BigRok Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 So time to get to work. My inspiration for this came to me in a dream. Actually it wasn't a dream, I was awake at my girlfriends parent's place for Thanksgiving. I was taking a poo, or maybe I was just urinating, but her mom had these cool little cubic glass candle holders or whatever they were, filled with potpourri. I thought to myself, why didn't she do something cool, like put a reef in there? She could use an aqualifter as a pump or something. Anyways, so some time later this contest popped up and I figured I would find a little glass cube and make my dreams come to reality! Or I guess as it were, my reality come to reality. Apparently I'm going to make this as difficult on myself as possible. I have a tank, so to speak, and I have filtration and flow all in one. I don't have a light yet, so I thought I'd start with that, because apparently it's important. Link to comment
BigRok Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 So the first thing I did was shuffled through my big box of old aquarium junk I figure I will put to use some day, but never in fact do. I cam across this old 9 watt 6700k light I used over a fuge once. I found a bunch of old ¼ watt blue LED's from some old car starters and wired them up to a little 5 volt power supply from an old MP3 player. I gangstered them all together and taped them to the end of the fixture. Powered up, and it works! Actually looks kind of neat. Now to turn on the 9 watt bulb... Hmmmmmmm, might be a little too yellow for my tastes. So back to the box of junk to look for other lighting solutions. Ahhhh, now HERE is a good balance of colour that I really dig! But then again... maybe it's a little excessive. And it doesn't come across as very pico-esque. So, it looks like once again my box of junk turned out to be just that. So back to the closet it went and time to look for other solutions. I think, given the size of the tank, I may just be able to get away with one of these things, if I can find one. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings. Link to comment
asting Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I've used those reef-sun bulbs and a few other varieties (coralife makes one if i'm not mistaken). They're okay, but not nearly as good per watt as a t5 or other setup. Why not try a single Gu10? If you're worried that's not enough they make a 9w one (granted it's all white). Good luck with SPS, Link to comment
BigRok Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 I had considered the GU10. They have a pretty cool Chinese one on ebay with 2 1w blue and a single 1w white. But that was going to come from China, and probably take 2-3 weeks. I'd also need a socket, or at least medium base adapter. So I said screw it and got whatever I could locally. Surprisingly, I expected to find the Coralife version of bulb, but ended up finding the one I actually looked up last night. I'm not sure I'm going to run into any sort of intensity deficiencies with a 2½" deep tank. If I do I can always mount the bulb a little closer! So here's how the new bulb looks: And the entire setup, as it sits so far: And for comparison, this is how each of the potential lighting compares to each other. All pictures are set with the white balance at 7500k. 1 Link to comment
Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 You redefine the name Micro-Reef.... That's the smallest I've seen! Link to comment
asting Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Were those photos taken at the same exposure level too? Nice sig by the way Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 +1 on the tang! Uh oh... 1 Link to comment
got2envy Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have got to follow this! I thought I had a lot of fish left over junk Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Cool ideas, but kinda looks like my wife's food processer/blender. BTW, that tang and zoas look like they are photoshopped in that tank. Link to comment
BigRok Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Exposure levels were different due to the huge difference in intensity between lighting. For example, to expose for the fixture with the PC lighting, it blew the tank right out as per the picture in post 2. I am guessing here, but the lighting I am going with is actually the least intense of them all. I might now, out of curiosity, compare the 3 reasonable lighting options to each other. Just for the record, the 24" fixture leaning on the kleenex boxes is the unreasonable option. Link to comment
asting Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Cool ideas, but kinda looks like my wife's food processer/blender. BTW, that tang and zoas look like they are photoshopped in that tank. Nope they're real. It's a dwarf yellow yang. Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Nope they're real. It's a dwarf yellow yang. I though it was a micro tang... O well Link to comment
BigRok Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 That is correct, Zebramosa Drawfii Jaunis. "Dwarf Yellow Tang" They max out at 1½" long, so they're perfect for small tanks. Quick, everyone go out and buy one! So I redid the lighting comparison with identical white balance settings and exposure. So now that this little experiment is over, I can get around to actually stocking this thing. Who has livestock ideas for me? I was thinking a pair of clowns, and maybe a scooter blenny. Link to comment
Deckoz2302 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have a rapid led moonlight driver you can have to run 2 rob 1 white if you pay shipping lol Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 So now that this little experiment is over, I can get around to actually stocking this thing. Who has livestock ideas for me? I was thinking a pair of clowns, and maybe a scooter blenny. How about a snowflake eel? Those are really cool. Or a bamboo shark. Stingray? A puffer fish would be cool, but if it puffed up, it would probably overflow the tank. Link to comment
FlCandy Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 SO cool! I like this! It's a tank in a shot glass almost! Just don't drink it! Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Pretty neat idea. What's your plan to handle evaporation? Multiple top offs daily? Link to comment
BigRok Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 My official solution to topoffs is to do a string of initial tests, followed by completely ignoring the problem in its entirety. I started by placing the tank on a tray of fresh water in an attempt to humidify the area as much as possible. I filled the tank with fresh saltwater at 1.0245. I retested the water 12 hours later at 1.0255. With this data, I'm now going to either do 2 water changes a day, or maybe get lazy and just do 1. Either way, top off seems like I'd be adding extra complication to the system. Link to comment
CarrillXXP Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Honestly I say a little sand, a sick piece of rock, a little macro, then a sha-bangin' Paly. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.