Ldogg's 3g JBJ Picotope @ Work

[Ldogg]

I am setting up this 3g pico on my desk at work. I plan on keeping zoa and acan frags in there, and maybe a clown goby or some other goby. as far as equipment, I am going to mod a new AquaClear 70, to add additional water volume, and move the heater into it, as well as setup a section in there for a fuge. I am also going to replace the light. I was thinking about using powerbrite LED strips, but I read that they spotlight to much, and don't blend very well. so my next alternative is a modded stock light, with 4 high powered LED's. Nanocustoms makes a modded light out of the stock one, and its puts out an equivelent to a 35w HQI.

 

 

 

I went ahead and bought the nanocustoms retro kit..

Nanocustoms Expert Series™ 4.1 LED for Picotope 3 (12w LED ~ 35w HQI)

it uses the latest Luxeon Rebel emitters, and proven power (88 Par vs. 55 Stock)*,

 

I want to keep the light on the back of the tank, so I bought a new pico light, (it's on its way) and I am going to take the telescopic arms off it. then screw them together, to make 1 long arm . you can see from this pic, it will reach the center of the tank from the back. the only thing I am not certain of, is the weight of the LED retro, and how that will affect the arms. I am hoping it will not cause any issues, but if I does then I will have to look into another solution.

 

 

I just received my AC70 today so I am going to mod it tonight. I have a 50w hydor theo heater that will reside in the AC70 once the mods are complete. I also have a RKL on order which should be here tomorrow. I have some small pieces of liverock in my fuge at home on my 120, and I plan on mixing 3g of fresh salt water, then a couple small cups of water from my Display tank, then grabbing the live rock, and a couple scoops of sand from my fuge. that will then be put into the tank. I am then going to add a vial of prodibio. I expect to see an extremely small cycle if any. this will be a Acan, Zoa, Ric tank primarily. Once it's up and running I am going to look into doing an ATO as well.

 

[el fabuloso]

Very nice! A zoa, acan and rick pico is going to look awesome. Can't wait to see what you'll do with the LED retrofit. Welcome to the pico club!

[Ldogg]

thx. I am going to snag some primo zoa frags from my prop system when it's up and settled...

[sbwood007]

Cool, Looking forward to seeing the LED too.

[Aberrix]

+1 to interested in the lighting, keep the pics coming!

[Ldogg]

Thanks, I am hoping the second light shows up tomorrow as well, so that I can at least test the weight of the stock light on the extended arms.

[Ldogg]

AC70 Mod

ok here we go....

 

I pulled the media basket out of the filter and broke it into 3 parts, 2 sides and the bottom.

 

 

here you can see where the heater will be located

 

next I notched the bottom so that I could attach one of the side.

 

I cut the top off the side, and notched it for the light fixture

 

here you can see the divider. I used super glue gel here, so if it doesn't hold I will have to get sealant, but I think it will be fine.

 

shot of the return

 

 

next up, I ripped down the other side to close off the heater compartment.

 

 

next I cut off the tab restricting the movement of the intake. I want to be able to move it all the way over. the AC70 is a 300gph filter, so I need to be able to slow it down.

 

 

next I taped up the intake tub, and cut it with the dremel to make it shorter.

 

and were done!

 

here we have the mechanical filtration side, where I can run floss, and carbon, next is the heater compartment, and finally the big section on the right is my Fuge.

[pismo_reefer]

nice. uniform. i likes.

[Ldogg]

thanks! I had to knotch the back panel a little more for the light to fit, but it looks great.

[Ldogg]

current FTS. the stock light is on the back, just to confirm the notch is big enough now. once the extra arms are here it should be centered.

 

[Ldogg]

RKL showed up today. took me about 15 minutes to configure it. setup the light cycle, and the heater functions.... I kinda cheated, since I own an RKE, I am familar with the logic of these controllers...

 

 

 

[ReeferNoob]

Very cool so far! Im def going to follow along with this one. One question for ya. What all does the RKL control and how hard is it to configure. Im a super noob when it comes to SW and this def looks like something I need but looks alittle complicated thou.

[el fabuloso]

Good job on the fuge mod. Do you not plan on running a chemical filter? Doesn't look like you made room for it.

[spanko]

WOW a reef keeper on a pico! Following along here!!!

[Ldogg]

well, I am planning on putting stuff in place lik you did in this pic... I should be able to put a carbon bag around the intake tube, and filter floss next to the divider.

 

 

the RKL is the base model. I only need temp control, and 1 pc4 for the lights and heater. it will control the heater, and possibly chiller if I need one. it will also control the lights, for the tank and the fuge. setup took 15 minutes, however I have an RKE on my 120 at home, so it's was pretty simple for me to figure out.

 

should I run some other type of chem filtration? i am such a pico newb...

[Ldogg]

my extra light just showed up! just extended the stock light, and holy cow! it's awesome. pics to come!

[Ldogg]

I see what you mean now about the space I think. after looking at your pic again, I just moved the divider with the top tab to the other side closer to the fuge to make a little more room in the first chamber. thanks for noticing that! what kind of pad is that in your pic?

[Ldogg]

ok, here's the extended light fixture. as you can see, the first set of arms rests on top of the AC70 return grate, then they pitch up and out over the center of the tank, just like normal. I am hoping the LED retro doesn't add too much more wieght, but I am pretty confident at this point that this will work just as planned.

 

 

here looking at the tank. at my eye level you cant even see the bars. i might need to put a bead of sealent on the grate, but only if the weight is too much.

 

 

from above

 

here you can see where I moved the first divider over closer to the fuge.

 

[el fabuloso]

The filter pad in the pic is a piece I cut up from some Tetra filter pad I had lying around at the time but these days I use polyfil from Walmart. The intake chamber will be a good spot for carbon filtration. And now that Chemi-Pure Elite comes in half unit sizes you won't have to go through the hassle of stuffing media bags with carbon.

[Ldogg]

ah, ok cool... thanks!

[Ldogg]

Filled it today. I bought a small bag of live sand, mixed some fresh salt water, added 3 cups from my DT, then some small liverock from my sump.... it's clearing up now.

 

 

 

[Kamikaze]

Awesome! Keep the pix coming

[Ldogg]

Thanks.

 

it's starting to clear up now, i will bring in my canon to take some better pics tomorrow.

 

 

[Ldogg]

re-aquascaped.... new pic.

 

[pismo_reefer]

i like the nmew rockwerks!