I spent most of yesterday (Happy Birthday to me!) waiting on the UPS man. The website said "out for delivery" at 5:30am and every truck that went by sounded like the UPS truck. Finally at 5:30pm, I saw a UPS truck go whizzing by, it didn't look like it was stopping but it slammed on the brakes about 2 houses past mine. The guy hopped out with my box and my Birthday surprise to myself was finally here. I brought it in and opened it up, styrofoam peanuts flying to the far corners of the house...
Everything was well packed, lots of peanuts, and the lights were shipped in a pvc tube (also packed with peanuts). Overall I was pleased with my order from dtpetsupplies.com, they even contacted me on a Sunday after I placed my order to clear some things up so they could ship ASAP. So far I'm pretty impressed with the Coralvue T5 retrofit kit, seems to be well put together. The reflectors are a very shiny aluminum, they come with a protective white layer that is peeled off when ready and they attach directly on to the bulbs. The dog tail did not come with my order, I already had one of those sitting around...
Took some measurements and now its on to the canopy! I started with the frame..
Added some plywood, I had to use two pieces on the front, I was running out of wood! I can tidy that up with some trim later...
Then came the trim. Hand cutting these pieces takes a little time, but it felt good once everything was finally together. I had to cut a small notch in the top side trim pieces to allow the front to swing open, hadn't planned for that, but I still think it looks alright..
The side still opens for access with the canopy in place:
I spaced the bracing in the top so that I would have open access to the overflow without removing the canopy.
And now the moment you've all been waiting for, the first test run of the lights. These things are pretty bright!
I know most people would put 4 T5's on a 55, but I really think that these two alone with individual parabolic reflectors will pack as much punch as 4 bulbs right next to each other in a hood with one reflector. Not to mention, less energy cost. I plan on keeping mostly softies and I've read about people with 4 bulbs having to move their lights up and away from the tank to keep from burning up their soft corals. Pardon the blurry picture, no flash, I wanted to show the amount of light coming out, I haven't put the reflectors on yet, so all the light shining up out of the tank will be reflected down as well.
Now, on to seal the stand and canopy. After much debate, I've decided to leave the stand the color it is and put a clear poly seal on it. I really like the grain of the wood, the trim I got was amazing, out of 80', there was only one half of a knot... I hope to have this done today and everything completely put together tomorrow. I'm also going to paint the wood that the tank sits on black just in case I decide to go bare bottomed (get your mind out of the gutter, I'm talking about the tank!).I told you about the plague, after finishing this morning, I went outside with the dogs to relax and have a cup of coffee. By the time I put repellent on my arms and moved on to my legs, I had already been beseiged! Time to get the napalm out!!!
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