Tank Journal Archive

[ReeferRob]

Picked up a Coralife 250w halide today that has power compacts in it. Going to refit it with 4x24w T5s and run a 20k bulb. I'm just NOT at all happy with the growth in this tank. A friend gave me his Maxspect Razr and meh, my cheapo Chinese clones did a better job. :( So it's off to 250w land. the guy we got my light from is breaking down another tank with a 150w Coralife system on it, it's gonna go over M's 2' cube. Forgot to add I'm waiting for the hanging kit for it too. He had it sitting over a freshwater planted tank and didn't buy the kit.

He had the most BEAUTIFUL Australian rainbows in his planted tank that I have ever seen. Some new species that was a deep maroon and turquoise he bought from an importer in NY.

 

[RobbieMVFC]

I am going to cause a stir now , Most of us get caught into the LED BS once.
glad to see you have moved into a proven method.
Just keep an eye on the temp in your tank.

 

[Sam Parker]

Keep us updated!

 

[Andrew B]

these bloody Americans always want bigger and better than us don't they...

 

[ReeferRob]

I am going to cause a stir now , Most of us get caught into the LED BS once.
glad to see you have moved into a proven method.
Just keep an eye on the temp in your tank.

I don't know what it is Robbie, there's just something missing with LEDs. I haven't put my finger on it, but there's a part of the equation that's missing. I remember back in the 80s, the tanks I saw running them were AMAZING!! The first one I saw was Mike Paletta's tank and then I saw Sanjay Joshi's tank and I was hooked on halides. Back then, the Iwasaki 6500k was the cat's ass for lighting, it grew EVERYTHING!

I went as far as to price out a plasma arc light, but they only dimmed down to 20%. Not that that is something to worry about, but it's a neat idea to go from 1-whatever you want.

these bloody Americans always want bigger and better than us don't they...

Shouldn't you be doing your homework young man? And you need to be more careful when you ride your kangaroo, you keep knocking The Reefuge's power cord out of the socket!!!

 

[RobbieMVFC]

Mike Paletta ans Sanjay are some big names in the hobbie.
No wonder your hooked.

 

[ReeferRob]

Mike Paletta ans Sanjay are some big names in the hobbie.
No wonder your hooked.

They only live about 150km from me too.

 

[Andrew B]

haha, 1. had already finished my homework 2. i dont ride a bloody kangaroo to school
:p

 

[ReeferRob]

OK, 2x icecap 250w meal halide ballasts acquired. Now to wait for the mounting hardware to get here and we're a go.

 

[slin1977]

I miss my LEDs .
I would not hesitate to go back to LED today .

:D

 

[ReeferRob]

Hanging kit will be here tomorrow!!!!! WOOoooOOOOOooooooOOOOO!!!!

 

[ReeferRob]

Won the eBay auction, $117 for a Giesemann 250w T5 combo, I R stoked.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121704946344

 

[ReeferRob]

Lights showed up yesterday, all I need now is a new frickin' plug to plug it in and we're good to go.

Dear Germany,
Didn't you learn anything from WW2 ? You made your weapons system so complicated that they broke down in the field and bemoaned the Soviets tanks for their crudeness and in the end the simpler machine won the day. You carried this over to today and make shit over complicated and needing special parts. One day you'll learn. Put the damn IEC connector on your metal halide ballasts and get with the standard that everyone else uses.

 

[ReeferRob]

Just a few teaser pics. New plug should be here this week some time.

 

[MagicJ]

I have always wondered how these double ended MH globes compare to the single ended. I used to run a couple of 250w single ended globes - why are they so much bigger than the DE globes?

 

[ReeferRob]

I have always wondered how these double ended MH globes compare to the single ended. I used to run a couple of 250w single ended globes - why are they so much bigger than the DE globes?

Because that outer glass part of the globe has UV absorbing glass whereas the DE globes do not. If you run one of those DE globes without a tempered glass cover you'll kill EVERYTHING in the tank.

 

[slin1977]

Let there be light!

 

[DeWalt]

Looks good mate. I have a 250w Icecap ballast sitting in my cupboard...so tempted to go back to MH's as well.

 

[ReeferRob]

LEDs are fine, I think there's more work to be done with them. I want to try one of the latest generation Kessil spotlights.

The plug for the ballast just showed up, I'll wire it up tomorrow and hang them over the weekend.

 

[Wrangy]

Looking forward to seeing this blasting away Rob!!