about wanting to get more? or is 4 your limit?
McPuff
New member
While I do think that 4 units would light the tank sufficiently for SPS you'd have a good deal of shading and certain areas of the corals will not have the color you desire. Further, you'd want to concentrate your sps in the very middle of the light column for optimum condition. With 8 units you'd have terrific coverage, little or no shading, and uniform color on your corals. Besides that, you could place them anywhere in the tank and they would thrive. You could also run the units at a lower intensity. Lighting is definitely the major downside, in terms of cost, for running larger tanks.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
Thanks for the inquiry....
I just got back from vacation and i'm slowly recouping from it.... Long story short we took our 35' RV (towing a car) across the western portion of the states. I put on 2800 miles and need a few days to rest. I have a permanent cramp in my left calf from clutching the seat while driving on bouncy roads!!! I think that the engineers that design these roads need to drive them in an RV before signing off on them.
Today we went to studio blue to get a small cuc, and i'm still looking for a bargain on a 40 gallon QT. It's coming down to the wire and I just might have to bite the bullet and buy new.
Before we left on vacation, I received the new 2016 apex and some time in the near future I will be changing everything over from the apex lite to the new one. Bad news is that I have 3 DC8s that aren't compatible to the new model, so I have to search for a good deal on another EB8 to make everything cross over 1 for 1. So if you know of someone wanting to get rid of an eb8, please pass my name along.
I should be back full force here in a few days!!
reef_of_flames
Member
I believe I saw the tanks on sale at PetCo. It wasn’t they’re $1/g sale, but what I thought was a 40B was priced at $50.
Glad you took some time off. Was wondering what happened to you.
I changed your email address on our group list so you should be getting them now about the up coming race. Hope to see you there.
I changed your email address on our group list so you should be getting them now about the up coming race. Hope to see you there.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
I've been keeping my ear to the ground waiting for that sale and i totally missed it! Thanks for the update, I ran out and got a 40 gal breeder, woohoo!
I ran to get some lumber to build a stand and some PVC parts for hiding spots. My daughter helped to make short work of building the stand
Monday we will place an order for a few fish, the first phase of fish will be the less dominant ones, get them through the QT and then go for the larger tangs and what nots...
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
I haven't been getting anything in my email... should I be????
reef_of_flames
Member
QT looks good. I like that stand- simple, but well put together.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
Thanks, it wasn't planned, I bought too much lumber and experience has proven that if I stockpile lumber in the garage, it dries out in this desert climate to the point that it splits when I drive a screw through it. instead of letting it go to waist, I used it to beef up the stand..
Eauturquoise
New member
Really, really good job Jimmy !!
Yes, I think it is possible !
Another solution : I used to run MP40QDs connected to WXM but when I installed the Vectra, I finally connected the MP40s to reeflink... So, feed mode is managed by the reeflink
But I was also disappointed that we couln't connect vectra to WXM.
By the way, I have a really similar project (350g in wall) but I only employ 4 MP40s .
Are you going to use 4 MP60s + 2 MP40s on your 300g ??
Goodbye,
Laurent
Yes, I think it is possible !
Another solution : I used to run MP40QDs connected to WXM but when I installed the Vectra, I finally connected the MP40s to reeflink... So, feed mode is managed by the reeflink
But I was also disappointed that we couln't connect vectra to WXM.
By the way, I have a really similar project (350g in wall) but I only employ 4 MP40s .
Are you going to use 4 MP60s + 2 MP40s on your 300g ??
Goodbye,
Laurent
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
First off thank you. And I'm glad you brought this up again. I forgot to mention how I was able to go into "feed mode" with the vectra. It required a battery back up and the vectra adapter for the back up.
I simply plugged the vectra pump to an apex controlled outlet and programmed that outlet to be shut off during feed A, once the power was off the pump shifted to battery back up, at which point I programmed the pump to barely trickle water into the main display (preventing the sump from over flowing with water).
I have a reef link and tedious as it is to fine tune the lights and pumps with the apex, I may eventually shift over to reef link. I was trying to avoid having two controllers but the apex isn't seamless enough for me to stick with it as a sole source unit to control everything.
I just have to get up enough courage to shift everything over.
Edit: and yes four 60s and two 40s on the back wall. I know it's overkill, I just want to minimize any dead spots. I'll have to look and see what each pump is running and report back... but they're far below their max...
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Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
Thanks for the complements. I haven't researched enough about those reactors to know if they're simply a novelty or not. The only experience I have is from a buddy that tried one out on his tank and after about 2 months took it offline and went back to tumbling chaeto.
Do you use them? how often do you perform maintenance on them? What type of maintenance do you do? What were you using prior to it for nutrient export?
I just started using one on my rebuild. I wanted to accomplish two things on this new version after 8 years... No salt cream, and keep my fudge looking more like the heart and less like the toilet. The algae reactor really only serves the purpose to control light spill. So I went with that.
After one month I cleaned it out just to see and it was about 1/3rd full. After cleaning it out I noticed my nitrates went up just a bit. So I think I would rather have two now. Stagger the cleanings. But my sump is very clean. Only a few months up and running but very clean.
That being said they are over priced. Only Pax Bellum makes big ones in the consumer market. Way Way over priced. The glass tube for the lighting rod is the only really expensive part. The LED's, heat sing, body cube, top and bottom plates are not to bad to acquire and make.
After one month I cleaned it out just to see and it was about 1/3rd full. After cleaning it out I noticed my nitrates went up just a bit. So I think I would rather have two now. Stagger the cleanings. But my sump is very clean. Only a few months up and running but very clean.
That being said they are over priced. Only Pax Bellum makes big ones in the consumer market. Way Way over priced. The glass tube for the lighting rod is the only really expensive part. The LED's, heat sing, body cube, top and bottom plates are not to bad to acquire and make.
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