Jeepdude's Tank Thread

[jeepdude]

First of all, I want to thank Nano-reef.com for supplying so much information on the reef keeping hobby. Without the help of this site I would never have gotten anywhere.

 

A special thanks to:

 

StevieT and his seemingly infinite wisdom of the reefing world. I admit to trying to make my own media basket which was a complete failure. His craftsmanship is unrivaled and his ideas are great. Thanks.

 

Waterproof and Evil, for your awesome knowledge and guidance in the land of led's. This lighting system is awesome!

 

After my wife and I got married she wanted a fish tank. My brother has had a couple of saltwater tanks and interested me in the "Lifestyle." I did some research and stumbled upon this site!

 

After many late nights staying up and learning everything possible about reef keeping I figured it was time to jump in.

 

I purchased a Biocube 14 and settled on the simple all in one design.

 

My tank was realized on June 1st, 2009

 

My Personal Starter Kit:

Biocube 14

Maxi-Jet 900

Koralia Nano

Stealth Heater 50w

Custom Filter pad (Since removed because of later mods)

30 lbs. Live Rock (Mixed fiji cultured rock from PETCO, and fiji rock from the Yellow Submarine lfs)

20 lbs. Live Sand

Mag Float

 

Day 1 FTS

 

Blue Actinics Stock

 

Overhead Shot

 

Side Shot

 

Moonlight shot

 

Since these photos I have made many modifications:

StevieT intank media basket

Cut the plastic between Chambers 1 and 2

submersible led lit fuge

I followed Waterproof's led model and retrofit the canopy with high powered led's.

Rewired the stock fan to cool the heatsink.

Purchased an Aquacontroller Jr. w/ DC8 and Thermometer

 

The Chambers are as follows:

Chamber one - Heater

Chamber two - media basket

Chamber three - Maxi-Jet 900

 

The Media Rack is organized into three parts:

Part 1 - Filter Floss

Part 2 - Fuge with chaetomorph and submersible led also from intank.

Part 3 - Chemipure and phosban

 

There is purigen in between the Maxijet and Chamber two where the stock sponge used to be.

 

The Aquacontroller Jr. is programmed as follows:

Pump 1 always on

Pump 2 always on

fuge light always on

heater on if temperature drops below 79 degrees

fan on when royal blue led's come on.

fan off one hour after royal blue led's turn off

royal blue lights on at 3 p.m.

Cree Whites on at 4 p.m.

Cree Whites off at 11 p.m.

Royal Blues off at 12 a.m.

 

Livestock includes:

1 Clown

1 Open Brain

1 Green Star Polyp

Misc. Mushrooms

 

CUC includes:

5 Turbo Snails

4 Nassarius Snails

2 blue legged hermit crabs

1 Cleaner Shrimp

 

Pictures taken today March 21st 2010

 

FTS

 

Overhead Shot

 

Led Build

 

Tank, Stand, and Computer

 

Sorry for the bad quality will upload more photos later...

 

I have made many mistakes along the way. First off I have had two fish pass away that I have no photos of.

 

One was a yellow watchmen that just up and disappeared. I still have not found him today.

 

The other was a Royal Gramma. His cause of death was a little sadistic. When I first got my Aquacontroller I had the Koralia Nano set to come on at intervals throughout the day. The Koralia now sits behind the rock and pumps water outward, however it used to sit in the lower right hand corner by the intake. Well, when the pump would be off the Gramma would climb into the Koralia and just sit there. Needless to say sooner or later the inevitable happened.

 

I am still learning every day as I don't think that process could ever end in reef keeping.

 

Right now I am battling some kind of brown algae bloom. I am hoping that they are just a diatom bloom due to the move. (I moved two months ago)

 

My phosphates are zero as are my nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia.

My Ph is at 8.0

 

I introduced the Nassarius snails to combat sand areas, and ordered two part dose to try and raise my ph to 8.3 or so, plus some other goodies from intank today.

 

I believe the main reason for the bloom is because of the extended use of the purigen and chemipure and phosban. I have used them beyond their expected lifespan of 3-5 months.

 

The order also contains purigen, and chemipure elite

 

Once again thanks to nano-reef.com, StevieT, Waterproof, Evil, and everyone else on the site. I will continue to update as time goes on.

[Maddevil1]

Overhead Shot

 

Is your pump on here? Seems like no water is flowing. If your pump is on, it shouldnt look like that.

[Bamato]

Very nice Me like LED's

[jeepdude]

Is your pump on here? Seems like no water is flowing. If your pump is on, it shouldnt look like that.

 

Yes both pump are on I will take a picture with a better camera. Like I said this is my first tank if something looks off please let me know all advice is greatly appreciated. It is a Maxi-jet 900 and koralia Nano and they were both on. In fact, the Maxi is on full blast. Maybe a bigger pump or another powerhead?

 

Very nice Me like LED's

 

Yeah they are awesome. Best lighting system I have seen in person!

[jeepdude]

Is your pump on here? Seems like no water is flowing. If your pump is on, it shouldnt look like that.

 

Also the divider between Chamber 1 and Two is like a passage for the water to flow into the media basket, All the water flows fairly consistently over that. I run all the chambers a lilttle high for noise control purposes that may also add to the low flow look.

[jeepdude]

So I charged up my underwater camera and took some more pictures.

 

Let me know what you think!

 

FTS

 

Green Star Polyps!

 

Brain Coral

 

Shrimp

 

Mushrooms

 

Clown (He is really hard to shoot)

 

Brain Coral under RB's

 

Green Star Polyps under RB's

 

Hope you all like them.

 

Will post more later!

[jeepdude]

Since I have upgraded my stock lights to the led's I have noticed that the stock moonlights just don't satisfy you. Blue lights come on (oooohhhhh) white lights come on (awwwwww) moonlights come on (wtf?)

 

So I ordered an R2 moonlight! should come in by the end of the week will post pics later!

[Maddevil1]

Also the divider between Chamber 1 and Two is like a passage for the water to flow into the media basket, All the water flows fairly consistently over that. I run all the chambers a lilttle high for noise control purposes that may also add to the low flow look.

 

 

My setup is exactly the same as yours, excluding the koralia nano (which doesnt make a difference with the flow). Look at my thread, post 42. This will give you a good idea of what the flow should look like. You will probably need to remove the 2 plastic directional things and re-angle them. Again from my post 42, you can see the difference it made from the first pic to the second pic. Make sure all the water flows thru the plastic directional things.

[Maddevil1]

Since I have upgraded my stock lights to the led's I have noticed that the stock moonlights just don't satisfy you. Blue lights come on (oooohhhhh) white lights come on (awwwwww) moonlights come on (wtf?)

 

So I ordered an R2 moonlight! should come in by the end of the week will post pics later!

 

 

I liked the R2 moonlight, but it ended up shorting out on me after a year. So I wasnt happy with it and decided to use one of the stock moonlights. I took it out of its holder and glued the LED onto the heatsink right smack in the middle. Its nice and subtle, free and I have a spare!

[jeepdude]

My setup is exactly the same as yours, excluding the koralia nano (which doesnt make a difference with the flow). Look at my thread, post 42. This will give you a good idea of what the flow should look like. You will probably need to remove the 2 plastic directional things and re-angle them. Again from my post 42, you can see the difference it made from the first pic to the second pic. Make sure all the water flows thru the plastic directional things.

 

I am going to reangle those directional guides tonight. Your flow does look significantly higher than mine.

[jeepdude]

Just finished with the guides. Looks alot better.

 

better flow

[jeepdude]

My setup is exactly the same as yours, excluding the koralia nano (which doesnt make a difference with the flow). Look at my thread, post 42. This will give you a good idea of what the flow should look like. You will probably need to remove the 2 plastic directional things and re-angle them. Again from my post 42, you can see the difference it made from the first pic to the second pic. Make sure all the water flows thru the plastic directional things.

 

BTW Thanks a ton Maddevil. Nice tank, hopefully with more time mine will look like yours one day! They are pretty much exactly the same setup! Any future plans for your cube?

[Maddevil1]

BTW Thanks a ton Maddevil. Nice tank, hopefully with more time mine will look like yours one day! They are pretty much exactly the same setup! Any future plans for your cube?

 

 

No problem. We are all here to help one another. Thanks for the compliment on the tank, it still has a long way to go. No plans really, I think I have maxed out what I can do to it. What I really need is for my Acros to color up. I think I had my lights too low, so i am waiting for that before I add anything else. I actually turned them all the way up and I think I might have bleached out my chalice a bit. The only other plans I might have is a dosing system in the future and maybe some UV-A LEDs, once they come down in price!

 

Before I forget, make sure that there is a layer in the top tray with floss so all the water flows thru the floss before it goes down the rack. And change it twice a week.

[jeepdude]

No problem. We are all here to help one another. Thanks for the compliment on the tank, it still has a long way to go. No plans really, I think I have maxed out what I can do to it. What I really need is for my Acros to color up. I think I had my lights too low, so i am waiting for that before I add anything else. I actually turned them all the way up and I think I might have bleached out my chalice a bit. The only other plans I might have is a dosing system in the future and maybe some UV-A LEDs, once they come down in price!

 

Before I forget, make sure that there is a layer in the top tray with floss so all the water flows thru the floss before it goes down the rack. And change it twice a week.

 

Sounds good. And as far as filtration goes in my cube...Before there was anything, there was floss hehe I change it all the time. I also tried turning my lights all the way up. The heatsink got really hot after a full day like that though. I keep them about three quarters of the way up. The most detrimental thing to the lifespan of those lights is the heat. (I didn't have fans when I first tried it though. I do now so let me know how your heat situation goes.)

[Maddevil1]

Sounds good. And as far as filtration goes in my cube...Before there was anything, there was floss hehe I change it all the time. I also tried turning my lights all the way up. The heatsink got really hot after a full day like that though. I keep them about three quarters of the way up. The most detrimental thing to the lifespan of those lights is the heat. (I didn't have fans when I first tried it though. I do now so let me know how your heat situation goes.)

 

 

I dont have any heat problems with the tank. I just installed a new fan on top of the heatsink, its an 80mmx80mmx25mm magnetic bearing fan. Super quiet and good CFM movement. My SilenX iXtrema was acting up. I also installed a 60mmx60mmx25mm fan in the rear, right above the center chamber. So it removes heat from under the lid. I also keep the front lid open to help with the process. My heatsink doesnt get hot (warm to the touch) and the tank stays at 79.5. We'll see how well it works when the hot summer months come around.

[jeepdude]

I dont have any heat problems with the tank. I just installed a new fan on top of the heatsink, its an 80mmx80mmx25mm magnetic bearing fan. Super quiet and good CFM movement. My SilenX iXtrema was acting up. I also installed a 60mmx60mmx25mm fan in the rear, right above the center chamber. So it removes heat from under the lid. I also keep the front lid open to help with the process. My heatsink doesnt get hot (warm to the touch) and the tank stays at 79.5. We'll see how well it works when the hot summer months come around.

 

The wife keeps the house pretty warm and I run just one fan across the blades of the heatsink. It still gets warm to the touch. Not hot but fairly warm. Should I add another fan?

[Maddevil1]

The wife keeps the house pretty warm and I run just one fan across the blades of the heatsink. It still gets warm to the touch. Not hot but fairly warm. Should I add another fan?

 

I usually keep the upstairs AC at 78 degrees during the summer. As long as the tank doesnt get above 81 degrees, I am happy. As for your heatsink, where is your fan installed? Is it installed like mine, right above the heatsink, sucking the hot air out? What type/size of fan is it?

[jeepdude]

I usually keep the upstairs AC at 78 degrees during the summer. As long as the tank doesnt get above 81 degrees, I am happy. As for your heatsink, where is your fan installed? Is it installed like mine, right above the heatsink, sucking the hot air out? What type/size of fan is it?

 

I wired one of the stock fans to run across the blades of the heatsink (Right to left) And it runs when my lights kick on, and an hour after they kick off. It helps but I have considered adding another or maybe two better fans, and deleting that one all together.

[Maddevil1]

I wired one of the stock fans to run across the blades of the heatsink (Right to left) And it runs when my lights kick on, and an hour after they kick off. It helps but I have considered adding another or maybe two better fans, and deleting that one all together.

 

I think I can see your fan in one of your pics. IMO, thats not the best way to remove the heat from your heatsink. If your heatsink is like mine, your fan is perpendicular to the fins of the heatsink. So I dont see how its removing any heat. And if its parallel, then its just sucking the heating from one section of the heatsink. Its probably cooling somewhat because the fan is mixing the air and its probably coming out of the vents. But think of it this way, heat rises, so a fan above the heatsink thats sucking air out would be the most efficient way of removing the heat from the heatsink. See my Post #2 in my thread to see how I have my fan installed.

[jeepdude]

I think I can see your fan in one of your pics. IMO, thats not the best way to remove the heat from your heatsink. If your heatsink is like mine, your fan is perpendicular to the fins of the heatsink. So I dont see how its removing any heat. And if its parallel, then its just sucking the heating from one section of the heatsink. Its probably cooling somewhat because the fan is mixing the air and its probably coming out of the vents. But think of it this way, heat rises, so a fan above the heatsink thats sucking air out would be the most efficient way of removing the heat from the heatsink. See my Post #2 in my thread to see how I have my fan installed.

 

My fan pretty much just moves air around through the heatsink fins. I would also say it is not as efficient as your setup but I am not sure about cutting a hole in the top. I could make it work but I just am unsure if my heatsink heat problems are big enough to put this much time and precision into the hood. I have a stable temperature in my tank, and it almost never changes. The AC jr. regulates it via heater on/off. That fan in the top is a great idea though. Looks really good on your tank.

[Maddevil1]

My fan pretty much just moves air around through the heatsink fins. I would also say it is not as efficient as your setup but I am not sure about cutting a hole in the top. I could make it work but I just am unsure if my heatsink heat problems are big enough to put this much time and precision into the hood. I have a stable temperature in my tank, and it almost never changes. The AC jr. regulates it via heater on/off. That fan in the top is a great idea though. Looks really good on your tank.

 

I would agree that the time needed to put a fan on the top is not needed if your heatsink doesnt heat up significantly. The way that I measured the temp of my heatsink was using a meat probe. Its long enough to get thru the fan grill and touch the heatsink. I measured it just before my white lights were about to turn off. I forgot what the exact temp was, but it was cool enough that I didnt have to worry about. But the main reason why you want to keep the temp of the heatsink low is for the life of the LEDs. Excessive heat to the LEDs will shorten their life. Just something to think about. With that note, its Friday - another weekend another water change. On my next tank, I am going to automate this!

[jeepdude]

DIY return mod.

 

This mod is always listed but I figured I'd show how I did it. I bought two 1/2 inch 45 degree PVC fittings.

 

I cut the green return tube in half that is in chamber three.

 

I put one 45 degree fitting on the tube halfway up and the other at the inlet to the display tank.

 

The contraption looked like this:

 

I used super glue control gel to hold the pieces together although they were already pretty snug.

 

The mod looked like this in chamber three:

[jeepdude]

I installed my recently purchased R2 Moonlight yesterday.

 

I used the 2 sided tape mounts that come with the light and secured it to the inside of my splashguard.

 

Mount:

 

This is what the tank looks like when it is on:

 

The picture doesn't exactly do the moonlight justice. The subtle glow has almost a blacklight effect to it. It is subtle enough that the corals don't notice, and you can still see everything in the tank!

 

I am very pleased with this new addition.

[Chiefmcfuz]

This is the 5 LED r2 Moonlight?