1.5g pico build

[ichthyman]

I believe you are mimicking the pico that has been sitting on my desk for the last 6 months. As you know, the tank size and some of the equipment is the same. For what it's worth, the tank gets a 90%+ water change, at least once a week, using water from our coral display system. Whenever a slight film of organics appears on the water's surface a water change is made. Nothing in there is demanding, so no additives are used, nor is it enclosed, evaporation top-off is handled everyday manually and the tiny green-banded goby (Tigrigobius multifasciatus ) is feed sparingly every day or two. I take no issue in what you doing or how it is set up. IMO, success with picos has more to do with the hobbyist's attention to detail and skill than equipment choices.

Good luck

 

[Webmanny]

Ok. Here is the info for the ones on the light right now.

Emitting Color: Royal blue
Intensity Type : 30~40Lm
Quantity: 3

Emitting Color: Cold White1: 13000-15000K
Intensity Type : 180~210Lm
Quantity: 2

Emitting Color: Purple
Intensity Type : 5~15Lm
Quantity: 1

 

[CrazyEyes]

Thanks for the input John. At first I thought about doing large weeklies but wasn't sure if it was the best route to go, I guess since it is such a small volume and the tank will not be running a skimmer of any sort I might try the large weeklies. I do still think I am going to keep the hob for now and see how it does. And Manny, those royal blues really only put out 30-40 lumens, I've never heard of whites putting out more lumens than royal blues. Did you mean 300-400 lumens on the royals?

 

[Webmanny]

Uh... nope. Those are the specs on the 3W leds. I've always seen the whites pushing a lot more LM than any others. The below is straight from the manufacturer's website. Also, when you turn on the light, you can see the white ones are much brighter than the RB ones.

Not sure where the other info comes from, but this has always been my experience with LEDs.

3w:

RedC Forward Voltage:2.2V~2.8V Forward Current: 600-700mA 70-80LM 42x42mil

GreenC Forward Voltage:3.4V~3.8V Forward Current: 600-700mA 120-140 45x45mil

BlueC Forward Voltage:3.6V~3.8V Forward Current: 600-700mA 30-50LM 45x45mil

Royal BlueC Forward Voltage:3.6V~3.8V Forward Current: 600-700mA 20-40LM 45x45mil

 

[CrazyEyes]

It's just weird because when you're building an led light the general rule to get a baseline color is to do a 1:14 mix of white lumens to royal blue lumens (if you want a 14k look, if you wanted a 12k look you'd do 1:12 and 1:10 for 10k etc etc). It might be because they're 13-15k whites though.

 

[Webmanny]

Maybe...

 

[CrazyEyes]

Omg I just realized I was typing and reading that all wrong. Meant 1:14 as in 1 lumen of white to 14 mW of royal blue. I didn't even think about it until I read something. Sorry about that.

 

[CuzzA]

I like the water bottle ato. I also think a 90% weekly water change would lead to the best success.

However, I vote ditch the rock and put one coral in it. Something like this. Maybe not an Elegance, but you get the idea. I think this looks really cool.

 

[CrazyEyes]

Awhile back I thought about doing a specimen tank but I want more variety honestly.

 

[Mustang Boy]

Have you looked at the Coral Compulstion PAR30 bulbs? They are 14w and $60.

 

[CrazyEyes]

I don't think they sell a 14k par30 bulb. I was looking at the 18k but that's way too blue for my liking. I wish they made a 12k par30 bulb.

 

[snake1]

Modular Lighting - AquaStyle Online http://www.aquastyleonline.com/categories/Modular-Lighting/

 

[Webmanny]

Hey Crazy,

Text me tomorrow if you are available. I have the lamp and can meet you somewhere like Marine Warehouse or somewhere in between your place and mine.

 

[CrazyEyes]

Hey Manny, sorry just been sick and trying to kick this sinus infection. I'll text you tomorrow for sure.

 

[CrazyEyes]

Just wanted to do a quick update on this. Tank is still rocking along. I have since added sand and some livestock. I've since added some purple hornets, a ricordea frag, some other mushroom and a red blasto. I also added a sexy shrimp. For lighting I bought a used DeepBlue Solar flare light, pulled the LED chip out of it and added my own LEDs. It now has 3 Luxeon RB, 1 Luxeon NW and 1 Luxeon Lime, it's just running on a single dimmable driver. Definitely ready to get some more corals in this thing.

Disregard the LEDs on the edges, those are the LEDs from the original light.


A full shot of it.


So sexy

 

[Webmanny]

Looking nice. Keep the updates coming.

 

[juniorrocketdad]

Cool

 

[St Pete John]

Awesome tank, cant wait to get my office reef going.

With the relaxing effect my home system has on me, I almost need it more at work lol.

You like having it at your desk?

 

[flounderpounder]

how often are you doing water changes?

 

[CrazyEyes]

Haven't really done a water change in months