Newbies - or so

[Seewolf]

Hi all,

Although I am on the email list for a while now, I was one of the more silent members of the Boston reef society. This was mainly because I currently have only a very small reef tank (7gallon bowfront), which I actually moved to my office. Nevertheless, I am a reefkeeper since 1987 when I turned my 100G chichlid tank into a reef. In 1995, I moved from Germany to NYC where I lived until late 2000. In NYC, I had neither time nor money to do reefing. Then I moved to near Boston (Hull) and I started again, which means reading the Boston reef club emails (sundown sand discussions and other things). I also followed reefcentral's message boards (on and off). I started a small reeftank that (I think) is very pretty now. Anyway, now I and my wife moved into our new home in Rockland and I am planning to start with a new tank.

The plan is to use an acrylic tank without sump (hey, my nano reef works great with a CPR bakpak) - maybe a tenecor with simplicity system. Lighting, I am not sure - I did extensive research on HQI lighting (I actually had HQI lamps from 1987 until 1994) and I am not so sure whether power compacts would not be the better choice. The other thing is where to buy the stuff. I do not want to spend a fortune (although when thinking about a tenecor tank, this sounds quite hilarious). Maybe this is the place to look for used stuff in the area. By the way, the tank should not be too gigantic (100G max - our living room is not too large).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
- Stefan

(username Seewolf; pffhhhhh@yahoo.com or pffhhhhh@mac.com)

[stevescg]

Hey, were practically neighbors. I live in Hanover, grew up in Rockland.

I am not so sure whether power compacts would not be the better choice.
definately go with halides instead PC's

Let me know what yo are looking for specifically and I can probably tell you where to find it locally.

[Seewolf]

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the note. I will definitely need help and advice. I know a couple of local stores (the one in Quincy, Tropical Isle in framingham, and I even drove to Nashua NH las summer) but for buying equipment, I may find better deals elsewhere...

I fell in love with the acrylic tenecor tanks and I am seriously thinking about getting a 70G pentagon tank. I want to have, for the first time, a tank where everything technical is hidden and a tank that does not sit on a self-made wooden (sometimes even cinder block) support. The acrylic tanks just look very nice.

If I can not find a used one (have a post in buy/sell), I will order one - don't know where, maybe diretly from the company or from the fishtankshop.com...

I am not sure about whether I should just get the tank drilled or whether I should get their simplicity plus (but I guess that there is no space for a skimmer) - alternatively I could get the reef-ready but this would bump up the price quite drastically...

Well - thoughts - I still have some time for planning... any input (local or not) would be great. :rolleyes:

- S.

[stevescg]

Because there is not a Tenecor dealer in the area, Tenecor will deal directly with you . here's a contact

Dennis Hipp
Director of Sales & Marketing
Tenecor Innovative Solutions

Email: sales@tenecor.com
Phone: 602-437-4373, ext. 103
Fax: 602-437-4383

[Seewolf]

Steve-
Thank you for the info. I called yesterday and Dennis was very helpful. I changed my mind about sump connection etc. Actually now I want to make use of the space underneath the tank and I am getting an overflowbox and return. I also get an extra tall canopy to be prepared for all kinds of lighting solutions. The only remaining question is the color of the stand & canopy... :)
I guess that I will order the tank this week...

The next project will be to clarify what kind of sump will fit into the stand (I have a new acrylic tank 20x12 (18 high) sitting in the basement... but I am not sure about the inside dimensions of the pentagon stand and the position of (if there are any) vertical fortifications.

Lighting, well... any suggestions? :D

Thanks!
- S.

[stevescg]

Halides ! 250 or better. I have PC and am changing to halides. Your limited, as far as livestock, with anything less than halides.

[ScavDog]

I'd go with an Aqualine Bushke HQI fixture.

Good light spread and real cool looking.

Aqua spacelight

http://www.ab-aqualine.de/images/spacelight.gif

http://www.ab-aqualine.de/images/spacelight2.gif


Aqua starlight

http://www.ab-aqualine.de/images/starlight.GIF

http://www.ab-aqualine.de/images/starlightfuture.gif

[moe_k]

Man oh man, ScavDog.
Those things look sharp, but I bet they're expensive. Yes?

[Buzzard]

Just to jump in on this thread......

Yes it is expensive; however, when I compared the Aquaspacelight other hoods and DIY alternatives the cost was somewhat comparable…
+-$150 difference.

The Aquaspacelight 2x250W HQI & 2x24W actinic ($799 at Custom Aquatic)

[stevescg]

I think seawolf is looking for something to go over a corner tank. Does AB make something for corners?

[ScavDog]

http://www.customaquatics.com/images/lt-AB75161.jpg

Aquastarlight 250 watt 10,000K single lamp in a white housing
Weight: 22 Lbs.
2 feet long

[Violin]

Aqualine Bushke HQI fixture looks cool. HOWEVER, it has a major drawback. AB bundle up the MH wiring
into single wire. So when you fire up the MH, the relay on the timer will be hit twice of the current for twin HQI's.
(will be worse for triple HQI's) If you don't use heavy-duty timer, you better have a fire alarm near the
timer. AB also built the ballast into the fixture, so the fixture is VERY HOT to touch. I personally like
to put MH on separate timers so I can turn them on individually to avoid current overload on the
circuit breaker.

Overall, $150 doesn't justify the cool look. BTW, HQI 250W bulb is is an excellent choice. As a matter of fact,
I'm looking into IceCap's new HQI 250W ballast.(It's so new that only Marine Depot carries it) I talked to IceCap
yesterday about this ballast then learned that this ballast doesn't need tuning nor overdrives the bulb.
The ballast has been tested for more than a year and never caused the bulb to flicker!! I would say
I'll go for it when I upgrade my 175W MH.

[Seewolf]

Hi all,
Thanks for the nice pictures. I looked into the spacelights and similar creations last year. Nice pieces. But Steve is right, I am looking for something that fits into the tenecor canopy.

I actually did it today. I ordered the 70G Pentagon tank with extra tall canpoy (12") and stand!. I will have the exact dimensions of the canopy tomorrow to have some time for planning...

I did some pondering last year about different pedant-style lights and I liked them all (Dupla, Griesemann, spacelight) - I even found a small place in my parents home town (village) that makes cool HQI pedants (http://www.aquaconnect.com/eprdufo.html)... Anyway, I need (want) to fit the light fixtures into the 12" tenecor hood and I want to have not only as much light output but also the right balance and variation... Guess the first thing will be a drawingboard kind of planning to see what can fit into the pentagon hood...

Does anyone have a pentagon? What kind of lighting do you use?

- S.

[Violin]

I got this thread from general bulletin board and thought you might be interested.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68237

[Seewolf]

Thanks Violin,

Sounds like an option. I'll make an up-to scale model of the hood/stand this weekend (cardboard) to get an idea of the size and how I can fit things. I dug out my old math formula collection to get an idea of the pentagonal spaces - fortunately there are lots of 90 degree angles in the tenecor pentagon... One of my major problems is that my current candidate sump tank (I have one in the basement) is 12x20, which may be problematic to fit into the pentagon base with 24" maximum side length...

- S.

[Seewolf]

Thank you all for the help - hope to be able to post some pictures later this year once the tank is up and running.

I posted the lighting question in the general reef forum, just to get more exposure:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71554

- S.