RTBS

I know what common sense is or rather who he was but he's sadly passed away, Bit off the topic of the thread but in these times sums up the way I think things have gone. It's always some one else's fault!!

here's what I did to my AR980, granted it was a conversion suitable for marine but could still apply to Freshwater I think. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/ar980-marine-conversion-lots-of-pics-of-the-process-vt18241.html

Thanks guys that was far too quick?? Mike

Want to start adding some clean up crew, Looking for Snails, Hermit crab?? and treying to find a couple of cleaner shrimp. New or Second Home'd OK Mike

Here's a couple of Pic's now that all the alterations to the tanks are more or less complete You can just see the skimmer collection cup sticking up in the corner, Think I'll paint it the same colour as the rest of the hood. Now just waiting for the 6025 and rest of the T5 tubes to arrive. Also contemplating a 6055 and controller but do not want too much clutter in the tank. Mike

They don't well not really any way, one store has a marine tank and 1/2 dozen products, we got or rock from them , but choice is getting better if not a bit pricy. Thank goodnes for the Internet and couriers They are however very, very helpful, free with advise and no pressure for a sale so we will keep going back. Don't mind paying a bit extra for good service.

Hope my tank will eventually look as good, what about snails???????????? to help clean up

Thanks guys, now how many fish for a 200l with Deltec MC500 skimmer and no sump, tank (4-6 maybe??), Plan to add slowly starting with pair True Perc's and some sort of cleaner shrimp, (reccomendations??)

OK folks, tank has been cycling now for 3 weeks after setup. Tested tonight and results as follows PH = 8.2 Alkalinity = 3 Free Ammonia = 0.02 Total Ammonia = 0.05 Nitrite = 0 Nitrate = 3 Tested used SeaChem Basic Marine Kit Been testing every couple days but haven’t really seen any rise in ammonia level or nitrite either. So I am understandably a little suspicious. Tank has been fed every 2 days and has some 4 clear shrimp, 3 hermit crabs and 3 normal crabs living in it, (found these when collecting NSW). All seem very happy. Skimmer been running since tank set up. Rock had been “cooking†in a separate tank for 2 months while we collected up the other bits and pieces required to set up the tank. Used live sand purchased off a person closing down their tank. SOOOOOO do the reefers out there think can we add some fish?????????????????

Update So today things came together, should have been sooner BUT the sand we got shipped up was lost in transit Twice, thanks CourierPost, should have arrived on Thursday. It was live when it left for us and should have been delivered overnight but never mind. At least it got here in the end!! Filled the tanks and checked Salinity 1.024 Moved the rock we have been keeping in the tanks down stairs and dumped in the sand. Added the crabs borrowed from the beach a couple of months ago which have been happilly living in with the rock. Put the hood back on and cranked up the Skimmer and now you see it, (my apologies for the BLUE lights in the picture BUT the 4 White Osram 865 lamps which were showing in stock in another branch could not be located. Now we have to wait till approx 20th Feb for new stock to arrive. First thoughts are the skimmer is a bit noisy and lights definitly too blue but every thing else seems OK. Currently have 2 pumps running for 1400l p/h, what do we need in the way of powerheads, looking for something which won't clutter up the tank too much, I like the look of the Tunze 6055 Nanostream with a controller but have no idea what they cost here in NZ or who sells them So Now my questions are Will we have to wait long ie more than a month or so, for the tank to cycle again or will the cycle be shorter since we already had the rock "cooking" What sort of clean up crew do we need and how many? Mike

Not quite sure what you mean. 3 power plugs, one for each bank of 2 flouro's 1 Plug for fans

AR980 have a vent in top rear of light hood, should be ok if not then I'll just add another fan to extract the air. Might not even need the fans yet. Seems to run fairly cool with 4 lamps, in fact cooler than the origional 3 lamps with magnetic ballasts, but still waiting for 2 lamps then I'll post more pic's as we go on from there Mike

Parts list as follows Rexel Product Code Description Cost 4 X OSRLFQ39865 T5 39W Col865 Lumilux Plus $25.00 2 X OSRLFQ3967 T5 39W Col67 Lumilux Plus $32.00 3 X OSRQT12X1424213 Osram Quicktronic Intelligent 2 X 14/24/21/39 Electronic Ballast $103.00 12 X STU268 Stucchi Lampholder 268 $1.35 2 x Cooling fans I just happened to have lying around Thanks to TM for the Rexcel OSRAM lamp part numbers as this helped immensely. All prices are retail incl gst, I got varried discount on the Items, (charged them thru my employers account) The price of having to work within the existing hood I guess. I intend to post more pic's as we go. Mike

Updated Pic's of light fixture alterations Before Stripped Out Partly Wired Up Wiring Finished View from lamp side So how does it look. You can see the fans one pushing air down and one pulling air out nestled between the ballasts Will post more picture when last of lamps arrive Mike

Point taken how ever AR980 Lights do not have any reflectors inbuilt apart from the mount. There are no silver style reflectors. Cheap and nasty. Mike

Yep pics will follow maybe tonight

MC500 designed to go inside sump, (free standing ) or hang on inside of tank. We however chose to be a little different as we also wanted to use what we have ie existing filetr pump. We didnd want a HOB type as the tank would be to far out from the wall then. Also should skimmer develop a leak it won't matter eh. No mess on the carpet Mike

Well folks we have finally started on converting our AR980 from Freshwater to Marine, Thanks in advance to all those from this site who have offered advise. We decided to move all our freshwater fishie friends to an AR620T which Santa kindly delivered and convert their present home an AR980 to marine. While we know this may not be easy we didn't want to purchase yet another tank. So we have decided as follows AR980 (No Sump), yet?? we will be doing weekly water changes if necessary. Deltec MC500 Skimmer, may be a bit "Over Skimmered" with this but more is better?? Lighting upgrade, (wife says must fit into existing hood), therefore planing to install 5-6 T5's Powerheads, (to be decided I want Tunze Stream Kit) Water will be NSW at this stage Fish load will be 4-6 incl pair of True Perc's, and clean up crew. 2 months ago we purchased approx 20kgs rock and this has been sitting in a spare tank with pump / heater, 20% water changes carried out weekly using NSW. Last week we scored 15kgs of Coral sand from an existing tank being broken down so this should help thigs get established. This weeked all our fishies were moved to their new home and tank drained and cleaned out. Measured up for skimmer installation and cut out rear of filterbox to allow skimmer to drop in, (see photo). Replumbed existing filter pump (1000 lph) to provide some of the required circulation. Also installed smaller filter pump (400 lph) which we had lying around. Powerhead(s) yet to be purchased and installed. Lights were then stripped down and existing tubes / ballasts / starters wer removed. 12 T5 lamp holders were installed and 3 new Electronic T5 Dual Output Ballasts also mounted at this point Photos of this to come Total T5 lamps now installed = 6 @ 39W for total 234W lighting I hope this will be enough to keep most things happy. We intend runnig 2 Osram Blue and 4 Osram 865 lamps as recommended by TM Lights will operate on timers in 3 banks of 2, however we can still switch them on/off via hood light switches as well.

Thanks for the suggestion, I have a couple of these floating around my workbench I think. Mike

Thanks guys, I think I will just squeeze the extra lamp in and use all the capacity I have. Will be a tight squeeze but should be OK. I was just a little worried about melting the clear acrylic Light cover on the hood. I would stress too anyone not familiar with working with 220VAC stuff, if you Do It Yourself have a sparky look over your work BEFORE plugging it in and NEVER EVER try and play with your project while it LIVE, bad things can happen. Trust me I know Thanks for all the replies Mike

Thanks for the warning, However since I am an electronics tech by trade and am still here I would like to think I will be OK, ha ha. Tubes, end caps and Osram ballasts came from Rexel Cheers \Mike

Can I run a single T5 Tube from an OSRAM Quicktronic T5 Dual output electronic ballast. I am about to try and retrofit 5 or 6 T5 39W tubes into the hood of my Aquaone AR980 after I have removed the 3 existing T8’s. i have 3 of these Dual Output ballasts I can just squeeze 6 lamps in but am not sure if this will create a possible heat damage issue and melt the clear acrylic lamp cover, maybe 5 would work better? 2 local electrical wholesalers have said you can't run a single lamp from a double ballast but another electrician says its no problem and will work fine. I cannot see any reason why this is not possible. Can any electrician members provide some advise. Kind Regards Mike

Hey Everyone Thanks for all the Help and replies, I am going to try and get some OSRAM tubes from REXELL as suggested by TM, failing that I'll get some off Jetski. Mike

Did they arrive in one piece?? May have to go that way Mike

As the title says, I am looking for 3 x Normal Marine type 39w T5 tubes and 2 39w "Blue" Tubes for converting my AR980 lighting to marine. Local Mastertrade here in Nelson say 17 week delay and min order of 25 of each. Surely someone has these tubes?? Can anyone help Mike