Light rails
- Thread starter tuberider
- Start date
Dyngoe
Supporting Member
I am reaaly starting to enjoy this idea of buying a new house. It's giving me time to catalog all of the "new" ideas I will include in my new tank. Seeing that I'm probably looking at a 180G tank the next time around, this light rail is going to be VERY helpful. I'm trying to minimize the amount of MH light on the tank, using primarily T5 and sunlight for lighting. Yes, I said sunlight. I LOVE what I saw about solartubes and reflected skylight shafts.
My only concern with this design is the accumulation of salt on the worm drive. We all know that saltwater gets EVRYWHERE. I guess this could be minimized by coating the drive with food grade silicone grease. Or, just periodic cleaning. But, who wants to do maintenance anyway?
My only concern with this design is the accumulation of salt on the worm drive. We all know that saltwater gets EVRYWHERE. I guess this could be minimized by coating the drive with food grade silicone grease. Or, just periodic cleaning. But, who wants to do maintenance anyway?
tuberider
Guest
[quote author=Dyngoe link=topic=3180.msg38558#msg38558 date=1206130285]
I am reaaly starting to enjoy this idea of buying a new house. It's giving me time to catalog all of the "new" ideas I will include in my new tank. Seeing at I'm probably looking at a 180G tank the next time around, this light rail is going to be VERY helpful.
My only concern with this design is the accumulation of salt on the worm drive. We all know that saltwater gets EVRYWHERE. I guess this could be minimized by coating the drive with food grade silicone grease. Or, just periodic cleaning. But, who wants to do maintenance anyway?
[/quote]It is a concern of mine as well, as well as the metal wearing down and dropping into my open top tank, the plans are in the stuff has fallen off the back of the truck, now I'm just waiting for the motor. One nice thing is since switching over to the lumenarc I have yet to have any drops on it so, I'm feeling a little confident that won't be a problem. Plus, I'll spooge the threads with lube.
I am reaaly starting to enjoy this idea of buying a new house. It's giving me time to catalog all of the "new" ideas I will include in my new tank. Seeing at I'm probably looking at a 180G tank the next time around, this light rail is going to be VERY helpful.
My only concern with this design is the accumulation of salt on the worm drive. We all know that saltwater gets EVRYWHERE. I guess this could be minimized by coating the drive with food grade silicone grease. Or, just periodic cleaning. But, who wants to do maintenance anyway?
[/quote]It is a concern of mine as well, as well as the metal wearing down and dropping into my open top tank, the plans are in the stuff has fallen off the back of the truck, now I'm just waiting for the motor. One nice thing is since switching over to the lumenarc I have yet to have any drops on it so, I'm feeling a little confident that won't be a problem. Plus, I'll spooge the threads with lube.
Dyngoe
Supporting Member
Hey Jeremy,
Glad to hear sunlight on the coast helps growth. I saw three posts on RC that made me consider this. First, I saw some TOTM where the guy had plumbed sealed frag tanks onto his roof and commented that some of the coral grew better there than in his main display tank. The second post was a guy who had a 4x3 reflected sunlight tube put into his AZ home. His Lumen readings were aff the chart! Then, there was a related post I found in that thread where someone was using solartubes as primary light.
I know we don't have the same sun as AZ, but I figure with a few MH to add shimmer to the tank, T5s as the primary/actinic(Mainly Blu+) and sunlight adding seasonal light in the summer (When I want the MH heat to be low) that I should get a pretty good balance. I just need to find a lumen meter to quantify it all.
Glad to hear sunlight on the coast helps growth. I saw three posts on RC that made me consider this. First, I saw some TOTM where the guy had plumbed sealed frag tanks onto his roof and commented that some of the coral grew better there than in his main display tank. The second post was a guy who had a 4x3 reflected sunlight tube put into his AZ home. His Lumen readings were aff the chart! Then, there was a related post I found in that thread where someone was using solartubes as primary light.
I know we don't have the same sun as AZ, but I figure with a few MH to add shimmer to the tank, T5s as the primary/actinic(Mainly Blu+) and sunlight adding seasonal light in the summer (When I want the MH heat to be low) that I should get a pretty good balance. I just need to find a lumen meter to quantify it all.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Dyngoe, there's also a guy in Portugal that built a tank outdoors into the ground and gets outstanding growth. My sunlit frag tank did pretty damn good too, except for the red poofy algae that came of it... however due to the thickness of the fiberglass in my "sun room" there was no directly sunlight it was all diffuse but pretty damn bright never the less. My tank gets a couple hours of morning light now on one side due to the sun shining through the door but probably not enough to encourage growth (except of the brown diatoms on the acrylic *grumble*)
tuberider
Guest
OK grils and broils, BBQ motor has arrived, Mikey put together a dope worm drive setup, and with my help holding a piece of wood the unit is functional (no way he could have done it with out me :). It's a good design and I'm confident it will work.
Hopefully I'll be able to force Mikey to mount the canopy this weekend and will post some pics, I'm stoked!
If this were some fancy website I'd say move this thread to the DIY forum, but alas there are no sequence of event pictures (if there were there'd be too much blood)
). It's a good design and I'm confident it will work.Hopefully I'll be able to force Mikey to mount the canopy this weekend and will post some pics, I'm stoked!
If this were some fancy website I'd say move this thread to the DIY forum, but alas there are no sequence of event pictures (if there were there'd be too much blood
)
tuberider
Guest
[quote author=Mr. Ugly link=topic=3180.msg38850#msg38850 date=1206550027]
What did you guys use for the 20tpi lead screw?
Scavenged parts? Or did you pick up some acme threaded rod? Or something else?
Doing some kind of bearing support for the outboard end of the rod?
[/quote]Threaded rod for the lead screw through unistrut, with nylon bushings on either end. The mover is a small metal plate with screws welded to it that slides back and forth through the unistrut. One thing I noticed was when the motor was switching it is very quiet, no pauses, or clicks indicating to me that it is not hard on the motor, just a very smooth transition.
I'm very pleased with the whole hood arrangement in general, I'll be able to have 2 39w T5's along with 2 VHO's. My plan is to not run the halides for more than 6 hours a day, my tank gets enough sun as it is. Plus it's got nice recycled redwood trim made form the same material Mikey built his stand with, it's old barnwood.
BTW, I have a motor for you too Norman
What did you guys use for the 20tpi lead screw?
Scavenged parts? Or did you pick up some acme threaded rod? Or something else?
Doing some kind of bearing support for the outboard end of the rod?
[/quote]Threaded rod for the lead screw through unistrut, with nylon bushings on either end. The mover is a small metal plate with screws welded to it that slides back and forth through the unistrut. One thing I noticed was when the motor was switching it is very quiet, no pauses, or clicks indicating to me that it is not hard on the motor, just a very smooth transition.
I'm very pleased with the whole hood arrangement in general, I'll be able to have 2 39w T5's along with 2 VHO's. My plan is to not run the halides for more than 6 hours a day, my tank gets enough sun as it is. Plus it's got nice recycled redwood trim made form the same material Mikey built his stand with, it's old barnwood.
BTW, I have a motor for you too Norman
hooked
Guest
Lets let Jeremy run this thing through its paces and see if he breaks it . It is just the prototype I sure dont want one breaking over my tank .
Really though i cant wait to see it over his tank . it should work out pretty good . I kept it really simple to keep reliability at a max . It moves sooooooooooo slow . 7" an hour . Not so fun to watch .
I sure dont want one breaking over my tank .Really though i cant wait to see it over his tank . it should work out pretty good . I kept it really simple to keep reliability at a max . It moves sooooooooooo slow . 7" an hour . Not so fun to watch .
