Joe's Starfire 210

[plutoniumJoe]

I've been working on my light rack the last couple of days. I am trying to come up with something that will hold 3 250s plus 4 t5s. Right now my t5s are from my 4ft tank so they will be too short unless I stagger them. I want the option of upgrading down the road to 8 36" t5s.

I am also thinking of different ways of supporting the rack. Right now I think I will use aircraft cable and suspend the rack fr the ceiling. I am trying to come up with an easy yet secure way to raise and lower the rack when needed. Does anyone use pulleys and if so how do you set the height?

[plutoniumJoe]

So this is what I have so far.



I still need to make one more reflector but I am getting good at it.

What look like feet on the rack will hold the t5 strips depending on what I end up using. For now it will be the 48" staggered but time will tell.

Here is a FTS with the prototype reflector mounted on some PVC and held up with 2X4s.




Everybody in the tanks seems happy so we will keep going.

My wife really likes the way the rock looks now "all clean and everything". I am slowly adding the old live rock from my 75gallon as I transfer fish. It won't look as tidy but oh well.

[plutoniumJoe]

Well one step forward and two steps back. I noticed some moisture from the emergency overflow for the Herbie and realize that the seal to the bulkhead is leaking. I will have to drain the overflow and take apart the connection and re-seal.

It is a bit anoying as I will also have to replace the pipe to the sump because it is all glued up and no way to get it out without cutting it.

Anyway I guess it could be worse.

On a side note does anyone else who runs a herbie notice that your water level changes from daytime to night time. It seems that during the day my herbie never uses the 2nd overflow and at night the water rises in the display to the second overflow. It is weird and troubling.

Joe

[plutoniumJoe]

I had a rough start to the weekend on Friday. During my original leak test the overflow bulkheads didn't get much of a go. Needless to say the emergency drain on the Herbie was showing some signs of leaking. I the joint from the bulkhead to the drain pipe seemed to be the problem. Everything below that is glued up and I there was no way to undue the joint and fix so I cut the bottom pipe away.

It was very tense as I was using a saws all and the power caused the bulk head to work its way loose and then bang around. Once the pipe was cut I realized how stupid I had been but the damage or lack their of had been done.



That was just the start of my troubles. With the pipe gone I tried to loosen the nut to the bulk head but the threads of the bulkhead had gotten so beaten up that it a bugger in a half. I still couldn't loosen the drain pipe from the bulkhead as I couldn't get a grip on anything. The bottom pane of glass sits on 1/2 foam then I have 1" plywood under that. The hole I cut for access to the bulkhead is too small to get much into it and the tension was mounting.

I also knew that it didn't even matter if I was able to get the nut off the bulkhead I still wouldn't be able to get it over the the threaded pipe nut.

I tried using a blade held with pliers to cut between the two but nothing was working and I couldn't get any decent access to it to get any kind of grip. I finally had a eureka moment and thought what if I just use a cutting wheel on a dremel and cut the nut.



Voila! Everything replaced and water tight. I don't know how many more frustrating evenings it might take but it was a close one.

[plutoniumJoe]

Well I haven't posted in a while but I did the big move two weekends ago. Everything went better then I thought with no losses. It was also pretty cool that within a day the cyano in the new tank cleared up. The skimmer also got the load that it enjoys and I couldn't be happier with my Bubble Magus.


The lights turned out pretty good but I have to work on leveling them and finding a better way to hang them. I think I will just go with chain.



I will also add t5s to the lights as soon as I get a chance and maybe some LEDs.

Joe

[fishytime]

good to here the transfer went well.....thats gonna be ton of light

[plutoniumJoe]

Right now it is 3 X 250MH. The T5s will only be 2 X 54watt as I don't want to replace the ballast at this time. For LED it will only be 6blue and 6white.

[plutoniumJoe]

Well I have added the T5s to the rack. They are a bit short but they will do. I am running them both with Fiji Purples and it is a nice transition light and makes the corals pop at night.



I have also added two strips of 3X3Watt LEDs that make great moon lights. I stopped running them for now as I need to set up a better way to put them on a timer as I don't want them running full power all night, it's too bright.

I am still working on the cabinetry and hope to have the doors and the top on this weekend (wishful thinking, looks like it will be a gardening weekend).

I also added an exhaust fan that you can see in the top left of the picture and will need to hook that up to a humidistat.

Thanks for looking.
Joe.

[Sebae again]

Your tank looks great! What brand of leds are you using and where can you buy them?

[plutoniumJoe]

Hi Sebae,
The LEDs are Prolight 3W that I got off ebay. http://cgi.ebay.ca/20x-White-3W-LED-...#ht_3088wt_962

I bought blue and soft white.