Upgraded canopy over 30 gallon RBTA tank :)

[argi]

In my sons room I set up an Oceanic 30 gallon "cube" tank that initially was just going to house a couple of fish and maybe some mushrooms. Well as we all know what we plan seems to always change.

So I decided to try a RBTA in the tank under the intial 2x24" T5 fixture. To my surprise the anemone did very well and started splitting in the tank. So one turned into three, then after another split or two there are now 6 or 7 anemones in there.



I'm not overly happy with the aquascaping, but I really can't keep many corals in there as the anemones tend to sting everything as they swell during the day.

At this point there are only two fish in the tank, a pair of yellow watchman gobies. They are paired up with a tiger pistol shrimp and change their dwelling throughout the day (front, back, side, middle). I had more fish, but unfortunately due to ich and some carpet surfing this has dwindled down. With the new canopy I will be able to now avoid the carpet surfing!!!!

So overtime I slowly started switching to LED lighting (Ecoxotic's panorama modules). I built a cheap "canopy" to mount the fixtures on to, but this let a lot of light into the room (his room glowed during the evening hours, I can only imagine what the neighbors thought).



A good friend of mine was getting back into woodworking and I asked if he could build a canopy for my tank to help with this. I told him "keep it cheap", but he isn't the kind of guy who does things "cheap". When he brought the canopy over I was amazed at what a great job he did. Now that I have installed the canopy all the light stays in the tank and the room doesn't glow quite a bright.



The lights installed:



Now I can start rebuilding the fish population in the tank. I think I am going to add a pair of tank bred clownfish and bangaii cardinals to the tank.

Keith

[mtc1966]

looks good . so whens your son going to sell a few of them rbta's ?put me on his list

[IDrawFish]

Is that first picture with the Ecoxotic panorama modules on it? I've been thinking about getting them but still torn as to which way I really want to go, $500 for seperate strips or one full unit... tanks looking great though and that canopy looks really good, we need a pic of the canopy on with the lights on though to get the true before and after effect

[argi]

Originally Posted by mtc1966

looks good . so whens your son going to sell a few of them rbta's ?put me on his list

I usually wait until one climbs onto the glass to get it out (I have sold one so far). I'll put you on the list though. Eventually I may try to set up a prop tank for them, so I will have to get them off the rock at that point.

Originally Posted by IDrawFish

Is that first picture with the Ecoxotic panorama modules on it?

Yes.

Originally Posted by IDrawFish

I've been thinking about getting them but still torn as to which way I really want to go, $500 for seperate strips or one full unit...

If I had the money up front I would have bought the fixture with the lights installed already instead of individual modules. I now have 5 plugs with large transformers I need to deal with. But spending $90 every few months was easier on my wallet.

Originally Posted by IDrawFish

tanks looking great though and that canopy looks really good, we need a pic of the canopy on with the lights on though to get the true before and after effect

Thanks...I'll see if I can get another picture with the new canopy and lights on. I don't think I have any from when I ran just the T5's on the tank though.

Keith

[IDrawFish]

Originally Posted by argi

If I had the money up front I would have bought the fixture with the lights installed already instead of individual modules. I now have 5 plugs with large transformers I need to deal with. But spending $90 every few months was easier on my wallet.

Yeah that is my dilemma as well but there are a few decent units in the 200 or so range for a 30... but I'm still torn

[muppet]

I'm looking for an RBTA too... just putting that out there.