45 Gallon Reef Diary From Setup To...?

[Redstratplayer1]

Looking good ski .

Is it really that blue ?

 

[Mr.September15]

Looking good ski .

Is it really that blue ?

I think its because hes putting on his Actinics. It looks really nice and CLEAN though. Major improvement from the algae bloom picture.

 

[SkiFletch]

It is really that blue. Its mostly because of the 175watt Hamilton 14000K halide which is a very blue light. I also have two 1' 50/50 PC actinics coming for the sides, but for now its just the halide. Since the hood is only 1' wide and the halide refelctor is also 1' wide there isnt really enough room for a full-length T5 or PC for a little extra supplimentation

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Ski how long is the tank and how long are the halides .Maybe you could fit some 20 inch or 24 inch pc or t5 retros on the sides.

 

[SkiFletch]

Its a standard AGA 45 so the footprint of the tank is 36x12". Trust me, with the size of the reflector, all you can squeeze in there are two 12" PCs with reflectors. Its a pretty tight fit in there, but I'm making it work

 

[SkiFletch]

Figured I'd add a couple more pics to the mix that I just snapped

A nice shot of the new clam under the halides and of course the euphylla corner

 

[Matthew5664]

Looking good! shame about there not being enough room for sup lighting. As you know I have the same foot print as you 36x12 and with my MH being 28x12 theres not alot of room left. What I did was to raise the MH up some and put my to 55W PC'c on the upright front of the hood. (see pic) This gave me more room (I could do the same the other side)

Great florecents of the euphyllia whats the one in the bottom right looks to have a orange body with blue tips.

Did you want the blue look for your tank or was it an accident? Have you tried 10K bulbs?

 

[N1z]

OOO nice, well thats wot its like in the wild so why not at home, i must admit most marine lights are too white, mine for sure i feel when my bulbs go im gunna run 1 white and 3 actinic t5s as be better colour then 2 and 2.

 

[SkiFletch]

I definitely wanted it bluer and more phosphorescent. For my next bulbs I think I'll try a 12000k reeflux and see what the difference is. 10000k seems a little too white for my tastes.

The one in the corner is a frogspawn with a green/orange body and purple tips. It looks SWEET under the lights . Hopefully by friday I'll get my supplimental PCs. I had thought about what you suggested matt with the mounting of a PC on the side but in the end I'd probably waste a lot of valuable light. Pretty much came to the conclusion that if I want more light, I'll just jump up to a 250 halide now that I know where to get the lights on the cheap

Ran into one problem this morning as I noticed my cooling fans were a little too good at their jobs . Temp went from 80 at lights off down to 75 when I woke up . So I unplugged the fans and put them in-line with the timer for my halides. I'll prolly have to play around with them a little to see if they're even necessary in the winter since it stays so flipping cold in our house.

 

[Matthew5664]

I had to ajust my fans form; on with MH off 3 hours after MH off, to; on 1 hour after MH on 1 hour after MH off.

With the MH and the cooling also watch out for evap! sneeks up on ya.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, I noticed that, burned through a gallon of water in 8 hours

 

[ox5477]

come on ski, almost 9 days no update???

 

[SkiFletch]

Lol, today's vaccuum day, if things settle well enough for a pic later I'll take one, if not you have to wait till tommorrow

 

[Mr.September15]

Vaccum day? You clean your house or your tank today ...I need to do a water change today since I'm already past due. 8)

 

[demonmagus]

Its a standard AGA 45 so the footprint of the tank is 36x12". Trust me, with the size of the reflector, all you can squeeze in there are two 12" PCs with reflectors. Its a pretty tight fit in there, but I'm making it work

how tall is the tank? I thought 36 by 12 by 18 is standard and isn't that 30 g?