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The Hun's 6.8g SPS Zen Coral Garden


kthehun89

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Like most people on this site, small tanks ignited our love of the hobby, and from these nanos and picos we upgrade to bigger and better things. My 60g SPS cube is by far one of my favorite tanks that I've ever owned, but I've always desired to do something new regarding coral in captivity. I'm not tearing my 60g down by any means, but instead I have been working on another project on the side, and it is almost ready for setup! Here are the specs:

Hardware

  • 12x12x11.5" Glass aquarium, 6.8g
  • Glass-holed Nano con dientes overflow with 1" drain
  • 3/4" return with locline segments and nozzle
    [*Rio 1700 Plus 642gph return pump, 1/2" locline
  • 5.5g AGA sump, with filtersock, refugium, and bubble trap
  • 100w heater with thermostat probe

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Lighting

I ordered the Rapid LED 12 Ultra Premium dimmable LED kit with 6 cool white and 6 royal blue Cree XPs. I also ordered a 4.5x9" drilled and tapped aluminum heatsink to mount these LED's. The kit went together very easily, taking about 1 hour to mount the LED's and another hour to solder them. I ordered the dimmable driver and wired in a potentiometer to dim the light. The light is very bright, and is a very nice 14k color. The optics are all 60* lenses.

Lay out, dimmest setting

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Dimmest setting

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Brightest setting B)

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Stocking

What I want to differently in this tank is to run the system based solely on 3 or 4 coral, no more than that. I'd like put one nice tabling acro 4-5" wide in it, another acro species, an acan mini colony, and a nice fungia plate. The SPS will need lots of waterchanges to survive, but the system will be built around sustaining 2 nice pieces in a small tank. The LED will be plenty of light for all of these corals, and weekly, 1g water changes with a quality salt will take care of nutrient export/import. Bobmonkey11 has the perfect piece of liverock for me that truly will highlight the nature of these 4 corals, creating a very appealing display of the eventual colonies. It's going in my bedroom, so I want a sleek set up that is very well put together. I think I may get one nano fish or invert.

 

The tank is still in the works. I am in process of getting the sump baffles glued in and purchasing a return pump and heater. The rocks are cycling in the display, but hopefully I can get this thing up and running soon. I'm not going to rush the stocking, but I will buy the coral for it when I see the piece I want. I also want to run a fan onto the top of the heatsink for cooling. I will also hang the light about 6-8" above the tank.

 

Let me know what you guys think!

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Here are some pics of it up and running! The piece of rock in there is probably going into the sump and the display live rock piece will be added soon, and I must say it's an amazing piece of rock. I will add a light to the sump for my macro algae and also buy a small filtersock. I also would like to drill the heatsink's 4 corners and screw hooks onto it and hang it like that...

 

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I also forgot to mention that I will be buying longer wires for the light so I can attach the driver onto the stand and run the cable all the way down through the hanging chain into the fixture. Not to mention a litte fan to run with it...

 

Anyone have any simple small computer fan builds???

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Arkayology

You know, you need to rake the sand to truly make this zen ;)

 

Looks like another great tank. Can't wait to see it with livestock.

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Just you wait socal, i'm thinking an efflo and my tenius as my SPS and an acan and plate...madness indeed

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d'Espresso

Oh snap! Looking to a great start so far! Where u get that tank from? Did u custom your LEDs or have dimmers on them?

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So I sold some more frags and managed to order another driver and the 2 color dual potentiometer from RapidLED pimp the crap out of this light. Now, both colors will be dimmable and be wired to fancy, color-coded nobs.

 

All I gotta do now is add some fans and hang it to make this light the dankest of DIY LED's

 

Also, I picked up a nice 3x4" purple tipped efflo colony that will be the showpiece acro in the tank when the time comes. $23.03 on ebay no shipping...say what

 

Oh snap! Looking to a great start so far! Where u get that tank from? Did u custom your LEDs or have dimmers on them?

 

I got the tank new at a lfs for like 18$, I had one before that i had drilled, but cracked, but then I just bought another. And yeah the LED is custom. It has 1 dimmer for all the led's now, but it will soon have 2 drivers with 2 dimmers for both whites and blues! PIMP

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BowieReefer84

Looks good. Have you considered taking the optics off the led's. They have way more than enough par for that tank without them, and you will remove some spot lighting. I have a thread in my sig that has par readings on a similiar build (24 led's vs 12).

 

I would put a red planet for one of the tables. Also, the lps in my tank do not like the led's as much as the sps. Maybe get a couple encrusting monti islands in there? The demands are closer to the tables.

 

Tagging along.

 

A fire shrimp would be cool. They are nice and bright even though they hide a fair amount. Maybe a pair of firefish.

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Looks good. Have you considered taking the optics off the led's. They have way more than enough par for that tank without them, and you will remove some spot lighting. I have a thread in my sig that has par readings on a similiar build (24 led's vs 12).

 

I would put a red planet for one of the tables. Also, the lps in my tank do not like the led's as much as the sps. Maybe get a couple encrusting monti islands in there? The demands are closer to the tables.

 

Tagging along.

 

Well, I would but I am going to hang the light roughly 6-8" above the tank, and at that height there is still little light spill.

 

As far as the Red Planet, I do have one that I have seriously considered putting in there. I also just got an ultra colored yellow with pink tips from Vivid. I'm picking it up on sunday, my girlfriend lives 10 minutes from them.

here is the piece

http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp...mp;SortBy=Price

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So I built my sump, rather I glued the baffles in my 5.5g aga tank. It has a simple bubble trap and another baffle to seperate the return and fuge. Also, I took a piece of slab LR from my 60's sump and placed it in under my nice piece of LR for a really nice shelf look. I'll post pics when the tank clears up!

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Hey guys, the tank is looking great. Diatoms are everywhere and I've got some minor algae growth. I also picked up a tiny tailspot blenny as my fish for the tank. His name is Nacho and he's doing great. Very active and observant. Pics when I get back from the long weekend.

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I should get the 2nd driver and dimmer set from rapid today or tomorrow, but I went ahead and rewired the fixture. Now, the blues are in series and the whites are in series. When I wire everything up, I will be able to control both colors individually. Otherwise, the tank is looking dirty from all the diatoms. I put in some snails and hermies from my 60g. Nacho is looking good, very active. I also hung the light up so I wont have anymore spot lighting and have a nice clean look.

 

Pics when I have everthing fixed up...

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Sorry for the delays, not that anyone cares really. The LED hit a snag but will be up and running tomorrow. As far as differences in the tank, I put two mangroves into the display. I'm not sure if I will keep them in there or not. Nacho the Blenny is doing great, and the CUC has really kicked in eating what little algae there is.

 

Sump's working really well, and I added an Aquatic Life 115 for increased nutrient export. I was originally going to go skimmerless, but that is tricky with a SPS tank, especially one this small.

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my freaking neighbor has a tank, i can see it from my room. thats not you is it? genesee highlands, a bazillion housemates

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