Opinions needed on changing hood or removing hood for new HQI lights and ATO

dankent

Member
Well would like see the people with experience in the matter respond to this please :)


I am pondering the idea of the 500 dollar mod to my hood from nano customs adding 150W HQI and 2 18watt actinics .... or a sepperate light removing my current hood and leaving a whole lota open space for evaporation ... which will require another purchase of a ATO ...


I am currently building my own glass sump which will be home to my skimmer and filter sock not sure how much room a ATO will need ... but i might need to add that as well.

So questions so far are :

How much evaporation did you see on a daily basis ? with hood off setups

How much space in sump did the ATO takeup?

I am looking at the modding the hood myself for a 180+ watts ... or external light that rings in about 400 watts with HQI/t5 (lots of heat too) so there may also be a chiller entering the mix soon.

If you feel like adding pics of your setup that would be a great help too.

thanks.

dan
:hug1:
 

dmyers557

Member
I would not go the nano customs route because it causes way too much heat. A couple of us here including me, run the current outer orbit with 150 watt hqi t5 or pc combo. I top mine off myself every morning and just run a fan to keep temps in check. Plus you can find the outer orbit unit for like 200.
 

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
Hi Dan. I have a raised HQI/T5 hood (Orbit - now discontinued), and run a dual cooling fan on the back of my 130 in the summer, set to turn on & off at selected high & low temps (via controller). In the winter I don't run the cooling fans at all. With the raised hood and cooling fans in the summer I go through about 2 gallons of RO/DI in about 3 days. No chiller here - if I had one I could leave the fans off and need less topoff.

This is my setup - a simple 2 chamber sump with no refugium section - just a place to put a skimmer, filter sock, small media reactor. My return pump & ATO sensors are in the smaller return pump chamber. I run the LifeReef siphon on the back rim of the 130.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/696352-post199.html

I opted for the Eshopps sump as it not only fit the RSM cabinet, but it left room for my ATO reservoir of about 2.5 gallons (an ex kitty litter container). I have a Tunze Osmolator for my ATO and the small Osmolator pump fits nicely through the opening of the kitty litter ATO reservoir. The "controller" box for the ATO is mounted on the left side of the cabinet. The only space needed in the sump is for the ATO water level sensors (and a water reservoir if you build that section into your sump) - the Tunze has an optical water level sensor that turns the ATO pump on and off, and a secondary float sensor that shuts off the pump & sounds an alarm if the water level in the sump should ever get too high. There's a lower cost JBJ ATO that requires you to furnish your own pump. Several other brands of ATO as well as DIY kits.

I hope that helps.
 

dankent

Member
thanks alot for the opinions guys. Lots to think about ... Should have the plumbing done for the sump and overflow in a couple days. Ordered an JBJ ATO for 79 bucks tonight ... Hehe If i could have found that light for that price i would have bought it .... hehe but my searches didnt turn up anything.


Still waiting for my flex hose to get here for my overflow to filter sock / sump drain.

I will try and get some pics of the DIY sump i made ... cost me 16.00 bucks for the tank and baffles were free from a friends glass shop cut and edge sanded to size ... so alot cheeper for now. I have a mag 5 for a return, i may switch this to a mag 9 but will see how it goes.
 

dankent

Member
I will post some pics today ... :) Currently the sump is going through a cycling of sorts ... tank water running in it with a feed from the return chamber to the intake chamber on a loop with a coral life super skimmer 65, running on it ... a christmas gift that i have to show i am using as to not hurt anyones feelings .. hehe but i must say .... it runs very well so far. I have emptied the tunze cup from the RSM into the sump water and so far the coralife is taking out the nasty, and most of all :) no micro bubbles lol which is probably because of the output difusser .... does a good job .. but like all sponges ... will require regular maitanence or removal, will see. I have added a baffle to deal with micro bubbles but ... so far havent needed to add the foam block to it that i bought.
 

dankent

Member
ok here is a pic of the sump :)

various_rebel092.jpg


I will post more as It goes into the RSM,
 
about the 150w hqi and 2-65w pc lights in the hood...i cant say anything about the nanocustoms setup but mine is based on that idea. the top of the hood is cool, i upgraded to six fans for intake and exhaust for the hood. it does require a chiller, mine is a 1/13 hp pacific coast that kicks on about every 1.5 to 2 hours. other than that it one bright light all tucked away and very clean looking. as for the ato, i do it manually and its about the same as the stock lights, about a half gallon every 3 or so days...
my link has a few pictures
 
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