Solana tank owner thread.

[mr86mister]

Can't help you too much but the sunpod's are no longer made which sucks because I wanted one so bad!

Can you swivel your light at all?

 

[a-T-m]

No swivel at all, and the only place that it can be clamped is in the second chamber, so it prevents me from any maintenance unless i want to move the light and put it back.

mr86mister, i know that the sunpods been discontinued, but there has to be some places that still have one or two in stock. I think i found two websites that have them, i'll let you know if they're forreal.

But before i commit, what are some other lighting reccomendations? Is pretty much everyone going with the solana pendenant bulb thing or a sunpod?

 

[sal9012]

No swivel at all, and the only place that it can be clamped is in the second chamber, so it prevents me from any maintenance unless i want to move the light and put it back.

mr86mister, i know that the sunpods been discontinued, but there has to be some places that still have one or two in stock. I think i found two websites that have them, i'll let you know if they're forreal.

But before i commit, what are some other lighting reccomendations? Is pretty much everyone going with the solana pendenant bulb thing or a sunpod?

I didn't (but again, I don't have back chambers anymore). I went with the NEP 6x18 T5HO. I'm a Metal Halide guy my self but was trying to reduce heat and energy consumption. I miss the color temperature and shimmer, but I like the growth on the T5 and I don't miss the added temperatures.

You can get the hanging bracket for the solonana (or make your own):

Even if you don't use the Sunpod or NEP it will help you hang the pendant.
There are plenty of MH pendants out there. They use to make also the Sundial (which IMO was a great pendant 1x150 MH and 2 x 32W PC with built in timers)
Aquamedic is a great pendant and you can hand two LED strips on each side for supplementation (something like this):

LED's are also an option (this is where I'm going next)

Some many possibilities :spin2:
I'm not helping much, I'm I ?

 

[sal9012]

sal9012, that's an awesome scape! everything looks great!

Thanks, it's difficult to get a decent FTS because of the extreme curvature on the front pane.
Sal

 

[nirvanaandtool]

Hey guys! Haven't been on here in awhile - hope everyone's tanks are doing good.
The pics on the last page look good to all that posted them.

I need to get to taking new pics of my tank. Made some changes recently - added a MP10ES, took out some frags and added some new ones too. Concentrating mostly on SPS now with a handful of softies and LPS to round out the bottom of the tank.

 

[rck]

I made mine own out of some 3/4" conduit and then used the ceiling hanging kit my used Sunpod came with. I used a pipe bender at Lowes and bent the 2 ends and then made adjustments when I got home and mounted them on the tank-stand. I was able to use the hangers cool wire locking system which will make it easy to move it up n down and I used 2 rubber replacement feet from a folding chair as my end-caps.

All for less than $2O and that's including the can of paint... Bada Bing DIY!

 

[MVlk]

rck, Nice hanger build. I'd say it is a great example of a ghetto build, but it may be too nice to call it that. Spray paint it black and you could sell it.

 

[rck]

A nice can of hammered black paint is sitting less than 5 ft away... My 3 yr old boy and I are gonna paint it tonight! Guys project! Beers n wings ( he gets apple juice )

:beer:

 

[a-T-m]

sal9012- no you aren't haha! just kidding.

I do like LED's, but i'm planning on experimenting with them on my pico build before i took it to the solana.

But the main problem is that i'm running on a budget; a lot of the nice fixtures are out of my range, and some of the cheap ones are real iffy. NEP's are a good option, and aren't very expensive. I'm going to try and look at a few MH fixtures and pendants, but if it doesn't work out, i very may well end up with the NEP

 

[sal9012]

sal9012- no you aren't haha! just kidding.

I do like LED's, but i'm planning on experimenting with them on my pico build before i took it to the solana.

But the main problem is that i'm running on a budget; a lot of the nice fixtures are out of my range, and some of the cheap ones are real iffy. NEP's are a good option, and aren't very expensive. I'm going to try and look at a few MH fixtures and pendants, but if it doesn't work out, i very may well end up with the NEP

If you are on a budget search for fishneedit MH pendants, they are pretty good at a great price.
You have options 70, 150, 250
You can even buy the pendant alone (add your own ballast) for like $59


You can upgrade the bulb and supplement with powerbrite leds if you want latter on.
NEP is a great light that pushes a ton of light, I wish the bulb options was better but that's suppose to change with the new 30W T5HO from UVL (if they ever come out)

DIY LED's are not that expensive, I'm working on a small one for the frag tank, that I'm using as a prototype for the main tank if everything come OK, that way I don't spend a lot of money testing.

 

[a-T-m]

Would any ballast work with the fishneedit? like the one from my current 150w fixture?

 

[sal9012]

pretty much, if anything you may have to change the connector (I don't know which one you are using)
Email the guy if you want, he is great at getting back to you.

 

[lpsouth1978]

sal9012- no you aren't haha! just kidding.

I do like LED's, but i'm planning on experimenting with them on my pico build before i took it to the solana.

But the main problem is that i'm running on a budget; a lot of the nice fixtures are out of my range, and some of the cheap ones are real iffy. NEP's are a good option, and aren't very expensive. I'm going to try and look at a few MH fixtures and pendants, but if it doesn't work out, i very may well end up with the NEP

I used the Hamilton Cayman pendant, and found a CoralVue ballast on sale. in all I paid less han $200 dollars and the square shape of the fixture compliments the solana well. (IMO)

I bought the pendant from Customaquatics.com. I personally got the 400watt, but it also comes in 150 and 250, and includes some blue LED's for night use. All you need to do is build your own hanging system and your set. I built mine so that it swivels out of the way for maintenance. you can sort of see it in some of my pictures.

 

[a-T-m]

Before i do anything on lighting, i need HELP!!!!

I moved the tank, and now it is noisier than anything else, the stock skimmer and the point where it overflows into the second chamber.

Could ya'll post pics or descriptions of how you're running your back chambers? The second is loud because i've got the filter floss from media baskets on the top rack above chaeto, and i think the floss is to thick and water seeps through in one spot instead of flowing over the whole thing.

And what can i do to make the skimmer quieter short of buying a new one?

 

[lpsouth1978]

Quick update.

Quick update.

I finally removed the hammer and frogspawn from the tank and replaced them with a large yellow scroll coral. It is now the centerpiece of the tank. I also got a wrasse (Halichoeres melanurus). It is beautiful and has done very well in my tank so far. I have had it for about a month now and have had no problems with it. My pygmy angel just follows it everywhere it goes. It's kind of an interesting relationship.

 

[wastememphis]

 

[Clavius]

A question for you Solana owners who are using a Tunze 9002 skimmer: Do you have to remove the magnet to make the skimmer work in the first chamber?

 

[DJ88©]

A question for you Solana owners who are using a Tunze 9002 skimmer: Do you have to remove the magnet to make the skimmer work in the first chamber?

Put it in the middle chamber. All you need to do is dremel out the acrylic square rods part way down in the middle chamber for the skimmer to fit in there. Then have the magnet in the third chamber. Then your skimmer is unaltered as is your overflow box.

 

[Clavius]

Put it in the middle chamber. All you need to do is dremel out the acrylic square rods part way down in the middle chamber for the skimmer to fit in there. Then have the magnet in the third chamber. Then your skimmer is unaltered as is your overflow box.

Oops, too late. I removed the magnet... and put a small hole in the case of the skimmer. I think I can fix it though. I was trying to avoid putting it in the middle chamber. I'd prefer to have it in the first chamber.

 

[lastlight]

I simply left the magnet mount in place. Didn't want to risk damaging the skimmer. I attached a new magnet to the long side and I have my skimmer in chamber 1 with the InTank custom cup. No mods.