pazhope's 10G rimless + DIY LED lamp & driver

[pazhope]

FTS:

 

I have been dreaming about a 25 gallon cube and already build the stand and sump for it, and for one or another reason haven't been able to buy it .

 

Since it is going to my daughters room and we already buy the clownfish (nemos) I was in a hurry to fix something, so I was really lucky to get a free rimless 10G tank courtesy of supernip (thanks!!!),and also decide to make it and AIO instead of using the sump.

 

I am still thinking on the 25G, but thats is going to be something for the future, and this one is going to convert into my desk tank.

 

I really love how everybody in here put lots of pictures, but unfortunately I was so exited putting all tougher that I forgot to take pictures of the process :S, so please if there is any question I will make my best to answer but the true is that most of the ideas I got them from this site. Also please sorry for the crapy pics but I use my cellphone.

 

The tank:

10G rimless tank, moded with and overflow.

The overflow actually is a piece of a lamp housing I cut to fit a maxijet pump , I also fit the heather, a sponge pre-filter and a bag of charcoal.

[pazhope]

The Lamp:

Since my electric bill is sky-high I have been reading about LEDs for a while, unable to buy them for my 90 gallon tank, I decide to give it a shot with this little guy, so I buy 24 semiled LEDs from Will, and use 8 for this little tank and the rest is going to a different project.

 

Also since I am in a budget I try to make it as cheap as possible, so instead of a heat sink I use a piece of aluminum I cut from a cable rail we discard at the office.

 

For the drivers I decide to build one of those transistor drivers evil talks about on the ultimate LED guide.

 

I used a 15V power supply from and old server and the fans I got them from a couple of old tivos

 

As you can see in the pic I decide to put only 1 dimmer at the moment since I plan to use and arduino board in the near future.

[straightjiggy10]

How much would you say the light cost you and will you be able to keep sps?

[pazhope]

To hang the fixture in place I use a couple of steel tubes we got at the company and make a 90 deg angle. I use a bigger tube at the base to be able to adjust the height.

 

The end result:

 

Things to do:

Paint the lamp tube black.

Furnish the lamp (have been thinking with wood since I don't have any experience with acrylic)

 

As you can see I have been playing with the aquascape (one rock , just trying to figure out the best position, this LR piece was mean to be vertical on the 25G, so I think is a little big for this tank.

I may get new smaller pieces of LR, have been thinking on making 2 small islands but I am not sure if they will look good on that size of tank (18 inch wide), any suggestions?

[pazhope]

How much would you say the light cost you and will you be able to keep sps?

 

Since most of the stuff I got it from old equipments that I had lying around I just spend on the LEDs and electronics.

8 Semileds (8 X 3.75)= $30

Electronics plus wire and solder iron tip (250 pesos) = $20

 

About SPS I am not sure, the light seems super bright and is pretty close to the water, but I don't have a par meter. Have been waiting for someone to compare this LEDs with Crees to see the difference, but haven't find it.

 

For this tank I am planning on going only with zoas and maybe a torch or frogspam, but I may try to put a small frag from my 90 gallon tank to see, not sure on that

[straightjiggy10]

Since most of the stuff I got it from old equipments that I had lying around I just spend on the LEDs and electronics.

8 Semileds (8 X 3.75)= $30

Electronics plus wire and solder iron tip (250 pesos) = $20

 

About SPS I am not sure, the light seems super bright and is pretty close to the water, but I don't have a par meter. Have been waiting for someone to compare this LEDs with Crees to see the difference, but haven't find it.

 

For this tank I am planning on going only with zoas and maybe a torch or frogspam, but I may try to put a small frag from my 90 gallon tank to see, not sure on that

 

great thx for response i'd like to make a fixture of my own soon

[pazhope]

FTS:

[cph198]

Looks great! Nice job on the light fixture. Someday i want to get in on the LED's, just worried I will mess it up!

 

I actually like the one rock look. It keeps it simple and that one rock has a lot of caves built in.

 

What are your stocking plans for your 10g? Is it going to be just the clowns?

[pazhope]

Thanks its not that complicated if you buy the LED drivers, if you are going to build them I will recommend some electrical knowledge.

 

I am not sure on stoking plans, for now 2 B&W clowns, and I think a blue coral banded shrimp or maybe sexy shrimps, not sure if they are compatible with clowns, a small CUC and I think thats is.

 

When I upgrade this tank for the 25 gallon cube I may add another inhabitants to the mix.

 

Any recommendation? I don't want to have a big bioload because of the filtration I have.

[pazhope]

Well I finally add some corals and 2 clowns. All the corals look great under the LEDs, the color really pops, unfortunately my photographic skills suck.

 

Will try to get a better camera with a tripod.

 

In order to improve the filtration of the tank, I would like to add some algae.

The small chamber doesn't have a lot of space because there is a charcoal bag and a sponge, I guess I can remove the sponge and put some chateo but I am not sure if that is going to be beneficial. So I was thinking on adding some macro on the display, any recommendations? I when to reefcleaners and they seem to have lots of stuff, just got me worry about the algae going sexual, is that hard to control on a small nano like this one? Maybe add a small mangrove on the corner?

[pazhope]

Forgot to mention, I have a maxijet 400 running this nano, but the flow is not enough, tried a maxijet 1200 and it was just too much, so I am looking for something like a maxijet 600 or so, in the mean time I increase the intake of the pump, and it definitely gave me an increase in flow.

 

I am not sure how much water is moving, but I can see the difference on the surface.

 

I also tried to put the impeller of the maxijet 1200 on the 400 and I saw a super increase on water movement like if it was a 1200, is there a difference on the maxijets? or the only thing that changes is the impeller?

[cph198]

I also tried to put the impeller of the maxijet 1200 on the 400 and I saw a super increase on water movement like if it was a 1200, is there a difference on the maxijets? or the only thing that changes is the impeller?

Not sure on this one, but they charge a lot more for the more powerful ones, so there must be more of a difference than the impeller. I am planning to put my Maxi 400 impeller into my 900 today, ill let you know if that decreases any.

[pazhope]

cph198

 

I think it will decrease since the impeller is going to be smaller, your should also try the other way around.

 

I need to put the 400 pump with the 1200 impeller and measure the energy it draws to see what is the difference. (the 400 only consumes around 4W and the 1200 around 20W)

[pazhope]

Well, this aquarium was suppose to be a zoa garden but a friend of mine just got a really bad nudibranch plague, so I end up housing a lot of montipores in my two tanks...

[autopro]

That looks sweet. I have to come over one day and check it out. Sorry I didn't see it before but I am on vacation right now. Are you still going to do the cube??? My tank should be here Saturday or Monday, you should come check it out ad maybe we can order you the cube also.

 

For the pump you could probably try the 900, that is what I have on my BioCube and it improved the flow a lot better over the stock pump. I then added an MP-10 and that improved things alot.

 

If you have any of that cable rail left let me know I'm going to need it for my new LED fixture I am going to build for the new tank. Is it dissipating the heat well?

 

I really like that variety of frogspawn you have, maybe one day you can sell me a piece

 

Your tank looks awesome, I can't believe you got it to look so good in such a short amount of time. Mine has been up for about a year now and it doesn't look nearly as good. Great job my friend

[pazhope]

Autopro:

 

Thanks for your comments, I am really happy with the progress

 

The aluminum rail works great, I tried the lamp for several hours without the fans and it feel warm to the touch, with the two small fans you can barely feel a difference in temperature, not sure if there is more on the warehouse but I can check it out.

 

We should meet one of these days.....

[autopro]

I'll be at the shop tomorrow, give me a call. I want to take down the 72 gal. bowfront to sell it. Have to buy more corals for the new tank

 

Do you know anyone that can keep a yellow tang that I have in the meantime?

[pazhope]

Been lazy lately to update.

 

The only news I have is that I think I already got rid of all the monti eating nudis. I read about potassium permanganate on an Eric Borneman article, and haven't seen one in some time.

 

The bad news is that I have been super busy at work and didn't realize how hot my house gets with this weather. My tank temp was at 84F at night, not sure how up it was during the day, I guess I will have to think something to keep it more stable since I dont have Air Conditioner at that room.

 

Also the purple haze monti is not doing good, 60% of the tissue got necrotic, so I frag it and put the pieces in 3 different tanks, hopefully it makes it.

[BigBad82]

Hey, nice work with the LED's provides great colouring! Your scape and corals are top notch work, if I can achieve anything similar i'll be very happy. What the dimensions of this tank as mine is 18" (l) 11" (d) 12" (h), yours might be a 10g as measurements may just be similar. In this tank I actually started off with a Tunze 6025 2500lph now that was way too much...lol. I now have a Koralia Nano 900lph and find it's much better, may even add another on the opposite side.

[pazhope]

Well, mine is 18x11x12, got it for free at a local forum and never bother to calculate volume, went to firsttankguide.net/calculator.php, and it says:

 

Your tank's volume is approximately 2,376.0 cubic inches or 10.3 U.S. gallons, which is approximately 40.0 liters.

 

So I think we have the same tank .

 

Light is great, pictures doesn't do it justice, will try to take new ones with the help of a friend today.

 

My corals have change a lot, got some new additions from a friend tank and also got exited and move some others from my 90Gallon.

 

For flow I replace the pump with a via aqua that moves around 600 litters, I am happy with the flow but have been thinking on a koralia nano as well.

 

Thanks for your comments and I will be following your tank to get ideas....

Will try to post some pictures latter today...

[BigBad82]

Yeah ill be following yours too, just glad to see someone with the same tank, being from the UK I didn't think that would be the case.

 

p.s. yeah during my leak test taking the water up to 1 inch from the top it was 34 litres, so of course filled to the top it would be more or less 10g, maybe I should change the title of my thread to 10g aswell?

[Giga]

where thats schematic for the leds?

[pazhope]

where thats schematic for the leds?

 

 

I can do that, exactly what are you interested in? the led wiring? or the driver?

[Giga]

I can do that, exactly what are you interested in? the led wiring? or the driver?

 

 

the driver I know how wire the leds

 

 

also can you see the mangrove pic in my sig?

[pazhope]

For the driver I follow this manual from instructables

 

An the diagram looks as follows:

 

In my case I use 2 drivers and put 4 leds on each and used a 15V power supply from an old server I had> I think corals are doing good , but I still think is too soon to tell, will post some pics later..