10 gallon Part II

Equipment

-Tank ~ Free
-Filter Bio Wheel 350 $33.89
-Light ~$54
-Powerheads cheap no name powerhead 150 gph paid $3 i'll call it $5
-Heater ~ $10 but free for the contest

Livestock

Fish


Invertebrates


Coral

5 ugly brown polyps from my 10 gallon ~ 5 @ $0.30 each = $1.50
small kenya tree from 10 gallon ~$2
3 polyps of horizon zoas ~ 3 @ $1 each = $3.00
2"X2" square of GSP (consisting of 2 pieces) @ $5 for 3" squared ~ $5
5 polyps of fire and ice zoas~ $5
15 yellow polyps @.15 each ~ $2.25
3 polyps of different color ricordia @ $10 each ~ $30 (yikes)
1 red mushroom @ $5 ~ $5
1 green mushroom @ $5` $5


Rock/Sand
-10 lbs base rock $20
-10 lbs dry sand

Spent- $151.64

Left- $198.36

sounds like we have the same plans....i guess great minds really do think alike

there better be damsels, or your name is a lie!

clowns are damsels

Yes sir they are
good luck DrC!!

Got my lights today LEDs for $4 a pop 40 LEDs total someone guess what i'm useing i'm going to test them and see if i get growth

tagging along.

4th time seeing the sign, who is Jacob

Pix of LED"S!!!

Jacob is our smarty pants MOD lol

hahaha, i got it

Git er dun!

LED Christmas lights most people say not really the right par but lets see if i'll get growth

just dont let evil see this

im actually thinking of using Blue LED Xmas lights for actinics on my tank. of course they will be accompanied by a 70w Mh fixture.

Your secret is safe with me

SUREEEEEEEEEE

i used mine as a flash light to look at my 10 man my rics glow

Here's my lights this setup cost $8 new at big lots not counting that tin which i think is less that $2

testing it out on my tank (blue on white off)


testing on my tank (blue and white on)


my nova exterme on my current tank


contest tank lit i think i need a second one


shot of the LEDs

the LEDs are just as bright

berry berry interesting...would the par be right with those?

Love the lights bro.

So I am glad that I am not the only broke azz .....I need a new set of strobs for my plow truck and I was so looking at a set of these lights thinkin hum!!!

saw them last christmas and missed getting them because christmas stuf is only out during christmas need to go get more

guess i'm going to find out

can we have a link or picture of the box of those leds?

Hey, I'm doing something similar. So far, so good. of course "so far" is only 3 weeks, and it's more of a proof-of-concept than a build.

here's the box

yay for big lots cheap prices!

II also find contests a good excuse to experiment wildly!
Good luck with it.

O Nose he found me

do you think it's going to work evil

Probably not. Christmas lights are usually set to a pretty low intensity so they don't blind people when they look at them, so they really won't be appropriate for this. Try it, but have a backup plan in place.

sweet setup if it does. $8 in lights powering a 3 gal picotope. I could see softies living.

well no harm done if they dont and i do have a back up if it does'nt work

Yeah, not like you would be out a lot of money

You could still use them to decorate a tree later on

Updates?

wow your all over everyone for updates lol i'm picking up my sand some time next week and i'm buying 2 more leds had it on half my 10 and had some awsome growth with my rics

Your having good growth with the christmas LEDS? Cooool!

yea the blue really bring out my rics and they seem happy because they opened about twice the size they normally do

Fascinating idea. They are undoubtably water proof/resistant too, so that's a big plus. Though, I question how well they will work. I would think a single compact fluorescent would light up a room far more than several boxes of christmas lights, but maybe not, who knows.

this was my first aquascape until i found out the brain coral in the center floated

here's the new on useing a conch shell as the center piece

niiiiice. very intersting build

I don't think they're opening that big because they're growing, it's because they're trying to increase their exposed surface area to capture more light because they aren't getting enough from the xmas lights.

I like the idea of using them for actinics tho!

Nice use of the conch shell too, really like it!

Exactly what I was going to post. I think its pretty well established that this is what determines mushroom growth in size. Maybe the lights could help achieve a desired color, and the main source could even be a really cheap PC retro if you were just sticking with softies.

thanks for everyone's concern if it does'nt work out i will go to PCs or The nova T5s like i have on my other 10 gallon

great idea though and it sure lit up your tank well.