friendlyAlien
Premium Member
Ok, I had some more time this morning and thought I share the first finished LED light fixture. I made three pictures as someone asked for talk more about the LED build.
My *large* aquarium
- Thread starter friendlyAlien
- Start date
friendlyAlien
Premium Member
567234ta: This is Pukani rock from BRS about 60 pound.
The reef wall swallowed another 30 pound of rubble rock from BRS.
The reef wall swallowed another 30 pound of rubble rock from BRS.
powerlogix
Member
Looking nice so far, I will be subscribing to this thread.
567234ta
New member
Thank you, i guess ill order the 100 pounds deal and what i have left over ill use in my salt tank.
I can't ait to see your tank up and running, it's looking really nice
friendlyAlien
Premium Member
Just a real quick update showing you how the LED looks like in action. Need to finish two more of them and remember this is the IPhone camera so the colors are shifted to way blue. It looks like a pleasant white (without any water):
Haffs09
Member
Looks great! I too, am in the process of getting a Miracles tank up and running. I plan on building something similar this fall for my tank. Initially, I was going to use a whole bunch of PAR38 bulbs with 60deg optics, so I went ahead and ordered 5 a few months ago. Just the other day, I hooked one up for the first time, and found I needed to get it within 1/2" of the water surface to keep the light from creating the "disco ball" effect on the tank bottom. That isn't going to fly, so I look forward to reading how you like your LEDs.
friendlyAlien
Premium Member
good question, the common knowledge in the DIY threads is that I need either three of four of these - all in all 144.
with 16 inches per bank that is 48 inches over a 60 inch aquarium if I mount them length wise like in this picture.
If I put them sideways I can easily fit four of these things as it would make up only 40 inches in length and spread them better across the tank.
Lastly the question is whehter I want to remove the optics ... that would also make a wider spread ...
Those are the questions to be answered when I have them all three ... once the thing is built, rearranging them will be easy.
with 16 inches per bank that is 48 inches over a 60 inch aquarium if I mount them length wise like in this picture.
If I put them sideways I can easily fit four of these things as it would make up only 40 inches in length and spread them better across the tank.
Lastly the question is whehter I want to remove the optics ... that would also make a wider spread ...
Those are the questions to be answered when I have them all three ... once the thing is built, rearranging them will be easy.
If they spread sideways then turn that one and see how much it covers. Also if there is spread from multiple units they can overlap each other and you may not end up needing 4 but only 3.
friendlyAlien
Premium Member
Hi there,
so I guess it is time to do many updates. I am sorry it took so long but life sometimes gets in the way.
The next picture in time is this. What you see here is about one week after the last picture I posted. It was the first salt water I mixed right in the tank (the benefit of having no life rock
).
About four days later I added some nitifying bacteria, garf, a few small pieces of really good CURED life rock and a pair of clownfish. I know it sounds cruel but remember I have over 400 gallon's of saltwater for this pair of clownfish. I tested the water daily while hooking up more equipment ...
The Nitrogen cycle never seems to have occured without meassurable spikes and after about a week I got the first brown algae and patches of coraline.
A few Hermits, snails, brittle star, starfish (way less than they want you to buy) and a purple tand foxfish later I got ready for battling algae. Well, they never occured in the main tank while the future refugioum is overgrown with hair algae and slime algae (I wonder if that is the light from the LED's).
Anyhow, celebrating my luck it was time for a few corals (I wish I had pictures from these stages). Testing, water changes more animails ...
And here we are:
and a few close ups
My pride and jow, the elegance coral:
The great colored acros and my pair of blue tang:
Some more happy Corals:
The next thing I have to learn is how to take good pictures of my reef
There were quite a few lessons learned again btw. I never thougth I can get away with no nitrogen cycle at all if I start with good base. I also never thougth that I can grow Corraline this quickly.
Next I am surprised by how little light even the acros want. I tried to push the LED's above 50% but all the corals disagreed with this immediately by not extending their polyps.
Also, I have an MP60 providing current and again I learned tehre is something like "too much current".
It is also the first time I tried myself on Anthias and cardinals. The cardinals I got to eat, the anthias unfortuantely all starved themselves to death (but for the male) even though I tried to feed them with live brineshrimp. Cyclopeze was the recipe for the Cardinals. All but two survived and are doign very well indeed now.
Las but not least my cleaner shrimp are the families favorite animal!
The next post will be about equipment, water parameters and my basement sump room.
Cheers,
Carsten
so I guess it is time to do many updates. I am sorry it took so long but life sometimes gets in the way.
The next picture in time is this. What you see here is about one week after the last picture I posted. It was the first salt water I mixed right in the tank (the benefit of having no life rock
).
About four days later I added some nitifying bacteria, garf, a few small pieces of really good CURED life rock and a pair of clownfish. I know it sounds cruel but remember I have over 400 gallon's of saltwater for this pair of clownfish. I tested the water daily while hooking up more equipment ...
The Nitrogen cycle never seems to have occured without meassurable spikes and after about a week I got the first brown algae and patches of coraline.
A few Hermits, snails, brittle star, starfish (way less than they want you to buy) and a purple tand foxfish later I got ready for battling algae. Well, they never occured in the main tank while the future refugioum is overgrown with hair algae and slime algae (I wonder if that is the light from the LED's).
Anyhow, celebrating my luck it was time for a few corals (I wish I had pictures from these stages). Testing, water changes more animails ...
And here we are:
and a few close ups
My pride and jow, the elegance coral:
The great colored acros and my pair of blue tang:
Some more happy Corals:
The next thing I have to learn is how to take good pictures of my reef
There were quite a few lessons learned again btw. I never thougth I can get away with no nitrogen cycle at all if I start with good base. I also never thougth that I can grow Corraline this quickly.
Next I am surprised by how little light even the acros want. I tried to push the LED's above 50% but all the corals disagreed with this immediately by not extending their polyps.
Also, I have an MP60 providing current and again I learned tehre is something like "too much current".
It is also the first time I tried myself on Anthias and cardinals. The cardinals I got to eat, the anthias unfortuantely all starved themselves to death (but for the male) even though I tried to feed them with live brineshrimp. Cyclopeze was the recipe for the Cardinals. All but two survived and are doign very well indeed now.
Las but not least my cleaner shrimp are the families favorite animal!
The next post will be about equipment, water parameters and my basement sump room.
Cheers,
Carsten
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