Reef Queso Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Figured I'd just start a build thread on this and keep updates! Got a NC6 LED from my LFS for $99. (Thought these were new... Mfd in 2012 LOL) 7/29/16 I ran water test to check for leaks 7/30/16 - Placed about a 1.5" bed of CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Sand and 10 lbs of Live Rock I was told by my LFS is aquacultured in Florida and has been in their tank for 3 weeks. Dipped rocks in 1.032 Instant Ocean mixed with RO/DI water, scrubbed and placed in the tank (lost some pods but got rid of a 6" worm). Threw in a rock from my tank in the mix. 4.4 Gallons of CaribSea Sea-Pure and filled the rest of the Nano Cube with Instant Ocean Salt at 1.025. Threw a bag of carbon, Cut the JBJ Sponge into 1/3 and a layer of Poly-Filter in the first chamber and a 50w heater in the 2nd chamber. Weekly 2 gallon water changes and ran the tank with lights off 8/28/16 - Threw in one of my veteran Blue Leg Hermits. Took the bag of Carbon out and replaced filter with new 1/3 JBJ filter and Poly-Filter More to come...... Reef Queso Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 9/3/16 - My good friend tore down his reef and gave me some corals. I threw in three zoanthid frags, echinophyllia (chalice) , a two headed duncanopsammia , and a 16 head Dragon Soul Goniastea (Brain/ Favia, my buddy had no idea what it was called, he's had it for 3 years) and a waving hand xenia. 9/15/16 - I've thrown some Chemi-Pure Elite in the first Chamber topped by the 1/3 JBJ sponge and Poly-Filter Pad. Moved the Xenia to the back corner and gave the Chalice away. Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 The one major thing that sucks about the "New" LED JBJ NC6 is they took away the moonlight feature. So dumb. 3 - 10k LED and 3 - 20k LED (if that's even the light they're putting out). I decided to go with the Current USA - TrueLumen 3xLED 453nm Actinic Blue mini strips for more day spectrum and moonlight. I used two of these (they daisy chain together with a cap on the end of the connector you're not using) a TrueLumen Dimmer and a 12V power supply. Removed the splash cover, used the 3M double stick tape on the strips, positioned, then routed the wire around the heat sink and through the existing lights power cord grommet out the back of the hood. I was fully prepared to drill but didn't have to. I then used 3M double stick for the dimmer and attached to the side of the hood. Took about 30 minutes. 9/17/16 - 453nm LED Retrofit You can't tell the difference with them on in the day, but at night.... I'll post a pic later of the night effect Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 9/18/16 - I wish my LFS had better frag selection. Most of their large display tanks are covered with algae and essentially display tanks they drop a couple frags into every friday. They do however have a 3 foot long Crystal Frog Spawn in a "DISPLAY ONLY NOT FOR SALE" tank that they've fragged off and dropped into a little 10 gallon. The frags are $39 dollars for about the size of a half dollar, but somehow they had this one marked $15 so I nabbed it. This little dude is tiny! I have him in low flow and he's up on top of the rock where I want it, I don't have too much room in the sand for battling stingers or I would have put him on the bottom. Hopefully the JBJ LED's don't fry the little dude. Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 Full Tank Shot of what we've got going so far.... I wish our stores had a better coral selection near me. Everything is covered with algae like crazy. Luckily they scrubbed the frog spawns propagates before selling them. I have 4 stores in a 50 mile radius and they all have something, bubble algae, hair algae, aiptasia (huge aiptasia) I just don't understand why they let things get the way they do. I walk by my tanks 100 times a day and if I notice one little thing out of whack I take care of it. How do you let aiptasia get two inches and have it growing in the same cup as a bubble tip anemone? More to come... Thanks everyone! Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted September 21, 2016 Author Share Posted September 21, 2016 Here's a night 453nm led shot. Turns out super purple with my phone. Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 Well Yesterday added some new corals. Green Mushroom, and some really cool Purple Trumpets with Green centers. Also two new frogspawn heads. Then today, I met up with a guy that cultivates rock, pigments and cures. After some rearranging and making all the corals super angry, here's some shots FTS Here's a close-up Here's a shot of the new Frogspawn and trumpets. Up top we have some more of the trumpets (testing placement here). I Glued the trumpet frags to a rock using Two Little Fishies Coraffix. Also the mushrooms and the rest of the existing corals. Those new purple rocks really pop! Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 All right guys. Here's an update everything is going great so far. For some reason my xenias weren't pulsing but this week I did a 1 gallon water change instead of 2 gallons, and today they're pulsing very nicely!! Got another nice frogspawn and a bam bam zoa (only one polyp) also got some rastas that had some deep blue xenias on the frag as well. Super pumped. If I could do things differently, I would have stacked my entire aquascape with shelf like pieces, however, there is literally no place in town that has any good rock!! Out of 5 LFS not a single one has decent rock. FTS from today!! Here's a cool shot of my facia the other night on full assault! More to come soon! Thanks!! Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 All right guys. Here's an update everything is going great so far. For some reason my xenias weren't pulsing but this week I did a 1 gallon water change instead of 2 gallons, and today they're pulsing very nicely!! Got another nice frogspawn and a bam bam zoa (only one polyp) also got some rastas that had some deep blue xenias on the frag as well. Super pumped. If I could do things differently, I would have stacked my entire aquascape with shelf like pieces, however, there is literally no place in town that has any good rock!! Out of 5 LFS not a single one has decent rock. FTS from today!! Here's a cool shot of my facia the other night on full assault! More to come soon! Thanks!! looks really good man, this little tank is turning out to be very colorful! If you ask me I think it looked better without that second batch of rock added, maybe that's just me liking the minimalist rockscape but keep it up! Link to comment
Reef Queso Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 looks really good man, this little tank is turning out to be very colorful! If you ask me I think it looked better without that second batch of rock added, maybe that's just me liking the minimalist rockscape but keep it up! Thanks! With the original rock scape I had way too much current. I needed something to slow down the flow (Hydor flo or additional loc-line was wayyyy too diminishing, so I figured I'd just build up the rock higher. Link to comment
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