135 Oceanic Build!

Otherone

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 2, 2009
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Lancaster,PA USA
Does it look like a ton of dirty coral lookin' build up? I've seen this, I think it's caused buy poorly sealed fixtures - the plasma leaks, cools and solidify's on the tubes. My best guess never really studied on it for to long.
 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
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Charlotte, NC
It's crusted on now. It it's orange/brown in color. Looks like syrup. But it will not budge. Smells like syrup also.

It's only on the bulbs. The reflectors, fixture is clean. Of course I have not taken it apart yet so not 100% sure. Weird aye?
 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
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Charlotte, NC
looks and feels like a "molten brown goop"
 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
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Charlotte, NC
More pics.....let's see...my cheap light is fried already....2 ballast gone....not sure what to do with it other than turn it into a nice shop light for the garage....lol

Running 2 cheap 36" T8 blues for now...tank looks like a bottle of Windex but the rock looks 10x better...the purple really looks good.

Took the rock out and scrubbed it this weekend.....just way too much GHA (green hair algae)...going to starve it a few more weeks to remove all of it I could not get....and let the tank cycle completely....

10g skimmer sump is completed....but my Reef Octo BH100 is a HOB and I cannot get it to skim down there....water is just not deep enough.....so I stuck it back up top and will shop around for a true sump skimmer replacement when I can.....

Tested the sump and it holds all the drop off water when return pump is off (with 2" to spare!) :D So finally something went right this week! :D

Lights are priority.....selling a bunch of stuff on CL to make some cash....looking at 17" LED panels....$150 each....will need 3 of them but might start with 2.....really looking at LED to save money on electric bill....and no replacement bulbs..:D

































 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
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0
Charlotte, NC
Ordered 3 of these for the lights...

http://www.aquariumleds.com/products...Watt-LEDs.html

Looking to mount via adjustable shelving cut into 3 12" sections from Home Depot:



Then 3 of these for the inserts, Home Depot as well:



Using the twin track I can hide the power cables in them somewhat(drill a hole on one of the mount end sides perhaps in the pic above). Then run them down the back wall. Since the twin tracks are adjustable I can move each light up/down pretty easily if i can hide enough cable in the mounts.

So in the end it would look something like this. Pardon the crappy Photoshop, but it is to scale lol

 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
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Charlotte, NC
Wife did not like the mock up. She does not want any science fair action in her kitchen....hehe BUT she was ok if I were to enclose the lights in a box wrapped with beadboard to match what we have in the kitchen :D.....sorta like this mock up. Which would work great actually. I can hide a power strip and all of the cables/timers in the box. Still keeping the lights on the adjustable rails so I can move up and down easily. The bottom will be hollow etc. I can snake one power cable thru the wall on the left side. So it would look very clean.



So now it's time to build the box. :D
 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
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0
Charlotte, NC
Options for wife...

 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
0
0
Charlotte, NC
Took some time and mounted the RO/DO unit. With a standard laundry room and a 4 dollar water hose y-adapter from Lowes/Home Depot, this thing is literally plug and play. I picked up the blue container from Wal-Mart for 5 dollars. It's a laundry container. I call it a beer keg ice bin lol. It works great with the 5 gallon water bottles, if I forget I am running the unit, it will catch 5-6 hours worth of water for me.



 

BigCountry

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2009
726
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0
Charlotte, NC
NWB150 arrived today. Man this thing is huge...a lot bigger than I thought it would be lol

I had to mod the outtake a tad to quiet it down during break in. But it will run in shallow water like a champ. Which is good for my shallow 7"-8" sump/refuge config. This skimmer is sitting in a 10g in the pic, so the footprint is large and in charge - it's every bit of what the spec says.







 
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