bennerkla's 5.5 AGA Nano Reef Diary (Lots of PICS!!!)

[bennerkla]

Just picked up this ballast from eBay...



Hopefully that'll run a DE 70 watt MH. It was only 32 bucks shipped from eBay, and I saw it on illuming.com for 75+shipping, so I think I got a good deal.

Too bad I have to use glass to block the UV's, I enjoyed simply lifting up the lid to access my tank.

Cya guys,

Ben

[picocube]

I found this thread last night and spent about an hour reading it all--kind of bumbed out when I read the that it all crashed on ya

I was going to bid on that ballast last night but I missed the end of the auction cause I was reading this

If you need any help building a canopy let me know--I have been know to build a few

Good luck with your new set-up

[bennerkla]

Give a little get a little, right picocube?

Thanks for the comment. I went to Phishy Business today, and I asked about a bulb to buy, hopefully the prices aren't too bad.

More to come,

Ben

[picocube]

here is a good price on a 10k bulb
http://cgi.ebay.com/70-W-DE-10-000K-...QQcmdZViewItem
you can always add some actinic suppliments

[bennerkla]

Thanks for the link! That is a great price, definately, but I'm waiting to see what Phishy Business has; I like to support LFS's when I can. But if the price is too high, I really like that 10k bulb.

Not sure what I'm going to do yet, still looking for an actinic retrofit kit. Jordan let me know about hellolights.com, but I want to wait to make sure it'll all fit in my canopy.

[bennerkla]

Okay I got a little impatient.....

But before the order, here is the ballast I got today. Won on Friday night, and it was here by Monday afternoon! From Florida! Didn't expect that...



Secondly, I filled out an order with HelloLights.com, a company who has a great reputation and sounded awesome on the phone. Here it is...

13W Compact Fluorescent----- Bulb = 13W Actinic 03 #30-20003
Retrofit Kit------$23.00

13W 6,500K, 7" -GX23 Base 31-00003 $5.95

70W 10,000K HQI "Double 20-5000870 1 $55.95
Ended" -Ushio

70W / 150W HQI Socket 61-100732 1 $14.95
Pair -Deluxe

I really hope this'll all fit in my hood, it will definately be waaay too close for comfort. If not, I really don't know what I'm going to do, maybe just make the top one huge reflector, but would the actinic and MH shining at eachother harm the PC?

Here are some pictures of what I ordered...



This is the retrofit kit for my 13 watt Actinic 03 bulb. It will supplement the 10k MH and act as a dawn/dusk effect. Hopefully I can fit this on the top, next to my MH.



Here is the bulb. I really hope I don't think it's yellow, if so, I'll have to find the 14,000k Astralux. I'm betting on the fact that the actinic will even it out a bit.



These are the sockets I'm using, seem pretty straightforward.



This will be my new 6700k refugium light, my old one was 10000k (I didn't know that) so this one will better serve the purpose.


Well, in the meantime I think I'm going to paint the inside of my canopy white to help reflect some of the light, and take out my power compacts. Do you think I could sell these things? Not sure...

Any thoughts about my setup?

Have a good day,

Bennerkla

[Jordan55]

Looks like you are on your way Ben!

Glad to see Hellolights could help you out. I know I have found them to help me with my lighting needs.

PS- Does your canopy have a fan? Are you getting a fan? I think I am going to pick up one of those small computer fans from a local Radio Shack and try and hook it up to my new canopy..... just seeing if you have done this so I don't kill myself or break something

[bennerkla]

Hey Jordan...

Yeah, Hellolights was awesome! Their 70 watt MH bulb was 79.99, but with their price match guarentee, it was only 55.00 since illuming.com was cheaper. I will definately do business with them again, I'm very pleased and very impressed they already shipped out my stuff the hour I bought it! It should be here by Friday.

Yeah, I have a large fan in my canopy. Check the earlier pages on the thread to see, it's like page 5 or 6. Really easy to wire too.

I moved my tank near my bed, I think I'll really like it there. I'll snap a picture later on tonight.

Cya guys,

Ben

[bennerkla]

Here are some snapshots of the new tank placement.


Any Pink Floyd fans out there?????

[atram]

Ben - Tank looks nice, sorry I couln't post pics last night because we had some DLS problems. I'll try again tonight hopefully the problem will be resolved.

Atram

[Jordan55]

Hey Ben.

New placement looks nice. Nanos by the bed are cool. You can watch it as you go to sleep.

I was looking at your fan setup. I just bought a computer fan at Radio Shack. Took off the back housing (looks like yours now). It has 3 wires, black, red, and yellow and they are hooked up to some sort of connecter that would go to something on the computer. I only see your red and black wires hooked up to your power unit though?

I am going to try and wire it to my lights directly, but I am not sure how well it work.

[midknight]

Jordan,

Normally the 3 wires are... red +12 volts, yellow +5 volts and the black is ground. Normal fans just have a red & black wire.

[bennerkla]

Thanks Jordan. How much would a baby Ocellaris Clownfish cost at Phishy?

I think you don't need to worry about the yellow one at all, just cut it off. Then wire the black and red wires.

I'm not sure, though, check with the DIY forum first.

[Jordan55]

Hey Ben.

Thanks both of you for the help.

I think they would go for like 20$. I am not sure on babies though. Usually fish are the same price no matter the age. But getting babies in may be hard to do. I would call and find out, or I can ask him this weekend.

I think you should just go for a shrimp/goby pair. They seem to be a big craze now.

[bennerkla]

Well I meant just like a small clown, not necessarily a baby. Does Phishy have a shrimp/goby pair for sale?

Thanks Jordan.

[BShmerling]

Originally posted by jcm1229

Minuses
Had to remove HOB filter (or run it off the side of tank)
Less water movement
No water agitation = less oxygen exchange

I had this same problem so I took an extra air pump that I had around and have bubble disturbing the surface of the water to keep film from forming.
Its cheap and doesn't take up any room inside the refugium

[BShmerling]

Where are you getting glass to put between the tank and the MH bulb?

[bennerkla]

Brian,

I already had it cut at Lowes. I'll just slide it in there, luckily I held onto it.

[bennerkla]

The nano is coming back to life!

I went ahead and added the water today, it is mixing with the salt right now in the tank. The fuge is set up with some chaeto.

Check out my sweet action shots.









I also bought this play sand for my SB, my last SB was a little too thick with the particles for my taste. Although it does say "do not use in aquariums," I learned that was just a saying so no one can sue them if something goes wrong.




I should get all of my stuff in tomorrow from HelloLights.com, and I'll set it all up this weekend and hopefully have a working, running tank by the beginning of next week!

Hope you guys still enjoy,

Ben

[mdisalvo55]

Looks good man, I've been thinking about my soon to be nano and was wondering if maybe I could buy your old lights off you?

[bennerkla]

Sure thing. Do you want everything directly, so you don't have to DIY wire anything? PM me if you'd like.

[bennerkla]

Hey guys.

Got my hellolights.com shipment in today, very pleased with the order. Everything looks very high quality.



Here is the 6700 bulb I ordered. This should help the chaeto grow better. The newer one is on the bottom.





Here are the sockets. Look pretty standard, hopefully they will work tomorrow when I set this all up.






Here is the DIY retrofit kit for the 13 watt actinic. Hopefully I can figure this out, looks like the reflector might interfere with the MH light and cast a shadow. Hopefully the tank is small enough where it won't matter.





The stripping begins.....





Here it is now. I'm thinking about putting the MH on the top of the canopy, and having the actinic bulb be on the front, like where my 2 20 watt bulbs were. I would put them both on the top but I'm worried that there will be a shadow from how big the ballast is on the actinic, or one side of the tank will be more "lit up" than another.





I'm going to construct this tomorrow, any thoughts about what to do until then? I'm a little bummed on how deep the actinic's socket is...

Otherwise, this should all be done by tomorrow!

Cya guys,

Ben

[Taikimoto]

Your lighting looks like something I did for my 2.5, just with a halide. I origianlly did it with just some electrical connectors on the PCs, but they had a tendancy to come off, so I got some sockets from a W.W.Grainger store nearby and its cleaned up the setup alot.

Old:



New:



You can see the rest of the tank here (it has a overflow/refugium on it also)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=775300

[banditfl]

Originally posted by bennerkla
Okay I got a little impatient.....

But before the order, here is the ballast I got today. Won on Friday night, and it was here by Monday afternoon! From Florida! Didn't expect that...



Have a good day,

Bennerkla

Nice Ballast. I knew the ID (name) was familiar when you asked the question on E-bay and proceeded to win the auction.

[Kigs]

Hey Ben, glad to see your tank coming back to life. Same tank size as last time?