diy pico build
- Thread starter inkmates
- Start date
I did some more soldering tonight. Once again pics do not do the brightness of these leds justice. This pic was taken with the leds running on 3 volts. I have had the individual pieces up to 6 volts. I'll have to pull out the multimeter and check specs to see if I can safely run them at the 6 volt mark but if I can all I can say is BLINDING bright.
Mikes_aquatics
New member
i cant wait to see your tank when everything is done, how do people use the foam to make fake rocks or somthing, i have never seen anybody use that before??? is it safe, and how do you color it. so what about coral, do you have any coral in mind when your finished
I started the tank cycle tonight. I got my blue leds in today (8 days after payment out of Hong Kong not to bad with the Olympics going on and all) I solder them all in ended up having issues so I had to rip the whole array apart and start over. After 5 more hours of soldering I've only got to replace one of the blue leds (fried it while soldering oops) and mount it in a canopy with a couple of switches and maybe a fan. Don't know if I really need a fan or not as this array runs super cool unless I crank the voltage up. I think I'm going to be running the array at 4.5v (nice happy medium between longevity and brightness). I also need to wire up a small array for over the fuge area. I'm planning on about 12 whites 5 blues and maybe 5 reds not 100% sure on that yet though. This pico has got to be the quitest tank I've ever seen, no hums, buzzes, or clicks at all. I don't know yet if I'm going to go with Lr or if I'm going to use a foam and lr combo. My first attempt at the foam combo went into the trash as I didn't like how it came out (don't try the latex foam it sucks, doesn't harden enough) I'll try to post some new picks tomorrow, Happy Reefing everyone
finsihed the array today (sort of, I broke a couple solder joints on the blue leds while mounting and I'm all out of solder)
Canopy took awhile but now all I have left to do is stain the wood but I couldn't wait to see it on the tank with the leds on
Side shot of the pico with the canopy
Blue leds only (lights up my whole kitchen even with it being down a couple leds)
I'm still waiting on a dry day so I can build a stand for it. I'm going to give it a couple of weeks before I stock it all up (hope I can wait that long lol but don't worry I put about 4 cups of sand from my 55g's fuge into the fuge of the pico and I also am going to be putting as much lr rubble into there as I can fit still leaving room for a small bunch of cheato. I still have to work out a couple of kinks in the fuge array, mostly just waiting on more solder and a little more wire. I'll post more pics when I do some more work, Happy Reefing everyone
oceanparadise1
In Memoriam
awsome man just looks amazing
Wife asked me to move the pico off the kitchen counter tonight so I put the stand together quick tonight. I still have to stain it and I might add a few more pieces of trim but not a bad start if I do say so myself.
I decided not to add any doors or shelves to keep the look nice and clean
I couldn't wait any longer so I went ahead and pulled a few things out of my other tank just to cure the "itch" for a bit. The corals seem to be reacting well to the light most of them opened right up after a few minutes in the tank. I'm thinking about not putting the burrfish in it after all just because he's such a messy eater. sorry I didn't do a step by step on the stand but I was in a rush to get it done. I'll post more pics after I get the stand and canopy stained up and when I get the rock work finished to my satisfaction. Happy reefing everyone
painkiller1009
Member
Lookin good so far.
Conesus_Kid
Premium Member
Beautiful work!
How much/often do you think you'll need to topoff?
How much/often do you think you'll need to topoff?
conorwynne
New member
This is lovely. Can you tell us what corals you are stocking with?
Do you think using the leds would be enough for SPS?
Do you think using the leds would be enough for SPS?
conesus- thanks I should be topping off about every other day between 1/2-1 cup if itis anything like my 2.5 gallon hex
conorwynne-at the moment I have a few different zoanthids/palythoa's, a couple of mushrooms, some cabbage coral, Favia Fragum, and a small frag of my orange acan. As far as leds being enough for sps??? I would have to say it would depend on the sps variety and how many/what kind of leds you where dealing with. I think it could be done but I think that this setup would be iffy at best at supporting sps.
conorwynne-at the moment I have a few different zoanthids/palythoa's, a couple of mushrooms, some cabbage coral, Favia Fragum, and a small frag of my orange acan. As far as leds being enough for sps??? I would have to say it would depend on the sps variety and how many/what kind of leds you where dealing with. I think it could be done but I think that this setup would be iffy at best at supporting sps.
well I figured it was time to blow the dust off this thread and give an update. Leds where running fine until i decided to try and up the voltage at which point the got very bright followed immeadiatly by becoming very dim. so needless to say I had to pull the corals out of the tank and start hunting for a new light system. After a few months of looking I finially found a cf desk light with a quad tube 27w bulb rated for 6500k. The tank looks a little yellow but I'm in the process of ordering some more blue leds to help adjust the color a bit. I used the last few of the blue leds I had laying around for moon lights. I've added a 2nd fish a court jester goby. My water params have stayed spot on due to 50% water changes weekly. I started painting the stand last weekend. I decided to go with a faux fantasy marble. It didn't come out how I had origanally had invisioned but its different. well enough sensless chatter how about some pics.
new court gester goby
I still need to paint the trim rings top and bottom thinking about changing the colors up a bit for some contrast
fts with new lights
sorry about the blurriness I haven't figured out how to take the good moonlight shots yet
Happy Reefing everyone
new court gester goby
I still need to paint the trim rings top and bottom thinking about changing the colors up a bit for some contrast
fts with new lights
sorry about the blurriness I haven't figured out how to take the good moonlight shots yet
Happy Reefing everyone
Similar threads
