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Unread 12/18/2010, 06:21 PM   #1
sahin
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My 47G Rimless T5/LED Hybrid SPS Tank

My new tank arrived today. The tank stats are as follows:

Tank is 47G "Rimless" with 12mm Optiwhite glass and double base. This is my first ever sumped tank; all 3 of my previous reef tanks were sumpless.

I opted for a single durso and return. The tank is in the living room and I am not too bothered about noise etc from the overflow. The sump is fairly large and will accomodate about 25G of water, but is designed to run with about half of that.

Here are the first photos of the tank:


Side shot:


A closeup shot of the "Rimless" glass and the smoothed edges:


A shot of the sump area:


The cabinet has lots of height. I can easily lift the skimmer out of the cabinet whilst it is still in one piece. Plus there is space to build a shelf above the sump to place my Doser and other equipment. I have also fitted a strip light inside the cabinet to assist when working inside the sump.

Skimmer: from the photo above you can see a Bubble Magus NAC6 Skimmer. I went with this skimmer due to its value for money and performance.

Lights: ATI Sunpower: 5xT5 + 24xCree 3W LED


I bought a practically new ATI Sunpower 6x24watt T5 unit (with non working fans) and have modified this to include high power LED's. The LED's consist of 20 Cree Royal Blue LED's and 4 Cree Blue LED's. I am going to run them at 700mA. In total the unit now runs 178watts of T5 and LED. From my past experiance with T5's/250w+150wMetal halide/LED's, I estimate PAR to be well above that given by a 250w halide. There is a combination of 40, 60 and 80 degree lens on the LED's.

My reasoning for going with such a light unit is due to the good experiance with LED's in my previous build, and because T5's are known for thier ability to colour SPS corals really well.

Dosing: I am going to either purchase a Fauna Marine or GHL triple doser.

Water flow: Most likely Vortech pumps, but may go with Tunze Streams.

Topoff: Tunze Osmolator. This unit has so far proven to be 100% reliable and accurate.

Controller/Cooling: TC10 Temperature Controller. This unit has also proven to be extremely reliable and trouble free. This unit will control the switching of fans to achieve cooling via evaporative cooling.

I will keep the thread updated and add more info when appropriate.


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Unread 12/18/2010, 07:08 PM   #2
iap
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Good start


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Unread 12/18/2010, 09:14 PM   #3
dez
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That's a very clean look to your tank. I like it.


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Unread 12/18/2010, 09:17 PM   #4
Dustin1300
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Beautiful tank. Very nice and clean looking. Where's the SPS though?


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Check out my tank in the Large Tank Forums, "A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build"!

Current Tank Info: 600 Gallon DT, 140 Gallon Grow Out Tank, 125 Gallon Sump, 90 Gallon Fuge, 200 Gallon Fish QT, 15 Gallon Frag QT
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Unread 12/19/2010, 05:57 AM   #5
sahin
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Originally Posted by Dustin1300 View Post
Beautiful tank. Very nice and clean looking. Where's the SPS though?
Thanks guys.

Dustin, the SPS are in my current tank, and more waiting as frags from another reefkeeper. It will be a basic swap over at some point. Just need to get this tank in the best state as possible in terms of water chemistry and equipment setup.

I'll be using most of the water and all of the rocks from my current tank. Only the sand will be new.

I am sure the SPS will love my T5/LED hybrid light.


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Unread 12/19/2010, 08:55 AM   #6
Dustin1300
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I was just kidding about the SPS. Is this going to be open top or will it have a canopy?


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Current Tank Info: 600 Gallon DT, 140 Gallon Grow Out Tank, 125 Gallon Sump, 90 Gallon Fuge, 200 Gallon Fish QT, 15 Gallon Frag QT
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Unread 12/19/2010, 09:29 AM   #7
sahin
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With a Rimless, I'd be crazy to go have a canopy. LOL. Plus the ATI Sunpower looks so nice, its going to be open top.


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Unread 12/19/2010, 09:32 AM   #8
Bello
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Looking good.... Just wondering if the LEDs will look too blue... but then again it isn't that difficult to swap 'em out for whites. Good job on the light unit though!


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Unread 12/19/2010, 11:58 AM   #9
sahin
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Looking good.... Just wondering if the LEDs will look too blue... but then again it isn't that difficult to swap 'em out for whites. Good job on the light unit though!
Its not too blue. At least not for me. But I will only know for sure once its over the tank and some corals. If its too blue I can replace 1 of the 3 Blue + tubes with a white tube or a fiji purple tube.


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Unread 12/19/2010, 03:06 PM   #10
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Lookin' good! Do you happen to have anymore pictures of your modded light fixture? Thanks


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Unread 12/20/2010, 01:49 AM   #11
sahin
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Thanks. I dont have anymore photos of the lights. I will take more now that I have my DSLR back.


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Unread 12/20/2010, 07:54 AM   #12
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Looks great. Glad to see you got the modifications done.


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Unread 12/20/2010, 05:28 PM   #13
Rodrigo_BG
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Nice display & stand Sahin, wish you the best on your new project.


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Unread 12/25/2010, 06:06 PM   #14
sahin
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Have now finished the plumbing on the tank. I have also tested the sump today for leakage etc and its fine. Started to fill the tank with water and its a slow process-especially as its so cold outside.

Here is a shot of the skimmer in place and the plumbing done. Not much to show in the sump yet though:



I have also fitted a cabinet lock on the cabinet. With a 2 babies around the place I am not taking any chances:


Not much else done. All my SPS are dead now because of the Acro eating flatworms. I discovered the problem too late. I have less than 5 frags (had over 25+) now and they dont look too good. With only 5 frags left in a very sorry state, I just feel its not worth the risk putting them in the new tank. Plus, I am taking up my childrens tiny library area having setup a quarantine tank for the AEFW affected corals...and I just feel that I might as well bin the remaining frags and start again.

I will have to think about long term plans in terms of quarantine of any new SPS frags I buy in the future.


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Unread 12/25/2010, 06:34 PM   #15
DML08
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awesome looking tank man.. nice and clean..


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Unread 12/25/2010, 06:48 PM   #16
sahin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodrigo_BG View Post
Nice display & stand Sahin, wish you the best on your new project.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrisrush View Post
Looks great. Glad to see you got the modifications done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DML08 View Post
awesome looking tank man.. nice and clean..
Thanks guys. You guys have such beautiful tanks with healthy and colourful SPS corals. I have based my new tank with inspiration from what you have done with your tanks.


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Unread 12/25/2010, 11:44 PM   #17
smoyer
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Nice tank! Where did you buy it?


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Unread 12/26/2010, 01:37 PM   #18
allsps40
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Looking good keep it up.


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Unread 12/26/2010, 04:21 PM   #19
VITARTE
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Is that an ELOS?


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Unread 12/26/2010, 06:00 PM   #20
sahin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smoyer View Post
Nice tank! Where did you buy it?
I live in the UK; I bought it from ND Aquatics - they normally sell and build for the trade.

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Originally Posted by allsps40 View Post
Looking good keep it up.
Thanks.

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Is that an ELOS?
You know, your questions just made my day haha! And I just looked at my tank again and thought, yeah it kind of looks like an Elos. The shape of the tank is similar, the cabinet is white and is tallish like the Elos cabinets...hehehe, its not an Elos, its a custom built to my own specification.


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Unread 12/26/2010, 09:04 PM   #21
Mr.Maska
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nice setup, sweet light!


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Current Tank Info: 210 gallon 72x25x30, hamilton belize sun fixture 3x400 watt mh, 2 t5's 80watts.reefbrite all blue48" supplement light, octo extreme250 skimmer, 80 gal sump/40gal refug 40 gal bow front hospital tank
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Unread 12/31/2010, 11:52 AM   #22
sahin
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Have got a few more things done now. I have setup the Fan Cooling system. I used a double fan unit from a broken Xbox unit, bits from an Azoo cooling unit and rigged up a pretty high performance fan cooling system

Once I take my nanocube down, I will install the TC-10 temperature controller to activate the fan cooling system at preset values.

My living room is always hot; normally 26-27 degrees, and my nano cube needs to be cooled throughout the day or else it will heat up beyond 27'C. Fortunately, I have found that the 47G Rimless runs at 26'C with the large return pump and the large protein skimmer pump. So with the fan cooling system I made, it will be easy to maintain a reasonable tank temperature.

I have also added sand into the tank. It is Caribsea Aragonite sand, the grain size is very fine to 1.5mm, and a handful of larger 5mm bits. I also mixed in a few large cups of larger grain sand, so that I am able to have lots of flow in the tank without the sand being blown around.

I have also started to dose the tank with bacteria (Zeovit + MB7) and a carbon food source to kick start the biological process. This is my 4th reef tank; on my last reef tank I dosed bacteria and a carbon source and found that algae problems are pretty much non existant when utilising this method.

I will start to dose Vodka and a few drops of MB7 or Zeobac on a weekly basis thereafter.

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nice setup, sweet light!
Thanks.


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Unread 12/31/2010, 12:02 PM   #23
allsps40
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No its not an Elos you can tell by the overflow. But a nice rimless tank none the less. Can wait to see it with water and rock.


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Unread 12/31/2010, 05:33 PM   #24
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Im going to be following along! I really like how you modded the ATI SunPower... Its making me have thoughts of modding mine. All I can say is I think you have a great idea! Pictures would be awesome.

Did you have to add another ballast or are you using the standard ballast? Also is it adding the shimmer that LEDs add? Thats the only reason I want to add LEDs to my Sunpower, otherwise Im very happy with the sunpower.


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Unread 12/31/2010, 06:41 PM   #25
sahin
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Originally Posted by cpllongjk View Post
Im going to be following along! I really like how you modded the ATI SunPower... Its making me have thoughts of modding mine. All I can say is I think you have a great idea! Pictures would be awesome.

Did you have to add another ballast or are you using the standard ballast? Also is it adding the shimmer that LEDs add? Thats the only reason I want to add LEDs to my Sunpower, otherwise Im very happy with the sunpower.
Thanks.

I did have to add another ballast. the Sunpower 6x24w has 3 ballast that run two tubes. Hence I needed to replace a double ballast with a single ballast. Easily done. I then rewired every single T5 tube so now, tubes 1,4+6 light up together, and 2+5 light up together.

Here is the final bulb configuration:

From Front:
ATI Blue+
Arcdia 14K
24 Cree Royal Blue LED's
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI AquaBlue Special
ATI Blue+

There is only a SLIGHT shimmer with the T5's on. IF you are wanting MH like shimmer then this is not the way. I love this light and dont miss my MH shimmer. In fact I had the lights switched on for both this tank and my nano tank which has MH.

I can say that I 100% prefer the look of T5+LED with slight shimmer, more than MH.

I was out for a few hours and thought I'd test how low the water temp can be pulled down by the Custom Fan Cooling System I built. Well after 4 hours the temp is from 82'F to 71'F. That is a whopping 11'F temp drop using only fans. The room temp during this time was 77'F. So the cooling system is so efficient it can drop the temp upto 6'F below the room temp. I will be running the tanks temp at around 79'Fn in any event. I am sure that with the two small fans and the lighting system I have, the tank will never over heat.

Because my living room is ALWAYS warmer than 75'F, I am NOT using a heater in this tank. My heater was never used on my nano tank and I see no point in having one in this tank.

Really pleased with this build. I just hope I get to buy some really nice SPS corals and they colour up nicely.

I have placed an order for a Fauna Marine Triple Doser. With the doser, temp controller+fans and the Tunze Osmolator the water chemistry should be rock steady; hence I am hoping the SPS colours ought to be very good.


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