chucktdbm321 Posted June 28, 2011 Author Share Posted June 28, 2011 Yea for the most part everything is on a rack or on the bottom getting acclimated to the light. Some of the corals i got a good deals on were in bad shape but are coming back strong. Yea i miss that little ten lol. And im ready for this one to go the way as well. As i mentioned that ten went straight into my 15 and then my 15 went downhill once i left at home for the first time. The GSP, and Nuc Greens are from first tank lol. The GSP colony i got my frag from was like 4 maybe 5 years old now? And I making a cool little island for this time and NOT putting on a main rock lol And if you guys didn't noticed i kept with my coral theme lol. Everything in the tank is either red or green. The bonsai has very green polyps but more of purplish base that is my only exception so far lol Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Finished the fuge light being my first led experienced def love em... will they cover my dt soon no idea lol. I'll have pics of the light soon Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 After i posted the "more pics" the bright green coral after the bonsai is very cool and bright its some kinda sps that was given to me. Does anyone know what kind it is? Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 O and most of the corals are now up on the rocks... its looking sexy Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted July 7, 2011 Author Share Posted July 7, 2011 Current FTS: 7/7/2011 Got some algae going on but its fading quickly... Im doing a gallon water change every 3 days for now until the tank is further down the way. Then i'll probably do 2 gallon water changes once a week. Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 gonna try to put the rest of the frags up hopefully sometime today. Will probably put a new fts up soon Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Nice growth overall in corals, got rid of some bought some, finally getting some coraline, should've had another fts by now yada yada yada... And I just ordered this... 8 RB Cree XP-E 4 NW Cree XP-G 1 4.25x 9 drilled and tapped heatsink 2 700ma dimmable buckpucks w/ 5k poten. 2 24v 1.7A PS And already have all the other stuff needed Should be up and running by next week!!! Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 I knew it was a mistake making that dinky fuge light lol Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 So leds came intoday and hopefully the build starts soon i'll be sure to document everything with pics. I have the arm to hang the fixture all done just needs painted. Pretty stoked for everything though and hopefully it just blows away my T5's. Some of my sps doesn't look too hot. Not sure what it is from yet and its bugging me. Im thinking it is from a waterchange i did and the water i mixed in was pretty chilled cause my waterchange heater broke so the tank dropped to 75 from 78 in 2 hours I just tested my params after doing a 3 gallon waterchange 4 days ago and they look great (api test kit0 Ca 420 Alk 10dkH NO3- 0ppm Phosphates- 0ppm I need to get a new PH test kit and probably a mag kit as well. But i feel PH should be good seeing that Ca and ALK are in good ranges. Plus i run reverse lighting with lots of chaeto Another thing could be that I washed out my CPE and every time i've washed it out it just releases a lot of gunk im guessing its collecting a lot of detritus in my HOB but washing once a week shouldn't be a problem. The only other thing i can think of is the lighting cause my bubls need to be replaced soon but it seems to have happen within the last 2 weeks so im not sure. Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 just a thought but are you sure 12 LED's is gonna give you enough spread for a 10 gallon? Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 9, 2011 Author Share Posted August 9, 2011 Its gonna be hung and im thinking definitely especially without optics. I need to mess with the height and possible 80 degree optics though. Im also thinking of going to a Mr. Aqua 11.4 gallon which is another inch off the lenght but i guess i'll find out soon Switched out my bulbs to 3 460nm and 1 420nm so super blue going on and the corals seem to be much happier now. Im guessing when i switched my old daylight bulb to a newer 12k they were getting quite stressed. Im almost done with the box to my fixture and it should be done this friday... fingers are crossed. Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 Finished the soldering and electrical stuff and damn #### looks SO AWESOME. The housing i messed up on and have to redo but it looks real nice and im very pleased with the hanging arm here are couple teaser pics. I'll have plenty once im all done. just a thought but are you sure 12 LED's is gonna give you enough spread for a 10 gallon? Hey brian, so i put the fixture over the tank at the height im thinking of and it still has some light spill so there's no dark spots. I'll have pics of everything when im done Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 lookin good bro, can't wait for those pics Link to comment
Zoafreak Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Man, I'm super jealous of your corals you got!! and your new light system looks legit! i wish i had the guts to try making my own LEDS i just went and bought some clamp on lights so i can get 2 par 38's, lol. and did i mention how jealous i am of some of your corals? in case i forgot i'm jealous of your corals. mainly your sick Zoa's. Darth Maul's <3 Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 btw any tips? I'm planning to do an led build in the future too. I've been doing a ton of reading but I'm still a little nervous about the actual execution lol. And I've worked with electrical components before so I'm not completely oblivious....just haven't actually soldered anything before haha. Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 Hanging arm is all done, waiting for paint to dry on the fixture, and then i need to see the exact height i need on this fixture so i have coverage with as little light spillage... Thanks i love those darthmauls I'm not a big fanboy of bragging where i got corals but i did get 2 polyps for ten dollars so where lol. They already have another polyp too. And dude wait til i show the pic of the rastas. I'd be lying if i said i did everything myself because my one friend is a pro at soldering and fixing computers so he offered to help me with soldering since all i have is like a 30w weller gun... which will def do the trick but he has a 80w adjustable soldering pen that keeps constant temp and beleive or not we were done with all the soldering, applying grease and all the other stuff within 2 hours lol. When I used my soldering gun it was such a pain since i had to heat and reheat constantly. His keeps a steady temp the entire time. So my biggest tip is rent, borrow, or buy a nice soldering iron cause it makes everything cleaner, stronger, and MUCH faster. So my tips would be. Don't skimp on anything even power supplies (there are some on ebay that cost 3 dollars, already seen two accounts of people buring out there leds cause there voltage swings like crazy)cause you wanna do it right the first time. Screws and paste are the way to go, im already gonna switch out two RB for a 420 during winter break lol. Check everything at least 3x <-- no joke here, it pays off. \ And i didn't show dimming yet but im gonna try to take a video on my tank its way way too cool and the 5 extra bucks on each puck is so worth it. Here's pics of what of them fired up... at maybe 25% RB-NW-RB-NW RB-RB-RB-RB NW-RB-NW-RB Seeing some serious blindspots lol Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 O and zoafreak. I was about to pull the trigger on the par bulbs. But it seems that most the par bulbs run at like 2w each and the built in optics are a big turn off and for me i calculated that it took me 12 bucks to make the hanging arm fixture. the leds and the fixture cost me like 180 plus random stuff say like 200. The 7 led par 38s are what 80 a piece plus another 20 -40 making or buying some kind of fixture or hanging fixture for the bulbs. So they weren't that much cheaper if any then the one i have. Plus the satisfaction of building is priceless. <-- credit card commerical atw Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 SO i have the fixture resting on some acrylic above the tank and i feel bad for anyone who hasn't put dimmers on or can't use them with their fixtures cause i feel they are essential to any leds out there. They really make a difference between being in love with your color to feeling you need to go back to your halides and T5's. I can literally make and temp color i'd like with the dimmers. I'll have more pics coming up but my little ps camera can't capture anything nice with leds lol I'll have to play around with some editing and see how they turn out Link to comment
Zoafreak Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 O and zoafreak. I was about to pull the trigger on the par bulbs. But it seems that most the par bulbs run at like 2w each and the built in optics are a big turn off and for me i calculated that it took me 12 bucks to make the hanging arm fixture. the leds and the fixture cost me like 180 plus random stuff say like 200. The 7 led par 38s are what 80 a piece plus another 20 -40 making or buying some kind of fixture or hanging fixture for the bulbs. So they weren't that much cheaper if any then the one i have. Plus the satisfaction of building is priceless. <-- credit card commerical atw well I see LEDS online for like $110 that's for 450 nm or w/e and same price for the 10k, but i have to do some research on them cause u can get PAR 38's from the hardware store for $50. ya they are only 5k but still... two and you are set... Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 yea i've seen them before they'd be nice for a fuge, but i don't know what kind of leds they are running in them and plus ive never seen anyone of them in a temp range that i'd consider putting on a tank So my light is all done and i had it running all day and im extremely pleased with it the colors it brings out. I tried taking some pics but i'll have to mess with it for awhile til i can get nice crisp pics.The dimming is just too cool though i can't stress it enough. I'll try to get pics up soon Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 thanks i won't be down again til christmas time or so. Hows the new store going? Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 UPDATE: 8/17/2011 Some pics with the leds... So the fixture is finally done and hanging about 4 inches above the water. I absolutely love the colors and wish i did this a long time ago. I'll have to see how i think about growth and color in the long term and will def keep everyone updated. With how my actually fixture turned out it stays super cool with the fan and the vents i put in and everything but how i designed it had a flaw and that is the acrylic isn't too rigid so there is some gaps and im thinking that i might wanna re do the actually fixture part. I'll have to make a more in depth thread on just the led build sometime. So before my led light was done a lot of my corals were becoming bleached or just really pale and I tested all my params and im thinking since there was only 3 small snails in the tank for 3 months now maybe its just lacking any nutrients for the coral to grow and what not since i've been trying to starve this pest algae that seems to have died off quite a bit but is still there.. So i started dosing some phyto lately and i've been getting better PE on my corals. But only time will tell now that they have new lighting and im feeding them. There are two major purchases coming this way as well.... Reefkeeper lite 1 11.4 gallon Mr. Aqua rimless tank Link to comment
Zoafreak Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 looking good! i bet if you didnt have a BB then you wouldn't have as much algae, haha jk i just like sand. I don't really know if that would really help enough to starve all your algae Link to comment
chucktdbm321 Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 i really miss having sand I had it in my old 3 year old ten before i upgraded and i feel the tank biological was much more stable. There were times where i didn't do a waterchange for months and it was still great. Im putting sand back in as soon as i get an apartment or when im done at school. I gave up on starving this algae out cause i feel that im starving my corals out also so what im dosing right now is 1ml of phyto daily to see if it brings and color back and im also going back seachem reef plus <-- love that stuff so much Link to comment
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