Manny Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 or just move to a real city You mean Chicago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Psh...why would I do that when in just fine in my fake one?College station, the cubic zirconia of cities . or just move to a real city You mean Chicago? That'd be a little extreme, perhaps, but I bet they have fish stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 They do. I lived there 4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Lol I like you Dennis. You're a nice guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Nice isn't the adjective most people go with, but thanks . You ain't so bad yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 They do. I lived there 4 years. If I may, what took you from Chicago to Bryan? School? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Well it goes like this, Oregon to Illinois to Washington to Virginia to Texas. And it was the military. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Well it goes like this, Oregon to Illinois to Washington to Virginia to Texas. And it was the military. Well, thanks for letting us move you ll over. Hopefully as a reward they'll let you stay in Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Well alittle more progress. Getting the skin on the old stand went for the cheaper plywood so I'm probably going to end up painting it instead of staining it. Here's the two stands tied together Also went and got some lumax elite with select a watt ballasts...these things are awesome...may only use one w/ a 400w bulb or both with 250s...havnt decided...this is with it only running for a min or so with a 400w bulb anyhow....more tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Coming together well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 And...we have water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 And....we have water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Pics or it didn't happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Lol...squuze mee For all of those who haven't been to my house...it's in an unfinished back room...and yes...it's a wreck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Anyone have any huge rocks there wanting to get rid of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Dustin I figured I'd share the results of our bulb testing. Cool seeing the tank today. Love it's dimensions. For those looking this was not only a fun visit to actually see the tank setup but also educational so I could test out my ballast to see if it works lol. Those reflectors are great looking. Our tests were done using sunlight supply lumen max elite mogul reflectors, with a galaxy adjustable EBallast and a Hamilton 250 watt m80 hqi ballast. First picture is with a 400 watt "horticultural" bulb. That's the only writing on the bulb so I'd assume it's a 6500 vegetative growth bulb which is your common metal halide plant bulb for grow phases. Powered by the 400 watt setting on the galaxy ballast. Second picture is a Reef Optics 14000k bulb, age unknown, powered with the galaxy ballast set at 250 watts. Third picture is with the same Reef Optics bulb, powered with the Hamilton HQI ballast. Each bulb was running for 5-10 minutes before photographing and the pictures are VERY accurate to what our eyes saw. The biggest surprise to me was that the reef optics run off the HQI ballast at 342 watts appeared a touch bluer than the EBallast did. I'd have expected over driving it like that would have shifted the spectrum to give it a whiter look. Exact opposite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 It's crazy how much bluer the last two pictures are...but he's right...a very true representative of color...there's no extreme blueing going on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Anything below 10k makes me want to gag! Haha. When I overdrive my bulbs, they turn whiter on me. Very odd indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Lol Ty my planted tank would make you projectile vomit right where you stand. So many driftwood and mud substrate tannins, plus 2 year old non cooled 6000k bulbs the tank is literally yellow lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 bleh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Well...I have some more to report. Got most of my electrical some what lined out and in place. I got the skimmer in place and running...for some reason I'm already pulling simmite (probably the dead fish that ended up in my pipe work some way magically...looks like a fresh water fish, this pipe hasn't been used aside what I was able to use from my old set up) I also got sand and what I had left of my rock work...should have saved more...it looks like soooo little in this tank Thatl be all for atleast a week or so. I'll be hard at work making pizzas the rest of the week. Going to try to keep the lights off while it cycles. Its gunna be hard though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmvanness Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Wow. I'm surprised they're that blue too. My MH was uggggly white. Looking good so far. Can't wait to see a finished scape in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Well nothings really happened...still looking for some big rock if anyone knows of some. Got started on the hood itl look something like this hopefully except with some cool knots in the wood. I have a question for those of you who use external pumps. My new tank is bottom fed. I have an iwaki that works beautifully but I am scared out of my mind that the power will go out at some point and my tank will empty all 220g...how do I make this safe? I have been thinking a check valve but then how do I prime the pump if I ever need to do anything to it or it sucks up air? My thoughts on this is maby a 3/4"tube to bypass the check valve with a ball valve that I can turn on and off to prime the pump...think this would work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 i think the idea is to build your plumbing up into your overflow box so that it stays pretty full. then you put in your durso or maggy muffler or what ever sort of silent water suctration system you get. that way if power goes out it is only a small amount of water and your sump should handle it. of course, if your power goes out your entire tank will not drain. what drains is the water in the tank above the overflow and then the overflow box down to the hole (durso, bottom of the box, maggy, whatever). however, this is not the case if your overflow is leaking...ehem...not that i'd know. man bio^3 got so frustrated trying to help me find that leak that he moved to alabama.... so, if you haven't filled it with water yet...check the seal on the overflow. block up the hole and fill up the overflow and let it sit for a while to make sure you don't get any water in your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 Alrighty so been pretty busy. Got the hood done and installed the Vhos I had from my old set up running a icecap 660 ...need new bulbs. So I'll be running 2 250w halides and 4 Vhos...gunna be a big buy to replace all these bulbs right off the bat but I think I'll the halides first then the Vhos in a couple months. Did my first round of tests today (borrowed Manny's because I'm afraid I can't trust mine cause there old) nitrates I'm seeing between 0 and 5 but it's hard to tell on these api tests nitrite is 0 and ammonia is 0...put some ammonia in there and will test again later to see what happens. That's all for now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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