Thanks. I might wait and see what happens... the threads accomplished their purpose and I'll probably just let sleeping dogs lie...

I wish I woulda had this a couple days ago though!

- Chad

t5's
 

Sorry to jump in the middle of things guys, although i have enjoyed the humerous ride re: fish's pics and the guys on RC :biggrin: . Fish you mentioned T5 lighting with your tank earlier. You seem to put in the much needed research that I am somtimes lazy with <hehe>. Any thoughts on your t5 set up, ie: number of bulbs, brand of retro kit, type of reflector? HO vs VHO, ballast brand? Would love to hear your thoughts.

I do believe there is only NO and HO T5 lighting, if im not mistaken?

Yeah, T5 doesn't come in VHO, maybe someday!

Could one overdrive a HO by running it on VHO, like an Icecap ballast or a Workhorse or some such? Or would the increase in intensity be outweighed by shortened lamp life?

The shortened lifespan is minimal if you can keep the bulbs at a proper temperature (so says IceCap).

Yes, can be done, need fan(s). HO with indivdual parabolic reflectors is pretty intense as it is. I've got great growth from my Crocea Clams and SPS, under 4x54 Watt T5 HO, with the reflectors mentioned above, not sure if overdriving would be worth it.

Sorry guys, I wasn't getting notifications for some reason.
nanopodreefer,
I have a 24" Tek (Sunlight Supply) 4-bulb T5HO fixture on order at Gold's. I had done a TON of reading in the T5 thread on RC and decided that Tek was the way to go. There are a lot of less expensive setups on Ebay but the problem is that they don't come with individual reflectors for each bulb. It is those reflectors that give T5ho the real advantange. People say that without good quality reflectors, T5ho is only as good as PC.
The hoods made by Aquatinics are also highly remommended and have good value because they come with an acrylic spash guard and fans. They have 5 bulbs instead of Tek's 4 (edit- but you can also buy 6-8 bulb Teks in certain sizes as well) for the same price which people seem to like because it gives you more colour options from mixing bulbs. The reason I didn't go with aquatinics is because they only make 36" hoods at the moment and that is too long for my tank...
Supposedly there is just a place on the icecap ballast to jump a wire to inorder to overdrive the bulbs... the impression that I get though is that its only recommended if you have a real deep tank and you want a lot of light on the bottom.

- Chad

Wow almost 8 days without an update, i have nothing to do now :( lol

Looking very good Chad, cant wait to see it complete

Well bro, since you needed an update - I headed out to Gold's and got this:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights1.jpg



The bulbs I am running are:

UVL Super Actinic and Geissman Actinic + on the outsides which will function as my dawn/dusk

After a few hours the daylight bulbs will turn on - Geissman Midday 6000k and Geissman Aquablue +


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights2.jpg




- Chad

Wow that's purdy. :)

Thanks Tony.

I got the hanging kit along with the light and have set it up:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights7.jpg


The actinic causes all kinds of trouble for my cameras white balance so I haven't gotten pictures that look exactly like it does in person yet:

Actinics:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights3.jpg

All the bulbs on:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights6.jpg



- Chad

I can't quite put my finger on it... there seems to be something missing in those last few photos. :razz:

HAHAAHA

Ya ya Ryan. When I close my eyes though, I can see the tank and livestock.

(I am still debating what I am going to do for a substrate)

- Chad

Update - Electrical done
 

Today I put a GFI plug on the ceiling for my lights and wired it down to a plug on the wall for pumps etc. Also, the aquarium is on its own breaker. I am still doing some things just to pretty it up a bit.

- Chad

Whens the tank coming Chad?

That is the only thing that I am really waiting for... unfortunately it is going to be about three weeks (boo).
I might start some LR in a spare tank I have lying around... just to get a head start on things.

- Chad

Didn't you order it quite awhile ago?

Actually, I took posession of one already, but there were a couple of things were different from what I ordered, so the shop was good enough to take it back. I went with a different builder now but the downside is, they are super slow...

- Chad

ahh.. ok. :smile:

CHAD ITS AMAZING HOW BRIGHT YOUR LIGHTS ARE THEY MAKE THE TANK LOOK LIKE ITS NOT THERE.:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


SORRY MAN HAD TO DO IT

Haha, I should have piled some LR on stand - then tried to convince everyone how clear my water and glass are!


- Chad

Just curious here, as I am gonna be starting a new tank soon here. Why the T5 over MH? Just heat issues? Isn't that light only 96W? I was gonna do a Giesmann 150 or 250MH with 4 24W t5 actinics, but should I be looking at going with the same light as you? Tank will be 24Lx18Wx20H...about 35 gallons. Would like to be able to keep ANYTHING that might catch my eye (incl. clams) Still doing lighting research here and people keep changing my mind. lol

X-Treme,
Actually the heat was never a consideration. I'm the guy that kept a 70w de MH over a 2gal nano and am a firm believer that halide poses less of a risk of heating your aquarium than fluorescent lighting (because it doesn't have to be placed as close to the surface of the water and can allow for more airflow). I keep making that claim, but no one else has really paid attention ( :

Believe it or not, halide is a better choice for people who also want to keep lower light corals than T5HO is. The advantage with halide is the PAR readings vary dramatically around the tank. The par just a few degrees off, is less than it is directly below the bulb so you can usually find a spot in a halide tank for just about anything. There isn't really any 'shade' or diminished spots in a T5 tank. The main difficulty brought up in the T5 forums isn't how to keep lps or clams, it is how not to kill/bleach your soft corals. (I have been told that because half my bulbs are just actinics, I should be ok though.)

Despite this problem, I went with T5 because I love how slim and pro the fixture looks. I also like fact that I can light my tank evenly with only 96watts of electricity. The cost is prety reasonable, the bulbs are each only $20 and early claims are that they don't have to be changed until they are a year to 18months old, same as halide. Even a single 150w de halide bulb wouldn't have lit my tank as well as this fixture, but it would have taken more electricity and I would be stuck with only one colour and no dawn/dusk. With these 4 bulbs I can fine tune the colour of my tank to exactly what I want.

Because you are torn, I suggest that you go with halide with T5 supplementation. That is the best of both worlds and I don't think you would regret it - plus you would have some nice shimmer. I don't think there is a downside to going with what you originally planned. The heat of the halide bulb will probably decrease the output of the T5s a bit. Halides need to be hot to work properly and T5 needs to be cool to get the most effect. There are claims that even T5-only fixtures that are actively cooled with fans put out as much as 30% more par than without the fans. That's why the radiation hungry crowd goes with the T5 fixtures with built in fans or adds them themselves... however, if you have a halide + T5, you will likely have plenty of par and wont have to squeeze the most performance out of your T5 - it would be mostly for looks and dawn/dusk anyways.

Sorry for rambling - I don't think there is any one right answer. T5 is still pretty new and a lot of the claims and figures may prove to be false over time. I just wanted to try my hand at it while being a little energy conscious and looking good (uh, the fixture that is, not me).

Best of luck whatever you decide,

- Chad

Here is a shot of the GFI plug and elctrical that I put in the rafters for power to my light:



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...electrical.jpg


- Chad

When I was testing the light, I noticed one of my kids' toys over in the corner was lit by the fluorescents so I took a couple pics to show the two stages of lighting:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights4.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/lights5.jpg



I know, I know, maybe I should get some marine life to take pictures of...

- Chad

Things are looking good there, too bad the is no glass to hold it all.

Is that a picture of those rare non-aquatics cones. I hear they are twice as deadly as the aquatic variety. How can you keep such a dangerous animal with kids running a round. :lol:

I noticed on the one timer you have, there is THREE on/off cycles? Is that just the way the timer came cause you aren't really using it yet, or is there some method to your madness there?

P.S. - Sorry for all the "dumb" questions.

Paul,
Thanks bro.

And you're right. The cone was an impulse purchase - I didn't research its requirements before buying it like I should have. It's free to a good home... might work in a species tank...

That's really observant of you. Actually, I just took that timer out of the package and hadn't set it up yet. (The cone is nocturnal and doesn't have any light requirements).

When I do run the lights, I will probably try something like:
Actinic - 8:00am - 10:00PM
Daylight - 10:00am - 8:00PM

Cheers,

- Chad

When I read the email thread-update notifications for this thread, I thought, how on earth can he be talking about a cone snail when there's no tank yet? :lol: Ahhhh it's all so clear now. ;)

Haha sorry Tony.
It's sad what a guy will resort to while waiting for a tank to be built... I have named it and everything...

- Chad

I like the idea of keeping the safe close-by. That would come in handy with this hobby.

The only need any of us would have for a safe is a fire safe to keep all our recieps for the insurance company. God knows we'll spend every last dime we have our dam tanks. LOL

Haha, I closed that safe for the last time when I was twelve years old or so. I forgot the combination but I have held on to it bacause someday I am going to get into it and get my comic books back...


TRIX raises a good point though. I wonder what coverage my policy offers if I had some tank-related disaster?

- Chad

I've been told that if my system was lost as part of a claim I would be covered for the aquarium and equipment but not livestock.

Update:

I hadn't called Bow Valley since I ordered the tank - but they phoned me today! And the tank and sump are finished - a week sooner than quoted!!

I can't make it up there until Friday, but once I do, I will post some shots.

- Chad

Tank has arrived
 

First off, I know I am going to get a lot of requests about this, but I do not know where I got the leopard blanket from... I just hung it so that you didn't have to look at my messy basement.

Along with the display tank, I also picked up a sump that I had built to maximize the shape of my stand:



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070209046.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070209034.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070209043.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070209051.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070209022.jpg




- Chad

reply
 

Love it! The leopard print back ground that it. Looks like a trendy new type of tank.:razz:

Hahahaha
A little voice told me that I should have grabbed a different blanket of the shelf, but I just didn't listen....


- Chad