Nebthet's 20L led lit pygmy clown reef - Page 5

mike31154 · #41 05-27-2011, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebthet

I finally got my Boostled all royal blues set up now. All five lights on at the same time.. it actually makes for a very nice looking tank and not too bright. The all royal blues get rid of the yellowish color from the Ice CooLed bubs... unfortunately, until I can verify the par value of the Royal Blues. I don't want to burn my corals.

I really dig the use of PAR38 lamps for your build & the light hanging system reminds my of my own chain massacre DIY rig. The advantage of the chain to me is that I can easily raise it a few links to adjust the height. I've long been considering the switch to LEDs, PAR38s in particular since I don't relish the idea of gathering the various parts & soldering up a DIY array. My other option is to get MR16 base (traditionally used as Halogen spotlights) LEDs since they can be run directly from a 12 volt DC source, like a bank of batteries, perhaps powered by solar... but I digress. Here's a pic of my current MH/T5HO combo ghetto rig. I can envision those being replaced by a much cleaner, lighter array such as yours.

DisneyCoralReef · #42 05-27-2011, 04:43 PM

All your pictures are just sick! love it!

kevNnic · #43 05-27-2011, 06:15 PM

Seeing smaller tanks like this really makes me want to devote a tank just to corals and a couple small fish. I too have been debating a nice nano tank for a pair of clowns.
One day soon!

Nebthet · #44 05-27-2011, 08:39 PM

I really love the way the leds look over tanks, and the par38s are just awesome. I also love the fact there is no added heat to the tank from the leds which will be great in the summer because my bedroom gets really hot, and I can only run one 5200btu air conditioner in my home because the other apt's share a fuse box with me.

The only thing different I would have done with the hanging of the lamps would have been to create a board as an intermediary to screw the lights into so that I could screw the chains in areas where my ceiling doesn't have a joist to screw in to.
It will be a necessity when I upgrade to LEDS on my 57g tank (after I upgrade it to a 75g), and I am not sure if I am going to go with a combination of par bulbs and a Boostled fixture yet or not.

evaneatspie555 · #45 10-28-2011, 07:08 PM

if your still thinking about a refugium like the cpr but cheaper i used this it is smaller but works.
http://ca-en.hagen.com/Aquatic/Misc.-Accessories/Breeders--Salt--Silicone/10943
instead of using the air pump i used a small fluvel internal filter it works great

Nebthet · #46 11-24-2011, 06:45 AM

Well it has been a long time since I have done any updates for this time. There is some good news and some bad new with it.

The good news is that this tank is still going. I am surprised it hasn't crashed, and I think it is only due to the fact that I have a deep sand bed in it.

I wasn't home a lot during the summer so one of the things I had to do is get rid of my mandarin goby, because me not home, means I couldn't go out when I needed to restock the tank with pods and stuff to keep her fed, so she went to a good home with a big tank.

Next came the fact that unfortunately I lost track of doing water changes and just stopped altogether. I haven't done one since the middle of July.

The really bad... my smallest clown Runt is in fishy heaven. The dumbass decided to jump out of my tank on the eve of Fan Ex2011.. :*( I was in bed at the time and heard him jump and him flapping against something, like fishies do when they flop on a flat surface, but I couldn't find him. I even pulled the dresser with the tank away from the wall to see if he got stuck in the middle of some where to find out.. after 15min he stopped flopping.. I nearly cried.. I loved that fish. Omen is still alive though.
So now I need to find a small juvi to add to this tank.. I am think a BW occi.

Due to lack of water changes in this tank, sps dwindled.. really, I don't mind that.. I like this tank as more of an lps tank any ways, plus they were not responding to the LEDS as much I would have liked them too. I am no longer even trying to use a skimmer on this tank, so that makes a difference too.

In Oct, the tank had a cyano bloom. I left it to do it's thing and just got rid of the excess near the corals I liked and decided to let it kill itself out. It is almost finished now. I only almost lost one torch from it covering the skeleton, but it is the one that the hermits crawled over all the time, so I blame 50/50 on that.

Omen is healthy. No ich, or anything else on him/her.
Torches, frogspawn and hammer are all doing great. Though I think the one has been slowly bleaching, but not getting smaller, so I am going to watch that one.
Acans are doing as great as ever, so I moved my acans from the larger tank into this one today because I really needed the room in that other tank as the rbta clone was beginning to sting them.
Also to a surprise, the three brittle stars I had have triple in size. I now have 10, and they were spawning tonight.. weird to watch the white stuff shoot out from their underside.. wished I was able to take pics of that... but of course battery right when it was happening.. dammit!

So here are some pics from this tank... I am a little out of practice taking tank shots, as I was busy doing other things this summer and my battery was dying.

lastlight · #47 11-24-2011, 07:35 AM

Sweet photos man =) Especially like the detail of that lone brittle star leg.

fishytime · #48 11-24-2011, 01:38 PM

great pics as always Sarah.......

evaneatspie555 · #49 11-29-2011, 06:43 PM

Where did u get your par38 bulbs ?

Nebthet · #50 11-29-2011, 11:04 PM

i bought my par 38 bulbs used off of fellow reffers, two from Nano-reef users, and one from a member here. The two par 30 bulbs I bought direct from Boostled in the US.

There is a member on here selling 6 par 38 bulbs right now.. I would suggest you get them if you are thinking of going led. He has a good price on them.