Wayne's 225

waynemah · #1 07-06-2011, 03:06 AM

I've worked up the courage to try and level the floor...

This is what 5 gallons of self leveling compound gets you.

This is with 25 gallons.

waynemah · #2 07-11-2011, 05:06 AM

Stand built, foam layed and tank is now on the stand!

Next is paint touch up and plumming!

The front of the stand will eventually be built into the wall. I want it to look like a clean ledge.

Dez · #3 07-11-2011, 05:33 AM

Looks great!. Is that room seriously only about 7 feet wide? Did you build it just for the aquarium?

waynemah · #4 07-11-2011, 03:51 PM

Thanks! I bought the house with a finished basement, the space was pretty much useless. I'm thinking the previous owner built it for a bar.

fishytime · #5 07-11-2011, 04:22 PM

Well it should be nice and cozy for viewing the tank

waynemah · #6 07-12-2011, 05:50 AM

Who would have thought the most stressful part would be lighting the tank! If anyone has any good advice, please feel free to pass it on.

Here are my current choices on the table (in no particular order):

Pacific Sun Metis CRP 4x100W -- Right now, the top of my options. This light has everything that I want and more. It's by far the cleanest unit and will give me a lot of room to get into the tank. The down sides are the price and upgradeability.

Aqua Illuminations 6x75w pendants -- I've *virtually* seen many of these in action (YouTube, how-to’s, reviews etc...). I have a very good idea of what these can do, the price is still slightly high, but I don't want to get stuck in a void of having to add more and more expensive pendants to offset the spotlighting these are known to have.

DIY 4 panels of 42 Cree XP LEDs (cool white and royal blue) -- I have the knowledge and experience of soldering and working with electronics. The price is much lower than the other options and I can change out anything that dies on my own... Most likely having spare parts on hand. Huge down side is looks, I don't have the resources to fabricate an awesome fixture for DIY.

I've considered T5's and MH, but I’m the kind of guy to forget about the initial purchase and gripe about ongoing maintenance costs. With LED I believe it's a pay now or pay later situation.

waynemah · #7 07-13-2011, 09:06 PM

Lights are now chosen and ordered!

I'll be going with 4 seperate lights with 36 3w Cree LED's on each! 24 Royal Blue's and 12 Cool whites.

The best part is the ease of building these lights, pre-drilled and tapped heatsync, BJB connectors (solderless) and optics that click right into the BJB!