SETTING UP THE BEAST!!! 180 GALLON in the works...

[jfolley67]

Well, the lights are here and today we got the tank all cleaned out. Scott just took the piece of wood to be cut over to home depot that tank sits on just to cut the hole for the overflow...FINALLY. If you don't know us already, the tank has been sitting here staring at us for about 3 months or so waiting to be worked on. Angela I think is coming this week to start the plumbing. I need some advice on modding the sides of the canopy because you need to vent the lights on each side. We broke down (as seen in an earlier post) and got the solaris LED setup. It is GORGEOUS. The light settings so far seem very cool. You can get as much blue as you want in it, but you can also have it be very clear with no blue, choices choices. It is a very pretty soft light ... some have described it online as not being bright enough, bit it all depends on the settings....take the blue out and it brightens up. They seem very stable and the legs are nice and stable that it sits on. Seems to be nice so far. Has 3 ballasts(?) power supplies. It is amazing. NO HEAT at all. You don't hear anything at all when they are on. They have been sitting on now for about an hour. Once that little piece gets cut from the stand we will be ready to put this baby back on its stand. Right now it is sitting in the middle of bonus room! The lights are pretty heavy by the way. Probably no heavier though than a halide setup this size. I am going to start doing some water changes next week hopefully and sticking a pump in there to move the water and just start moving water over slowly from the 90 gallon. I would love next week (hint hint jack) if some want to come over and try piecing their ideas together to get this up and running. I will need to put in my old pumps in the other tank when I pull the tunzes out to get them in this tank. Can't wait to see the tunze wavemaker in action.
Pictures on their way....in just a few...

 

[TitansFan]

As far as venting your canopy.. For mine I have a large 4 inch hole saw. I just cut 2 holes in each side for fans. I ended up getting the icecap variable speed fans. They came with fan guards that I put over the holes with the fans installed in the holes.

I have also seen where people have cut out a larger square in the side and installed the vent covers that you use in your house for central heat and air vents.

 

[crumbletop]

That canopy is so nice, that I wouldn't do anything to it right now. I'd go ahead and run those lights alone (no canopy) for a little while just to get a good feel for them and take a little time to figure out what to do with the canopy.

 

[jfolley67]

yep, but you have to vent these lights. I was liking the idea of the floor vent thing...because they have some very pretty vents and that would not look bad at all on either end of the canopy. We definitely will use the canopy with the lights...right now going to play with the lights for a bit until we start putting stuff in the tank.

 

[crumbletop]

Yeah, I'd like to see things before you cut stuff, though. It sounds like you have the arms to hold up the lights, so you could just use them without the canopy for a little while so they vent well.

 

[jfolley67]

I found on ebay super nice exact looking natural oak wood floor vents that would look terrific for 11 bucks a piece. gonna see what scott thinks of them. I will use the legs, but will eventually once I get stuff in the tank, want to put everything together, I know me!! besides, the vents on ebay are so nice they will look ment to be there.

 

[jfolley67]

can't seem to get my images to work......grrrr

 

[jfolley67]

 

[crumbletop]

Nice fish!

 

[jfolley67]

My kids could not wait to get the fish in there, can you tell!!

 

[jfolley67]

so what 'cha doing next weekend Jack....hehe....I am most certain that some of our fishie friends would want to join us in an excursion at the Folley's!! I shall make HOMEADE SALSA and CHIPS for all I can convince to get over here and help us "TAME THE BEAST"

 

[jfolley67]

QUESTION............we see that we are supposed to put a piece of thin foam under the tank...do you guys do that? we have a piece that came with the tank...

 

[NeveSSL]

I don't think it could hurt.

If you want nice, big, QUIET fans, check out the Yate Loon D12SL-12 on eBay. I got a pair for $13 shipped! They have them listed for $7.99 or best offer... I offered $6.99 each by two and they sold them to me and shipped very quickly.

With those air vents, you could possibly have two on each end of the canopy and be moving some serious air, but quietly! Yate Loon fans are known for being quiet in the computer industry (check silentpcreview.com).

Hope this helps!

Brandon

 

[jfolley67]

thanks Brandon....
the solaris lights have fans built in both ends that you have to keep open to vents since I have a canopy, so that is what I mean by putting in vent openings in the canopy. appreciate the info!!

 

[NeveSSL]

Oh, ok.... gotcha!

Put some 120MM fans in there anyway! :lol:

Brandon

 

[gsusfreak]

im so jealous when i see people with huge tanks....i'll have a big one too one of these days......im happy with my little bitty nano though

 

[crumbletop]

If you want to put some fans in the canopy, I recommend the vantec stealths. They are super quiet and reliable. Couple them with a variable voltage dc adapter and you'd be good to go. It'll be interesting piecing your system together given it looks like you won't have to do much to keep the heat down. I should be able to help out some next weekend

 

[jfolley67]

awesome Jack, will be glad for help.....hoping to get this going. Wayne was telling me he can supply LOTS of water with the rock to get this thing going faster also....maybe it won't take as long as I planned...I figured another month, but hopefully sooner it will be ready to put fishies in.

 

[SRT80]

Very nice setup. That's gonna look awesome once it's stocked.

Steve

 

[Fanof49ASU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10487533#post10487533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jfolley67
Wayne was telling me he can supply LOTS of water with the rock to get this thing going faster also....

That is one thing I love about this club....people are so willing to help you out.

We need to have a MTRC 'Reefer of the Year' award (and gift) for philanthropy for some of our members. There are several members very deserving of this.