New tank?? 280ish

[8BALL_99]

I thought and still am thinking about trying that. As they are now they sit 16" above where the tank will be. They would work much better lower.. But that effects access to the tank. I've kicked around the idea of adding maybe 10" extensions and rigging them to go up with the the canopy. I built some adjustable brackets so my T5s will go up and down with the canopy. Not sure if I'm going to use them though cause with the T5s down so low the tend to block some of the light from the tubes. I'm still sorta of working on the fine details lol.. Some of it will probably have to wait till the tank is in place so I can see how the lights need to be placed..
Here it is running. I speeded up the video a little. It takes about 1 min in real time. Not the best video but you get the idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77wU8tIt1iw
Will

 

[8BALL_99]

Got my T5 racks built and installed. I went ahead and built them so they mount onto the canopy that way they lift up and out of the way when working on the tank. I've got to say I'm pretty happy with the color. The 4 ATI blue plus bulbs along with the Tubes have a great look. I can't wait to see how it looks in the tank. I took some par readings today with pretty good results. With Tubes alone I get about 73par on the top of the stand and about 230 where the top of the tank will be. With the T5s on the par on the top of the stand goes up to about 165 and about 360 where the top of the tank will be. Not to bad. Of course once the tank is in place the par will go down on the bottom. But my 20k 250 mh only had 70 on the bottom on the sides and 120-130 in the middle. So I should be able to keep those levels with only a couple hundred watts of T5s. I also plan on sticking a couple of my Mh bulbs back up in the middle of the tubes to run a couple hours at night.. During the summer it doesn't get dark till pretty late.. But in the winter it gets dark pretty early so I'd like to have some lights for nighttime viewing besides the blue T5s. I really think a couple of 10k 150s along with the blue T5s would be plenty just to view the tank.. But since I already have 3x 250mh and 1x400mh sitting on the shelf I'm just going to use a couple 250watters.

Par on the bottom just tubes

Tubes plus T5s

Tubes only at top of tank

Tubes plus T5s at top of tank

I still plan on adding some reflectors on the ends of the tubes cause of this. A ton of light exits the tubes and shoots straight out the sides.. I think if this light was reflected down I'd get a ton more light.. I get par levels as high as 900 at the ends of the tubes :eek2:

Here shots of the T5 racks

Will

 

[H@rry]

Are you going to have any MHs left over that you won't use any more?

 

[8BALL_99]

As is I have 3 Lumnarc III reflectors that I'm not going to use. I'll also have 1 250 Mh and 1 400 MH not in use. I plan on selling the reflectors but I'll probably hang on to the ballasts just cause I like having a spare. I've had a couple go out of the years its nice to have one to stick back in its place! You looking to upgrade some of your lights?

 

[H@rry]

Yeah, I've got 3 175W that I thought I'd "upgrade" one day. Not sure why, just that "bigger must be better".

 

[8BALL_99]

I'll look and make sure I don't have an extra laying around that I'm not thinking about.. But I think its just the two. I'm pretty sure you need some new reflectors though

 

[H@rry]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13577764#post13577764 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 8BALL_99
I'm pretty sure you need some new reflectors though

Why? They haven't rusted through yet

Tell be about your par meter. I have been changing my bulbs by the calendar and I often wonder if that is not a real good way to tell if they need changing. Sometimes I think the corals are losing color a few weeks before a bulb change and at other times I change bulbs and can't tell the difference by looking at them. The VHO actinics always look the same to me, new or old. Where did you get your meter?

 

[8BALL_99]

Mine is a Apogee Par meter. I got it from their website. Apogee.com or something along those lines.. From what I understand after researching them its the one to get. Its suppose to keep up with the high dollar meters but at a fraction of the cost. Mine has the remote sensor and can be switched between sunlight and electric lamps. If I remember right it cost around 330.00 You can get one about 50 bucks cheaper if you don't get it with the switch. For our lamps you want sunlight calibration not Eletric, But if you have say 6500k lamps or less you need the eletric calibration.. I went ahead and got it cause I figured if I didn't I'd kick my self later for not the one with the switch.

I think they are great to have.. And really for people like you and me you have 6-7 Mh bulbs it really starts to make since. If you get and extra few months out of all your bulbs the cost savings really add up. I've got a couple of 12month old bulbs sitting on the shelf I plan on checking them to see if they are still good. You might also be surprised at how low your par is. Bad reflectors or even placement makes a huge difference.. Even with my good reflectors I was only getting 70 par on the bottom on my 190 on the ends.. Thats ok but I had lumarc 3s sitting about 6-7" off the water. I would thought it would have been higher then that. But I'm using 20ks on electronic ballast so I'm sure that was the issue.

 

[H@rry]

How do you measure the par at the bottom? Do you put something in the tank?

$330 is a lot to spring for. It would take a long time to pay for itself. I see that some of the other more organized clubs with membership, dues, and a treasury are buying them for use among their members. That would work fine but I figure sooner or later it would "go missing"

Tell you what: when you get your tank set and come to get the coral I was telling you about, just bring your meter and test mine!

 

[8BALL_99]

Haha sure I don't mind testing your tanks for you. Yeah then meter is a little $$. But I mean MH bulbs are 65$ min I did have 7 so thats almost 500 in bulbs alone.. If I could get another 2-4 months out of them it would start adding up pretty quick. Really though the main reason I got it was for the Tubes.. I had no idea how much light I would get at different times of the year or even the day. Since no one in our area has them I needed a way to monitor the light levels. I did think about renting it out with a small deposit ofcourse But you make a very good point. Nothing wrong with working for Coral
It has a remote sensor that you place in the tank. If I remember right it has about 6-8foot cord. You just stick the sensor in the spot you want to get the reading. I attatched mine to a peice of PVC so I can move it around the bottom middle where ever with out having to stick my hand in the tank..
Will

 

[jon56048]

8BALL_99 Ygpm

 

[8BALL_99]

Moving Day Got the tank moved in today!! Everything went pretty good except we couldn't get it in through the equipment room like I had planed. It was just to wide to flip once it was in the room, so we ended up just going through the house with it. Not a big deal just was a little more trouble. Took a few pictures. Not of the move mind you since I was a little busy haha.

Will

 

[jon56048]

ygpm

 

[8BALL_99]

Btw I added another 40 Gallons to the tank! I also got my Mh lights installed for Night time viewing. I haven't added the rest of my Live rock cause the water was still a little cloudy today cause I added another 20# of sand

 

[mltmtascp]

Nice Will! It looks great.

Monica

 

[8BALL_99]

Here is a couple pics. One is of the upper canopy that show the Mh pendants. Think I still have a couple more inches of empty space up there The other is a pic of the tank with some more of the LR added. No aquascaping yet really.. I just tossed it in I did work on one side a little. I've still got some more rock to add. Figured I'd wait to start placing it till I get all the pieces in.

 

[kiran523]

Sweet Will!

Any updates?

 

[8BALL_99]

Yeah I've been lazy on my posting. Everything is done except I still have to do a little more aqua scaping and I need to build the cabinet doors.. But all my rock is in it. Its filled up, the sump is under it and all the plumbing is done. It sure was nice to get the sump and livestock tank out of the floor! I'll post a couple updated pics tonight.

Will

 

[8BALL_99]

Ok few new pics. Still have a few things to do, but its getting there. I just haven't had much time to work on it past couple days. I've had the sump running since sunday. Since my skimmer is external the sump seems Huge lol. I'm almost thinking about using the intake section as a frag tank and doing away with one of my 40s That or just keep the 40 going for a quratine tank.

 

[MaryBebo]

Wow, Your new tank is really very nice Will . Your Hard work has payed off. I know you will really enjoy it.