Hemmdog’s 90gal Seaciety and 40gal Vale of Shadows

[Hemmdog]

that's indio!

i suppose there's a lot of famous people that vacation and golf in palm springs, i've just never really understood it. if i'm going somewhere super hot, i need me a large body of water

I’m with ya haha. My wife’s grandma aunt and uncle live there, that’s my excuse lol.

 

[Hemmdog]

Fungia having a nice lunch

@Lasse do you still have your orange fungia that you loved so much? I was checking out your early build thread yesterday, it’s a nice one!

All done eating

 

[Lasse]

No I lose it together with my other fungias - realy do not know why. But my tounge coral have survive.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Hemmdog]

No I lose it together with my other fungias - realy do not know why. But my tounge coral have survive.

Sincerely Lasse

Aw sorry to hear that they are fascinating corals. At least your tongue coral survived!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

No I lose it together with my other fungias - realy do not know why. But my tounge coral have survive.

Sincerely Lasse

Same. Had an orange plate for 7 months. Never inflated, did nothing and eventually bleached and died.. miserable fail.

 

[Hemmdog]

Same. Had an orange plate for 7 months. Never inflated, did nothing and eventually bleached and died.. miserable fail.

It happens I lost a green one that way, it was right next to this orange one, made no sense.

 

[Mike.P]

So, in large part inspired by our interaction, and your gorgeous tank, I've decided to get one of the hybrid fixtures as well... Can I pick your brain a bit? I can' tell from the angle in your pictures, but is your fixture the same length as your tank, or is it shorter?

I have a 60" Red Sea, and I'm trying to decide between the 61" fixture, or go down in size, to the 48". Here's the dilemma, in my mind:

With the 48" fixture, I have to space my three LED's 16" apart. According to Red Sea, their spread is 20" x 20", when placed 7" above the water, and 24" x 24" at 8". So... I would have a lot of overlap in the spaces between the middle and outside LED's. But, I would have areas of less intense light on the left and right sides of the tank; this would potentially be beneficial for certain corals, clams, etc.

With the 60" fixture, I would space the LED's 20" apart, so exactly at where their spread is, which I like. But then I would have light coverage edge to edge from the T5's. However I would have less intensity in between the LED's, which may work for stuff that likes less intense light too. I'm also potentially concerned about how bad the light spill would be outside of the tank... I haven't used T5's in so long, I can't even remember what they really look like. lol. Do you find that the light only comes down directly beneath the bulbs, or does it spread out a lot farther?

So yeah, I guess that's what I'm trying to decide between, and I'd appreciate whatever input that you may have. Everyone else is of course welcome to chime in as well. ;Woot

 

[Hemmdog]

So, in large part inspired by our interaction, and your gorgeous tank, I've decided to get one of the hybrid fixtures as well... Can I pick your brain a bit? I can' tell from the angle in your pictures, but is your fixture the same length as your tank, or is it shorter?

I have a 60" Red Sea, and I'm trying to decide between the 61" fixture, or go down in size, to the 48". Here's the dilemma, in my mind:

With the 48" fixture, I have to space my three LED's 16" apart. According to Red Sea, their spread is 20" x 20", when placed 7" above the water, and 24" x 24" at 8". So... I would have a lot of overlap in the spaces between the middle and outside LED's. But, I would have areas of less intense light on the left and right sides of the tank; this would potentially be beneficial for certain corals, clams, etc.

With the 60" fixture, I would space the LED's 20" apart, so exactly at where their spread is, which I like. But then I would have light coverage edge to edge from the T5's. However I would have less intensity in between the LED's, which may work for stuff that likes less intense light too. I'm also potentially concerned about how bad the light spill would be outside of the tank... I haven't used T5's in so long, I can't even remember what they really look like. lol. Do you find that the light only comes down directly beneath the bulbs, or does it spread out a lot farther?

So yeah, I guess that's what I'm trying to decide between, and I'd appreciate whatever input that you may have. Everyone else is of course welcome to chime in as well. ;Woot

Haha thank you for the compliments! My tank is 48 and I got the 48. I have it 10 inches above the water. I find the bulbs mainly go directly down unfortunately via par meter results but that works fine for me due to having a lot of coral on the back of my tank mainly. I would get the 61. Don’t bother with actinic t5 bulbs either they don’t provide hardly any par I also discovered. If you went shorter I think the shadowing on the ends would be to drastic.

The light spill out of the tank is pretty bad, I would like to find some sort of reflector to put on both sides. It’s saved me a ton on household light bulbs though! I literally never turn my lights on anywhere in my house but the bathroom and the bedroom. The tanks illuminate my whole home. Going green over here.

 

[Mike.P]

Haha thank you for the compliments! My tank is 48 and I got the 48. I have it 10 inches above the water. I find the bulbs mainly go directly down unfortunately via par meter results but that works fine for me due to having a lot of coral on the back of my tank mainly. I would get the 61. Don’t bother with actinic t5 bulbs either they don’t provide hardly any par I also discovered. If you went shorter I think the shadowing on the ends would be to drastic.

The light spill out of the tank is pretty bad, I would like to find some sort of reflector to put of both sides. It’s saved me a ton on household light bulbs though! I literally never turn my lights on anywhere in my house but the bathroom and the bedroom. The tanks illuminate my whole home. Going green over here.

Thank you for the advice! I think you maybe right, as far as the shadows are concerned, I didn't even think of that... As far as the light spread goes, I just mean strictly aesthetically... The tank is down in my home theater, and I'm just afraid of the whole room ending up glowing blue and purple. lol

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Love seeing these type of posts and the spreading of knowledge here on these forums. Cheers

 

[Hemmdog]

Thank you for the advice! I think you maybe right, as far as the shadows are concerned, I didn't even think of that... As far as the light spread goes, I just mean strictly aesthetically... The tank is down in my home theater, and I'm just afraid of the whole room ending up glowing blue and purple. lol

Oh I see. Well idk if you can tell from pics but this is my dining room illumination only from the tank.

So yea.. fairly bright lol. Don’t mind the clutter.. reefing stuff.. +1 my printer lol.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Oh I see. Well idk if you can tell from pics but this is my dining room illumination only from the tank.
View attachment 1086950
So yea.. fairly bright lol.

Nice spot for the tank love it.

 

[Hemmdog]

Nice spot for the tank love it.

Thanks man! It does fit good there I bet I could of fit a 180.... lol

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Thanks man! It does fit good there I bet I could of fit a 180.... lol

 

[Hemmdog]

View attachment 1086952

Lol

 

[Mike.P]

Oh I see. Well idk if you can tell from pics but this is my dining room illumination only from the tank.
View attachment 1086950
So yea.. fairly bright lol. Don’t mind the clutter.. reefing stuff.. +1 my printer lol.

Super bright! Probably won't make a diffrence then, 48" or 61", that's going to happen... Oh well, I guess sacrifices must be made. lol. The wall behind that tank is a dark maroon, hopefully it'll suck some of it up, as opposed to white.

 

[Hemmdog]

Super bright! Probably won't make a diffrence then, 48" or 61", that's going to happen... Oh well, I guess sacrifices must be made. lol. The wall behind that tank is a dark maroon, hopefully it'll suck some of it up, as opposed to white.

View attachment 1086953

Very bright lol. Yea that wall color should help. Cute cats! Haha

 

[mattzang]

Super bright! Probably won't make a diffrence then, 48" or 61", that's going to happen... Oh well, I guess sacrifices must be made. lol. The wall behind that tank is a dark maroon, hopefully it'll suck some of it up, as opposed to white.

View attachment 1086953

are those bengals? hopefully they don't enjoy the tank too much! lol

 

[Rakie]

Ah thank you for that! I didn’t know true yellows and rare colors could change the grading as well, very good to know.

Yeah, it could be color content, patterning, or even specific colors and color combos. It's kinda all played by ear, and based off a "WOW" factor. The more high end stuff you see, the easier it is to grade things, and eventually you can determine the subtle differences between "wow", "Wow", and "WOW!".

 

[Hemmdog]

Super bright! Probably won't make a diffrence then, 48" or 61", that's going to happen... Oh well, I guess sacrifices must be made. lol. The wall behind that tank is a dark maroon, hopefully it'll suck some of it up, as opposed to white.

View attachment 1086953

If you get the hybrid; if you get the tank mounts, I highly recommend attaching them to your stand BEFORE your tank is full of water. That was not a fun day.