Matt's 5000ltr Display

[ccuk]

matt .. these are new on the market

It’s been quite a while since we’ve heard of news in the development of metal halide aquarium lights so the PacificSun Helios is the first new metal halide in a long while that makes High Intensity Discharge seem sexy again. The PacificSun Helios is a pendant-style metal halide fixture with an eight-sided reflector which is optimized for use with 250 and 400 watt metal halide lamps with the E39/E40 mogul base single ended socket. The Helios metal halide fixture is made to be paired up with one of three PacificSun metal halide ballasts and this is where the Helios gets fun.

The R1 ballast is your typical on off metal halide ballasts, albeit one with electronic internals and a two year warranty. The R2 ballast has a manual dimming knob that allows adjustment between 50, 75 and 100% power intensity, the likes of which we’ve seen from several dimmable metal halide ballasts already, but the top tier ballast for the Helios is where it’s at for 2011.

The R3 ballast was specifically designed for PacificSun and it has wireless communication and “fulling dimming capabilities” for sunset and sunrise simulation and attenuation of PAR values. The R3 will buddy up with an external wireless PWM controller to do it’s untethered tricks and it will be controllable by PC/tablet/Andoid phone.

Official release date is still tentative but the prices won’t be too bad, starting at 350 Euro for either the 250 or 400 watt R2 ballast, but US pricing still has to be worked out of course. With so many aquarists now looking to ditch their T5 and metal halide replacement routines for LEDs, those in the market for more light or bigger tanks now have less reason to necessarily get an LED light since metal halides are still an excellent source of efficient lighting with broad spectrum light output including UV.
stewart

[d3hree]

Thanks for this Stew.
About 2 years ago I bought 6 ballasts and 4 lumenarcIII reflectors in preparation for this tank.
About 2 weeks ago I bought 4 twin 54w (432w) razor units to act as actinics for this tank.
I can honestly say that if I decided now to change my mind regards the lighting of my tank then i would very quickly become homeless and divorced!

A lot has changed in our hobby over the past two years since I decided to go with lumenarcs and t5s, leds have progressed greatly, plasmas and so on. If I knew then what I know now and could have my time again I would still buy the same equipment.

Your pacific sun MH lights sound good, the R3 ballast especially. But I have guineau pigged my fair share of equipment in this hobby and for me to even consider those ballasts I would want to see tanks running with them for a few years problem free. By that time I dare say led optics would have evolved and even plasma kelvin ranges will have some choice.

I appreciate the heads up Stew but this boat has sailed

[OrionCC]

Superb build!

[ccuk]

Originally Posted by d3hree

Thanks for this Stew.
About 2 years ago I bought 6 ballasts and 4 lumenarcIII reflectors in preparation for this tank.
About 2 weeks ago I bought 4 twin 54w (432w) razor units to act as actinics for this tank.
I can honestly say that if I decided now to change my mind regards the lighting of my tank then i would very quickly become homeless and divorced!

A lot has changed in our hobby over the past two years since I decided to go with lumenarcs and t5s, leds have progressed greatly, plasmas and so on. If I knew then what I know now and could have my time again I would still buy the same equipment.

Your pacific sun MH lights sound good, the R3 ballast especially. But I have guineau pigged my fair share of equipment in this hobby and for me to even consider those ballasts I would want to see tanks running with them for a few years problem free. By that time I dare say led optics would have evolved and even plasma kelvin ranges will have some choice.

I appreciate the heads up Stew but this boat has sailed

lol the boat has sailed ,, i like that ,, yeah like you say the light format for marine tanks is moving now at a very fast pace ,,, even leds,, are in some cases showing much better punch though water than a m/h ...
stewart

[TheFishTeen]

Hey, the boat may have sailed but there isn't an ocean for you to sail it on! When can we except water? Oh, and great job on this entire project. Very well built.

[d3hree]

Originally Posted by ccuk

lol the boat has sailed ,, i like that ,, yeah like you say the light format for marine tanks is moving now at a very fast pace ,,, even leds,, are in some cases showing much better punch though water than a m/h ...
stewart

Hi Stew. There is no doubting that leds can punch through a reasonable amount of water but it always comes at a cost and in most cases this seems to be spread. With a tank footprint of over 40ft2 I would need soooo many led units that it becomes unrealistic.

[d3hree]

Originally Posted by TheFishTeen

Hey, the boat may have sailed but there isn't an ocean for you to sail it on! When can we except water? Oh, and great job on this entire project. Very well built.

Hi fish teen.
Thanks for the compliments. I was hoping for water by xmas but this has proven unrealistic also. Work is busy and I still have so very much to do before water. I hope to not be too far into 2012 before water.

[d3hree]

Originally Posted by OrionCC

Superb build!

Thankyou Orion

[aquaph8]

Everything looks really clean Matt, really nice job on everything.

[d3hree]

Originally Posted by aquaph8

Everything looks really clean Matt, really nice job on everything.

Thanks Brett!!

Over the xmas break I was able to move my old tank out of the house into the garage/fish room.

This will be the QT tank for the new system, its approx 450 litres (120 US gallons)



I had some glass squares cut to block up the holes from the previous system's plumbing and siliconed them to the inside.



The filtration will be in the form of an external filter



...and a Deltec MCE 600 skimmer



Depending on treatments I expect the skimmer to be turned off most of the time but I thought I would install one incase I wanted it on.

The QT tank has its own ATO



The john guest fittings come directly from the RO unit so I can fill the ATO reservoir and the QT tank directly.

There is a syphon pipe installed so I can easily drain the QT tank and refill ready for the next fish.



The end of the pipe goes into the drain that circles the fish room



Getting this tank out of the house was quite a big step in the build. It was a job I wasnt looking forward to and I am glad its out of the way!

[dave.m]

Every time you post an update I can't get over the qualtiy of your build, Matt.

I am unfamilair with this unit. Can you talk a bit about what it is?



Thx,

Dave.M

[d3hree]

Hi Dave

Its a fluval G6 external filter. I think it was launched in 2009/10. Its pretty good for an external filter. It tells you when the media needs changing, when the temp of the water is off, when the sg is out. Its for tanks of about 600ltrs

Here's a link to their site.
http://www.fluval-g.com/index_e.php

[Chimone]

Wow very clean install. Nice

[d3hree]

Originally Posted by Chimone

Wow very clean install. Nice

Thanks Chimone.
Last night my wife was having a laugh at my expense because of all of the "clean" posts in this thread. Truth be told anywhere out of the camera shot looks like a building site! I am constantly moving the "mess" around depending on what area I am working on. I am a very messy worker so the area I am working on gets messed up and I have to tidy it up before I take any pics.

[zoney]

MMMMMMMmmmmmm Glass and water ohhh and that dam black square covering somet up again (GGRRRRrrrrrrrr) lol
Coming on nicely Matt now hurry up and finish the display tank

[ABBS]

Hi Matt

It all seems to be comming together very nicely mate. The QT tank is great and something more fish keepers should have. Will we be seeing the main display tank build soon ?

A happy new year to you and your family Matt.

Kind regards

Martin

[ABBS]

Hi Matt

It all seems to be comming together very nicely mate. The QT tank is great and something more fish keepers should have. Will we be seeing the main display tank build soon ?

A happy new year to you and your family Matt.

Kind regards

Martin

[d3hree]

Hi Martin
Thanks..I had the spare tank from an old build so it made sense to turn it into a QT tank. I hope I have the patience to use it as I intend to.
I will resume the DT build soon.
Happy New Year to you also...and everyone on RC

[A Reef Scene]

Do you have a good place to get fish meds over there? If not pm me and I can send the link. Not sure if I can post a company link or not.

[marrc007]

Very clean build......

[d3hree]

Originally Posted by A Reef Scene

Do you have a good place to get fish meds over there? If not pm me and I can send the link. Not sure if I can post a company link or not.

Hi Reef Scene, thanks for this, pm sent.

Very clean build......

Thanks Marrc007. Unfortunately it isnt as clean as the pics portray!

[d3hree]

A little more done today.

I installed the last of the 600ltr vats, the cryptic/benthic zone.



Unfortunately because I had to lower the ceiling and raise the floor it left me with little room for access. Due to this I had to cut out some holes to make life a little easier. The water level in this vat will sit at about 34cm, the holes allow for an additional 10cm for when the surge fires.

The cryptic tank is fed via the sediment tank. This is where the flow is split, 50% to the cryptic zone and 50% to the mangrove tank.



Inside the vat the water is directed to the base of the tank where it will emerge under the live rock.



The 63mm standpipe will control the running level



For additional flow there will be a 3000lph CLS on this vat, the feed and outlet bulkheads are installed on the side.



Inside the tank is a simple manifold with 3 outlets to direct more flow upwards towards the rock.





I made some koi crate stands to sit the Live rock on



I picked out the smaller rocks I have, the ones that will be a little tedious to aquascape in the display and added those to the vat. I would estimate there is about 30kgs of rock.

[dave.m]

Thx very much for taking the time to keep us all up to date, Matt. I can see by the images of the horrible state of the insides of that vat that not everything is as one could hope.

Frankly, your overall system contains so many elements that I sometimes get lost in it. I think that's why so many of us want an FTS of the display tank. It's something we can all understand.

Dave.M

[aqua20]

Tagging along. The nice thing about this built, is that it is done by solely by you and not a professional tankbuilder.

[marrc007]

man thats going to be a lot of water.....