Seano's 29g FOWLR to a full reef build[UPDATE 2/10/11]

I was going to go with boost led bulbs but didn't have the money in November. Hate to say it, but I'm kind of glad I didn't. These should be much more powerful. They can also be dimmed!

 

Most def. Thats a plus! you should go with this dimmer, cant get any easier than plug and play.

 

I have the Aqua Controller Jr., but I don't have the DC8 yet. It will be $100 for that.

I wonder if there would be a way I could use the dimmer you showed me, on a timer, so that i dims by itself?

 

Im not sure how that would work. I'm no electrician but Idk if it would work only because with a timer its either all on or all off. you would have to tell some sort of circuit to dim X% at a given time of your liking. Im not sure how that would be achieved, unless there is some device floating around that can do that. I'm not sure that be pretty cool to have lights dim like a few % over the course of the day like completely off at midnight then at like 5 go on a few % then continue till noon or 1 to 100% then dim back down to a few % at like 8. Then have it switch from your daylights and actinics at the same time. That be cool as a mother trucker.

 

Yeah it sounds like it would almost be worth it to just go ahead and get the DC8. lol.

We'll see what come up with...

I am not sure on what pendant fixtures to go with. I couldn't find any that were long enough for the boost bulbs, but they were smaller. Once I find out how high or low these bulbs need to be above the water, I will go from there.

Here are some of the fixtures I am looking at...this is more for style right now, as I don't know how long it will need to be.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_49480-18918..._prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1

Even better is this one. a 43.5" it would be just over a foot(minus bulb height) above the water. Too high still?
http://www.lowes.com/pd_33049-73424...s_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&page=2

I think for actinics I will use some royal blue rope lights.

 

I was just browsing home depot (im not a fan of lowes) lol. and im sure thatll work any type that require A bulbs should work for those. Theres tons of different styles to chose from. would that work for actinics?

 

We don't have a Home Depot near where I live. Dad doesn't like HD anywyas. haha

Well I need the fixture + bulb to be about 6" above the water, I am assuming. I think the bulb is about 6" tall(not including screw in part), so that pendent in the second link would be perfect(4" above water). It matches the light we currently have in the house too.

I would think that should work for actinics. If I am not mistaken, the royal blue diodes used in PAR bulbs, as well as most LED fixtures, are the same color temperature(460-470nm) as the ones used in christmas lights.

 

Here is my scape from today. The yellow-ish color rock had fallen so I had to change it around a bit. I will probably be epoxying it together in sections today as well. The right side is what I changed up a bit. It is more like cliffs now. I like it.

 

Looks neat!
I def. like all of the ledges - I bet you are already seeing all of the corals you want to put on there!!!!

 

Thanks.

Most definitely! haha I'm already thinking I want lots of branching corals like acros and montis. I have a lot of caves would should be great for both medium and small fish too. I just moved the top-middle rock so it sticks out more. I am thinking I want some acan to completely cover this rock. New picture below in a bit.