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DurTBear's 100-120g upgrade

DurTBear

DurTBear

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So I've moved into a bigger place and can now accomodate an upgrade from my 20g tank! Woohoo! Figured this was as good a time to start a new tank journal so here goes. I originally purchased a 58g Oceanic Ultimate tank with the intention of using that as the upgrade but I've decided to either buy a 100-120g glass tank or get one custom built. This is the equipment that I plan to run on the new tank:

2x250W MH (probably go with 20K SE Radiums) housed in Lumenarc III mini reflectors and run with Icecap ballasts
2xT5 retrofit kit for actinics run with an Icecap 660 ballast
Dual carbon and GFO reactor from BRS
BRS 2-part dosers
Not sure on the skimmer yet but open to ideas (looking at EuroReefs, Octopus, Vertex and ATI Bubblemasters)
Apex controller
2xMP40w Vortechs

Here are preliminary designs on what I am looking for. Ideal dimensions are 4'x2'x2' with an external overflow. Planning on doing a herbie style overflow with an emergency drain pipe but not entirely sure yet. Not sure how many drilled holes for the return and whether to drill them in the back of the tank or through the eurobracing. Also, another fellow reefer introduced me to the idea of having a drain hole for doing quick water changes but it still makes me a little nervous. Anyway, here are the sketches that I did on google sketchup. Depending on the size of the stand, I will have to design a sump as well.

120gcustomtank1.jpg


Back view:
120gcustomtank2.jpg


Bottom view:
120gcustomtank3.jpg
 
Looks good. However, the one thing I would recommend is running the 250w Radiums on a different ballast. The 250w Radiums are made to run on a HQI ballast.
 
Would these Icecaps be fine for the Radiums?

http://www.marinedepot.com/IceCap_250_Watt_Electronic_Metal_Halide_HQI_Ballast_250_Watt_Electronic_Metal_Halide_Ballasts-IceCap-IC3111-FILTACBAMHTFEB-IC3161-vi.html

What about 250w Phoenix bulbs? Do they need to be run on HQI's?
 
Nice sketch up Durwin. Will you be going glass or acrylic? I'm in the planning stages for my next tank (acrylic) with the same dims but cant find a local builder to do it either rimless or euro braced. I had wms build a 150 euro braced for me before but im hesistant to go back to them. When i peeled off the paper the acrylic was scratched from them cutting it. PM me with some info if you find a local builder. I'll be following your build.

Iani, Whats the difference with running the radiums on ice caps or hqi ballast's? I just recently switched to 2x250 radiums running on my icecaps and it seems fine.
 
Hm I thought icecaps were electronic; I guess not all of them.
Sweet plans for the tank you got there Durwin! Glad to see you're going all out :)
 
I'm going to go with glass. Spent some time talking with Derek at Oceans Treasures and I think I might get it built from AGE. They're a little more pricey but shipping is minimal compared to what other non-local builders would charge.

Oh yeah, are there general guidelines for how big the eurobraces should be?
 
Not sure about the phoenix's. Typically electronic ballasts like the icecap run the 250w radium bulb very blue. Also the par with an electronic ballast are pretty low on the 250w radium bulb.

The 250w radium bulb was made to be over driven with an HQI ballast. The 400w on the other hand is not and will run fine on a electronic ballast.
 
DurTBear said:
I'm going to go with glass. Spent some time talking with Derek at Oceans Treasures and I think I might get it built from AGE. They're a little more pricey but shipping is minimal compared to what other non-local builders would charge.

Oh yeah, are there general guidelines for how big the eurobraces should be?
Click to expand...

For that tank AGE will probably tell you that an eurobrace will not add to the support of the tank. They will probably recommend a 1/2" thickness rimless tank. I've gotten some quotes from them in the past.
 
iani said:
The 250w radium bulb was made to be over driven with an HQI ballast. The 400w on the other hand is not and will run fine on a electronic ballast.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah...I spoke with Bryan a lot about my upgrade and he did mention this difference between the 250W and 400W Radiums. So would that Icecap Electronic/HQI ballast meet the requirements for the 250W bulb?
 
HQI ballasts are magnetic. Icecaps are not HQI ballasts but will run a DE bulb. Personally I would run a HQI ballast (PFO, Hamilton and Blue wave/SLS are the brands). Currently only Hamilton makes a HQI ballast. I am actually going to be running 3 of them on the tank I have in storage.
 
iani said:
For that tank AGE will probably tell you that an eurobrace will not add to the support of the tank. They will probably recommend a 1/2" thickness rimless tank. I've gotten some quotes from them in the past.
Click to expand...

Good to know! Guess it'll be a rimless tank although I'd like to have a canopy to both house the lighting and prevent carpet surfers since I would like to keep wrasses.
 
I think 400W would be overkill. I'd go with 250s.

I run 250W Phoenixes on a PFO HQI ballast. It's a great combo. I have never run them on electronic.

I also run 250W Reeflux 20ks on dimmable Coralife E-Ballasts and I like those too. The dimmable feature is pretty useful and allows you to adjust the power and color of the lights. (When you go dimmer the lights get bluer. If you overdrive the lights, they get whiter.)

I've never run Radiums, but many people say that the best halide combo is Radiums on HQI ballasts as Ian suggested.
 
I ran Radiums on 250 Icecaps in my old 72 but I would agree the par probably isn't as good. the color was fine though.

400W light would be overkill for your 120 IMHO. It is on the edge of overkill on my 180.
 
Ok...always good to get a dose of reality. I'll stick with the 250W lights.

Anyone know of a good place to get 250W PFO HQI ballasts? They only go up to 175W on marindepot and I can't seem to find them elsewhere. I know aquacave.com sells the bluewave ballasts so that is definitely an option.
 
Any of the LFS's should be able to get you these ballasts as well. I got mine recently from Karson at aquatic collection. I'm sure any of the sponsor stores could match reefgeek prices.
 
IIRC, the new IceCap ballasts will overdrive Radiums, not to the level of an HQI ballast, but the color is much whiter than the old ones and the splattering is reduced compared to the old IceCaps, extending the bulb life as well as compared to the old style IceCaps.


That said, I'd go HQI if you plan on running Radiums even though your PG&E bill will reflect it ;)
 
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