280G+ Starphire In-Wall Build by ReefArtist

[ReefArtist]

jrcastro -
All you do is just slide the tank on it and for me only the rim is actually sitting on the foam. I would think after a few years it would settle and maybe touch the bottom glass. That would be very nice if AGA refunded your purchase - it's very hard to get any builder to do anything at times.

Chris -
Thanks for the information. I think I'll go ahead and put a dab of Weldon 16 on the top and bottom - just to make sure. I got the Weldon 2007 from AmericanPlastics and the guy I talked to said you want to take the hardest material to get to bond and then work from that. He figured PVC is a very hard plastic to bond to so use a glue made for PVC. That said - I think I'll take your advice and add the Weldon 16 just to be safe - then I'll be doing a presser test just to make sure .

[ReefArtist]

rjohnsen - Tell Pauley - thank you

Hawk'ster - Yes, can you believe it! Now I'm not sure if I should mess with him. Should I take him out and put him through that stress or just leave him in there for two weeks longer? It is so cool - poor little guy! I must say he looked fat and health - must be the bottles of pods I've been putting in the refugium . I open the door and he takes off into the microalgae - nice cover.

[ReefArtist]

I think I'll only use the Weldon 16 (all ready have) on the actual reactor body. It appears it's the product of choice for this application - thanks Chris for bring this up. I like it better as it is much thicker, I then feel like I'm adding something that will actually stick!

[checkinhawk]

no problem carol,you have spent too much time to let something like a stupid glue joint mess things up.i figure the link can be usefull to alot of people who have been reading this thread.

[ReefArtist]

Well I got my light rack 95% finished, I just need to add the top bar that will hold the rack to the sliders. I need to first purchase the one flat piece and it will be finished.

The front will have two T5's and the back only 1. I'm hoping this will help bring depth to the design.

[ReefArtist]

These are the reflectors I'm building. I have two finished so just one more to go.


Here I cut the pattern out of the aluminum.


Cut the holes for the mogul


Drilled all the holes for the rivets and using the bending tool, bent all the sides and top tabs.


Then I just started putting them together.


Finished reflector - without bracket.


Inside the reflector - SWEET!


Reflector finished with bracket, nice,cheap and has great reflective properties.

[IMG]

[boydx6]

Lookin good Carol. What did you use to cut the aluminum?

[ReefArtist]

Robin - LOL. We use these:


They aren't the best but really haven't had any problems. I purshased electric cutting shears and have yet to use them. I tried the air pressured ones and they didn't work at all. I'll have to get the electric shears out and give them a try.

[AudioAdict]

Awesome tank build. You've got some sweet DIY skills. I really love those reflectors. You're doing a really great job.

[boydx6]

Robin, Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant the angle pieces for the frame.

[ReefArtist]

Oh - Okay I did do that - LOL, I just used my old 10" miter saw - remember that old one we used for my stand? I put a metal blade on it - it cuts it but kind of melt/cut. Aluminum is so soft it makes it very hard to cut without a special blade. The $5 blades work good you just have to file it after cutting.

AudioAdict - Thanks we have lots of fun around my house, never a moment goes by that we aren't design/building or just trying to make something just a little better. You need to get some lights over that 40g tank of yours - LOL!

[jay24k]

did you peel the plastic after it was built or some before? I have the top rivited already, just have to finish the rest.

[rogergolf66]

you may have posted this before but what bulbs are you going to use. also what balist?

[ReefArtist]

jay24k - What I do is peel back the edges that will be riveted together, that way when you have to peel it off - you can . If you look at the photo above - the "Inside the reflector" view, you can see how I peel them back. The top of the side panels and for the wings all most all. Hope this helps and good luck with your reflector build.

[ReefArtist]

rogergolf66 - Here's my lighting layout for all the tanks:

280G Display:
The MH ballast are 250W IceCap and my bulbs are:
Right side - 250W Ushio 10K
Center - 250W AquaConnect 14K
Left side - 250W Ushio 10K

Supplemental Lighting:
Ballast: IceCap 660 (15’ of bulbs) 4.4 amps
Front T5’s (2)
Bulbs: KZ Fiji Purple 80W (5 ft)
Bulbs: KZ Coral Light 80W (5 ft)

Back T5 (1)
Bulbs: ATI Actinic+ 80W (5 ft)

Sea Horse Tank:
All T5’s
Bulbs: (1 - 22") UV Super Actinic 12,000 Kelvin Temp (50% Actinic 03 and 50% Tri Band phosphos)
(100% blue spectrum – peaks at 420nm – Blue chlorophyll absorption Life 4500 hrs)
Bulbs: (1 - 22") UV Aquasun 12,000 Kelvin Temp (50% Actinic 03 and 50% Tri Band phosphos)
(100% blue spectrum – peaks at 420nm – Blue chlorophyll absorption Life 4500 hrs)

Ballast: IceCap 660 - 4.4 amps with 4’ of bulbs for Sea Horse Tank and 6’ of bulbs for Frag tank

Frag Tank
All T5’s
Bulbs: UV Super Actinic 39W (3 ft)
Bulbs: ATI Blue + 39W (3 ft)
Ballast: IceCap 660 See above (sea horse and Frag Tanks combined)
SPS Frag Tank
Part of the T5’s (above)
150 MH from fixture

Infinity Tank
All T5’s
2 - 39W 10000K AquaSun T5 HO Fluorescent
1 - 39W Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent
1 - 39W Super Actinic Blue 03 T5 HO Fluorescent
Ballast: Tek 36” T5 Fixture with ballast

Hope is helps .

[jay24k]

are the ushios a little bluer than the xm's for the 10k's

[ReefArtist]

Well the ushios to me at first were very white but after a few months I could see the yellow that people talk about. Mixed with my actinics I get a very nice white - they seem to cancel each other (this is in my 65g). So with my 14000 in the middle with a touch of blue and a very large spread from the reflectors, I'm hoping they will merge. I'd like for the outer sides of the tank to be a little dimmer which should happen. I have a lot of low light corals and this would give me extra area to keep them and not have a MH pounding down on low lighter. We'll see what happens as I really have no idea what the combination is going to look like in the end.

Also, I figured if I needed more spread I could always make some larger reflectors - these are 16" and with the tank being 36" deep I could go with 18" reflectors.

[erics3000]

I love the purple bulbs. I had on on my 75 for a bit and really brought out nice colors.

[SVTour]

Very impressed with the lighting setup so far...

How far will the sliders be able to move the rack? I'm looking to do something similar with my current VHO once the MH pendants come in...

Also, how close do you plan on putting this to the water?

[ReefArtist]

Thanks Eric and Joey - I'm hoping the lighting works out otherwise it will be 6 - 8 months of getting to like it - LOL.

The sliders are 6' and I can completely uncover the tank. I'm trying to get them done today so I can see how much room I have when they are to the max removal point. I'm hoping for about 1.5 ft of space. The next issue will be the length of power cables - might need to purchase longer ones.

[ReefArtist]

I've put all the Zoas that I have in the Infinity, added 4 containers of pods, and I feed the system live rotifers and live pyytoplankton (Nannochloris sp, Nannochloropsis sp). It cycled a few weeks ago and so I've slowly been adding easy care corals. I think I've averaged about 3 or 4 med sized colonies of Zoas and a few rocks with Mushrooms. All the rock that will go into the main display will be hand made so no cycling when I add it. For the most part will will only have the extra 11 little fish as a load - in about 500g of water I don't think those little guys are going to do much. The fish will be added as soon as I can get the lights finished and the rock fired - maybe around Tuesday/Wednesday!

[ReefArtist]

I have a ballast question. I have a IceCap 660 and as they state you can have up to 440W/16FT of bulbs. In their diagram they show the combinations and it's not what I wanted to do. So, my question is - can I mix 2 - 2ft T5's and 2 - 4'ft T5's on the same ballast? This is under the length but I'm not sure if I can mix them.

[poknsnok]

according to the Ice cap website, I would say yes.. "in variable lengthhs of 2 to 8' as long as the max wattage is not exceeded."

[ReefArtist]

That's what I was going by when I first started laying out my lights but when I looked at their diagrams they always state - 4 bulbs 2ft, 3ft, 4ft etc. I'm checking their website now - I really don't like their new fancy layout of their web - just give me the info. I do have a backdoor to their old layout .

[boydx6]

Carol Joe's right. I asked that same question in the IceCap forum and they said different size bulbs didn't matter up to 16 total ft of bulb. They (IceCap) also said that you can mix t5 and vho on the same ballast.