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Unread 07/08/2018, 12:38 PM   #201
Sisterlimonpot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chris o View Post
Have you considered using a pair of track actuators like these.

http://www.firgelliauto.com/products...track-actuator

I used a pair of them to raise and lower my light rack about 35 inches. They have them up to 60 inches. You could rig one on each side. You can wire them to one controller.

Chris
unfortunately those actuator don't fit my needs. I decided to go with a stepper motor and a screw mounted in the center. I have to acquire all the components but once I do I will get started on it.


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Unread 07/09/2018, 08:18 AM   #202
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Post lots of pictures as you build it out! Looking forward to see your robo-hood come to life.


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Unread 07/10/2018, 12:29 AM   #203
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When I had my 300 we built a custom LED light and used a winch and rail system to move the light up and down. Because the winch was built for vehicle (12 volt) use, we used a motorcycle battery connected to a battery tender to power it. It worked great and even had a little key fob remote to operate it.


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Unread 07/11/2018, 12:17 AM   #204
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light rack looks good. I downsized and just got a new 300gallon 8ft 24x 30 wide do u think you need 8 radion fixtures? i was getting rid of metal halides and thought i would get away with 4 radions what do u think?


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Unread 07/11/2018, 12:50 AM   #205
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Unread 07/11/2018, 11:51 AM   #206
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Originally Posted by NVfishman View Post
light rack looks good. I downsized and just got a new 300gallon 8ft 24x 30 wide do u think you need 8 radion fixtures? i was getting rid of metal halides and thought i would get away with 4 radions what do u think?
Thank You! My tank has the same dimensions as yours. The choice for 8 XR30's was 2 fold, I wanted to try as best as possible to distribute par evenly throughout the tank and eliminate light hot spots. My lights are 9" off the surface and roughly 19" apart on center (8" between each unit). Having 8 allows the lights to interact with each other giving more consistent par levels and will allow the lights to run at a lower overall intensity and hopefully prolong life expectancy.

With that being said, with every channel at max and overall intensity at 100%, the par levels of these Gen4 Pro's are off the charts. I have no doubt in my mind that 4 of these would be plenty for an SPS tank. Although when considering light distribution and Ecotech's recommendations of one XR30 covering a 24"x30" footprint at 9" off the water , you're right at the edge of their recommendations and may have low light areas in between each unit. I personally would still orient them lengthwise, although, you may consider mounting them turned 90 degrees front to back as well as raising them up to 11" to get better color distribution as well as even par.

Are you on the fence about wanting to get more? or is 4 your limit?


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Unread 07/12/2018, 06:10 AM   #207
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot View Post
Thank You! My tank has the same dimensions as yours. The choice for 8 XR30's was 2 fold, I wanted to try as best as possible to distribute par evenly throughout the tank and eliminate light hot spots. My lights are 9" off the surface and roughly 19" apart on center (8" between each unit). Having 8 allows the lights to interact with each other giving more consistent par levels and will allow the lights to run at a lower overall intensity and hopefully prolong life expectancy.

With that being said, with every channel at max and overall intensity at 100%, the par levels of these Gen4 Pro's are off the charts. I have no doubt in my mind that 4 of these would be plenty for an SPS tank. Although when considering light distribution and Ecotech's recommendations of one XR30 covering a 24"x30" footprint at 9" off the water , you're right at the edge of their recommendations and may have low light areas in between each unit. I personally would still orient them lengthwise, although, you may consider mounting them turned 90 degrees front to back as well as raising them up to 11" to get better color distribution as well as even par.

Are you on the fence about wanting to get more? or is 4 your limit?
While I do think that 4 units would light the tank sufficiently for SPS you'd have a good deal of shading and certain areas of the corals will not have the color you desire. Further, you'd want to concentrate your sps in the very middle of the light column for optimum condition. With 8 units you'd have terrific coverage, little or no shading, and uniform color on your corals. Besides that, you could place them anywhere in the tank and they would thrive. You could also run the units at a lower intensity. Lighting is definitely the major downside, in terms of cost, for running larger tanks.


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Unread 07/25/2018, 02:49 PM   #208
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Hey Jimmy. Just checking in. Anything new?


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Unread 07/26/2018, 09:31 PM   #209
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Hey Jimmy. Just checking in. Anything new?
Thanks for the inquiry....

I just got back from vacation and i'm slowly recouping from it.... Long story short we took our 35' RV (towing a car) across the western portion of the states. I put on 2800 miles and need a few days to rest. I have a permanent cramp in my left calf from clutching the seat while driving on bouncy roads!!! I think that the engineers that design these roads need to drive them in an RV before signing off on them.

Today we went to studio blue to get a small cuc, and i'm still looking for a bargain on a 40 gallon QT. It's coming down to the wire and I just might have to bite the bullet and buy new.

Before we left on vacation, I received the new 2016 apex and some time in the near future I will be changing everything over from the apex lite to the new one. Bad news is that I have 3 DC8s that aren't compatible to the new model, so I have to search for a good deal on another EB8 to make everything cross over 1 for 1. So if you know of someone wanting to get rid of an eb8, please pass my name along.

I should be back full force here in a few days!!


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Unread 07/27/2018, 07:11 AM   #210
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I believe I saw the tanks on sale at PetCo. It wasn’t they’re $1/g sale, but what I thought was a 40B was priced at $50.


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Unread 07/27/2018, 09:28 AM   #211
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Glad you took some time off. Was wondering what happened to you.

I changed your email address on our group list so you should be getting them now about the up coming race. Hope to see you there.


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Unread 07/28/2018, 09:12 PM   #212
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I believe I saw the tanks on sale at PetCo. It wasn’t they’re $1/g sale, but what I thought was a 40B was priced at $50.
I've been keeping my ear to the ground waiting for that sale and i totally missed it! Thanks for the update, I ran out and got a 40 gal breeder, woohoo!

I ran to get some lumber to build a stand and some PVC parts for hiding spots. My daughter helped to make short work of building the stand





Monday we will place an order for a few fish, the first phase of fish will be the less dominant ones, get them through the QT and then go for the larger tangs and what nots...


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Unread 07/28/2018, 09:14 PM   #213
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Glad you took some time off. Was wondering what happened to you.

I changed your email address on our group list so you should be getting them now about the up coming race. Hope to see you there.
I haven't been getting anything in my email... should I be????


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Unread 07/29/2018, 01:03 PM   #214
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QT looks good. I like that stand- simple, but well put together.


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Unread 07/30/2018, 12:51 PM   #215
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QT looks good. I like that stand- simple, but well put together.
Thanks, it wasn't planned, I bought too much lumber and experience has proven that if I stockpile lumber in the garage, it dries out in this desert climate to the point that it splits when I drive a screw through it. instead of letting it go to waist, I used it to beef up the stand..


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Unread 08/12/2018, 04:35 AM   #216
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Really, really good job Jimmy !!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot View Post
I was able to calibrate and set up the Vectra L1 return pump. One thing that I'm a bit disappointed in, is that the Vectra isn't compatible with the WXM, it really irks me to think that the conflict of business gets in the way of individual versatility and choice to select particular equipment. With that said if anyone has a clever way to use this pump with apex and utilize the feed mode, I would be grateful.

I haven't done any hard looking yet but an option may be to have the Vectra plugged into the EB8 and when feed mode is initiated it will cut power to the Vectra having it go to battery backup, and while in battery backup have it run at the predetermined minimum speed, to prevent water from being siphoned back into the sump.

Does anyone know if that's possible???
Yes, I think it is possible !

Another solution : I used to run MP40QDs connected to WXM but when I installed the Vectra, I finally connected the MP40s to reeflink... So, feed mode is managed by the reeflink

But I was also disappointed that we couln't connect vectra to WXM.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot View Post
With some reluctance on my part, not only did I order 8 gen4 pro's, I also got 4 MP60s, 2 MP40s, Vectra L1, Vectra S1, Reef Link, and battery backups to go along with them all.
By the way, I have a really similar project (350g in wall) but I only employ 4 MP40s .
Are you going to use 4 MP60s + 2 MP40s on your 300g ??

Goodbye,
Laurent


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Unread 08/12/2018, 08:20 AM   #217
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Nice Work... I love the light track. Your attention to detail is epic.


I think you would be happier with a couple of large algae reactors so all that light spill does not mess up your clean sump. With your skill you can crank those out in no time...


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Unread 08/12/2018, 01:31 PM   #218
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eauturquoise View Post
Really, really good job Jimmy !!



Yes, I think it is possible !

Another solution : I used to run MP40QDs connected to WXM but when I installed the Vectra, I finally connected the MP40s to reeflink... So, feed mode is managed by the reeflink

But I was also disappointed that we couln't connect vectra to WXM.




By the way, I have a really similar project (350g in wall) but I only employ 4 MP40s .
Are you going to use 4 MP60s + 2 MP40s on your 300g ??

Goodbye,
Laurent
First off thank you. And I'm glad you brought this up again. I forgot to mention how I was able to go into "feed mode" with the vectra. It required a battery back up and the vectra adapter for the back up.

I simply plugged the vectra pump to an apex controlled outlet and programmed that outlet to be shut off during feed A, once the power was off the pump shifted to battery back up, at which point I programmed the pump to barely trickle water into the main display (preventing the sump from over flowing with water).

I have a reef link and tedious as it is to fine tune the lights and pumps with the apex, I may eventually shift over to reef link. I was trying to avoid having two controllers but the apex isn't seamless enough for me to stick with it as a sole source unit to control everything.

I just have to get up enough courage to shift everything over.

Edit: and yes four 60s and two 40s on the back wall. I know it's overkill, I just want to minimize any dead spots. I'll have to look and see what each pump is running and report back... but they're far below their max...


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Unread 08/12/2018, 01:37 PM   #219
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Nice Work... I love the light track. Your attention to detail is epic.


I think you would be happier with a couple of large algae reactors so all that light spill does not mess up your clean sump. With your skill you can crank those out in no time...
Thanks for the complements. I haven't researched enough about those reactors to know if they're simply a novelty or not. The only experience I have is from a buddy that tried one out on his tank and after about 2 months took it offline and went back to tumbling chaeto.

Do you use them? how often do you perform maintenance on them? What type of maintenance do you do? What were you using prior to it for nutrient export?


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Unread 08/12/2018, 03:09 PM   #220
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I just started using one on my rebuild. I wanted to accomplish two things on this new version after 8 years... No salt cream, and keep my fudge looking more like the heart and less like the toilet. The algae reactor really only serves the purpose to control light spill. So I went with that.


After one month I cleaned it out just to see and it was about 1/3rd full. After cleaning it out I noticed my nitrates went up just a bit. So I think I would rather have two now. Stagger the cleanings. But my sump is very clean. Only a few months up and running but very clean.

That being said they are over priced. Only Pax Bellum makes big ones in the consumer market. Way Way over priced. The glass tube for the lighting rod is the only really expensive part. The LED's, heat sing, body cube, top and bottom plates are not to bad to acquire and make.


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Unread 08/13/2018, 07:21 AM   #221
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Jimmy, in my experience the algae reactors do work pretty well. Definitely controls the light spill (I just wrapped mine in Aluminum foil). I used a GFO reactor and just wrapped it with LEDs. No need to spend a boatload of money on a purpose built chaeto reactor.

I harvest about once a month and get a nice chunk of cheato that I either throw out or give away. The fish just won't eat it (the only downside of cheato). The combo of GFO reactor and cheato reactor seems to be working really well (for me). As the fish grow, I am not seeing an increase in algae growth as long as I am running those two components. Also running two marine pure blocks though they are really overdue for a rinse!


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Unread 08/13/2018, 09:28 PM   #222
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There’s a bunch of diy videos on YouTube as well for reactors and filters!


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Unread 08/16/2018, 10:30 AM   #223
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And if I go that route I couldn't deny myself the chance to make one myself. It's what I do best....hehe


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Unread 09/05/2018, 11:13 PM   #224
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Any updates?


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Unread 09/09/2018, 10:07 PM   #225
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Any updates?
I wish I did, I seem to be in a holding pattern trying to QT fish, every fish shipment I get, they don't last more than a couple days in QT. I've been getting a bunch of dead on arrivals and some unhealthy looking fish. I'm not sure if they're leaving the healthy and sitting in a hot box inside a hot UPS truck for hours before it gets to my front door makes their demise inevitable. But my luck has been pretty bad lately.

There is absolutely nothing fun about this part, all I want to do is wake up tomorrow with a tank full of healthy fish.

After trying 4 times to get healthy fish from online vendors, I found out there is a LFS that will QT new fish for 4 weeks, and if a fish dies within that time they will replace it at no cost to me. That is a win in my book. I had them get 8 dispar anthias, 6 chomis, 2 diamond gobies, 1 sixline wrasse and 1 lunare wrasse for the first batch and if this is successful, I will just go through them to get my tank stocked.


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