RyanGSP's 80G Build

[Ryan]

I will also be grabbing my lighting this Friday when I come to Calgary. My dad's new puppy arrives at the airport Friday evening so I will be in to pick him up.

I have found 2x 250W DE Lumenbright Pendants with Galaxy Ballasts for my lighting. I am still trying to decide if I want to go with T5HO or LED's for Actinic Supplements. If I go LED I only want to run Cree Royal Blues.
I will be using the Phoenix 14K bulbs for the halides so what do you guys think I should do for Actinic?

[Ryan]

UPDATE TIME!!!!!


Alright so yesterday I was in Calgary picking up a new puppy and couldnt pass on these Halides. Last night I installed them into the canopy and right away I wasnt happy with them. These Halides really are meant to be a pendants. They are 16" diameter and 8 or 10 inches deep. They fill up the whole canopy and leave very little water uncovered. Both pendants are run by 2x 250W Electronic Galaxy Ballasts.







So this morning I decided I was going to change it. I went out, picked up some supplies, cut some lumber, and went to work. I also mounted the Ballasts in the canopy. What do you guys think of that idea? Keep in mind there will be 2x 120mm fans blowing air into the canopy and a vent in the top to let hot air escape.

Here is how it sits now.






Now the bad news. The bulbs are over a year old and are only good for growing algae. But a J&L order was placed and I should have the Loc-Line to finish the return as well as a new Phoenix 14K Bulb show up wednesday or thursday. Also the seller forgot to give me the power cords for the ballasts. I was distracted by new puppy Guiness trying to eat everything I didnt catch it. So they will be shipped out on Monday and should reach the house Wednesday as well.

Hopefully we see some light later this week. Man its going to be a loooong wait.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by bades

Ryan, looking good so far. It's amazing how a little elbow grease and hard work can make a tank look good. Just a quick question for ya,..... when you were scraping off the paint from the back side of the tank, you said about half way through you found a better (and faster) way to remove the old paint. Just curious what you did and secondly, did you spray or roller(paint) the black paint on the back? I want to repaint my back side of tank as well, but not sure whether to spray or paint! Thanks.

Sorry I took so long to reply to this. I totally missed it until I just reread the thread.

What I did was use an arch scrape pattern and only cut enough paint to fill half the razor vs the entire razor. I also made sure I always used a fresh razor blade as they cut much easier.

I picked up a little roller kit from walmart ($4) and used it to roll the paint onto the glass. Because of the overflow I used some masking top to make a nice line and rolled on the paint. This makes it look clean and covers the view of the overflow from that side.

[viperfish]

Those are some cool lookin' light fixtures you got there buddy!

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

Those are some cool lookin' light fixtures you got there buddy!

Thanks Rod.

I am still not too sure about them but they will do. Maybe next year I will order Hamilton Cayman Suns.

[viperfish]

I wish my fixture had as much light spread as these. My tank is 30" front to back and most combo fixtures just don't cover that area effectively. Are these SE or DE bulbs?

[Ryan]

They are DE bulbs.

[Ryan]

The J&L came in today so a little update. After 2 hours of ****ing around we finally got the fixtures and skimmer running. I should be able to move the remaining SPS from the frag tank into the display and shut the frag tank down.

Here is the tank with the Ushio 14K


And now the Phoenix 14K's in the fixtures!


I also got rhe Loc-Line for the returns and put them together. I have one shooting down the back and one shooting down the front.



Now the Vertex IN-180. It will do until I get the Mini S I guess

[thegecko]

Awesome build Ryan!!!

[Ryan]

So I moved all my corals up tonight from the Frag tank. I need to pick up some Epoxy (*sigh* another J&L order) to start securing everything down.

Here are some random pictures from tonight. Things are looking pretty rough, I have been neglecting the frag tank since starting this build.