The Eagle has Landed.

[Wickednix]

Yup thats right, my 36" cube has arrived. I will post pictures as soon as I find out where my wife hid the dang digi cam. The stand is finished I just dont have time or a truck to drive to LA to get it. I think I am getting it this weekend. Once i get the stand its time for the fun part.


My question to the uber reefers.

The tank is 36" long by 30'wide and 24" tall. Should i go 2 400W MH or 2x250w MH?

[SOREVIV476]

1 400w se with a lumenarc reflector.

sweet tank size. my bro has a cube 36x36x24 he is going to run the light i recommended to you on his tank the lumenarc gives a good spread

[wrightnow]

I would go the 400w for sure, i'v had 175, 250 and now 400w and I love them. My tank if 24"tall and I like the idea I can run any color bulb, place corals any where in the tank and have plent of light. Heat is the only issue, a big bifferance from the 250 to 400's.

Mark

[Wickednix]

Heat isnt an issue, I have a chiller on its way. My LFS has a 400w Hamilton on the same specs as my tan and there is alot of dark spots but when he turns on all the lights its like wow. They have 200w 400w and 175w on the tank.

I was thinking that 2 400w with the right reflector and my tank will look sweet.

[SOREVIV476]

i use to run a 400w mh over a 30 gln. never had any major heat issues. i would run the lights in the night though from 7pm - 2am which was perfect because thats when i was home.

[Wickednix]

I might make my new tank have a light cycle of 4pm to 12pm. I get off work at 430-6, this way when I get home the coral would have time to wake up and be happy to see me :P:

[GinaSofia]

just food for thought...when Dana Riddle gave his presentation, he showed how 400 watts over most hobbiest's tanks is too much for most anything except maxima clams.He said it pushed the lighting past the saturation level for most corals.

[rxdi]

The tank I did for my aunt is 30"x30"x24" and I used a 250watt hqi ballest from hamilton with a 20k radium single ended bulb. and it looks great plenty of light, no dark spots in the corners, real nice color. I think two over your tank would be to much. If you want to use two, because your afraid of dark areas on the ends you might use two 175 watt.

http://home.earthlink.net/~the_louthans/images/pattystank12.JPG

[Wickednix]

Well heres pics of stage 1 removing the shipping supports.
http://www.cxdesignz.com/pic/eagle1.jpg
http://www.cxdesignz.com/pic/eagle2.jpg
http://www.cxdesignz.com/pic/eagle3.jpg

I will post pics of the paint and the stand later this weekend .

[fish_who?]

just wondering who built your tank and what it cost?

What size are those holes?
Jim

[SOREVIV476]

nice tank!!!

its nice to have some dark spots for lps or zoo's that dont need so much ligh. if your worried about dark spots get a 24 inch retro pc for the the sides.

[Wickednix]

Aqua something in LA. I'll get the full the company name later. The tank retails at $450, I got it for $325 The wholes are 1 1/2 inch. I have 2 more wholes to drill.

[Wickednix]

Heres some more pics of my progress.
http://cxdesignz.com/pic/full1.jpg
http://cxdesignz.com/pic/sump.jpg
http://cxdesignz.com/pic/hamiltons.jpg
http://cxdesignz.com/pic/canopy.jpg

Plumbing is going in on Saturday. After that I am going to move it into the house and fill the Eagle up..

[rxdi]

What wattage lights did you end up getting?
How are you going to plumb that sump into it, I don't see an overflow? I see two holes drilled in the back, but I also see a swcd. Before you plumb the scwd in check both of the ends on the outputs, the last two I got had a mismatch on the fitting from when they welded the two halfs together. They both had a real slow leak no matter how much I tightened the hose clamps. I ended up taking them out and smoothed out the mismatch with some sand paper. they still had a real small leak but it stoped after a couple hours.