New here....posting from Findlay Ohio

[Neogenesis]

Hey all,

Just dropping into say HI and check out the site. I'm fairly new to salt, but thanks to my sister and her 180G tank, I'm now hooked. My 46G bow setup is about a month old now with a pair of Ocelaris TR Clowns, a few small Zoa frags, and a Duster. Everything is going great so far, I just hope I can keep it that way.

Scott

[marinelife]

:welcome2::hello::Hi ya!:

Tank sounds nice. Do you have any pictures?

[Neogenesis]

Pictures I do have, as I've been getting some help on Reef Central. The Main tank is a 46G Bow, which is plumbed through a wall into the back room. I made a sump from a 55G tank for the main reason of increasing water volume for the system. I picked up the Halide Pendants in a trade for some computer equipment, I personally don't like them, but they work until I get my LED rig built. I'm running a Nautilus Skimmer and a Mag 7 for a return, which ended up having to be choked down because of the bad overflow design on the main tank. The overflow is increadibly noisy, but this tank is hopefully temporary as I hope to convince my wife that converting the freshwater 125G would make a awesome saltwater tank. So far it's going well......she just needs a little more convincing.

Scott

Here is a FTS during diatom bloom.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/DSC_2800.jpg

Another FTS showing lights and all. The Halides are temporary as I will start building a LED rig within a week or two.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/DSC_2814.jpg

Here are my 2 little clowns.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/DSC_2803.jpg

RO/DI Setup
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/DSC_2786.jpg

Sump I built
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/DSC_2783.jpg

Here you can see how I redid the desks in the basment so that the tank sits between the kids computer and mine. The tank was only being leak tested with freshwater in that pic.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/DSC_2775.jpg

[marinelife]

Tank looks good!, what problems are you having with it?

I like the tank between the desks.

[Neogenesis]

The overflow was added in by the previous owner. It's very narrow and you just can't move any decent amount of water through it without it making the flushing noise. I've tried multiple ways to quiet it, but have yet to find any. I think the other problem with it is my pluming comes straight out of it through the wall. I should have used a elbow, dropped it straight down, and then gone through the wall. So at this point, I've just reduced the return rate from the pump and am living with the trickling water sound. I'm keeping a close eye on the water parameters as I'm stocking to make sure the reduced turnover through the sump isn't going to cause any problems. So far so good, but there is very little bio load in the tank. I also have yet to get come cheato growing as I haven't found a local source for any yet.

Scott

[marinelife]

Did you try a Durso Standpipe like at http://www.dursostandpipes.com/
I use these on all tanks I have had. Not sure if it would work without the any drop in the pipes, maybe it could be modified to work.

[Aquatic Specialists]

Welcome, nice set-up!

[Neogenesis]

Can't even use a durso. It's drilled through the back, not the bottom. So I'm just kinda stuck. Depending on if we just decide to stay with the 46 Bow or convert the 125, it'll either get replaced or sold.

Scott

[jeremyreef]

set up looks nice! :welcome:

[marinelife]

Ok that is not good, can you get a picture inside the over flow?
My vote right now is to make the upgrade :)

[chromiumlux]

Welcome! Glad to have you here.

[satch12]

welcome... looks like you are off to a good start. I do however second the upgrade haha, bigger is always better.

You should post some pics of the freshwater tank in the fresh forum.

[TechGuy40]

If you have an established sump, you could always put the fish, and rock into it. have another hole drilled, and rebuild the overflow.

Better now than when you have a fully stocked tank!

[marinelife]

If you have an established sump, you could always put the fish, and rock into it. have another hole drilled, and rebuild the overflow.

Better now than when you have a fully stocked tank!

that is a good idea!

[Neogenesis]

Wow....I nearly forgot about this thread with all the crap going on at work. Now to try and pick up where we left off. I would love to upgrade, but I've got a very healthy stock of cichlids in the big tank and my wife and kids just absolutely love the breeding group of Demasoni. She is gaining more and more interest in the salt setup, so hopefully by summer I can get a bigger tank up and running. Amazingly enough she bought me a small colony of Ricordia for valentines day and when I was just "looking" at another store in Toledo, she popped for a Zoa frag.

Back to my tank, I've attached some pics so you can see how it's built. I most likely should have plumbed it differently, came out of the back of the tank into a elbow, down a foot or two, than went through the wall, but it's too late to easily change that now.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/SANY0016.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/SANY0017.jpg

Scott

[Jshroom86]

were does it go through the wall I assume you have a closet behind it.

[jeremyreef]

i dont think it looks bad

[Neogenesis]

It's not too bad, there just isn't a good way to quite it as it's too narrow to do anything inside the overflow itself. The other thing I don't like about it is, if a fish were to jump into the overflow, it's would be a PITA to get it out. And yes....the backside of the wall houses the HVAC and water heater for the house. Pretty roomy overall. I haven't finished building everything yet, but here is a pic so you can see how it's setup for now.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/SANY0018.jpg

Scott

[jeremyreef]

nice, i like the basement set up.

[mayhem_audio]

Welcome some one farther north than me

[Neogenesis]

Spencerville....I've got some family out that way. My mom grew up in Landeck, so I've got family in Spencerville/Landeck/Delphos area.

Scott

[satch12]

I would still love to see that cichlid set up if you have pics of that post them up in the freshwater forum... PLEASE :)

[Neogenesis]

I'll got one up for ya...It will be later tonight as I have to do some after hours work tonight for a customer Hecki, you'll even go to see the first LED light set I built. It was my experimental setup before I build my LED rig for my salt tank, which I just ordered the first parts for. WooHoo for no more Halides, lower electricity usage, and no bulb changes for the next ten years!!!!!

Scott

[satch12]

cool I guess we dont have a freshwater forum anymore but just post it up here then. and post some pics up of your LED rig I would love to see that and im sure others would too

[marinelife]

Yeah there is a freshwater area, under General Interests!

[Neogenesis]

As promised...here is a pic of the freshwater setup. I've got 12 LED's over the tank, which as you can see do a heck of a job lighting it up. I would like to add another 12 for 24 total, but I'm hoping to take it down soon, so I'm not going to invest any more money into it at this point. I'm grwoing tired of taking care of 2 tanks already. The funny part is, it's hard to belive there are around 30 fish in the tank when I took the pic. They all vanish when the camera came out. If it were any other time, they would all be in a ball at the top begging for food. Crazy little buggers.

Scott

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2168.jpg

[mayhem_audio]

looks nice

[satch12]

very nice I love cichlids but that would make one bad a** reef too...

[jeremyreef]

nice tank...i used to keep cichlids, but got tired of having a bunch of tanks so just salt for me now.

[chromiumlux]

Very nice set up! Lots of caves.

[ghurlag]

Did you build the LED light fixture? If so, I would be interested in seeing some details on that

[Neogenesis]

Thanks for all the compliments guys!! All those caves makes for great breeding grounds for my demasoni. They reproduce faster than any other fish I've ever kept. They also eat and kill each other just as fast. I'm hoping to go salt only soon, I've evaporating a lot of water every day, even with the big one completely covered.

As for turning it into a reef, I don't think I'll covert that particular tank. It's 10 year old tank, which there is nothing wrong with that. However it is a older design with thicker glass and no center brace. The little bit it does bow would make it tough to make a full hood for, which I want when I go for a salt tank that big. I'll most likely try to sell it as a entire setup, just not to that point yet.

As for the lights, yes I built that set of lights. It's just 2 simple pieces aluminum, 12 Cree XR-E Q4 LED's, One Meanwell Driver. Hook it all up, and away you go.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2142-1.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2158-1.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2174.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2153.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/wiringdiagram2.jpg

I just got my heatsinks to start the build process for my salt tank. I think I went a little overbaord. I got 2 10"x10" heatsinks, both with have 17 LED"s on it. Pics of the overly massive heatsinks.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/SANY0019.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/SANY0020.jpg

[marinelife]

Looks nice, I want to do this sometime.

[marinelife]

What are the Q5 LEDs

[Neogenesis]

I got all my parts from rapidled.com Cree which is the mfg, classified the XR-E LED's into bins which referred to the intensity of them. Basically so many lumens per watt. Q5 being brighter than Q4 at the same wattage and amperage.

Scott

[marinelife]

Scott, I am thinking of replacing my MHs with 3 sets of 24 of the Q5s so they need the covers?
I wonder how they would compare to the MHs

[Neogenesis]

They aren't so much covers but are lenses, available in more than a few options. There are a lot of variables to look at. How large is your tank "footprint"? How high above the water are you planning on mounting them? You may or may not need or want lenses. Another thing to keep in mind is if you mounting them low, you may want a splash shield of some sort. What are the wattages of you current MH's and how many?

Another options to look at is the Cree XP-G LED found here. http://ledsupply.com/led-catalog.php It puts out more lumens, however the lens option is not near as good if you plan on using them.

I've read about a lot of builds, and the whole "number" of LED's is always highly debated. I've seem some bleach SPS when they were wondering if they even had enough light. The more I read, the more I see smaller numbers of LED's being used. I've followed the entire bug LED thread on reef central. Lots and lots of reading there on this subject, and I'm no means a master.

For instance, on my 46 Bow, I'm planning on using 9 blue and 8 white per half so 34 total. The feedback I've gotten says I'm marginal for SPS, but I'm not planning on keeping it any time soon. Also remember the comments above about bleaching. So....please take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, I built my freshwater setup as proof of concept just to see what the light looked like and to be sure I could do it.

Scott

[Neogenesis]

I also wanted to add that I designed the layout of my LED's in a way that if more light is needed, I should be able to add in a few more pretty easily.

Scott

[marinelife]

I have 3 400w MHs now and that is all.

I have them in pendants and I was thinking of 3 sets of LEDs to match the way the lights are now.

[Neogenesis]

What's the footprint of the tank and how high off the water are you planning on putting the LED's?

[marinelife]

30x30x96 not sure on how high they would be, My MHs are about 10" off the water.

[Neogenesis]

From what I've read, I've seen a array of 24 LED's compared to a 250MH. I'm pretty sure your going to want to go with more LED's since your looking at a wider and deeper tank than most I've read about. Also, if it were my tank, I would look into optics to help get the light to the bottom of the tank. I've got some pics I took of my 125 with and without optics. Let me dig them out and I'll post them up so you can see the difference. It was pretty dramatic when your looking at how much light in penetrating to the bottom of the tank.

[marinelife]

ok cool. I think I am going to try some on the one end of my tank once I get my tax return.

[Neogenesis]

No Optics, 2" above top of tank
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2163.jpg


With 60 degree optics 2" above top of tank
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2160.jpg


With 60 degree optics approx 7" above of tank
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/DSC_2168.jpg




And here is how I'm laying out my LED's on my new build. Hoping this will help center the light over the rocks, and be just a bit dimmer around the edges. My thinking is that this will help keep the sand bed algae free.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii308/Cichlid-Wolke/Saltwater/finalleddesign.png

[Neogenesis]

ok cool. I think I am going to try some on the one end of my tank once I get my tax return.


I recommended that to my sister as well. Her hubby really wants to go LED, but is hesitant due to the lack of "you need X amount of LED's for this size tank". I suggested he do it modular, replace one MH at a time, that way if something isn't doing well under the LED's he could move it to the other end of the tank back under the MH. They are running a 180G with 2 250watt MH, and VHO supplementation.

Good Luck....and be sure to document what your doing....I would love to see how you implement it.

Scott

[marinelife]

This is the one kit, it comes with lenses so I could get the 40
* 12 Cool White Cree Q5 XR-E LEDs

* 12 Royal Blue Cree XR-E LEDs

* 24 Cree XR-E Lenses (Choose from either 40, 60 or 80 degree white or black lenses!)

I would think 4 of these kits to make 3 fixtures.

I would only order one to test it. I will let everyone know how it goes in an new post in say maybe a month.

[Neogenesis]

I would definitely go with the 40 degree optics with the deep tank that you've got. Just curious, what are you going to be mounting them on? You going with Heatsink USA heatsinks or do you have something else in mind? and please keep us updated....I would love to see your results.

Scott

[marinelife]

I am not sure 100% what I will be using. I now have a thread started that I will update as I go.

[chromiumlux]

Yes, I am taggin along on this one