n0rk's LEDPico Experiment Bonanza

[n0rk]

Your tank looks so amazing! I just love the colors!

 

LEDs can do some amazing things! cheers.

 

I love the tank. Where is the six inch deep sand bed? Very confused by that.

 

If you look on the far right of the last FTS, it's on the other side of that. Total volume of it is about 1/3 of the total tank volume so my filtration to bioload footprint is fairly immense.

[Needreefunds]

Sweet lil tank here Ben, nice job!

 

[n0rk]

Oh hey, thanks Richie! I'm pretty happy with it!

 

New Zoas are (finally...) in. Arrived this morning... after I was expecting but thems the breaks... either way, I'll grab some pics once they're settled. I told the guy specifically it was a grow-out tank so he's given me 2-3 polyps each of a few different kinds. Overall doesn't change the tank much, just now I'll have a 'Zoa Valley' beside the Acans (which are growing like wildfire, by the by...).

 

I think initially I overestimated the starting coral I'd need in this tank, or at least vastly underestimated the growth rates I'd be getting. Everything is growing heaps - Acans have essentially doubled in size, Zoas are growing like weeds, PSP is taking over... in fact the only thing without mass measurable calcification is the Torch and the Paranchora (whose mantle is finally healing!!) and maybe the original orange Fungia (which is healing well). I may need to frag stuff sometime soon...

[c_k_kuehne]

Kewl can't wait to see the pics.

[bxz]

Very clean, looks nice under cree RB.

 

August FTS/start of static grow-out.

 

 

Equipment

• DIY CREE XP-G/XP-E lights
  
• AquaOne 200W heater
  
• AquaOne 200L/h HOB filter ('fuge)
  
• AquaOne 400L/h pump (return)
  
• 6" DSB
  

 

Stocking

• Euphyllia glabrescens
  
• Euphyllia parancora
  
• Trachyphyllia geoffroyi
  
• Cycloseris tenuis
  
• Duncanopsammia axifuga
  
• Acanthastrea spp.
  
• Blastomussa spp.
  
• Caulastrea sp.
  
• Fungia sp.
  
• Zoanthus sp.
  
• Palythoa sp.
  
• Pachyclavularia sp.
  
• Discosoma sp.
  

[n0rk]

Kewl can't wait to see the pics.

 

Waiting for them to open up, but I took some shots to show some growth anyway

 

Very clean, looks nice under cree RB.

 

Aye, the LED light is so crisp. I love it.

 

 

I'm worried to say... I'm glad I put Acans in my tank. I'm also glad to say that they're growing at a stupidly huge rate too. Just a month ago when they went in the tank the green/purple one was 4 buttons, now it's up to 8. By all reports Acans grow slow... but my experience has been really to the contrary of this. I figured I'd take some photos to demonstrate... (compare them to http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/gallery/image.php?image_id=132 which is when they first went into the tank)

 

 

Also, notice new Zoas thanks to ryanrid (on MASA). They're only just freshies so they're not really open yet... I'll take some more when they do open..

 

 

Excuse the dirty glass... I can't scrub that part of the tank because corals are so large now...

[.Newman.]

that green sucker seems to be growing way too fast. how will you deal with him growing over other corals?

[n0rk]

Cry, probably if it comes to it, I'll give it to another reefer to babysit or move the corals that it's covering to another tank. The Caulastrea that it swallows daily doesn't seem to be phased by it as yet, so we'll see how it goes. Cross them bridges when I come to 'em!

 

Shame everything looks PO'd in that FTS, I'd just scrubbed the glass I could get to with a toothbrush so a bunch of stuff had deflated or closed up a bit.

[n0rk]

Figured it was time for an update... so, here's a half-assed one.

 

 

Something stung my little Fungia bad... took about 18 hours between showing signs of stress and total necrosis. Was not happy! Ah well, everything else is happy enough... especially that crazy bloody Pachyclavularia which has doubled in size in all directions, and the Zoos on the rock which have taken off like a rocket up 'em...

[animalmaster6]

Looking good!

 

I love those zoas.

[Weetabix7]

Looks awesome, I'm glad to see you're getting such good growth under the LEDs.

[.Newman.]

everything looks great! although I knew that pachy would be trouble to anything around it

[n0rk]

Looking good!

 

I love those zoas.

 

Which ones? There's 6 types in there man

 

Looks awesome, I'm glad to see you're getting such good growth under the LEDs.

 

LEDs can't grow nothin' especially not in a pico tank which has had 2 WCs in the last 3 months and gets dosed once a week if it's lucky!

 

everything looks great! although I knew that pachy would be trouble to anything around it

 

I'm pretty sure it was an Aiptasia that hit the Fungia if that's what you mean. Got a few of 'em popping up, need to get some more Peppies in there to tidy it up. The Pachy is growing in nicely (in roughly the same way I wanted), once it's how I like I'll sculpt it down into a pleasing mat!

[.Newman.]

lol youre going to cut it up finally?

[n0rk]

Maybe. When I can be bothered and it seems big enough to worry. It may sound odd but I really want a lot of growth out of it... from the outset I've wanted to push the boundaries of "close quarters" to see just how full a tank this size can get before things become a real issue.

[cadre]

Do you have any pictures of your LED fixture?

[n0rk]

Nup, never bothered taking any. It's literally just 9 emitters on a CPU heatsink and supaglued to the lid of the tank. It's kinda unwieldy to handle so I tend not to bother. I didn't see the point in making things overcomplex

[.Newman.]

That is the same way my fixture is setup - very crude, except mines not glued onto the lid. looks kinda bad from the side but gets the job done. Its more of what's in the tank that counts for overall appearance anyway

[n0rk]

Don't get me wrong, I tried to make it look not absolutely hideous because people coming into the house see it before they see what's in the tank (it's literally in the doorway with the viewing side facing away...), but it really isn't something that needed photos to demonstrate

[Wiilio]

So I've been looking at this thread for a long time. About time I post...

 

This is a

flippin

sweet

tank.

 

Kudos to you, sir.

[brandon429]

Nork it is a great tank. What impresses me most is the space in between your corals...obviously they look great under that light but I noticed the coralline patches around the zoanthids, looks like you grew it in your tank. even if the coralline on that frag base was an import from the lfs, your tank is supporting its purpleness or it would be slowly receding/bleaching. are your dosing calcium and alk to this tank or is water change intervals alone enough to get you this admirable purple hue!

[n0rk]

So I've been looking at this thread for a long time. About time I post...

 

This is a

flippin

sweet

tank.

 

Kudos to you, sir.

 

Hey thanks it's finally coming into it's own, so I'm satisfied!

 

Nork it is a great tank. What impresses me most is the space in between your corals...obviously they look great under that light but I noticed the coralline patches around the zoanthids, looks like you grew it in your tank. even if the coralline on that frag base was an import from the lfs, your tank is supporting its purpleness or it would be slowly receding/bleaching. are your dosing calcium and alk to this tank or is water change intervals alone enough to get you this admirable purple hue!

 

That coralline came from a friend's tank (so did the Zoas, heh), but this tank grows coralline like mad. The false wall between the display and the DSB is absolutely caked in it since I took the tank down to clean it (late July), there's like 5 different colours of coralline growing on it now. Some places it's actually sorta plating even the back wall is developing a heavy coating... and the HOB 'fuge is purple...

 

WC interval is currently "whenever I can be bothered", originally it was intended to be biweekly with >70% changes and heavy feeding, but now the DSB is matured I don't do either... it's had 2 since July I throw Calcium and/or alk in whenever I remember to... usually a pinch of one or the other every 2-3 days. I've not run tests since around April so I've no idea of the actual readings, but the way everything is responding assures me it's pretty close to spot-on cheers.

[brandon429]

yes I agree no testing required its a feel-by tank from here on out thats how mine are as well.

 

Thanks for the dosing feedback it really falls in line with how the tank looks, it seemed to be getting some type of above normal ion support nice feedback.

[n0rk]

These days my main focus is on SPS and their care so it's a force of habit to dose tanks pretty hard. Honestly the ion uptake now is about 1/3 what it was when there was Acropora in the tank (a pinch every day, happily enough!) so in many ways it made sense to keep it up. Corals seem happy enough and hey, I'm growing stuff, so it's working out

 

The eventual plan, down the track is to either take all the corals out of here and move them to a bigger tank and convert this to full SPS, or set up an SPS tank exactly the same way except using dosing pumps and an ATO. And maybe bigger LEDs...

[.Newman.]

I want a living piece of that pachy when you cut it up