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#1
11-09-2014, 04:10 AM
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Yeah I have been considering going DIY with LED fixtures and funny you mention the dimmable T5's as just yesterday i fired an email off to a few of our wholesalers at work to see what they could do for me. Looking into home lighting automation stuff too... there is some amazingly affordable home automation stuff out there now for lighting, heating, and window coverings... haha but that is a whole different thread.
Back to functionality... what if i went custom sump build... took advantage of being under a 6 foot tank and had a chamber probably mid way through sump to house frags... kind of solves the where do i put it question, but then can't double as QT for new tank additions........
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Electromagician by day, Reefer by night. Last edited by Wildechild_01; 11-09-2014 at 04:19 AM. 
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#2
11-09-2014, 05:05 PM
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I'm way happier with the DIY LED, light quality just does not compare. As soon as I bite the bullet and pick up a controller, I'm adding a couple t5's and going with a hybrid setup.
The only reason I wouldn't put a frag tank on your main system is that if you start to have water problems, there is nowhere to put your corals. Our 220G has some larger tangs so we have had problems keeping the phosphates/nitrates low at times. Ended up setting up a separate 45G tank that is way easier to control those levels in, especially through the summer months when these things get a bit neglected.
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#3
11-09-2014, 06:27 PM
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Quote:
That is essentially my concern with housing frags in sump, if something goes sideways I'm stuck. I may be able to swing permission for a frag tank outside of the designated fish area but may have to trade that for permission to build an arcade machine..... I should have bought a bigger house... hahaha.....
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Electromagician by day, Reefer by night.
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#4
11-17-2015, 03:16 PM
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Well, It has certainly been a long time since I posted anything here. I am going to try and do a better job keeping things up to date here with the newest rebuild. A little over a week ago I came home from work to find my 120ish 6 foot long tank with a water level a little below 1/2, and all of that extra water on the floor in my basement. Luckily(?) the auto top off had timed out and turned itself off, the main return pump had burnt out so at least I wasn't adding water to the problem. Needless to say it was a bit of a panicked evening. I euthanised some feeder goldfish that had spent the summer in my pond and quickly cleaned that tank out and slapped it full of salt water. I moved all of my prized big corals (we are talking Euphyllia with 40+ heads) into some buckets got some live rock in the 40g tank and got the fish along with the BTA's into that tank. The corals and some LR spent a night in the buckets while I tracked down an extra tank to house them in. The next day got the corals moved into another tanks with some LR that had spent the night in a pail with heater and power head, unfortunately something somewhere died in that tank over night and by the time I got home from work on day 3 the corals were done....... I managed to save 1 Hammer Coral head, some GSP, and some Watermelon Zoa's in the tank with the fish. The bright side is I no longer have a mushroom problem in the tank. After panic clean up mode I found that the tank was leaking along the seam between the front glass and the tank bottom, I am not 100% certain what happened but at that point decided I was done with the tank. Yes I probably could have cleaned it up and re-sealed it but I would never trust that tank again. So the decision was made to change things up a little bit. Enter a 150XH, slightly more volume, and better viewing angle for where it is being installed. Ordered up the new tank and stand from LFS only to have it back ordered. The LFS then facilitated having a tank built by Concept Aquariums, so needless to say I now have a beautiful tank. The tank was delivered yesterday but needs to sit until at least thursday before it can hold water. The reality is it will likely sit even longer. The plan is to wait until this weekend to do anything with it at all and that will very likely only be final placement and leveling and masking non viewing angles. If we are feeling particularly ambitious may start some rock placement. We will likely pick up some new dry rock, likely Pukani because it looks so awesome, to work with along with some existing LR knowing that there will then be a cycle process before the fish can move over. This however will let us do the rock placement in a dry tank making things a lot easier and ultimately more stable. The plan is to take this rebuild a little slower now that the corals are all but gone and the remaining livestock is doing great in the 40G sp no need to rush.
The 40 is running a HOB filter with LR rubble and some filter floss to take out some of the gunk, and I have my remaining MP40 in there as well. My second MP40 didn't survive the tank leak, the controller at some point fell to the floor and sat in salt water for at least a few hours and now it is toast, additionally one of the wet side impellers is now seized, so down to 1. Along with the new tank will come a couple pieces of new equipment. Namely a Maxspect Gyre XF150 and a Reef Octopus 150SS skimmer. I will be using my existing sump for now and my existing lighting. Down the road I will likely upgrade both but since this is a forced re-build trying to space out the expenses a little bit. Ultimately though I plan to add upgraded lighting and a dosing system to this setup with the plan of finally housing SPS corals. I will try to get pictures up as the build progresses and hopefully life doesn't get too in the way of updates here.
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Electromagician by day, Reefer by night.
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Hybrid Mode
