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210 Gallon Build


bstoner

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You think those 250w are enough for your tank? I am still a little on the fence about going with 250w or 400w MH. You tank is 30" tall right? How far off the water are the lights?

 

Are they SE or HQI? I am too lazy to read up. I have 3- 250 HQI and 2 - 150 HQI over a 30" deep tank and have no problems growing SPS on the sand.

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I was looking at reg bulbs not HQI, which ones do you have? Why the 3 250's and the 2 150's instead of all 250's?

 

Thanks Scott I will keep that in mind, but right now I think I am going to just run the pipe through the fuge under the sand into the return section so its a straight shot, its only one extra hole to drill and will be in a baffle.

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I don't have much in my sand bed due to having the stingray in there still, but I do have a derasa clam down there that is doing just fine on the 250's. Lights are about 10" off of the water. I would like to go up to 400's for a brighter look with 20k's, but I really don't want to deal with a chiller if I don't have to. As it is right now, my tank never comes below 79 degrees.

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I was looking at reg bulbs not HQI, which ones do you have? Why the 3 250's and the 2 150's instead of all 250's?

 

that is way the unit is sold, plus I don't want areas to be over-blue. just enough to pop the colors!

 

Aqua Medic Oceanlight

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Interesting I have not looked at that light before. Whats the purpose of having two different wattages?

 

So they can sell you two different lamps for one hood! ;)

 

Seriously, Andy has the idea right, the 250's are the grows, the 150's are the shows. Most people run the high par lamps in the 250 sockets to get the growth, and the higher kelvin lamps in the 150s to get the look they like. It also allows a little more gradual light increase if you are using burst lighting schedules.

IE: The 150s can kick on first (300 watt) then the middle ballast ads another 250, then the outer lamps add another 500.

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Callen thanks for the pic, your tank looks very well lit.

 

I see on the different wattages now, I guess you would just have to place the corals accordingly with the different bulbs?

 

Found some 1" sea swirls that I might use on my returns, anybody like or dislike these? I dont think I will be running as much flow as they are rated for but I assume that doesnt hurt them.

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Callen thanks for the pic, your tank looks very well lit.

 

I see on the different wattages now, I guess you would just have to place the corals accordingly with the different bulbs?

 

Found some 1" sea swirls that I might use on my returns, anybody like or dislike these? I dont think I will be running as much flow as they are rated for but I assume that doesnt hurt them.

 

 

With that lighting combo, the lower wattage lights are just for color, not growth. The higher wattage lights cover the entire tank area so that you can grow equally everywhere.

 

I run a seaswirl on my tank and it is great. It adds some randomness to the flow and has been super reliable for me. You don't have to run max flow through them, it's just a pipe that moves. Keep in mind, though, a 1" outlet is pretty big and if you're running low flow through them, you're not going to be adding much (if any) current to the tank to warrant having the sea swirls.

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As of right now I think I am going back to the idea or running the dart, I can throttle it back if I need to or just run excess back into the return zone. I think the sea swirls should mate up well with that.

 

Hopefully the guy gives me first dibs on the sea swirls, someone else is asking about them now. :(

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Started cleaning up the tank today, just did a side panel and its looking really good. I am going to try to get the rest after work. Crossing my fingers that there are no big scratches. I will post pics once I am done.

 

Right now I am just doing a quick clean to check for scratches, after that I will do a more intense clean with some bleach and more scrubbing to make sure nothing remains.

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As of right now I think I am going back to the idea or running the dart, I can throttle it back if I need to or just run excess back into the return zone. I think the sea swirls should mate up well with that.

 

Hopefully the guy gives me first dibs on the sea swirls, someone else is asking about them now. :(

 

I run the Dart on my 125 and as you said I just throttle it back a little but so far it's been a good pump. It is quiet and cool.

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Ok I got some cleaning done, after about an hour and a half of bending over and smelling vinegar I was over it so I will have to finish the rest another time. I got the front and both sides 95% clean and the back about 80% clean but its looking much better. I did find a few scratches but nothing I cant live with so far.

 

Before.

 

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After.

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Thinking about making a glass eurobrace for the tank instead now. Do we have any resident eurobrace experts?

 

I am thinking two 84"x 2" by 1/4" thick across the front and back then the two offset 2" wide braces across the depth of the tank and 2" wide pieces down each side to close it in.

 

Been searching on RC for pics and see a few different ways to do it. I called the glass store to confirm that they can cut glass to those dims and they can and its REALLY cheap I would probably have under $50.00 in materials including silicone.

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Scott when I first thought of doing this I was looking at it like an upgrade, the cheaper cost was just a bonus. I really didnt think it would be that cheap.

 

I got the old trim off in about an hour tonight, went pretty easy actually. Not sure what I will end up doing but I want to explore this idea!

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