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Steve’s Reef 265 Build (2 Viewers)

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steveb

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All done with the wiring. If I had to do it over I would have cut all the wires to length. But I don’t want to unscrew all the sockets, pull the wires out and then cut & re-secure the sockets. Meh, it’s hidden by the canopy.


0bf357cf36b5452c0d531a4042410764.jpg



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steveb

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Right now ati blue+, coral+, actinic, Blue+ front to back.

Will have 5 of the 165w mars aqua leds in the middle. Not sure what levels I will set the blues and whites at yet.

May end up using purple+ instead of coral+ and might change out one of the blue+ with another actinic.


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That's a really cool setup the way everything plugs in to the light mount, and then the whole thing slides out from the canopy. I predict this tank is going to be well worth the wait.
 
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steveb

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A big thanks to Cody & Travis for ideas and lending a hand. We can put a check mark in the DONE box for the T5/LED mount on slides inside the canopy!

Just need to pick up a few right angle power cords to deal with clearance and 3 more marsaqua 165w black boxes.


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That's a really cool setup the way everything plugs in to the light mount, and then the whole thing slides out from the canopy. I predict this tank is going to be well worth the wait.

Thank you Frank.


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Cody

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Made some changes to the lighting. Originally was going to use all LED but decided to reduce the # units and add T5 retro kits to balance.

This required a rework of the light hanging system.

Decided on a sliding shelf to make bulb changes easy!

Big shout out to Cody for helping get this thing built.

2044a1d3018ba864d81f7d9c3d0b8cbb.jpg



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Lights so powerful they done given Cody the bald head! Lol.
b30490ee254210534f21543f68ba61f3.jpg


Anyways still need to make a few adjustments and paint it, but happy it’s built!

I will be adding 3 more of the 165w mars aqua leds.

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That bald pic....
 

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All done with the wiring. If I had to do it over I would have cut all the wires to length. But I don’t want to unscrew all the sockets, pull the wires out and then cut & re-secure the sockets. Meh, it’s hidden by the canopy.


0bf357cf36b5452c0d531a4042410764.jpg



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Good idea mounting a terminal on the back. I might have to do something like that on mine. Haven't figured out how I want to hide my wires yet.
 

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Yay! It works!!!!

I was worried I wired something wrong.

e913ff5d399428f7675393724c0e123e.jpg





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The wiring is pretty straight forward. Hardest part is just mounting the bulb sockets correctly.

And like I said the other day, I would highly recommend subbing a purple+ for the coral+ and converting more blue+ to actinic. I found that in my tank, with even just four bulbs, I can hardly turn my leds on without putting out too much par. Plus, with so many blue+ your tank ends up being whiter than you might want. A blue+ is a coral+ without the red.
 
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steveb

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The wiring is pretty straight forward. Hardest part is just mounting the bulb sockets correctly.

And like I said the other day, I would highly recommend subbing a purple+ for the coral+ and converting more blue+ to actinic. I found that in my tank, with even just four bulbs, I can hardly turn my leds on without putting out too much par. Plus, with so many blue+ your tank ends up being whiter than you might want. A blue+ is a coral+ without the red.

Yeah not complex but dealing with staggering the bulbs made wiring the “yellow” electrode wires that use a shared hole special. Not super complex just had to make sure the 24 watt ballast got hooked to the 24” bulbs and the 80 watt ballast got hooked to the 60” bulbs.


What is the front to back bulb config your running or wanting to run?

I am thinking purple+,actinic,actinic,blue+

Or maybe

actinic, actinic, purple+,blue+



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Good idea mounting a terminal on the back. I might have to do something like that on mine. Haven't figured out how I want to hide my wires yet.

The terminals are GFCI plugs. Unfortunately the height of the socket + the plugs is about a 1/4” to tall. So having to get some 1’ right angle plugs for the ballasts to plug into.

Yeah I was thinking plastic wire loom or maybe build something out of thin strips of wood painted black that just fits in place.


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Haha sometimes hoarding pays off! I remembered I bought some black wire loom a while back!

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I like it!

I need to get some wire ties that have screw holes to secure it down but that’s it.


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Cody

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Yeah not complex but dealing with staggering the bulbs made wiring the “yellow” electrode wires that use a shared hole special. Not super complex just had to make sure the 24 watt ballast got hooked to the 24” bulbs and the 80 watt ballast got hooked to the 60” bulbs.


What is the front to back bulb config your running or wanting to run?

I am thinking purple+,actinic,actinic,blue+

Or maybe

actinic, actinic, purple+,blue+



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Either

Actinic
Purple
Blue
Actinic


Or


Actinic
Purple
Actinic
Actinic
 

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I like the first.
Gonna try the first tomorrow. See if I can actually turn on my white channel on my leds and not white wash the tank. I like it a little on the blue side.
 

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I texted these to Steve last night but I just wanted to share with everyone. I switched out a coral plus for another actinic. It's still pretty white with just:

Actinic
Purple plus
Blue plus
Actinic

No filter
eB2rTfO.jpg



A medium ranged blue filter
AVutmd5.jpg
 
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All of the LED’s are in. Waiting on the low profile power cords. So only 3 of 5 black boxes turn on right now.

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Rest of the 1” gray pvc parts should start showing up next week.





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