Jamo Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Well.. the obvious way is to remove the stock PC bulb and ballast and replace with 2 PC's and a remote ballast but I dont want the extra heat. The plastic iner cover get pretty hot with just the 1 fixture. Im really hoping someone brings out a small LED fixture with good output. Someting like the TMC aquaray would be ideal if they did a 1/2 size version. I bought an aquawave LED fixture for the fuge and I had hoped that I could suppliment the PC with a couple of these but now I was dissapointed with the output and dont think its worth adding any to the main tank. I saw your led on ebay, and i wasn't convinced by the general page and didn't think it was a product that would have much about itself. I spoke to somebody who has the same tank and he managed to melt his lid by simply uping the bulb watt to 18w from the 11w that i have. My tank uses 1x 11W PL lamps I have a blue and white bulb. I am considering trying to get my hands on another tank to take the light unit out and put it into my own lid, get a better thermostat heater so the heater will only kick on in the middle of the night. but 22w isn't much either. Saying that, my corals all appear to be doing well so i'm not too worried atm i'm not too worried about keeping hard corals other than a small plating montipora. The hard corals i like only come from the carribean and i rarely see carribean stock in any of the 10 or so shops i visit Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 At first I was a bit conflicted with having this tank in the pico section. It's a little bigger than most of the pico tanks on this site but will most likely run into the same challenges and limitations as a pico so it gets honorary pico status. It's also cute and British so I'll allow it. Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 I think somebody has an admirer dave... Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 Added the Sinularia today. lts still a bit pi55ed off at the mo Link to comment
Gerber77 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Looks good should cover that rock in no time. Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I'm not too sure if i like sinularia or not. I like kenya trees but they appear a bit more symmetrical than these. I like the tank though. Is there any way you can open the lid when your taking a pic, might make the colour a bit better on the photo. Saying that i am impressed with the light your getting from the bulb, mines not as bright as yours. Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Gonna look so sweet when everything fills out Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 UPDATE: Got a tiny Perc Clown yesterday. He seems to be settling in well and is feeding on pellet food. FTS The next thing in will probably be a frag from my neon GSP's in my 75 or maybe a few different types of zoa. Then I'm gonna leave it to fill out a bit. Link to comment
Jamo Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Nice looking clown, i'm tempted to try and push the load on the tank a bit more, add another kg and a half of rock, take it to 6kg, add a hob filter to contain some chaeto and then add another clown to my tank. Not sure yet though, got to deal with the aiptasia and cyano probs first. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 Not sure yet though, got to deal with the aiptasia and cyano probs first. Aiptasia? Kalk the ba5tards! Link to comment
Jamo Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Aiptasia? Kalk the ba5tards! I have some Kalk, how do i do it? Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted April 2, 2009 Author Share Posted April 2, 2009 I have some Kalk, how do i do it? I do the following :- -Mix about 1 part kalk powder to 2 parts RO water (consistency like thick milk) -Mix very well -Turn powerheads off -Inject directly into the mouth on the anemone with a plastic syringe (pipelets work too if you dont have a syringe). They usually die/break up immediately and when I had an major Aiptasia outbreak in my 75Gal I used 2 syringes full at a time and noticed no adverse affects on the corals(soft only)/fish. Obviously, it would not be a good idea to use this much in a small tank. I used the same process to kill 2 Aiptasia in my Pico and didnt have any issues. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 Not much has changed since my last update.. the tank is running well except for a little cyano. The clown has settled in well and has grown about 50% in size. I will probably be adding a frag of red sea xenia this week and maybe another hermit as the other one is having difficutly keeping up. I'll post some pics as soon as I add anything. Dave :-) Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 I havent posted for a while so thought I'd do a quick update. Not much has changed other than a bit of a re-arrange in coral placement and the addition on some R.S. xenia which appears to be thriving and has already doubled in size. The tank is doing alot better than I expected. Its been running for almost 3 months now and I havent had any major problems other than a little hair algae. The fuge appears to be doing its job as I have had good cheato growth and nitrates are close to zero. Link to comment
Jamo Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I havent posted for a while so thought I'd do a quick update. Not much has changed other than a bit of a re-arrange in coral placement and the addition on some R.S. xenia which appears to be thriving and has already doubled in size. The tank is doing alot better than I expected. Its been running for almost 3 months now and I havent had any major problems other than a little hair algae. The fuge appears to be doing its job as I have had good cheato growth and nitrates are close to zero. I like your tank and am glad your fuge is helping you, though i am glad i didn't bother with a fuge. My lump of cheato is growing like mad in my tank. Hello EBAY! Link to comment
EOG Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Dave, how is this coping with the recent heat wave here in the UK? I'm been thinking on one of these for my desk to upgrade my 12.5L. I'm strugling on this model tank from SWM or building a 12" cube with a hang on fuge... decisions.. decisions... cheers, Joe Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Dave, how is this coping with the recent heat wave here in the UK? I'm been thinking on one of these for my desk to upgrade my 12.5L. I'm strugling on this model tank from SWM or building a 12" cube with a hang on fuge... decisions.. decisions... cheers, Joe I havent had any issues with the high temperatures. This was my main concern because the pico is on my desk at work and the air con is switched off at weekends. I make sure all the blinds in the room are closed before the weekend and have so far avoided any issues. IMO the xcube is a great choice for use as a small saltwater tank and only requires a little modding. The only thing that I have been a little dissapointed with is the lighting. The stock 13w PC is just enough for softies but it doesnt help hat they have fitted it right at the front of the hood instead of in the centre. Theres enough room under the splash guard for another PC fixture if you remove the ballast but i dont know if that would cause heat isues. I am hoping to be able to find an LED fixture that I can either replace or suppliment the stock light with. If I could get away with it at work I would have bought the xcube 40 which has 2 PC fixtures in the hood and obviuosly the benefit of a little more water volume. Link to comment
EOG Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 adding a second light, but removing the ballast should offset the heat, maybe not fully, but close. right now it is a toss up between: Aqua 320 model (30x30x30cm) XCube 26 Build my own 12" cube.. I'm leaning between the custom cube though. Link to comment
Jamo Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 adding a second light, but removing the ballast should offset the heat, maybe not fully, but close. right now it is a toss up between: Aqua 320 model (30x30x30cm) XCube 26 Build my own 12" cube.. I'm leaning between the custom cube though. I use the Aqua320. Its not bad. I didn't add a weir. I modded the powerhead from the under gravel that you get and stuck it in a corner. Occaionally i add a bit of filterfloss to the inlet strainer to remove any suspended load from the water. Though i don't have to do this very often. I use the stock pc 11w as well. Not had problems with it and my monti cap seems to be doing well under it. Though i am upgrading this week anyway for peace of mind as much as anything else. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 adding a second light, but removing the ballast should offset the heat, maybe not fully, but close. Do you know a good place in the uk to buy small PC fixtures and tubes? Im having difficulty finding some. Link to comment
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