Gigaah's Pico maiden voyage 1.6g - build thread

[.Newman.]

yikes, just be careful they might get warm enough to melt/burn the lid later. but that is just what i think based on what my LEDs do. they eventually got hot at the lens. I run six of them on a 10"x10" heatsink (i think)

[Gigaah]

yikes, just be careful they might get warm enough to melt/burn the lid later. but that is just what i think based on what my LEDs do. they eventually got hot at the lens. I run six of them on a 10"x10" heatsink (i think)

 

These are 1w LED and they are on a 3x4 sink with an 80mm fan. The lenses don't really even get very warm.

3w LED I could see getting warm enough at the lens.

 

Progress on the tank will probably slow a little for awhile. I'm working 10hrs a day and I know I got the time to take it easy at it cycles.

[.Newman.]

i see. looking forward to seeing how you suspend the heatsink in the future. i'm still looking for less crude ways of setting mine on my tank's lid haha.

[Gigaah]

Well so far it seems that with just one tank light and the scrubber light my temp sits at about 86 degrees f. Sooo I'm going to have to design a cooling unit. I assume the heat issue is a result of the tank being completely sealed and so tiny that the leds even heat it up. I can probably work up a design using a peltier cooler I figure. We will see.

[Gigaah]

I just ordered two peltier thermoelectic coolers.(they were cheap on ebay and it only cost a few bucks more for two). So Hopefully when I get them I will have some work to do.

 

I do have a basic stamp(like an arduino) I can probably ..with some work..use it for controlling my temperature. If you swap the polarity on the peltier..it reverses the cold and hot side. So I MIGHT be able to get rid of the heater inside..which would open up a lot of room that I could use for a solid bubble trap.

 

If not I can adjust the cooler down to a level where the heater can still control the temp. Its 50 watts so I should be able to.

[Gigaah]

Overdue update:

Until I get my cooler hooked up I managed to get the temp down my relocating to near the cooling vent in my house.

 

Had water in the tank for 11 days now. On day 4 my water parameters were ammonia .25, nitrite 1.0 nitrate 40

I added a baby clown on day 8 after the nitrite was about zero.

 

My algae screen is starting to fill in.

 

My parameters are coming down closer to zero each day.

 

As of today: Ammonia zero. nitrite zero. nitrate 20(and dropping).

 

Zero water changes since day 1.

I am now very confident this plan is going to work out(that is a self contained bio system with no water changes and seal air tight.) Food and calc/alc added only. With removal of the algae from the screen as the only means of nitrate export once a week.

I'm not going to worry about dosing calc until my basic water parameters zero out completely and I start adding coral.

[Gigaah]

Nitrates still dropping. reads 5 today

[.Newman.]

i suggest you remove the clown soon and add a small CUC. this will not work with a fish that large (and i dont think it can work with a fish at all); That is a fully sealed system with no water changes at all. try a few hardy mushrooms as first corals and see if they stay happy for long.

I wish you luck with this project and i really hope it works.

I think brandon did a sealed pico along these lines that worked well but i think his method was very frequent and full water changes.

Maybe feeding a fish in a pico without water changes is not a good idea long term, but i guess we can't find out until we try and in the process work around that prominent problem that picos have with algae.

[Gigaah]

i suggest you remove the clown soon and add a small CUC. this will not work with a fish that large (and i dont think it can work with a fish at all); That is a fully sealed system with no water changes at all. try a few hardy mushrooms as first corals and see if they stay happy for long.

I wish you luck with this project and i really hope it works.

I think brandon did a sealed pico along these lines that worked well but i think his method was very frequent and full water changes.

Maybe feeding a fish in a pico without water changes is not a good idea long term, but i guess we can't find out until we try and in the process work around that prominent problem that picos have with algae.

 

I agree that the clown will probably get too large to be comfortable..but the tank chemistry wise could handle it.. he will be moved later.However With the algae turf scrubber things will be fine. I'm pushing the envelope here. I think I got this thing covered. I expect no water changes. and no algae in the display. The progress of the water parameters tell me thus far I'm not wrong in my speculation. Tho I will have to dose calc alk when its time for coral. I've run ATS filtration on larger tanks with astonishing results. leading me to believe that this project is more than possible. The ATS supplies oxygen via photosynthesis so I shouldn't have any issues there per previous experience.

[Giga]

I got to post here because you stole my name!

[brandon429]

I have posted to both this thread and to Garretts several times about using fish, then erased the post because I remember what it was like for people to down me when I started in pico reefing. If pictures and posts are kept up to date the threads will be a tale of themselves either good or bad.

 

 

 

What Im interested in is seeing how much raw urine that system can process when the screen is up and running full blast, daily pruning full blast...that's just interesting in terms of algal fixation.

 

How algae is not going to spread to the main tank is very interesting to watch. good call on switching the clown out pretty soon

[Gigaah]

I have posted to both this thread and to Garretts several times about using fish, then erased the post because I remember what it was like for people to down me when I started in pico reefing. If pictures and posts are kept up to date the threads will be a tale of themselves either good or bad.

 

 

 

What Im interested in is seeing how much raw urine that system can process when the screen is up and running full blast, daily pruning full blast...that's just interesting in terms of algal fixation.

 

How algae is not going to spread to the main tank is very interesting to watch. good call on switching the clown out pretty soon

 

I'll try to post some more pictures today after work. "pruning" is done weekly by removing the screen and cleaning the algae off of it. Algae does not spread into the display like you'd think. You are basically providing the algae with such ideal condition to grow it will not grow elsewhere due to the low levels of nutrients it cannot survive anywhere but on the screen where the correct spectrum of light is provided at such high intensity. I have coraline now growing on my glass.

 

Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are now all at zero.

 

I'll move the clown when he gets to a size that is too large for the tank. It wont be soon, he is small. All of my water parameters tell me the tank can handle the waste quite easily. I think also showing with the algae scrubber I was able to add a fish on day 8 and have my water chemistry read all zeros after 15 days should tell you something about how effective my filtration method is.

 

 

I know there will be haters and disbelievers. But thats fine by me. I figure maybe I can peel the eyes open of a few people. if you do some research and google algaescrubber you'll find the results are not a miracle or out of the ordinary there are a few places dedicated to these devices and if built properly are nearly bulletproof.

[.Newman.]

I'd still move him out soon. i do not know this for sure (i guess we will find out) but if you keep a small clown in a tiny tank without water changes it will stay small and get stunted. this could be avoided with large frequent water changes, but without water changes w/e hormone the clown excretes stays in the tank and stunts its growth. again I am not sure if this is just a bunch of bunk lol but lets see how he grows.

 

What size is he now?

[brandon429]

gig try and take your iphone and shoot a vid of this thing and post it up for us. even a lesser cell phone typically encodes in a youtube friendly format for direct upload without having to go through a computer editing program. from the vid we can see neat things like current and fish behavior. we can tell alot about the overall balance by seeing some motion.

 

Even though I think you are betting off equating the bioload with other animals, still validating the test goal, using plant fixation is one of the few ways Id buy into being able to pull off what you are wanting. You did not approach the design haphazardly you've earned a place man.