It's finally here!!!!!!!!!

attml

attml

Active Member
My Icecap PFO Hood finally showed up today! Needless to say I am extremely happy!!! What a well constructed piece of equipment!!! It is a 2 - 250W metal halide fixture running on a standard PFO ballast and 2 -110w VHO actenics running on an Icecap 660 ballast. I went withe the 10,000K Ushio MH Bulbs. The only hitch so far is that they didn't send the VHO bulbs that I ordered:mad: I have a call into the Co. that I ordered the fixture from so I am hoping they can send them to me quickly! Here are a few quick pics. I just set the fixture on top of the tank so I could see how the lighting looked. I will move everything into place tomorrow. Tell me what you think!
 
attml

attml

Active Member
hhands361,
Thank you!
XxViEtXjUStiNxX,
You've got mail!
mlm,
Thank you! I am making it primarily an sps tank with a clam or two. I am shooting for a smaller scale tank hopefully with a similar look to BIGMAC, SPSFreak100, SteveWeast & Skillos's tanks. I am moving my PC lighting and all of my soft and LPS corals to my 30gal tomorrow and I am re-arraging my rockstructure to a more sps friendly configuration.
flamingkingofhe,
Thank you very much! I currently have a Yellow Tang, Pygmy Cherub Anngel, Tomato Clown, Royal Gramma, Watchman Goby & a Yellow Tail Damsel. Some of those will be moved to my 30 tomorrow
 
angelofish

angelofish

Member
WoW!! That is Bright.:eek: Why did you switch? Ive watch your tank from the begining because I too have a 55. What did you do with the other lites?
 
leigh

leigh

Active Member
yowsers, 700+ watts on a 55? Am I reading that right? Does the sun put out that much light!
seriously though, looks sweet :)
 
attml

attml

Active Member
Angelofish,
Thank you very much!!!:) I am a member of the Chesapeake Marine Aquarium Society. CMAS is my local aquarium club and we meet once a month at the National Aquarium and there is a lot of frag swapping. After a few meetings I came home with some free Acro frags which I tried to grow under my 260w of PC lighting and after a little time you could see that it was barely hanging on (my PC lighting was not enough for sps coral). Since I really wanted to keep sps I decided to go with MH. I am moving my old PC lighting overtop my 30 gallon which until tomorrow has been a SWFO (with base rock).
skilos1,
Thank you! I plan on running an abbreviated photo period for the first week or two bumping it up a little each day. With this much of a light increase I expect a full blown algae bloom! I appreciate the advice you had given me previously and suggestions ongoing!! Your info was very helpful!
leigh,
Thank you very much! It doubles as a tanning booth!:D
This thing is bright now and I haven't even put in the 220watts of actenics yet! I have only had it on a few hours and my dying acros have already grown 3 inches:) Kidding of course!
entice59,
Here is a pic of the fixture that I got off one of the sites as I was looking at this type of fixture. It has a excellent reflector on it!
Nerdy,
Thank you very much!
 
spsfreak100

spsfreak100

Active Member
I couldn't agree more with Skilos1!
Although, I would keep a close eye on the corals during the time which you are aclamating them to the new lighting. Watch for any signs of stress, such as weak polyp extension, or the coral isn't opening. Make sure you montitor the corals daily. What lighting did you first start out with?
I first had 8x 65wt PC's and 1x 48" 110wt VHO over my 80 gallon, and upgraded to 2x 400wt Radiums. I started out the radiums with 2 hours the first day, and bumped the lighting up exactly 30 minutes every 2-3 days. This might be much different than your setup though.
Anyway,
Your overall setup looks awesome! The corals really seem to stand out more.
Graham
 
attml

attml

Active Member
Thanks Graham,
It previously had 4 X 65w PCs on it with about a 12 hour photo period. I am moving most of my LPS and soft corals into my 30 gal tomorrow and they will remain under the 4 X 65w. A few LPS and the couple of SPS that I had will remain under the new light and I plan on adding frags from there. Since the tank is only a 55 gal I plan on adding frags and not colonies so that I have some room to watch everything grow! I will watch everything very closely! Thanks for your help!
 
krux

krux

Member
curious if you dont mind my asking, what a light fixture runs. or if you want to email me the address i can look it up myself. my next major purchase will be lights (my girflfriend always wants to know"can we have that?") so im starting to research prices. thanks and it looks awesome!
 
robb

robb

Member
I think I remember when you turned it on cause I heard a buzzing sound and the sun dimmed and flickered here in Michigan! :D
By the way...it looks sweet!
 
attml

attml

Active Member
Krux,
The cost of the fixture depends on what options you get and the sixe you need. My tank is 48 inches long so I went with the 48inch hood. It has a base price then you have several options for your MH ballast type and size, VHO ballast typr and size, your MH & VHO bulbs, the type of fans you want etc... Based on what options you choose determines your final cost. If you go to yahoo and search on "Icecap PFO Hood" the first link that comes up is where I got mine. Take care!
 
attml

attml

Active Member
Robb,
LOL!:D When I pulled the MH ballast out of the box I was a little worried I would trip a breaker because it is huge! The thing fired right up though!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top