So I want to start a SPS dominant tank.

Hi all, well anyone who is following,
I'm purchasing my bulbes for the 8 lamp tek light and thought I would ask for opinions on what I should use and in which order.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
D
 
If your able to swing it financially, skip the Tek fixture and get yourself an ATI Powermodule. Much better quality, better reflectors and much greater PAR. HTH
 
So I want to start a SPS dominant tank.

For the light fixture you have depends on the look your going for. Right now I have great growth from my setup which is, all ati except 2 bulbs.
Blue +
aquablue special
Fiji purple
Blue + x2
Fiji purple
Aquablue special
Blue +

I might switch the specials for some geisman actinics or there blue for some more blue in my tank
 
If your able to swing it financially, skip the Tek fixture and get yourself an ATI Powermodule. Much better quality, better reflectors and much greater PAR. HTH

Uncle Luke

I went with the tek light based on price, I swapped out the ballasts for dimmable ones I had on hand. I guess that you could say it sort of an experiment. It was much cheaper to do it this way as opposed to purchasing the dimable version of the ATI

D
 
For the light fixture you have depends on the look your going for. Right now I have great growth from my setup which is, all ati except 2 bulbs.
Blue +
aquablue special
Fiji purple
Blue + x2
Fiji purple
Aquablue special
Blue +

I might switch the specials for some geisman actinics or there blue for some more blue in my tank

Thanks Slim

I'm more about the color as I figure that growth will happen overtime anyway.
Here are a couple of other variables to think about, The tek light has had dimable ballasts installed and I drive them with an ALC module off of a reefkeeper elite and the hood has an a/c duct right inside of it to keep everything cool.

D
 
It's been a hot, short and busy summer. Sorry for the lack of posts in the last two months. Here is the latest...

Slim, this is the bulb combo that I finally went with

Bulb 1: ATI Blue Plus
Bulb 2: UV Lighting Actinic White
Bulb 3: ATI Blue Plus
Bulb 4: Korallen-Zucht Superblue 20K
Bulb 5: ATI Blue Plus
Bulb 6: UV Lighting Actinic White
Bulb 7: ATI Blue Plus
Bulb 8: ATI Blue Plus

I'm currently flying it over a 65gal in the laundry room, let me say that its the whitest whites that we ever get out of the laundry.

Now for some pics,

My budget got cut so I had to forgo the starfire tank, I know I know. I going to be kicking my self for it later.

Just a couple of shots showing the location of the build and the location of the holes. I'm having greay glass cut and polished for the overflow so thats why its not installed yet. I pick it up tomorrow.

P1040262.jpg


P1040258.jpg



Going with a "beananimal" silent overflow system.

P1040274.jpg


P1040277.jpg


40Gal breeder sump.

P1040275.jpg


This is all just dry fitted at the moment as I want to ensure that if I make a mistake or change my mind about something that I will have time to fix or redesign it. The stand still need another coat of epoxy too.

Daughter testing out what she thinks is her new pool.

P1040282.jpg


More to come later this week.

Crabman
 
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Life gets in the way...

Life gets in the way...

Well its been three months since I last posted and I don't have much to report as life got extremely busy over the summer and I didn't have the amount of time to put in on the aquarium as I had hoped.

Here are a few pics of where I'm at

4-2.jpg


The bones of the stand are complete, I just have to run a small duct for the air conditioning that will be supplied into the hood.

3-2.jpg


The light has been installed. I put it on adjustable chains so that it can be raised and lowered. The light will hang approx. 4 inches above the water and when I work in the tank I can adjust it up to 18 inches.

6-2.jpg


The Digital Aquatics Elite has been mounted at the back (temporarily, will be relocated once the "skin" is put on the stand.)

5-3.jpg


This is the sump area and some plumbing. Of course the wiring has to be cleaned up...

2-2.jpg


Lights on,

1-2.jpg


here too.

I hope to add the rest of the dry rock and some cooked rock in the next week or so and then add the water.
The skin that I will be putting on over Christmas will be temproary until next summer as its winter know and there its cold in my work shop (outside)


JD
 
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Your sump baffles look extremely high to me?? I would make them smaller, you're not giving yourself any breathing room. When you turn your return pump off and your drain pipes drain into the sump you're going to flood your floor. I would make them half as tall.
 
I'm sort of thinking that too but I'm hesitant to cut them down before I test the system wet.
At the moment they are about 2" from the top, once dialed in there will be approx. 6 gallons of "overflow" room in the center portion of the sump. The water level in the system will be maintained buy an auto top off system that will be connected to the RKE and controlled via two seperate float switches.
I'd like to try this set up first before I start cutting out the glass and shortening it.
My other sumps have the same sort of high baffles too and I've not had a problem with them.

JD
 
Wow, I can't believe that its been 8 months since I last posted on this thread.

Anyway, better late than never"¦

The sump works fine, even with the high baffles. I've tested it many times and if the power goes out I only have about 3 gallons of water that return back into my sump.
Here is a pick of what it looks like now.

af5d5d3d.jpg


In the first part I have my skimmer, heaters and filter sock.
In the middle I have return pump and the three pumps for my different reactors, (GFO, carbon and pellets), its also where my dosing lines drip.
In the last part I have abut 40lbs of live rock and a circ pump.

Over the next couple of days I'll post a few prgress shots as I took picks at varius stages.

Jeff
 
Comment on your ATO idea. I plumbed my RO under sink and use it for top off, best thing I ever did. I run a float valve in sump and a shut off on the RO unit. I then have a solenoid controlled by my Apex that turns on for 15 minutes 4 times/day. I've had this setup for 8 months with no issues. I haven't read about anyone with this type of setup having problems, maybe others have opinions on this type of config?
 
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