Robster's BC29

[POSSUM]

hey_what's up guy's? With all this talk about mods........ Have either of you seen the DIY 5 light LED fuge light that nanotuners has? This thing looks great and may push me into doing the Chaeto and live rock in chamber two option. It would be cool to mount one of these on the outside after scraping off a square window for the light. See any flaws in this idea?

[Robster]

Well I'm BACK!!!! Vacation was rough ....Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Diving in Belize (I remind myself so that I may be consoled after seeing everyones progress since I left ...guess that's my jelousy gettin the best of me

 

Just got back from buying 34 lbs of live rock!!!! mostly marshall and some tonga, but I also ended up with an extrordinary piece!! (and I'm not quite sure how to proceed with him??!!) I had to put some last-minute silicone in the tank , so I ran to HD and picked up couple 5 gal buckets filling them with water and salt and stuck the heaters in etc.... and after about a half hour I looked in one of the buckets, and behold this:

 

 

 

I've counted about 16 of these little guys extending themselves out, couple orange, couple light blue, dark blue/purple and off-white (from the low light I had in the bucket. So I'm wondering do I leave this piece in a bucket with salt water while the tank cycles???? I'd hate to loose them???????

anyone with thoughts???

 

-R

 

edit; Possum, not sure Have not looked at the light, but at first thought I'd say go for it, if it doesn't cut the mustard, you can always change to a stronger one!

[TEALCOBRA]

 

YAY, Robsters back. HAHAHA

 

Hope vacation was good, now get to work on your tank.

[TEALCOBRA]

That rock sells for a pretty penny out here by me... At all the LFS's they call it worm rock or xmas treerock cause they almost look like little evergreens coming out of there..... If you can get it seperate for awhile and keep the temp good and do seperate little water chances to keep its cycle to aminimum, I would try to pull it off.... Once you get that piece in your tank and the little worms are all out on it and you tap on the glass of the tank they all pull back into the rock from the vibrations.... Its kinda cool. Has all of the rock been in water the entire time since you bought it, or did they sell it just wrapped in wet paper..... If you got it in buckets of saltwater there probably wont be much cycle to it and I would just cycle it with the rest of the rock.

 

Cant wait to see what kind of aquascaping you come up with.

[Robster]

I hand picked all the rock straight out of the tanks, did some mockup scaping, and then packed them with some wet newspaper for the drive home. I think the rocks were out of water for about 3 or 4 hours. I'm guessing I should through a little food in the bucket for them and maybe a bag of purgen?? I guess I could throw a little sand in the bottom too. and yeah I was at a fish store where a guy paid $135 for a piece about this size!!!! (though these little guys don't quite look like the trees, maybe cause they are young or something... I guess I got a double bonus, since they gave me a break on the LR since their selection was pretty slim If I can finish my clients early enough, I might be able to get some rock into the tank tonight

 

-R

[Robster]

Ok, first attempt at the rock scape:

 

 

 

I'm really loving the detail in the rock, but not fully happy with it the way it sits right now here's some close up of the rock:

 

 

the bad news is I think I saw a little bity tiny mantis shrimp crawling on the big rock If I can verify him again on that rock I think I'll do a freshwater dunk on it to try and kill him or atleast get him out. for the most part the hitch-hikers seem to be in my advantage: 4 tiny feather dusters on/in one rock; one christmas rock with about 18 various colored tube worms; 1 tiny star fish; 2 tiny snails

 

 

really impressed with the way I've got the nano-stream in there, after pouring in the sand rock and water , it only took about 1 1/2hrs for the tank to be almost clear!! Added some cycle solution to the water and got the mud in the back, just turned on the main pump finally, and fuge design is working perfectly, not 1 bit of the mud kicked up!!!

 

-R

[TEALCOBRA]

Looking good Rob.... If you can get away with catching the mantis shrimp alive, definitely try that... There are a TON of people by me that are like in LOVE with those things and set up dedicated tanks for them.... If its one of the nicer ones you could easily trade it for some frags or something if you can catch the little bugger alive.

 

Can you get a "side" shot so I can see the nanostream crammed in there, and also a shot of the fuge... Sorry, im just a sucker for pictures.

[Robster]

Looking good Rob.... If you can get away with catching the mantis shrimp alive, definitely try that... There are a TON of people by me that are like in LOVE with those things and set up dedicated tanks for them.... If its one of the nicer ones you could easily trade it for some frags or something if you can catch the little bugger alive.

 

Can you get a "side" shot so I can see the nanostream crammed in there, and also a shot of the fuge... Sorry, im just a sucker for pictures.

 

 

no luck catching the little bugger....too fast and won't come off the rock and too tiny (about 3/8-1/2" long) Fresh water dunked the rock for about 40min no sign of him, hope he died in his hole.

 

Picked up a couple more pieces of rock, the epoxy is drying right now!! final count 36.5lbs LR with extra 2 lbs rubble in back for fuge; 32 lbs approx LS and a few handfulls of mineral mud in the fuge! Very happy with the aquascape huge depth and levels and height!!!!! After epoxy dries, I'll put the water back in and get some pics. Have not been able to get any ammonia readings, test kit showed .25ppm then 0ppm ??? leaves me stuck on stupid. so I bought a little chromis to get things kickin I think the amount of live rock/sand and that they weren't out of water for more than a few hours is not yielding much die-off for the cycle????!! clueless (but I also added some cycle solution that is supposed to have a bunch of the beneficial bacteria).

 

anyway hope to post some pics later today

cheers

-R

[Robster]

!!!!!!FTS!!!!!

 

so I'm not the best photographer, I tried to get something to show the visual dept the aquascape has, but I don't think I did it justice here's from the right side of the front:

 

 

then another angle:

 

 

 

Teal- here's a couple shots of the Tunze upclose and with a little perspective

 

 

I'll try to get some shots of the fuge

 

I put the christmas rock in the tank, cause I started to see some powdery white stuff on the surface of the rock, so it doesn't seem to be working in the bucket, so what the heck, hopefully it will survive

[TEALCOBRA]

I like..... were you able to use the acrylic rods, or did you not need them with that aquascaping ??

[Robster]

I like..... were you able to use the acrylic rods, or did you not need them with that aquascaping ??

 

Thanks! .... Yes, I did get to use a bit, that piece in the top right corner had to put a brace-leg going down to the rock below (about 5" down). Unfortunately it is exposed, but you can't see it from the front. I couldn't seem to make it work with the piece of tonga going across between the 2 big pieces, nor in the little "bridge piece" midway down...I wanted to, but just couldn't figure out how without breaking the piece. I got extremely lucky with the large pieces, I had expected I would have to "build up" smaller pieces to get this kinda look.

 

I'm thinking the exposed rod will get coraline or something growing on it after a while.

 

I think my water param's stink, or my test kits suck...the PH test kit sucks for sure tested it and it showed 8.4, then calibrated the pinpoint pH monitor, and stuck it in the tank and got a 7.70 ?!!? stupid test kit. makes me wonder what the real ammonia and nitrite nitrate levels are....but at least I have accurate pH, salinity, and temp

 

-R

[Robster]

Teal- here's a pic of the fuge (as best I could get!!

 

 

I butchered the top grate and made it so it would fit and notch area for heater! I also made a little recessed area incase I need a spot for phosban or something like that it'll make a perfect spot I think?!

 

working on getting calcium levels up, pH seems to be hovering around 8.2 with the buffer treatments, going to add some liquid calcium and see where everything winds up.

 

so far everything is living, found a couple new hitch-hickers 1-baby fancy brittle star fish, and a couple baby snails (no idea what kind)

-R

[stallen]

Hey Robster, I would like to replace my 2 LEDs with 2 of those blue cold cathode tubes sometime today. I was hoping for some tips.

 

The stock LEDs are connected to the stock circuit board and powered by a 5V (or 6V can't remember which) dc adapter. The CC lights require a 12V power supply. My original plan was to replace the 6V dc adapter with a 12V adapter then just plug the CC lights into the circuit board where the LEDs are plugged in. Then I realized that these CC lights come with a little inverter box. Looks like the inverter takes the 12V and outputs 680V so I don't guess there is anyway around using this inverter box. It's not very big, but I'm not sure that it is going to fit in the hood. Maybe I could wire it remotely somehow.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to see if you had to use the inverter box and if you have any ideas.

 

Thanks

[Robster]

Stallen-

 

heres how/where I stuck mine (used 4 tubes so two inverters:

 

 

they slipped right under the new heat shield like so:

 

 

I brought the 12v to them...easier, safer, and less wires, plus no need to cut the special connections off the tubes' wires that connect to the inverter

 

-R

[smokieroom]

Robster I know you can adjust the power on the cold cathode tubes so I was thinking of going with one of those but do corals look as good under them as the led?

[Robster]

Robster I know you can adjust the power on the cold cathode tubes so I was thinking of going with one of those but do corals look as good under them as the led?

 

smokie-

 

1. Not to sure about adjusting the power on the cold cathode tubes...maybe robbing it from some of the 12v side???

 

I went with 4tubes 2 are blue and 2 are UV (the UV for temporary flourescence of corals as there are many recorded that have reasonable flourescence!!) on the BC29 the 12" tubes just barely fit between the fans, so with both at the back it gives a little bit of "point source" type look...brighter in back, dimmer in front and even get a few ripple shadows on the tank floor....I really like that! the light output from the two is pretty bright, and fills nicely and rather evenly (edit...a lot due in part to the reflector I made for it using part of the original heat shield...look at earlier posts in this thread to see that, it effectively doubled the light getting down toward tank). I would say if you go that route, get the 2tube version, and if it is too much light for you, you can always unplug one of the tubes, if you go with a single tube version its ballast will only drive 1 bulb, then if you need more light you need a second ballast...more space...more money...etc.. but they are a strong blue.

 

I don't have a reference point of the corals looking led vs. ccfl, and I don't really have any corals to speak of in the tank right now. (except that little christmas rock...and under the ccfl's some of those little guys will still come out!!...I don't know if it is normal for them to come out at night or not?)

 

hope that helps-R

If you like I could see if I could shoot a pic of the tank with the ccfl's on

-R

[smokieroom]

Thanks for the info. I read a thread in the diy forum where Sinistard used a variable voltage adapter instead of a 12v one and he could really dim them down to hardly any light. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;p=entry

 

BTW you have a great looking BC I really like the aquascape and that christmas rock is awesome.

[Robster]

Thanks smokie....It only took me like 3months to get it up... I have to say there is a lot of merit to the concept of not rushing things So far I could not be happier with the outcome of everything...with the nano stream and filter config I was able to clear the sand cloudiness in a matter of a few hours which I thought was quite amazing!! seems like I'm finally getting some diatom bloom on the sand (but only in spots where the flow isn't as high as others)...which leads me to think about shifting the tunze deflector a bit...we'll see

 

I checked out that thread...nice to see how easy to do...My approach is since I need a 9V, 12V, 24V transformers is to get ones large enough to run multiple taps, and then add 10watt resistors on each leg that needs a little pinch on the voltage...basically so I can do more with less!! It's good to know on the light output, as it could be too much light right now, but I'll have to see once there is a bunch of life in the tank...especially nocturnal life(I think that's probly a good judge of if ccfl is too bright and not giving a "night-time" feel to the corals/life) Though with my lighting there is an enormous difference between the two

 

-R

[TEALCOBRA]

Hey Rob,

 

Did you ever compare the ccfl tubes to the stock moonlights ?? I might use the ccfl ones if the corals look better at night, although they definitely dont look bad with the stock LEDs. just thinking about spreading out the light a little more...

[Robster]

No, I didn't A/B them...by the time I got the heatshield etc... done, I had already used the power cord for the fans instead of the moon lights. I like the look the ccfl's give, and with them stuck between the fans, it gives a bit of "perspective" lighting/shadowing....more like the moon would be bout halfway from rise to directly above. with two 12" tubes its reasonably bright but not so much as to not let the reef "feel" night (I think...once corals are in I'll know for sure)

 

do you want pics of rocks lit by ccfl?

-R

[TEALCOBRA]

Yeah, post a quick pic with the ccfl tubes on.... Are you running them at the full 12 volts too ??

[Robster]

Yeah, post a quick pic with the ccfl tubes on.... Are you running them at the full 12 volts too ??

 

yep full 12v for now, but we'll see after corals are in.

 

i'll try to get those pics tonight or tomorrow

-R

[Robster]

As promised,

 

dual 12" ccfl (with the special reflector I made)

 

 

the tubes are located at the back of the enclosure between the fans for reference sake.

-R

[TEALCOBRA]

Looks pretty good in there... I was just wondering about the possibility of them being too bright and not giving the inhabitants an actual lunar cycle... but that looks pretty good. Is that a pretty accurate picture Rob, or is it brighter/darker in person ???

[jafoca]

Robster:

 

Is the nano-stream in the first chamber worth the time/hassle it took you to install it? I am setting up a biocube with a stream, and am wondering if I should copycat or not...

 

Thanks!