tmhasara Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 I just set up a new EcoPico and wanted to share. I'm going to try something different with this one. Bare bottom, no heater, and no filter. The sand always seemed to be the dirtiest and thus ugliest part of my last tank, so I'm going to try going without on this one. We also keep our downstairs around 77 degrees here in FL, so I think I'll be fine without a heater in the summer months, just for simplicity's sake. I'm also going with pure biological filtration, again for simplicity's sake and to keep a sleek look to the tank. At most, I'll order one of Vortech's filters for my MP10. Setup Ecoxotic EcoPicoThree "50/50" Ecoxotic LED Strips Two Full Actinic Ecoxotic Strips Vortech MP10 Filtration Cured LRHalimeda (Removed) Chaeto Livestock Picasso ClownBlue Neon Goby Sexy Shrimp Anemone Crab Corals RicordiaRhodactis Dendro (Died) Zoas Blasto GSP Acans Mushrooms Hammer It's been set up for a few days now and so far so good. I'll keep this updated. Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 could you get a closeup of the yellow and orange thing in the center? Link to comment
tmhasara Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 I'll do my best. That's the dendrophyllia. Link to comment
fiction101 Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 How do the strip lights attach to the fixture? Can you remove them and switch them around if you wanted to? Link to comment
tmhasara Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 How do the strip lights attach to the fixture? Can you remove them and switch them around if you wanted to? It's just double sided tape, but it's very strong. Yeah, you could definitely remove them, but the tape may not be sticky enough to be reused. The dendro is pissed for some reason and not open, so I'll snap a pic when he's better. I redid the rock scape and added a bi-color hammer that I was hoping the clown would host. Link to comment
fiction101 Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 It's just double sided tape, but it's very strong. Yeah, you could definitely remove them, but the tape may not be sticky enough to be reused. The dendro is pissed for some reason and not open, so I'll snap a pic when he's better. I redid the rock scape and added a bi-color hammer that I was hoping the clown would host. I had a clown that hosted a frogspawn and the frogspawn was constantly stinging the clown to the point where it was completely marked up. It definitely ruined the look of the clown. Link to comment
tmhasara Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 I had a clown that hosted a frogspawn and the frogspawn was constantly stinging the clown to the point where it was completely marked up. It definitely ruined the look of the clown. That's really odd. I bought the hammer because I lost a frogspawn that my clown hosted for months. Link to comment
almost Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 where in fl? check out BARS brevard area reef society Link to comment
tmhasara Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 id love to have that clown I got him from donisreef.com. Highly recommended. Link to comment
fiction101 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 How are the corals responding to just the 3 strips of the leds? Does is give off a 14k look? I'm thinking of doing two of the all blue strips with one of the white/blue strips. Link to comment
tmhasara Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 How are the corals responding to just the 3 strips of the leds? Does is give off a 14k look? I'm thinking of doing two of the all blue strips with one of the white/blue strips. It's hard to say. They are open and seem completely happy, but they've been in there less than a week. I'm sure they'll be fine, I'm just not sure if they will be enough to generate decent growth. I think I'm going to pick up two more strips. I don't know what 14k looks like, but I'm happy with this setup in that it provides a "clean" white look with a tinge of actinic to make certain corals pop. My LFS has a setup identical to what you are describing, two blue's and one 50/50. Here's a pic- Link to comment
tmhasara Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 I swung by my LFS hoping to get one blue strip and one 50 / 50, but all he had were blues, so I got two of them. I was able to slightly modify each strip so that five strips can be fitted to the arm with zero overhang. I'll post pic tomorrow. Link to comment
tmhasara Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 In order to get five LED strips to fit without hanging off at all, you have to sand or Dremel down the back black portion of the strip which is wider than the rest of it, I'll call that the "base". The metal strip the LED's are mounted to runs the length of the unit, so there isn't any need to Dremel down the base so that it is any thinner than the rest; five will fit so long as the wider portion of the bases are removed. If you happen to take off so much that you can see the metal strip, I might suggest using some gel superglue to ensure it's water tight. Link to comment
tmhasara Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 Here's a new video- Would it be dangerous to not use the lid as far as my clown jumping out? Link to comment
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