ragnarok513 Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 is this the first one you built or a second project? This is the 2nd one I built. After building the first one I was able to identify all the flaws in design that I was making and was able to modify my design to create a new one. This one has a smaller hole on the back so the LEDs light leak less, the top comes off differently for easier access to the LED heatsink, and also the wood lengths have been made simpler so I don't have to measure out to eights or sixteenths of an inch. -Ray Link to comment
ragnarok513 Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Update My tank finished cycling last week so I bought a couple peppermint shrimp and a couple frags to make it look livelier. The shrimp lived for only a few days. I believe the cause might be because of the temp changes in my office. The office AC turns off at night and during the weekends and the temps fluctuate too much. I haven't planned for a chiller for my pico and probably will have to scrap it if this continues. My frags are not doing as good as they were at the LFS. I discovered mold growing on my enclosure so I took that home over the weekend to clean and apply a polyurethane coating to make it waterproof. I no longer had a place to hold up my LEDs so my tank is going to be running w/o lights for this entire weekend. I'm hoping my corals will survive. If I build yet another one of these things, I'd put some sort of exhaust fan at the back to better control temperature and humidity. -Ray Link to comment
Smity Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Tank looks awesome love the woodwork too! Keep the pics coming for sure. Link to comment
ragnarok513 Posted July 29, 2012 Author Share Posted July 29, 2012 Alright its been awhile and Ive had a bunch of livestock and corals die in this tank but I finally found something that can survive: hermit crabs! casualties so far from the heat: 2 peppermint shrimp 1 blue chromis 1 margarita snail 1 Zoa 1 Candy cane 2 coral frags that i don't know what they're called In the tank there now there are 7 hermit crabs, 1 astrea snail, and 1 zoa frag. The glass is getting dirty and I was depending the snail to clean it up but since that's not happening, I bought a Nimble Nano. All my snails are bunched up in the corner because the shrimp pellet that I fed them landed there. -Ray Link to comment
ragnarok513 Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 I made some improvements to the tank. I added a dimmable LED setup and also a couple computer fans to help cool the tank down over the weekend when the AC turn off. -Ray Pic 1: LEDs at min Pic 2: LEDs at med Pic 3: LEDs at full blast Pic 4: Internal Pic of fans Pic 5: Fan switch and power Pic 6: 3 Dimmable Leds . Link to comment
tako Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Nice work. I'm loving all the DIY. Computer fans will work wonders for cooling, but how are you dealing with the additional evaporation? Seems like it could be signficant in that small of a tank. Try a snail other than a margarita. They prefer waters cooler than most of our reef tanks and won't last long. I generally wouldn't recommend them to anyone. If you ever try snails again, I'd suggest cerith snails. They're small and very commonly found along the shore in tide pools where the temperatures can swing drastically. Link to comment
ragnarok513 Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Hrm, I left my fan on overnight and the tank was running low on water and the pump was spitting out air bubble when I came into work this morning. I need to figure out a way to drill more holes in my false wall to let more water get into my back. I'll give the certith snails a try, thx for the suggestion. -Ray Link to comment
ragnarok513 Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 I also left my LEDs on the whole night so that may be a factor. Speaking of my LEDs, they don't turn on anymore. I lifted my heatsink so that I could top off the tank and then the lights turned off. I tinkered with the wire between the LED and the driver and that didn't do anything so I took my heatsink out and tried to unplug and plug the power. The LEDs made a quick flash when I plugged it into the power but still do not turn off. Anyone know what's wrong with it? -Ray Link to comment
ragnarok513 Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 Found a bristleworm in my tank the other day. Then I lifted my top to top off the water and my LEDs turned off and would not turn back on. Probably need to buy a new set. -Ray pic 2 Link to comment
ragnarok513 Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 I made a water change to my tank on Tuesday and when I was finished and cleaning up, I heard tapping sounds coming from my tank. I took a closer look and found two hermit crabs on top of each other. I then saw the one on bottom jump out of his shell and start crawling around the top one's shell. I managed to record much of this except for the tapping part. I uploaded the videos to YouTube too and they are pretty long. I wasn't sure what was going to happen so I just kept the camera running on my iPhone. vid A: vid B: aftermath Link to comment
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