Michael7979 Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 I see 22 things I'll help you work on!! (laugh) (laugh) (laugh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Angel Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 I love the bottom edge of your picture frame around the tank. I think that looks great. I think it looks better than if you did just a picture frame look all around. Hope that made sense. Tammy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 14, 2006 Author Share Posted December 14, 2006 I love the bottom edge of your picture frame around the tank. I think that looks great. I think it looks better than if you did just a picture frame look all around. Hope that made sense. Tammy Thanks. What we actually ended up doing was sliding the tank inside the wall almost half way. So the tank does sit inside the wall for a nice tight seal and you don't have that sunken look effect. The sill was something we decided on after looking at a bunch of inwall pics and the ones that were in "my style" of inwall looked best with the window sill look. The HUGE bonus to this style which didn't occur to us was that the tank is not flush with the wall so when the kids and people are viewing the tank they don't accidently scratch it or brush up against it. They can can put there grubby little hands on the sill instead of the tank. Also when you are bending down to look at something you have a place to rest your arms. To see pics of it now makes it look very simple but man was there a lot of planning and construction to make this the way I wanted. We finally have a plan to finish up the moulding which should make it look really nice. Right now you can just see the water line at the top of the tank. It looks okay but we are going to change up the moulding at the top a little to hide it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 Hey Shawn, The tank looks great. I am really impressed. Looks like you did a lot of planning for this one. I have a few questions for you. What is the distance from the top of the tank to the floor, inside? It looks low. I have been trying to decide how high to place my tank in the new house. Should I optimize it for viewing sitting or standing or somewhere in the middle. Also are you going to keep the tank exposed in the garage or are you going to build a room around it. It looks like it is below the door bay in the garage. Is that bay dedicated for the tank? I have a simular place in my garage to place the tank, but it is very close to the garage door. That would limit me building an enclosure around the tank. My concern leaving the tank exposed is I don't want to heat the entire garage. I'm in Boise now, and it can get cold in the garage. It might be hard to keep the tank warm when the lights are out and if something happened it would cool down fast. I see you changed your mind about acrylic tanks. Last I talked to you, I remember you saying something like never owning a acrylic tank again. Just curious what changed your mind. Theron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Angel Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 A sill.....duh. Couldnt think what that was called last night. Boy, do I fell sill..y. Ya, I dont like seeing a water line either. Your thread is very amusing with your silly pictures! Keep up the great photos! Tam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 14, 2006 Author Share Posted December 14, 2006 Theron!!! You ended up movin. Hope all is going well for you. Acrylic vs. Glass thing I don't want to get into but I will say I originally ordered a glass tank with starphire but it was smaller. I still like glass over acrylic under the 240gal mark. After that I think they are just way to heavy to deal with and get nervous any larger. When the glass tank didn't work out I went acrylic because obvioulsy Envision is right here and I COULD GO BIGGER. I was also under a time crunch with the new baby and Envision whipped out my tank in record time. All in all I am very happy with it. I forget the distance from the floor to the tank but I think it is somewhere around 35". Most stands are like 30" tall so I am pretty close. My garage floor is a foot or two lower than the living room so I couldn't go much higher without having to go really tall on my stand. As it is the stand in the garage is 4 feet tall with 3 - 3/4 plywood stacked on top. The tank is a lot taller than my bigscreen TV height. Plus the taller you go the less colorful the corals look since the color is all on top of the coral. I didn't want to be looking up at the coral from underneath. Also the higher you have it the more you can see into the garage from the top of the tank. When you are sitting down which is what I'll be doing most of the time I am definately looking up at the tank. If it was in a hallway or somewhere you would be looking at the tank standing up I would have went taller. I went somewhere in the middle. The tank sits under my garage door slightly. The light rack is going to be tricky and tight but should be fine. The garage door fully opens and closes. I have a shop that is detached from the house which has all my "garage stuff" in it and all this garage does is keep a car and some storage so essentially it is just another room with a concrete floor. I am not going to build a room around it "yet". My wife is eventually going to remodel the home and when she does I'll build a room around it. I'm going to plumb a fan exhaust for humidity and heat to the outside but so far it is just fine. Stays a little chilly but with all the equipment and over 300gals of 78 degree water it stays pretty warm in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronjunior Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 What is the distance from the top of the tank to the floor, inside? It looks low. I have been trying to decide how high to place my tank in the new house. Should I optimize it for viewing sitting or standing or somewhere in the middle. Something to consider is, what would you put underneath it someday when rearranging the furniture....like a couch for instance. I think Shawns height of 35" in the living room, is about what I was going to do to build my stand as to not have my couch block the view. Blue tape the tentative hole in the wall and sit on it for awhile before cutting unless you love to sheetrock and paint..if you do, please visit anytime!(naughty) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 16, 2006 Author Share Posted December 16, 2006 Had a great day getting goodies and starting the light rack. Got the 3 - 400w PFO HQI ballasts and 4 160w VHO's are ready too. The ballasts are 220v so my electrical will run cool. We repositioned the garage door brace, hung the rails and built the light rack. The light rack is working and in place but there is a couple little things to fix before it is entirely ready. Fix those and get crackin on electrical which should be pretty simple the way we have it laid out. dewalt is the best these things crank rails up mocking up the hood hood up she slides happy man make sure garage door opens. Fits perfect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H20cooled Posted December 16, 2006 Share Posted December 16, 2006 Looking good Shawn (the tank not you)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted December 16, 2006 Share Posted December 16, 2006 Its okay Rich your true feelings can come out Tank looks great Shawn. I cant wait to see it with some lights on it! Light rack looks nice and heavy duty! Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Looks great, nice job. I think maybe you should try and spruce up your photos more. Maybe act silly and do some funny poses. (Rim) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 17, 2006 Author Share Posted December 17, 2006 some more electrical done and wired and mounted the lumenarcs. Also completed the light rack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Lumenarcs are sooo nice. You are gonna have plenty of light over that tank. Looking good Shawn. What bulbs are you going with? Any other supplementation? Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 17, 2006 Author Share Posted December 17, 2006 Yea I'll have 4 - 6 foot VHO's under there. Those pics coming next. I'll be going with Helios 20K bulbs since I'm running HQI. I've seen these right next to radiums and I like the bright white they give off. I also like radiums so those are in my selection too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 I'm running Helios 20ks off a HQI ballast too. Ran radiums before the Helios........should be able to get a month or two more out of the Helios, so I'm going to stick with them for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 17, 2006 Author Share Posted December 17, 2006 yea when you look at them side by side the radiums look blue'r compared to the helios. The helios looks brighter to the eye and lights deeper in the tank. If i wasn't going with actinic I would run radiums. Got the VHO mounts installed. Next just screw in the end caps and I'll get some pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 18, 2006 Author Share Posted December 18, 2006 vho's mounted got the vho's mounted. here's a pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefhut Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 Thanks... Hey Shawn, Thanks for showing us the actinics. The only problem is we got a view of the outside?? Come on bro let's see the room side...Don't leave us hangn'....Man that's just not right.(whistle) LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronjunior Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 I think he's busy setting up the underwater Nativity scene! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 18, 2006 Author Share Posted December 18, 2006 Here ya go buddy. You know how much point and shoot digital cameras love straight actinic lighting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefhut Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 SWEET... OH BOY IS THAT SWEET!!! ME LIKEY THE ACTINICS....ARE WE DOING ELECTRICAL FOR THE MH'S TONIGHT? I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER....(plotting) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronjunior Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Shawn- Did you pick out your moon lighting yet? I finally bought some cold cathode lighting down the street from us on Hwy 212 last week and are perfect for tanks for the size and light output, $10.95 for dual bulbs that last 30,000 hours and run off of 12v. I picked up a red one up for reefgeek's moonlight, but got myself the blues....very sweet. Other colors too, including UV. When they come on at night, they give off an awesome shimmer on the rock and sand to boot as well as lighting up everything perfectly. Corals still receed and so do the fish when my actinics go off and these come on. Here's the site, they're just E. of the Fred Meyer Distribution Center. NWCA . http://www.nwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products.showDetail&header=PC%20MODS&subheader=LIGHTS&productID=4257&flag=Standalone If they won't sell to you, let me know, I have still have an account there (no I didn't charge geek extra for the light either . I don't have mine mounted yet if you want to see what they'd look like above your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 19, 2006 Author Share Posted December 19, 2006 I haven't figured out my moonlights yet. I have tried the cheap led versions and I've seen the nice PFO ones but nothing has jumped out at me yet for moonlights. Are those cold cathode lights proven safe for a moon light on a reef tank? Those look cool for sure. Those LED tubes look sweet too. Hmmm maybe have to give this a try. Your corals shouldn't receed they should actually appear happier when your moon lights are on. All polyps out and extended. My corals have never had to adjust to any new moonlights I've tried. Your fish will disappear that's fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H20cooled Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Shawn, I just went to home depot on bought a string of the Blue rope lights, the best thing about them is you can cut them to size, you can dim them, and they are cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted December 19, 2006 Author Share Posted December 19, 2006 Rich once again the king of DIY. Dimming. That is what I want for sure. I like the idea of a rope since I have 6 feet to deal with. What is this some xmas light thing? or is it in the regular lighting section? I'll go check it out today after work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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