My 20H Build/Question thread

[Dudeguy]

Okay so I'm going to be slowly building up a 20H reef tank with a few fish and plenty of coral. But while I am still in the planning stages, here are some questions:

 

1) When doing a water change, do you wash the salt creep back into the tank (carefully of course) to maintain salinity?

 

2) A LPS like Frogspawn or Hammer coral is recomended to be kept at a distance from other corals. How much of a distance?

 

3) everyone ends up building screen covers for their tanks. Why not a nicely fitted acrylic cover? If the answer is air movement, why not add air holes?

 

4) Is there a site like reefcleaners for Canadian reefers?

 

Set in stone are:

20H tank

DIY Aquastyles 24 LED kit

Koralia Nano 425gph (+ 550)

100W Hydor heater (x2)

 

My stocking hopes are:

2 clowns (occ. sp.)

Yellow Watchman Goby

Pistol Shrimp

?? A wrasse maybe?

Either hammer or frogspawn coral

GSP and another wavy leather

Zoas

eventually SPS

 

 

I'll post a (very boring) FTS when I get home.

[Criley7]

1) DO NOT put salt creep back into tank

 

2) just make them so they don't touch other coral

 

3) holes holes will not provide enough air exchange open top or screen top would be best

[Dudeguy]

 

Well, it's a start.

 

Light kit should get here Monday.

 

Will things be wet in a week?

[Wileecoyote207]

I'm just starting up a 20H as well, but I'm a few weeks ahead of you. I'm going to follow this, maybe pick up a few tips along the way. Also, I'm about halfway done with a LED setup from RapidLED. What are you planning on using for the housing for your DIY kit?

[Deckoz2302]

1 no wipe salt creep away

 

2 euphyllia's are not known for theyre sweeper tentacles...just make sure you give them room to grow

 

3 acrylic/glass even with air holes, you end up having salt creep /evaporation water on the acrylic which blocks out the necessary PAR(light) for clams/corals

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

^ as above but open top, and de-rim that thing!

[Deckoz2302]

Agree'd for derimming

[Dudeguy]

I'm just starting up a 20H as well, but I'm a few weeks ahead of you. I'm going to follow this, maybe pick up a few tips along the way. Also, I'm about halfway done with a LED setup from RapidLED. What are you planning on using for the housing for your DIY kit?

 

I'll throw up some pictures of my housing this weekend (if I've gotten further with it...) but it's just some acrylic.

 

As for de-rimming, I'll have to think about it

 

Pics this evening for what I've gotten so far this evening.

[Dudeguy]

So here are the pictures that were on my camera:

 

1) It's WHITE!

 

2) It's Brown!

 

The actual color is a little darker than on the photo.

 

As for de-rimming, I think I'm going to leave the rim on since it's going to be supporting a couple of things. However I have come up with a way to obscure it that I'm going to try that has cost me a total of $6 in material.

 

These pictures are actually a couple of weeks old now, but I've been building my Aquastyles LED fixture.

 

The LED layout is concerning me a bit because I tried to keep the white and blue LEDs touching each other but keep them spread out a bit over the entire heat sink, and I think I'm still going to get color shadows. But I have a plan.....

 

I have also been tracking down material for my lights fixture and have spent the last few evening working on it. It's coming slowly, but should look ok when done. I've never worked with acrylic before, and it shows!

 

I've been thinking about my frogspawn and here is my question of the post:

 

How hardy is frogspawn? The reason I'm asking is that I think I will make it one of the first corals to go into my tank. That way I can find out exactly how it's going to behave and work the rest of my display around it. Alternately if I feel it will be too aggressive for the size of my aquarium, I can return it to the store and figure something else out.

[Dudeguy]

Quick preview. Hoping to have a completed light fixture to update with by Wed, if work isn't too bad.

 

I don't think my camera likes the blue LEDs

 

 

But the good news is, the color shadowing issue I was concerned with may not be a problem in the end.

 

We will know when there is water and sand.

[ozzyvega]

I think its looking good. I wouldn't worry so much about the frogspawn just place it somewhere and leave a lil room around just like most coral. Also might want a lil more flow than just one k nano there not very strong.

[Lemonpeel]

I'm building a 20 high as well. you can see it on my facebook here.

 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3...9149&type=3

 

You can also take a look at my 90 gallon that I will be seeding it from.

 

Are you doing an AIO or are you going to have a sump?

[Dudeguy]

Okay, so work and the weather are being a pain, so I haven't done the last little bit of stuff I wanted to on the light fixture.

 

But It's working, so that's something.

 

PHOTOS!

 

I used the ~9X11" heatsink from aquastyle online along with 4500K Whites and Royal Blues (12 of each). I tried to keep the 2 colors of LEDs touching each other when I built it to minimize the possibility of the "disco ball" effect.

 

I know it's supposed to be 2:1 RB to but that's why I used dimmable drivers. I want to swap out for Crees or Luxeons with Meanwell drivers at some point in the future, coinciding with getting an Arduino setup and a new house (so DISTANT future)

 

Anyways here's how I built my fixture.

 

The basic fixture is just an acrylic box. I uses .08" Optix from Home Depot and glued it together with Weld-on #16. I turned out to be very bad at this, so don't look for straight lines on any of these photos, you won't find them.

 

 

The short sides are measured to sit on the rim of the aquarium and hold the LEDs in the center of the tank and about 5-7" above the water level (adjustable)

 

 

The Heatsink is held to the base of the box with 4 3" long 10-24 machine screws; each with one bolt holding each screw tight to the acrylic, 2 securing the heatsink (with washers on top) and, if I make one, 2 holding the top cover in place. This will allow me to pull it apart to replace/adjust the heatsink in the future should I need to.

 

 

The wires are pulled through a hole in the back piece of acrylic and soldered into a JR style connector. Which goes to a simple project box that holds the drivers.

 

 

I wanted the project box to sit on the inside of my stand, but making the connecting wires long enough seemed to dim the LEDs due to voltage drop over the wires. This is only to the naked eye, so it probably was my imagination. I've decided to add a 10g sump now, so I don't want it inside the cabinet anymore anyways.

 

The switches sit on the Line side of the AC, and are rated for like 250V and 10A or something stupid, since I prefer big black rocker switches.

 

On the front and back of the larger light fixture I'm putting another piece of acrylic that will hang over the rim of the aquarium and secure it from dragging forward or backwards. I've decided that having the LEDs in a clear fixture is way to bright on the eyes, and distracting, so the front and back acrylic is in the process of getting painted black. Next Chinook, I'm going to put 2 more coats on so it's more opaque (I hope)

 

NEW FTS (with front light cover taped on)

 

(all LEDs)

 

(White only)

 

I just realized while I was typing this that having the plug on the wires won't let me pull them back through the hole I drilled. D'OH!!!

 

Lemonpeel:

I've just decided this week to add in a sump refugium since I can't really fit an AC110 on the back anymore (lol)

I love the blue back on your tank BTW, I'm going to ghetto some kind of plastic wrap to the back of mine so I don't have to paint. Looking forward to seeing how your's looks to decide if I want to switch to blue.

 

ozzyvega

Thanks, I'm going to get a couple hundred gph from the sump return, but I want to add another powerhead sooner rather than later.

 

Next update will probably be a PVC overflow...

[Dudeguy]

d-d-d-d-d-DOUBLEPOST!

 

alright, there is no update. Just a video.

 

 

Incidentally, when I say that the sump is coming out soon, I mean that it is going in soon.

[Dudeguy]

TRAGEDY!

 

I filled my display tank with water to make sure all my equipment was going to work and test my overflow/return (which is awesome) and...

 

...no shimmer. I even dropped a piece of white acrylic I had sitting around in the tank to see if I just couldn't see it on the clear bottom.

 

So, shimmer is only produced when the light is a single source (ie metal halide). Well, I lifted my lights another 3 inches off the water surface, and BAM shimmer.

 

Looks like I need to re-design my light fixture.

[calveezzzy]

If you want a shimmer effect with your LEDs, I would spread them out more, and have the fixture sit higher than it is now. (i think LOL)

[Dudeguy]

If you want a shimmer effect with your LEDs, I would spread them out more, and have the fixture sit higher than it is now. (i think LOL)

 

 

Yeah, even 3 inches height helps for that.

 

EDIT: Crysis averted. I just created more surface agitation by moving my power head closer to the surface.

[Dudeguy]

Okay, so I had a blue leg hermit and emerald crab (a biggie) hitchhike on my live rock. Will they survive the cycle? (probably not)

 

Oh by the way, tank is wet.

 

here is a teaser pic.

 

 

whole system when I get the water clears

[Summoner12]

Okay, so I had a blue leg hermit and emerald crab (a biggie) hitchhike on my live rock. Will they survive the cycle? (probably not)

 

Oh by the way, tank is wet.

 

here is a teaser pic.

 

 

whole system when I get the water clears

 

I have a hermit and turbo snail in a setup that was moved with very low salinity for a day or two and is now cycling... They seem to be doing OK.

[Dudeguy]

I have a hermit and turbo snail in a setup that was moved with very low salinity for a day or two and is now cycling... They seem to be doing OK.

 

I'm worried about the 'trate portion of the cycle since inverts can't tolerate over 10ppm

 

If I lose them, I won't lose sleep, TBH.

 

Also I was worried that my live rock wasn't live enough, until I went flashlight tonight. Bristle worm (huge!) and micro brittle confirmed.

 

Blue leg and Emerald both seen to be eating. Blue leg crawling all over my rocks, I've only seen a claw from the emerald since I put him in.

 

Question: How long until I start to see ammonia on my tests? Am I going to drive myself crazy testing every day? What about diatoms?

 

How long before I put macro in my fuge? will that screw up my cycle?

 

edit: Hermit's dead.

I think my thermometer is done too

[Dudeguy]

What kind of Hermit IS this anyway?

 

 

Also, not dead at all!

 

Obligatory FTS

 

[Dudeguy]

okay, so almost a week since I put in the rock.

 

Confirmed hitch-hikers:

Emerald crab

hermit crab

plenty of feather dusters (including one that's almost an inch across)

at least 3 bristle worms (probably more)

a largish Amphipod that I've only ever seen flash under a rock when the flashlight comes out

at least 1 micro brittle star.

 

I also re-worked my 'scape and am much happier with it now. Photos next post.

 

My white rocks are all red-brown and fuzzy now, as well as the Hermit's shell. I THINK these are diatoms. I can't get a decent colored picture though. I thought they would be dusty and blow off easily, but it's more like a matt. Should I be worried?

 

Also, my ammonia, nitrites, and 'trates are all right around 0. My nitrites were never above 0, and ammonia and 'trates didn't really rise either. I'm giving it either a week or when green microalgae starts to appear and I'm going to declare my chemical cycle done and drop in a few snails. Is this a good idea?