Asylumdown's 275 Tank build

[asylumdown]

Ah heck, I'll post a pic of that too:

So far they've only framed the exterior walls that will hold up half the backyard, there's going to be a second inner tier of walls that will form a 3 level terrace stepping down from the upper level to the lower level. about half of the long side will be sealed, so at the top there will be an stone bowl that water pours from, down the face of one of the walls in to a shallow pool, then down a second wall in to the lower tier, which will be 2 feet deep and 5 feet wide. The plan is to fill the bottom tier with water lilies, and the middle tier with marginal plants. However, I'm half heartedly trying to figure out if there's a way I can make it a salt water fountain and fill it with animals you'd find in a BC tide pool hehe.

[fishytime]

where are you building, Adam.....obviously an old neighborhood, with an alley in the back...

[asylumdown]

It's in St. Andrews Heights. I have lived in Calgary my whole life and I had never heard of the place until we saw the listing for the house we bought.

It's just off University Drive next to the Foothills. Nice old neighbourhood that seems to be about 10% under construction with new homes at any given moment.

[asylumdown]

I've spent the past 2 days (literally) researching lighting options. I had pretty much discounted LEDs as an option a few months ago as I hadn't done a whole ton of research and I didn't trust the technology to spend the kind of cash I would need for a high end fixture. However, I stopped in at Red Coral on the weekend and saw the Reef Tech unit there and was inspired to do some more digging. I'm thinking that I might have been too quick to pass them over as an option.

After some serious digging, I've come to the conclusion that LEDs might be right for me, but I'm majorly on the fence regarding brand.

The three options I am most interested in are:

Vertex Illumina 260 (6 ft fixture)
- I like the modability of this fixture, but I'm having a hard time finding people who've owned the fixture for many months who are posting reliable pictures. I've also been looking in to the bulbs they use, and while I haven't been able to find the specific 'white' bulb they use on the Cree website, I've found others that are comparable (I think anyway), and they don't seem to have the red peak in the right nanometre range (a peak closer to 550nm, whereas photosynthesis does best at about 675). I don't know how big of a deal this is, but I know that that peak is really critical to chlorophyll, so I'm still not 100% sold on this. I like that it can be updated as technology advances, but I scream at the idea of paying extra for something as tacky as 'lightning effects'. Also, It's a 34 inch wide tank, and if I'm spending 5 grand on a fixture I'm not at all interested in needing to supplement it to get extra spread, it should be a one stop shop. Some people say it's 120 degree spread will cover up to 36 inches, but I've not been totally blown away by anecdotal PAR readings. I do think the sunrise/sunset and moon cycles feature has value in terms of fish behaviour though, and this is a very appealing draw.

Orphek PR-156W - They claim to have developed their own diodes specifically for corals, and I've seen some killer tanks on RC using just these lights. They don't mess around with the gimmicky lighting modes, but the ability to fade on and off would be better. They're less expensive for what I'd need, but I'm confused about their colours - their white is a 16K diode with a pretty weak spike in the 550nm range compared to the spike in the blue range. This doesn't seem any different than the Cree LEDs on the vertex from a spectrum point of view, but I'm by no means an expert on lights. They're definitely on the short list. Also, if I orient them perpendicular to the long side of the tank, they will give me more than enough coverage with 4 fixtures.

ReefTech Prometheus - Hot little fixture, though not sure if it has the spread to cover a 34" wide tank, and again, the idea of needing supplemental lighting of any kind after spending 4000 gives me gas. It's possible that they could be oriented perpendicular like the Orpheks and go with 4 units instead of three, but they're not really that long of a fixture to begin with. The whites on this unit are 7000-8300K, which should have a spike much closer to 675nm, and should therefore be more photosynthetically useful to corals.

I would love some input. I'm also thinking I'll wait to make a decision until the last possible moment (sometime in December), and hope that something more specifically practical has come out by then that addresses all the issues currently facing LEDs.

[lastlight]

New house pics.

You've been too quiet =)

[asylumdown]

hehe, you're right. I've been checking Canreef pretty much every day without logging in. I'm presently tankless so I've not had a whole lot to contribute, but it is definitely time for an update.

Not a whole ton has happened regarding the tank since my last post because the house was being stucco'd and they were getting ready to lay floor tile (we needed more instant leveller than any one supplier carried - we have A LOT of tile). The builder wisely wanted to wait until the stucco was applied before they go further with the interior, as houses tend to settle when you apply that much weight to their exterior. However, they've now completed the floor tile on the main and basement levels, and are almost done applying it to the two vertical feature walls. As such, I've met with the finishing carpenter twice this in the past week regarding the final look of the tank area, and I'm happy to report I will now be getting full access to both sides of the cabinet (above and below) with a series of touch latch doors that will be integrated in to the final look of the tank wall. I'll be getting in touch with Kevin in the next week regarding the final dimensions of the tank so we can order it. They're going to build the cabinetry on the front (dining room) side first, then we'll slide the tank in from the office side and they'll finish the cabinetry around it. I've asked the carpenter to build the back side of the cabinetry in such a way that if necessary I'll one day be able to remove the tank without doing an entire renovation.

Everything looks the same except for the floor right now, but I guess I can share some photos:

Looking from the dining room to the tank. The floor turned out better than I had dreamed. It looks like a cross between polished concrete and tarnished gun metal. Unfortunately, it photographs terribly and the floor (which has now been covered with protective cardboard) was filthy when I took this pic.


This is the dining room, you can kind of get a sense of how the floor will look when it's clean.


and also, they finished the concrete work in the backyard, the water fall/feature is now obvious (it's the tallest tier and the two sections of wall below it). Just waiting for them to back fill the raised section and lay the irrigation system

[lastlight]

Yeah that's a nice lookin tile.

And holy cow that's a ton of concrete work for a water feature. My guess is the budget for that makes your tank build seem somewhat minor Nice stuff!