RTBS Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Sweet but couldnt that skimmer have been outside the tank??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazzard Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Nice work,keep the pictures coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 nice cut out for mce500 Deltec skimmer. 6x39w will be enough to keep most corals, especially sps coral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Sweet but couldnt that skimmer have been outside the tank??? 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 cool, looks real tidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rexliz Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Have you got a picture/s of your T5 upgrade? I have built a T8 twin before - but just wondering what differences there are. The T5 electronic ballasts look longer and heavier than the old fashioned magnetic ones - are they? Are the endcap fittings similat to T8s - apart from being smaller. I am thinking of 4 tubes in an AR850 light unit - I think the same width as the 980, but shorter - you think that many will fit? Don't worry, I have a techie to check it before blastoff! ... Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Have you got a picture/s of your T5 upgrade? I have built a T8 twin before - but just wondering what differences there are. The T5 electronic ballasts look longer and heavier than the old fashioned magnetic ones - are they? Are the endcap fittings similat to T8s - apart from being smaller. I am thinking of 4 tubes in an AR850 light unit - I think the same width as the 980, but shorter - you think that many will fit? Don't worry, I have a techie to check it before blastoff! ... Cheers Yep pics will follow maybe tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted January 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rexliz Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Looking very professional. I went into Rexel in Auckland and they didn't have a clue - didn't even know there was a High Output version of the T5. Would you mind letting me know how much the ballasts were? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 well done, looks very good. will be interesting to see how bright the tank looks under thses lights. should be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted January 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Looking very professional. I went into Rexel in Auckland and they didn't have a clue - didn't even know there was a High Output version of the T5. Would you mind letting me know how much the ballasts were? Cheers 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rexliz Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Wow - thats an awful lot of light especially if you put all six in - needed for Marines I assume. I use my 850 for freshwater planted - so I won't comment here any further - suffice to say for my 155l I may take out the smaller T8 (20w?) and replace it with a pair of T5H0s. By my (admittedly poor) maths, some 1w per litre - should be ample with CO2 injection etc. Or I could just gut the whole thing and put in 2 pairs of T5s - but that would be 156w of high output - probably too much? Thanks for your help. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazymranch Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Wow, totally awesome. I wish I had seen this before I butchered mine and had to build a new canopy from scratch. One question about the fans: Won't they circulate the ballast-heated air into the tank and then the moisture-laden air back up into the wiring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
land_lubber Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 looking good, are you going to change the plugs so you only have 2 instead of six? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 looking good, are you going to change the plugs so you only have 2 instead of six? Not quite sure what you mean. 3 power plugs, one for each bank of 2 flouro's 1 Plug for fans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
land_lubber Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 ah right it just looks like you have lots of plugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Nice job. Those ballasts don't put out to much heat, you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted January 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2007 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goby1 Posted January 20, 2007 Report Share Posted January 20, 2007 looks good the blue hue will disapear or rather it wont be as blue when you add your white lights. Cleanup crew depends on what you intend on keeping. but again looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted January 20, 2007 Report Share Posted January 20, 2007 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 Try pm'ing Reef - he is the importer for Tunze. Alternative is HFF in Mt Roskill, I have seen Tunze stuff there. As to price - LOTS If you are really lucky someone may sell some on TM and you can get it for a bargain - like I did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted February 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stompa Posted February 2, 2007 Report Share Posted February 2, 2007 looks very cool ...... job well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTBS Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Here it is almost all done with first renters at home Thanks to TM Now if the rock would only GROW something other than green algea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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