The inwall 380 starfire reborn
- Thread starter Sparkss
- Start date
- Status
zemuron114
In Memoriam
Is the light rack automated so it can move front to back?
This is interesting
- you intrigue me Tom!
This is interesting
- you intrigue me Tom!Johnathan
Yea, that added set of connectors would be very useful. But the ICs I am talking about are the 250W MH ballasts, not the flourescent ones
DJ
Yes, it is automated to move from front to back. The averaged accepted usable lighting spread on an LAIII is considered to be 30", some would say out to 36". I went the more conservative route and used 30" as my mark and spaced the reflectors out fmor each other accordingly. That will leave approximately 9" on each side where the light will be falling off and considered an"low light" area. This also works for our original lighting plan where the lights will be set up so as to miminze the light on the sides, similar to what Sanjay and Steve Weast (sp?) have done with their lighting. The front to back coverage will also abide by the philosophy of having less light towards the rear of the tank. The balance of front to back coverage being taken care of by the light mover setup.
I hope that I have explained it well enough. It will be hard to tellthe tale in pictures, since it would need to be a movie to do so, and right now we are just not set up for that, but maybe before this is all over we will be . At the very least a picture of the coral result will have to suffice (just as soon as we get some corals growing in there for long enough to see a result, that is 
).
Yea, that added set of connectors would be very useful. But the ICs I am talking about are the 250W MH ballasts, not the flourescent ones
DJ
Yes, it is automated to move from front to back. The averaged accepted usable lighting spread on an LAIII is considered to be 30", some would say out to 36". I went the more conservative route and used 30" as my mark and spaced the reflectors out fmor each other accordingly. That will leave approximately 9" on each side where the light will be falling off and considered an"low light" area. This also works for our original lighting plan where the lights will be set up so as to miminze the light on the sides, similar to what Sanjay and Steve Weast (sp?) have done with their lighting. The front to back coverage will also abide by the philosophy of having less light towards the rear of the tank. The balance of front to back coverage being taken care of by the light mover setup.
I hope that I have explained it well enough
. It will be hard to tellthe tale in pictures, since it would need to be a movie to do so, and right now we are just not set up for that, but maybe before this is all over we will be . At the very least a picture of the coral result will have to suffice (just as soon as we get some corals growing in there for long enough to see a result, that is ).zemuron114
In Memoriam
i see How long do the lights stay in one spot? Or does it continually rotate around?
How long do the lights stay in one spot? Or does it continually rotate around?it is adjustable, but I think that the light mover I have is defective, since it seems to move quite fast. I did buy it used, so there is no telling. I do have a "spare", so I may put that on to see how much different it is. But it looks like it makes a full travel of front to back once every 5 mins or so. If I reduce the travel distance down to 10" or so, then the round trip time will also shrink. I am still experimenting with what will work best and won't even begin to commit to anytyhing until after the rock is in place and tank filled the rest of the way. I may not even commit until after I get a meter to take some reading with.
Well, bad news on the rock front. The rock I was supposed to pick up tomorrow is not available. I just got a call. No idea on next available from that source so now I am hunting about for other sources. I found some good reviews and have contacted Marco Rocks (only got their voice mail, they must be closed already, so I sent an Email). I will post here if they are able to help out or not and what quality we get, if we nd up ordering from them.
The biggest downside I see is that they are East coast based. Any West coast based rock suppliers would have been better, for shipping purposes, but they seem to have a good reuptation, so time will tell
The biggest downside I see is that they are East coast based. Any West coast based rock suppliers would have been better, for shipping purposes, but they seem to have a good reuptation, so time will tell
jnarowe
New member
Tom,
the light movers come with different RPM ratings and you may have gotten a fast one. Most of them can be adjusted for the delay at either end so you could probably change that to get the travel time you need. Mine makes the trip fairly quickly front to back in maybe a minute or two, and the delay is a couple minutes. Not totally sure about my exact timing, but front-to-back in minutes is probably OK.
the light movers come with different RPM ratings and you may have gotten a fast one. Most of them can be adjusted for the delay at either end so you could probably change that to get the travel time you need. Mine makes the trip fairly quickly front to back in maybe a minute or two, and the delay is a couple minutes. Not totally sure about my exact timing, but front-to-back in minutes is probably OK.
yea, I called PGS and they said basically the same . I am less worried about that and more about ligthing configuration (bulb/ballast) and combining that with reflector height off of the water (to get that perfect, or cloe enough, balance of PAR and spread).
Now I need to switch gears and work on getting some base rock.. *sigh*.. nothing ever comes easy these days, does it ?
. I am less worried about that and more about ligthing configuration (bulb/ballast) and combining that with reflector height off of the water (to get that perfect, or cloe enough, balance of PAR and spread).Now I need to switch gears and work on getting some base rock.. *sigh*.. nothing ever comes easy these days, does it ?
zemuron114
In Memoriam
Tom, Marco rocks is in my neck of the woods (mass) and he is very reputable and has some very good rocks you will be pleased!
you will be pleased!
mrcrab
In Memoriam
Try this: http://www.mariculturetechnology.com/Rock.htm
also have a look at the worm rock too. This stuff is so unbelievably light it's incredible.
The guy that runs this place has been in the mariculture business for 30 years with a Dr. in marine biology. Very cool guy to chat with.
also have a look at the worm rock too. This stuff is so unbelievably light it's incredible.
The guy that runs this place has been in the mariculture business for 30 years with a Dr. in marine biology. Very cool guy to chat with.
so far the limited communications have all left me with a good feeling about him and his product .
On a separate part of the project, I spoke with the carpenter today about the front access door and trim. Basically I am just going to commission him to build the door and recommend some corresponding trim/casement and I will do the installation. But then again I don't have any prices from him yet, so I may be doing all of that myself. I should know by tomorrow evening which way we will go.
The more reading I do and the more I observe our prop tank (with the PFO HQI pushing hte XM over it) the more I am leaning towards thePFO ballasts and just seeing how it works out for a year. The prop tank doesn't look yellow at all to me, not like the one over the new tank, so maybe it is a matter of burn in time to get the color temp up a bit higher ? I need to do some reading about burn in times and color temps (Kelvin) for the XM 10k 250W SE bulbs. If it were just a little whiter I would be very happy with it. By my calculations (yes, for those that know me, yet another spreadsheet), running the HM for 8 hours the PFOs will cost approx $20 more per month total, to run, a cost difference of approx 50% more than the IC ballasts, but the PPFD difference is on the magnitude of 65%. I will really know more once I get the light meter and test all 3 tanks and also various reflector heights on the new tank. If I can find any data on burn in time I might fire up the new tank on the PFO for a couple of days (or weeks) to see what the true color will end up being
.On a separate part of the project, I spoke with the carpenter today about the front access door and trim. Basically I am just going to commission him to build the door and recommend some corresponding trim/casement and I will do the installation. But then again I don't have any prices from him yet, so I may be doing all of that myself. I should know by tomorrow evening which way we will go.
The more reading I do and the more I observe our prop tank (with the PFO HQI pushing hte XM over it) the more I am leaning towards thePFO ballasts and just seeing how it works out for a year. The prop tank doesn't look yellow at all to me, not like the one over the new tank, so maybe it is a matter of burn in time to get the color temp up a bit higher ? I need to do some reading about burn in times and color temps (Kelvin) for the XM 10k 250W SE bulbs. If it were just a little whiter I would be very happy with it. By my calculations (yes, for those that know me, yet another spreadsheet
), running the HM for 8 hours the PFOs will cost approx $20 more per month total, to run, a cost difference of approx 50% more than the IC ballasts, but the PPFD difference is on the magnitude of 65%. I will really know more once I get the light meter and test all 3 tanks and also various reflector heights on the new tank. If I can find any data on burn in time I might fire up the new tank on the PFO for a couple of days (or weeks) to see what the true color will end up being ok, picture time again
Here are some pictures that marcorocks.com sent me for some "cherry picked" pieces that they set aside for my order so far. I am still trying to decide if they will be enough for what we have in mind, which will be more of an open tank, with some huge swim-through man-made cave structures and a decent amount of sandbed towards the front of the tank and a valley of open sand from front to back, likely at an angle of some sort.
Well, enough of my rambling, here are the pictures that they sent me
Here are some pictures that marcorocks.com sent me for some "cherry picked" pieces that they set aside for my order so far. I am still trying to decide if they will be enough for what we have in mind, which will be more of an open tank, with some huge swim-through man-made cave structures and a decent amount of sandbed towards the front of the tank and a valley of open sand from front to back, likely at an angle of some sort.
Well, enough of my rambling, here are the pictures that they sent me
I think I should add that the table they are on is 6' X 2' and pictured is only 200 lbs (yea, gotta love how dry rock weight comapres to wet live rock ).
The big question now is do I go for another piece or two or just take what he has here and work out the design with the other pieces that I already have (which look miniscule by comparison now).
I definitely want a cave feature like they have pictured here. I believe there is sufficient rock pictured to do that and more in our tank.
http://www.marcorocks.com/images/rock-right.jpg
I don't want to link an IMG tag to it nor copy it to our hosting server as it may be copyrighted. Either way it is a suprt sweet shape/design. You would almost only need a 175 over top of it (since it is so close to the surface) and keep low light or non-photosynthetic corals under/inside of it (since no major amount of light is going to get into there anyways)
Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts ?
).
The big question now is do I go for another piece or two or just take what he has here and work out the design with the other pieces that I already have (which look miniscule by comparison now
).I definitely want a cave feature like they have pictured here. I believe there is sufficient rock pictured to do that and more in our tank.
http://www.marcorocks.com/images/rock-right.jpg
I don't want to link an IMG tag to it nor copy it to our hosting server as it may be copyrighted. Either way it is a suprt sweet shape/design
. You would almost only need a 175 over top of it (since it is so close to the surface) and keep low light or non-photosynthetic corals under/inside of it (since no major amount of light is going to get into there anyways) Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts ?
purebullet417
Rimless Reef Club
in that last pic drill holes in the 38 and 32 lb rock then get acrylic rodsd and use them to hold the structure just set them up first then figure out exactly how you want it to be then drill them out
there are lots of possibilities and I think that as soon as the order for the rock goes through I need to place an order with McCarr (is that the place ?) for the fiber rods everyone talks about using for tieing the rock work together (supposedly alot better than the acrylic rods, from what I read ). Thanks for the feedback purebullet417
Johnathan, yea, that cave is awesome.. not sure if it will work out in our tank or not, but it is something I am shooting for, or at least something similar
On a separate note, I did a bunch of reading on the XM 10K bulbs and they do have a 100 hour burn in period, so in roughly two weeks they should look better.. more white, less yellow. If not, then most places will take them back. Ths big question now is do I start running them now, for two weeks to make sure they are "good" or do I wait until we at least get something in the tank to take advantage of the light ? Seems like a waste, but then again, the clock is ticking on the return policies, and since our original plans for rock and skimmer seem to be slipping/sliding, I have no firm grasp on the timeline any more (and since I manage timelines as part of my job, this is driving me crazy currently.. and in turn I think I am driving the vendors a bit nuts too
)
). Thanks for the feedback purebullet417 Johnathan, yea, that cave is awesome.. not sure if it will work out in our tank or not, but it is something I am shooting for, or at least something similar
On a separate note, I did a bunch of reading on the XM 10K bulbs and they do have a 100 hour burn in period, so in roughly two weeks they should look better.. more white, less yellow. If not, then most places will take them back. Ths big question now is do I start running them now, for two weeks to make sure they are "good" or do I wait until we at least get something in the tank to take advantage of the light ? Seems like a waste, but then again, the clock is ticking on the return policies, and since our original plans for rock and skimmer seem to be slipping/sliding, I have no firm grasp on the timeline any more (and since I manage timelines as part of my job, this is driving me crazy currently.. and in turn I think I am driving the vendors a bit nuts too
)ours are SE also. Kind of rough to have to have a separate lighting setup just to burn in the bulbs. I never had to do that with the AB bulbs, but those were DE. And the one XM SE over our prop tank never gave us any problems, but then again we started that one off with an IC ballast, so maybe those work better overall ? Too bad I like the PAR from the PFO HQI ballasts.. guess I will put them on a timer and just let them burn while everything else is getting set up. *sigh*
- Status
