Part of the challenge before experiments can even be ran is figuring out how to use all of the equipment to suit what needs to be done. The design of where all the corals are being watch is like a “raceway”. Not normal tank standards. These raceways a long and short. Figuring out how to mount any lighting over style of tank would be a challenge.
Here’s what the guys at St. Mary College of Maryland figured out.
TMC AquaRay DIY Mounting
TMC AquaRay DIY Mounting
The lamps are mounted on a PVC plate that is attached to J hooks. The J hooks are suspended from a pvc frame that is held by I beams above the tank. The lamps can be slid along the I beam or back and forth across the pvc frame or up and down by repositioning the j hooks.
There are 8 units installed over the cloning facility and display tank as well as 8 units installed over the main research tank – 8 more tomorrow. Eight more over the holding tank next week.
The display and cloning tank have been operational for several weeks now. Eight LEDs are replacing 8 175W 10,000 K Halides (two year old bulbs). The halides were delivering a Par of 39 and the LED’s 62 uM photons/M^2/sec. Anecdotally, all to the animals look better as fluorescence was dramatically enhanced by the increase in hight frequency light. Polyp extension appeared increased and color was more vibrant. Only one species (Sinularia) objected to the switch and required two weeks to acclimate to the lights.
Marine Aquarium LED Study 