Tank Access From The Den

I decided to open up the tank from the Den.  It's difficult to perform tank maintenance, as well as aquascaping the view from the Den.  This should resolve these issues.

I cut out the gyprock, framed it with wood, and attached it using a hinge.

New Metal Halide Bulbs

I needed new Metal Halide bulbs and decided to change to the Reeflux 250w 20000K SE bulbs.  I've heard a lot of good things with this bulb.  Most 20000K bulbs are too "blue" and dark, however, this bulb looks closer to a 14000K bulb.  As well, it has more par than its 12000K counterpart.

Lighting

For lighting, I chose to use a combination of Metal Halide bulbs and VHO bulbs, as I plan to keep SPS, which require intense lighting.  The equipment is as follows:

Metal Halide
I'm running 3 Metal Halide bulbs, each 250 watts.  For a bulb, I chose to use the XM 10000K.  The MH bulbs are being powered by 3 Vertex Ballasts.

VHO
I'm running two strips of URI VHO Actinic bulbs along each side of the light cage, adding up to 4 in total.  These VHO bulbs are powered by a single Icecap Ballast.

Light Cage and Reflectors
I made the light cage myself using strips of angled aluminum, riveted together.  I chose to use aluminum because it resists corrosion and its extremely light, which is better for suspending as it keeps the weight to a minimum.  There are a total of 3 Spider Reflectors riveted to the light cage.  The cage is suspended by chain, which makes it easy to adjust the distance of my lights from the surface of the water.  With new bulbs, I'll raise the height for a week or two, to allow burn in and to prevent shocking the corals.

In the future, I plan on re-implementing a more efficient way of suspending the lights (ie., mechanical pulley system).