fishyjoe24

I won 4 dollars on a 1 dollar scratch off is that helps you out?

walterk

It's a beginning.

walterk

I'm now going to begin saving for the tank!!!

In the meanwhile, I need have to have someone add an extension to the top back to more firmly secure the lighting fixtures.

I had a single bulb that I ordered months ago just to try out over my other tank. In this pic, I have it in one of the lamps. It is a PAR38 LED with 45 degree beam angle, 17 watt. It's too bright and the beam is too concentrated.

After fiddling with it for a while, I've learned a lot. I'm going to next order a single PAR30 bulb with 60 or 80 degree beam angle. It could be 10 watts or so. The tank is to be shallow, and plants will primarily be mosses, so I don't need that much. The tank already receives a good amount of ambient light.

Ideally, I would have liked the tank not to have a background, but the lamp stands are a problem. I'm going to try something different and see where it goes. I found a woman who is a quilter extraordinaire who specializes in dying cloth in a gradient pattern. I commissioned her to do a 9' long "sky blue" gradient pattern. I've draped it on the lamp stands for now just to get some perspective. If it doesn't work out, I'll have the ladies at my church make it into a quilt to give to folks in need.

The darker portion of the cloth is where the focal point of the tank will be. There is a single rock there with no driftwood. The angle that this pic was taken is misleading. The focal point of the 96" tank will be at 60" - 36".

walterk

PAR bulbs are expensive. I've found one that looks very different than the others (including the one I'm trying out).

Here it is:

http://www.bulbs.com/espec.aspx?ID=15903&RefId=376

http://www.arraylighting.com/DL/ITL_%20AE26R3086560.pdf

I like everything about them except that the bulb may need more red. CREE might be the only way to go?

The 5,500k - 6,500k version of this bulb looks better:

http://www.dhgate.com/e27-par38-cree...5627d25a0.html

walterk

I feel like I'm flying solo on the lighting part of this. I live in Central Texas and away from monthly meeting of the DFWAPC. I don't have a chance to compare notes with others on these issues and am instead relying upon input on this forum and one other (no responses from the other). I miss the comraderie and sharing of information from those meetings long past.

Thankfully, the internet (overall) has been a Godsend on gathering information as well, but it is a challenge to sort through opinions. I get the sense that the vast majority of us are feeling our way in the dark on lighting issues with LEDs being newly explored and older, more reliable types of lighting, being eventually phased out.

I suppose I'm going to make my share of mistakes along the way in this project. I guess this is okay because it is how we learn. Unfortunately, with such a large aquarium, each of these lessons will cost me $$$. Since I've been dreaming about this tank for basically most of my life, I really don't mind though. It's all part of the journey. On the other hand, I've done so much tinkering, and planning, and research on this over the years, that I've become supersaturated with it all. I now have a window of financial opportunity to purchase the tank in the summer months.

Right now, lighting issues are my concentration though.

I've purchased some relatively inexpensive LEDs in a lot of 10 from China. They should arrive in a few days. The chips are genuine CREE. The specs on bulbs from sites like what is linked below are frustrating to deal with because there will be conflicting information on the same page. Here's what I ordered (specifically e26, 110V, 5500-6500K, 60 degree:

http://www.dhgate.com/10pcs-lot-high...dab6d2ade.html

I am also going to order some CFLs:

https://1000bulbs.com/product/6840/FC09-MS65.html

The end product might include both types of bulbs or perhaps just one.

I've also ordered two more Ikea lamps, so I will have 10 now.

As far as lighting goes, I'm treating the aquarium loosely as a series of 10 gallon tanks that will house low light plants.

Tex Gal

Walter, we will be going to Planet Aquarium Tanks MFG field trip in November. At that meeting they will be giving us 10-20% off any aquarium we order. They make custom aquariums. You can contact Jason (foreverknight) and ask him about the company. He is our club secretary. He has talked to them and seen their work. It might be a way for you to save $$$ on your build.

fishyjoe24

I've seen there work, and so has tanya(tanyaq2000).

walterk

Thanks! Once I have cash in hand, I will be exploring my options for tank manufacturers. I will add them to the list for sure.

walterk

I'm getting closer.

This is a rambling video on what I'd like. I will be presenting something like this for initial conversations with companies to get possible specs and quotes. I'm going to go through my LFS to check into a couple of them. One is out of Florida (that the LFS uses), and the other is AGE out of Dallas.

Concerning Planet Aquarium Tanks -- do you have to go through a retail store to purchase them? That would be okay with me. I could have my LFS look into three companies that way. I want to support him.

I can redo the video. Anything you would change or recommend? I like the idea of a U-shaped flow, and I hope that I can achieve this even with an extremely long tank. I know most folks "in the know" that make these aquariums press hard for bulkheads and input and output to be on separate ends of the tank.

Input and suggestions most welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUtoP...ature=youtu.be

fishyjoe24

yes you would have to call the local fish stores, and they would get a price from mondo.