danskim's 300g rimless starphire

[danskim]

Oh yeah, I was a bit worried about the wave being too high, but I was assured in the Tunze forum that it wouldn't be a problem.
But since my tank will be rimless, it could cause me (or other viewers) to become seasick, so that is another deterrent.

[kiknchikn]

Man, that sounds like a sweet tank. I look forward to seeing some pics.

How come you haven't made a thread for this new tank on CMAS yet?

[danskim]

I wanted to get some work done before putting something up at CMAS and WAMAS

[kiknchikn]

Good reason I hope you get a nice set of pics showing the entire process. I love watching how things come together.

[danskim]

Yeah, I intend to document as much as possible. I am starting the stand soon, but all the other stuff will take at least a few weeks to come in, so things will be a bit slow.

[Wryknow]

Sea sick? Never heard of that but I guess it could happen if you stare at the wave long enough (not sure why you would do this when there's a bunch of coral and fish to look at but who knows?)

The tank stress on the other hand is pretty darn hard to quantify and tehre's just no good answer to that one. Personally I think that Tunze is being way over-cautious to avoid litigation but who can say for sure? If you're worried about it the I agree that you should go another way but I wouldn't be drilling extra holes in the tank either then.

Of course, if you're really worried about it then I wouldn't buy a tank from them either, but maybe that's just because my wife would ban me from ever having an aquarium again if I flooded the house.

[danskim]

Yeah I'm leaving the possibility of getting the Wavebox open. Officially Tunze says it would lessen the life about 10-15%, which isn't that bad, but you may be right that they are just extra cautious.

[Wryknow]

I've never exactly figured out what the heck that's supposed to mean though. I mean really, a 10-15% reduction from an intangible length of time that varies greatly by environment, care, and manufacturing quality? That sounds suspiciously like a made-up number to me. Of course, if my tank busts out tonight I'm going to be really ****ed (knock on wood)

[tanya72806]

I had a wavebox on my 180g and I was very dissappointed with it

[danskim]

In what way were you disappointed?
It didn't seem to do anything? Or was it not worth the extra cost over a Stream?

[danskim]

Woohoo, so I ordered the lights, so they will be coming in a few weeks. I had the option of getting them shipped now, but I told ReefGeek to hold my lights and ship them when they get their new stock of ATI bulbs in because they are out of the ATI Blue Plus.

Here is my bulb configuration for each fixture...
3 - ATI Blue Plus
2 - ATI AquaBlue 12000K Special
1 - UVL AquaSun
1 - Sfiligoi Super Actinic 03
1 - GE 6500K

[aurora]

I had the same issues when I put together my 300g 5 years ago but I went with 72" length and 30" deep tank. The lighting logistics for a 96" light was just a bit more complicated at that time and you do have a lot more choices now. You would have to go with at least 5 bulbs to keep from getting darks spots if you want your tank fully lighted by fixed lights. That would be about $400 every 9-10 months for bulb changes not including the electric bill (rates are going up in MD if you have Pepco). I started with 5 lights on mine but cut down to 3 lights with a light mover to reduce my operation costs. This worked out really well since I've probably saved tons on replacement bulbs and electricity...and still able to keep any coral I want to.

The nice thing about a 96" length is more room for creative aquascaping. Just remember that your corals will cut down flow as they get larger and having spaces between rock islands really helps the colonies achieve nice natural shapes.

BTW, I live in Rockville and you are more than welcome to come by and look at the set up I have.

[danskim]

Yeah a MH setup with a light mover system would have been cool.
But it would have looked too industrial and messy without the use of a canopy or in-wall setup. Since my tank will be rimless, I need a neat looking fixture.

Thanks for the invite aurora. I still would like to come by and see it some day.

[danskim]

So I finalized my circulation. I bought another 6200 and 6212 (wavebox).
The ATI Powermodul 8 bulb fixtures are 17-18" wide. There's going to be about 12" of non-lighted area, although of course the light spread will be greater than just the fixture width.
To compensate, I'm thinking of going with either a series of clip-on HQI fixtures like the Coralife or JBJ Viper, or with 2-3 HQI spotlights made by Won Brothers.

[danskim]

Here's what I've done so far with the stand...




2x4s and 2x6s. Does it looks sturdy enough?

I also got an update on my tank. It's finished, but it just needs to cure then ship

[danskim]

Also here are the fixtures I was talking about...

Won Brothers:


Coralife :


JBJ:


The JBJ is tiny but cheap. Cheap could be a bad thing though.
I like the Won Brother's spotlight. I could easily get 2 or 3 up on the ceiling above to highlight different areas of the tank.

Last option is getting two 2-bulb T5 fixtures to make it 20 bulbs total.
There's a cheap CoralVue T5 hangable retro complete with individual reflectors. (http://www.coralvue.com/t5retro.html). I'd get the matching 36" and 48" fixtures to cover up the back area of the tank. Of course performance will probably will not be on par with the Powermodul, but that's okay.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to consider 2 small hanging HQI pendants from PFO, Aquamedic or SLS.

[erics3000]

I like the addition o the 2x6's I just tripled up each 2x4 leg. Looks like s you r ot o a good start. My keyboard is craping out sorry..I am going to change it out

[Wryknow]

Looks good! I think you'll be really glad that you got the wavebox when you start watching your corals sway back and forth in the current. I wouldn't worry about the 12" lighting gap - the light dispersion will probably be such that you don't even notice. (Plus you can always add it in later if it bugs you )

[danskim]

That's what I was thinking too... First see how the lighting is and add it as necessary.

[danskim]

Pictures of my curing tank before the overflow box.

[Wryknow]

That's gonna be nice. Thanks for sharing!

[JCurry]

Dan ypu did go with Glasscages right? The tank looks great, when is it being delivered?

[danskim]

Yes, it's a glasscages tank.
It's scheduled for a Sept 23 delivery.

[jasert39]

it will be here before you know it, stand looks great to me, nice work.

[danskim]

Thanks jasert39. I plan on priming and sealing the stand in the next few days.
Some equipment and supplies came in today too... pretty exciting stuff!