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Disney's 75g Saltwater tank building updates

4K views 25 replies 6 participants last post by  DisneyCoralReef 
#1 ·
Day 1! After ordering all the parts from all sorts of places online and locally, the first part has arrived!

I am the proud mother of an Ocean Light 6 by 54w T5 48", light fixture. It arrived 2 days ago from the other end of the continent. Pictures to come later this evening. The tank and stand should arrive next week! Woot!

Again many pictures to come as we get ourselves together.
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#5 · (Edited)
LOL opening at midnight! someone behaving like a kid on christmas night!!! Notice that the light has individual reflectors. That so important for efficiency of T'5s. It increase the light output significantly allowing you to use less bulbs for lighting. do you like the quality of that light? BTW, I can see a nice reef already!

before you run out and get corals, keep in mind that corals do send out stingers to kill any other corals around it, or release chemicals, or just invade space, overgrow and create shadows to kill below it. real estate is king on a reef and corals will do what ever to get it. so kinda keep that in mind and also try to determine what kind of reef you want. btw, fish has to be compatible to the reef too, so if there's a particular fish or coral you MUST have, there's going to be limitations on how or what else you keep.
 
#7 ·
Oh I was exhausted! :lol: I had just come home from having worked from 0830-2230 at night, so yes this was definitely a christmas moment :twisted: but I had to do it. I know I wouldnt have slept had I not done it. The powerheads and skimmer should be mailed out in a couple weeks so we will be waiting for those, but a big portion of the rest of the equipment, should be arriving this week sometime hopefully.

Very excited! :-D :p :) :-D
 
#10 ·
My darlings! here are all the pictures, can't believe it's all here. Want to thank each and every single one of you over the last many months in helping me understand and make and buy the list of equipment I was going to need for this. Still far from starting it BUT we actually have the equipment now!

Special thanks to Reef for helping out in making the list. Here comes your cyber-canuck--aquarium folks!! :-D

75 Gallon tank and stand(can't believe I spent that much for THAT-buggers make easy money)


The really neat corner overflow


Reminds me I didnt take a picture of the refractothinger(so one more pictures to come)


Advise me on the lights. I let the kids at the store choose the lights for me. From the looks of it, my fixture can't take HO lights, so this is what they figured was best. I can definitely return them.


The fixture you guys saw from a few weeks ago


The sump. It was a disaster. They sump I order didn't come in(neither had the stand for that matter), so the store gave me one model bigger for the same price instead.


The skimmer and powerheads are on their way from the states, and my RODI system was bought from eBay(will figure out if it was a good idea or not...soon...)

so voila. Please advise me if you see something in that stuff that you guys think won't work, or needs to be changed. Thanks again guys.
 
#12 ·
I discovered last night, that the sump has a crack in the bottom of it. It doesnt go all the way throught the plexi but is still there and definitely looks like it's going to continue spreading. Going to call the store this morning to see what they have to say about it and get a new one.

Glad I noticed this now vs later. I also checked the light fixture and inserted all the bulbs. It took a few tries of re-arranging the fixture, but it seems like the bulbs in a certain order, but its beautiful and works just fine. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the crack in the sump and bring it back.
 
#18 ·
. I also checked the light fixture and inserted all the bulbs. It took a few tries of re-arranging the fixture, but it seems like the bulbs in a certain order, but its beautiful and works just fine. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the crack in the sump and bring it back.

usually those fixture comes with 2 bulbs on one ballast and 4 on the other. i would guess you have to have 2 bulbs on the outer for the outer bulbs to turn on and the 4 interior bulbs need to be in for the others to work. if one bulb goes bad in the middle all turn off in the middle. if one goes bad on the outside, both outside bulbs go off. kinda like a christmas tree! lol

BTW good luck with the sump. that kinda sux!
 
#14 ·
i don't understand that you said the bulbs are not HO? arn't those bulbs 54 watts each? if yes and if you can get different bulbs i'd get giesemann bulbs or at least the color spectrum like them. they make a world of difference to the corals colors. i can supply you the bubl combo if you'd like.
 
#17 · (Edited)
They told me that because isn't marked to be able to handle high output bulbs, I would have to stick a combination o the ones I have. I think they added up the max wattage the fixture can handle and didn't work out with HO bulbs.

Does that make sense to you??
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no sense at all! isnt that fixture the aquamedic48"- 6x54W? if so it's HO bulbs that uses 54 watts!

if your bulb 48" long and is a 54 watt bulb then the light is a HO light fixture.
 
#16 · (Edited)
i'd get 4 giesemann atinic + with this spectrum



and 1 KZ figi purple or 75/25 T5 Fluorescent Aquarium Lamps by UV Lighting Co. The 75/25 is very similar to the figi purple but a few $ cheaper










and the last bulb i'd use is the giesemann aquablue+


this combo bulb selection will knock your socks off with color! bulb selection is mucho important with T5 bulbs!
 
#20 ·
pay close attention to the name or spectrum of the bulb. theres atinic thne atinic+ and many variations of the bulb by different manuf. you dont want pure atinic. take the spectrum graph with you wen getting the bulb so you wont make a mistake. the figi purple or 75/25 is a pinkish type bulb and the aquablue+ is a whiteish with a hint of blue. believe me when i say the work to get the bulb combo is well worth it! it wont dissapoint!
 
#23 · (Edited)
if you end up getting the bulbs from the web site here's the same combo of spectrum as what i mentioned but in the ATI brand that they sell. Like i said take note that the names changed but the spectrum are almost identical.

1 of Aquablue special

this bulb is like a 12 k spectrum bulb.









4 of ATI blueplus

this bulb is like 20k to 22k spectrum bulb


and 1 KZ fiji purple

this bulb enhances pink, red, and oranges. not sure what the spectrum would be but i love this bulb on my tank.




This combo rocks and enhances blue, green, purple, red, and oranges in the color spectrum as welll as the fluorescence colors. All those colors will "pop" out at you and you will get lots of contrast between the colors. If you use the light bulbs that you posted earlier the colors will be washed out and little or no contrast. After you get the bulbs we'll talk about bulb order from fron to back in the fixture.
 
#25 ·
you can keep corals alive with lighting or you can let them thrive with colors if the right spectrum is selected while the colors of the fish will pop off the charts. the difference between quality lighting can be startling. most people don't realize how important spectrum is when it comes to colors and contrast. this was one of the biggest things i learnt over the years. hope you got your bulbs changed.
 
#26 ·
you can keep corals alive with lighting or you can let them thrive with colors if the right spectrum is selected while the colors of the fish will pop off the charts. the difference between quality lighting can be startling. most people don't realize how important spectrum is when it comes to colors and contrast. this was one of the biggest things i learnt over the years. hope you got your bulbs changed.
I definitely did. I have that purple one you mentioned and one of 2 blues, but ordered 3-15,000 because I just could not find the ones you mentioned. Someone suggested the 3, so I will go with those for now. No one carried that brand so it was suggested to me to get those 3. From the looks of it tho, going to have to stick to reading some more for a while because we are going to be making the move in about 5 months-so I just can't get it started(well I want to but...). I also replaced the RIO pump with a much better one, and also got an extra thermometer to combine with the stick on one for the tank.

Will post some photos later.
 
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