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Cultivated Reef

JayPagi's Shallow Reef


JayPagi

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I decided to upgrade from my 5.5 AIO to this custom shallow reef I had built at a LFS; the dimensions are 28"L x 9.5"H x 14"W... roughly 16 gallons. The tank is on a IKEA Expedit stand. I also decided to use dry rock instead of live rock and purchased 10lbs of rock and 5lbs of rubble from Eco-Reefer

Current FTS (11/18/2013)
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Equipment

  • 10 Gallon DIY Sump
  • Cobalt Neo-Therm Heater
  • EcoTech Vortech MP10es
  • SCA 103 Protein Skimmer
  • Elos Osmocontroller ATO

Lighting

  • Custom LED Fixture: 7 x RB, 3 x CW, 1 x B, 1 x Green, 1 x Red, 1 x Violet

 

Corals

  • Yuma Ricordea
  • Florida Ricordea
  • Zoa/Paly
  • Mushrooms
  • Acans
  • Maxi Mini Anemone
  • Frogspawn
  • Clove Polyps
  • Red Monticap

 

Livestock

  • Black Percula Clownfish
  • Yellow-tail Damsel
  • Fire Shrimp
  • Blue Legged Hermit
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Wow that looks awesome....cant wait to see it filled

Thanks Rehype... I have my rock set up and the tank is running but no corals yet. Until I get my LED hung the room the tank is in doesn't have sufficient lighting for great pictures.

 

Bigger tank means bigger water changes. Bigger water changes meant a lot of running out to the store lugging RO back an forth and with a newborn baby that wasn't happening. So I installed this guy... we're friends!

 

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Here is a picture of my stand.

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Do you plan on doing anything to strengthen the the structure of the stand for more support? A few days ago I was tossing around the idea of getting that unit to use as a stand, but I noticed that the max weight load was like 30lb.

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Do you plan on doing anything to strengthen the the structure of the stand for more support? A few days ago I was tossing around the idea of getting that unit to use as a stand, but I noticed that the max weight load was like 30lb.

Ikea shows a shelf load (per compartment) of 30lbs which is a total weight load of 120lbs; they must also alot for weight being placed on the top of the unit when compartments are full too. I never really gave it any thought because I was never really concerned it couldn't hold it. Also the slide in compartments are fitted to size and add to the structural support. I will also be adding two more slide in's to the bottom.

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Day 2 Parameters

 

Salinity: 1.026

Ammonia: 0 ppm

No2: 0 ppm

No3: 0 ppm

dKH: 7

 

I'm not expecting to see much of a cycle because the rock has been sitting in a container with about 1lb of LR for close to 2 month. It's also dry rock. The sand was just added yesterday so I will monitor the parameters closely for a week and see how things go.

 

Here are a couple of new shots with actual sand, rock and water! I apologize for the lack of detail but the room is quite dim and I had to use my portrait lens at 1.8 to get any clarity.

 

Front View

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Top View

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Checked my parameters again today and once again ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all at zero. I can only wait and see if anything happens but I hope to introduce some livestock soon.

 

In the meantime I'm still working on my light fixture I finished the cover today and I just need to wire it to the control box and hang it up. Here are some pictures....

 

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Hard to tell but there is a splash guard (look for reflections) and room for optics if I need them.

 

So happy with the result so far.

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Dude.. you so badass! This whole thing looks so clean and awesome! That light is also really seckzy. Those dimensions are also pretty great.

Thanks man... took a look at your new tank it looks sick.

 

wow i want your setup. thats so awesome. mind making a led fixture for me? :D

Thanks for the compliment... I would but I think my GF would kill me if I spent anymore time in the basement.

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Hey finally its here!

Nice to see the new setup coming along - love the rock work

I don't trust that IKEA stand <_<

Drop a dead shrimp in there that will kick start your cycle

maybe I'm wrong but don't you need a little LR to seed the rest of it?

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Thanks for the compliment... I would but I think my GF would kill me if I spent anymore time in the basement.

i understand that. my wife yells at me all the time. what did you use for the cover on the heatsink? id love to have that then i can do the rest. lemme know man

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Hey finally its here!

Nice to see the new setup coming along

I don't trust that IKEA stand <_<

Drop a dead shrimp in there that will kick start your cycle

maybe I'm wrong but don't you need a little LR to seed the rest of it?

People are putting a hex on my stand now... LOL. I'm still not concerned but it will be re-enforced. Well it was seeded with 1lb of LR for 2 months in a rubbermaid container. It went through a definite cycle in there but I'm concerned now that I transferred the rock it would start over.

 

i understand that. my wife yells at me all the time. what did you use for the cover on the heatsink? id love to have that then i can do the rest. lemme know man

HAHA. It's 5 pieces of acrylic... 2 long, 2 short pieces of gloss white and 1 clear piece for the bottom. Use a proper glue like Weld-On 4 in a little applicator bottle. Triple check your measurements!

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HAHA. It's 5 pieces of acrylic... 2 long, 2 short pieces of gloss white and 1 clear piece for the bottom. Use a proper glue like Weld-On 4 in a little applicator bottle. Triple check your measurements!

well #### i can do that!

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SICK Light Fixture!!! What control box are you planning on using? Typhoon??????

Thanks man. I'm not using any controllers right now just RAPID LED's dimming kit; maybe in the future. The blue's and the whites will be on separate timers though.

 

well #### i can do that!

Have at it!

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Checked my parameters again today and once again ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all at zero. I can only wait and see if anything happens but I hope to introduce some livestock soon.

 

In the meantime I'm still working on my light fixture I finished the cover today and I just need to wire it to the control box and hang it up. Here are some pictures....

 

6758248271_3f530205b2_z.jpg

6758245705_40a8efa1a1_z.jpg

 

Hard to tell but there is a splash guard (look for reflections) and room for optics if I need them.

 

So happy with the result so far.

 

Thats a hell of a light there. What LEDs did you use? Was it a kit? Where is the driver? Any cooling system? Alot of questions....sorry, you just seem to know how to do the LEDs! :lol:

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very cool! i love the sleek look of the tank. also, what is the return and overflow box made from?!

It's acrylic but I can't take credit for that another Nano-Reefer (Steve aka Glazer) makes those. PM him if you want one the price is quite reasonable.

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I'm planning on doing the same with my new LED set up but I have more success with weldon 16 then 4 in the past. How did you get the acrylic to stick to the heat sink?

how do you plan on hanging it?

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Thats a hell of a light there. What LEDs did you use? Was it a kit? Where is the driver? Any cooling system? Alot of questions....sorry, you just seem to know how to do the LEDs! :lol:

They are Cree XP-E (9 x Royal Blue, 9 x Cool White). Not a kit I just pieced together what I needed from RAPID LED, they do sell kits though. The drivers are in another control box below the tank, power supply wires still need to be added to the fixture. No cooling systems on this one I didn't use one on my last build we'll see how it goes that may change. Not really I made mistakes during this build. I like things to look clean.

 

I'm planning on doing the same with my new LED set up but I have more success with weldon 16 then 4 in the past. How did you get the acrylic to stick to the heat sink?

I will try 16 next time! It's not stuck but attached with 2 screws I have flush mounted on the other side. It needed to be removable to change LED or add optics if necessary. Once the fixture is hung I will post more pics of it completed.

 

and how did you get the heatsink to rest that far above the splash guard. It looks like it was just sit on the bottom piece of acrylic.

I turned the heat sink upside down (lights to the sky) then slide the box over top so it was flush; then drilled and tapped a couple of holes to keep it in place. Flat surface required!

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It's acrylic but I can't take credit for that another Nano-Reefer (Steve aka Glazer) makes those. PM him if you want one the price is quite reasonable.

 

oooops, I meant what is the return line plumbing made of...lol.

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:bowdown:

I just DIYed my first LEDs and the fixture looks terrible. It gets the job done though and the colors are insane! I just have corner braces screwed to the side with thin cable suspending it. Nowhere to conceal the drivers though. How long can the wires be from the LEDs to driver? Those wires are pretty thin so I am not sure if that makes them not able to be as long or something. Could I make them like...15ft?

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oooops, I meant what is the return line plumbing made of...lol.

Oh that's the standard Eheim tubing from the canister filter.

 

:bowdown:

I just DIYed my first LEDs and the fixture looks terrible. It gets the job done though and the colors are insane! I just have corner braces screwed to the side with thin cable suspending it. Nowhere to conceal the drivers though. How long can the wires be from the LEDs to driver? Those wires are pretty thin so I am not sure if that makes them not able to be as long or something. Could I make them like...15ft?

I would use an 18 gauge wire for longer runs like that. I would post that question in the lighting forum and let some of the guru's chime in.

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