Jason Baliban
Seedling
- Joined
- 22 Nov 2009
- Messages
- 10
Hello everyone,
This is my first post on the board
Usually I do not show my layouts until they are complete. This time, I am doing something a little different and creating a journal of the process.
Here is what i have so far.
Please feel free to ask questions or comment on the progress. I will update the thread as progress is made.
I just picked up the Oceanic 178gallon to replace my much loved ADA 120H that spawned this layout....
http://www.projectaquarium.com/plantedA ... ander.aspx
...this new tank is an effort move away from 3 tanks to just 1 large tank....that is the plan anyway
Tank - Cherry 178 Oceanic Ultimate - 60x24x29" - with matching stand.
Here are two shots of the stand that was easily put in place...
Here is the tank that spent the night in the truck, because i really cant figure out how to get it out!! This thing is going to require 3-4 people to help me lift it out!!
Out of the truck....required 3 people.
Before i could put the tank on the stand i needed to create a hole for the filter tubes.
Before the cuts
First hole. On the ground, you can see the grommet i am going to use to fill the hole.
Two holes....now to saw out the middle part...
Finished...
I plan to use two 150W pendents to light this tank. The pendents need to be hung. I plan to make a light stand similar to the one that is on this tank....
http://www.projectaquarium.com/aquarium ... _stand.jpg
The challenge with doing this with the oceanic tank is that there is a lip at the top of the stand where the tank sits. I needed to fabricate something to mount the light stand on, setting it off the sides of the tank by 3/4" to clear the lip.
I went to the store and picked up two pieces of oak...
I sanded the corners a bit to create a smooth edge...
Stained...
Drilled 3 holes in the stand to mount the wood...
Finished!! This will give the light stand something to attach to.
With the help of a very strong neighbor, who is built like Shane Victorino, we got the tank on the stand.
Here are a few shots.
Zoe is about 14" tall....
Tina is about 5', 3" tall....
Side view...
Cool shot...
Determining pendent height
I am hanging two 150W pendents over this tank. The general rule is that 1 MH can spread about 24", but unfortunately I am right in the middle with the length of this tank. 2 lights might not be enough, but 3 will certainly be too much.
Before I build the light stand, I need to determine how high off the top of the tank I need to hang the lights. To do this, I held the pendent at different heights to see what kind of light spread I am going to get. You can see by these two pics that even 2 inches in height difference doesn't make that much of a difference lengthwise. Unfortunately, it does make a larger difference depthwise
Here are two pics of the experiment. The red dot marks the center and the blue dots are in 4" increments from the center.
10" height - about 12" of solid spread
12" height - about 15" of solid spread
I have determined I am going to start the lights at about 10" from the top of the tank and make the light stand a full 84" tall. I may lose full spread at the total top of the tank, but due to the depth of the tank I will sacrifice a little spread at the top for penetration to the bottom.
Building the light stand
I picked up some 1/2" EMT from the Home Depot and was time to make the light stand.
Here is the tool we use to bend EMT...
Positioning for bending...
After the bend...
Hardscape
I am still in search of some hardscape materials that are large enough for this tank.
Here is what I currently have. While they are all nice and interesting, they might not be large enough. The cardboard is about 4 foot, to give you an idea of scale...
Here is the hardscape.....it has changed a bit since the photo, but it is 90% the same...
It was inspired by this shot from Hawaii...
jB
This is my first post on the board
Usually I do not show my layouts until they are complete. This time, I am doing something a little different and creating a journal of the process.
Here is what i have so far.
Please feel free to ask questions or comment on the progress. I will update the thread as progress is made.
I just picked up the Oceanic 178gallon to replace my much loved ADA 120H that spawned this layout....
http://www.projectaquarium.com/plantedA ... ander.aspx
...this new tank is an effort move away from 3 tanks to just 1 large tank....that is the plan anyway
Tank - Cherry 178 Oceanic Ultimate - 60x24x29" - with matching stand.
Here are two shots of the stand that was easily put in place...
Here is the tank that spent the night in the truck, because i really cant figure out how to get it out!! This thing is going to require 3-4 people to help me lift it out!!
Out of the truck....required 3 people.
Before i could put the tank on the stand i needed to create a hole for the filter tubes.
Before the cuts
First hole. On the ground, you can see the grommet i am going to use to fill the hole.
Two holes....now to saw out the middle part...
Finished...
I plan to use two 150W pendents to light this tank. The pendents need to be hung. I plan to make a light stand similar to the one that is on this tank....
http://www.projectaquarium.com/aquarium ... _stand.jpg
The challenge with doing this with the oceanic tank is that there is a lip at the top of the stand where the tank sits. I needed to fabricate something to mount the light stand on, setting it off the sides of the tank by 3/4" to clear the lip.
I went to the store and picked up two pieces of oak...
I sanded the corners a bit to create a smooth edge...
Stained...
Drilled 3 holes in the stand to mount the wood...
Finished!! This will give the light stand something to attach to.
With the help of a very strong neighbor, who is built like Shane Victorino, we got the tank on the stand.
Here are a few shots.
Zoe is about 14" tall....
Tina is about 5', 3" tall....
Side view...
Cool shot...
Determining pendent height
I am hanging two 150W pendents over this tank. The general rule is that 1 MH can spread about 24", but unfortunately I am right in the middle with the length of this tank. 2 lights might not be enough, but 3 will certainly be too much.
Before I build the light stand, I need to determine how high off the top of the tank I need to hang the lights. To do this, I held the pendent at different heights to see what kind of light spread I am going to get. You can see by these two pics that even 2 inches in height difference doesn't make that much of a difference lengthwise. Unfortunately, it does make a larger difference depthwise
Here are two pics of the experiment. The red dot marks the center and the blue dots are in 4" increments from the center.
10" height - about 12" of solid spread
12" height - about 15" of solid spread
I have determined I am going to start the lights at about 10" from the top of the tank and make the light stand a full 84" tall. I may lose full spread at the total top of the tank, but due to the depth of the tank I will sacrifice a little spread at the top for penetration to the bottom.
Building the light stand
I picked up some 1/2" EMT from the Home Depot and was time to make the light stand.
Here is the tool we use to bend EMT...
Positioning for bending...
After the bend...
Hardscape
I am still in search of some hardscape materials that are large enough for this tank.
Here is what I currently have. While they are all nice and interesting, they might not be large enough. The cardboard is about 4 foot, to give you an idea of scale...
Here is the hardscape.....it has changed a bit since the photo, but it is 90% the same...
It was inspired by this shot from Hawaii...
jB
)
