Hello!

[Goodwood]

Hello, 

 

I am new to reefing, but not new to keeping aquariums. I have a Waterbox Frag 165 planted tank that is my main focus. Started seeing reef jars and hearing of quite a few folks having great success with little equipment and investment, so I thought I would give it a shot with a little pico setup. 

Set up a 3.7 gallon pico reef a few months ago and I am thoroughly enjoying myself and I also preparing a AIO 15 cube. Here is a couple snaps of my pico Reef and may planted tank. Looking forward to share more!

 

[CrazyDialogue]

Nice tanks!

[mcarroll]

On 2/28/2023 at 8:20 PM, Goodwood said:

I actually thought I replied to this already.  LOL

 

If you notice, you are spilling a lot of light outside the tank.    Waste of money and not great for your eyes AND makes the room look like an opium den. 😉

 

And it's an easy fix.

 

In general those lights have generic 90º lenses.  Thanks to triangle math, that means mounting height should be the same as your desired coverage radius....which would be about half the front-to-back width of the tank, minus any filter space.  (You don't want to light the filter space.)

 

What are the actual dimensions on that tank?

 

Tiny tanks can be fun, and sometimes there's no other option.  But tiny tanks also have some pretty obvious limits.  Even though overall costs are "lower" to start a tiny tank, I think the bang-for-your-buck on them is low due to the natural limits.  Almost no fish are compatible with a tank that size, for example.....anything you selected would be pushing the limit....which is not ideal for fish.

 

I think you'll be in a 3' tank or larger before you know it. 😉 At 5' or 6' you can keep almost all commonly available fish.  

[mcarroll]

Planted tank looks GREAT, btw.....I think lots of folks underestimate how cool freshwater can be when it is treated right.

[Goodwood]

4 hours ago, mcarroll said:

I actually thought I replied to this already.  LOL

 

If you notice, you are spilling a lot of light outside the tank.    Waste of money and not great for your eyes AND makes the room look like an opium den. 😉

 

And it's an easy fix.

 

In general those lights have generic 90º lenses.  Thanks to triangle math, that means mounting height should be the same as your desired coverage radius....which would be about half the front-to-back width of the tank, minus any filter space.  (You don't want to light the filter space.)

 

What are the actual dimensions on that tank?

 

Tiny tanks can be fun, and sometimes there's no other option.  But tiny tanks also have some pretty obvious limits.  Even though overall costs are "lower" to start a tiny tank, I think the bang-for-your-buck on them is low due to the natural limits.  Almost no fish are compatible with a tank that size, for example.....anything you selected would be pushing the limit....which is not ideal for fish.

 

I think you'll be in a 3' tank or larger before you know it. 😉 At 5' or 6' you can keep almost all commonly available fish.  

The height of the light is sky high because any closer and corals start to get stressed out, And not open fully. I actually have this bulb mounted above another project and it is a lot better. Thank you for the kind words. 

[mcarroll]

1 hour ago, Goodwood said:

The height of the light is sky high because any closer and corals start to get stressed out, And not open fully. I actually have this bulb mounted above another project and it is a lot better. Thank you for the kind words. 

Makes sense....that's a fairly big bulb for that small of a tank.  

 

120º lenses would be kinder on the corals, BTW, if you wanted to try that out.  (But would definitely require lower mounting.)

 

Lenses cost almost nothing even if you just wanted to experiment.

 

Usually it takes these....  https://www.ebay.com/itm/221411918888.  (You won't use the holders.)

BTW, how are your NO3/PO4 levels?

[Goodwood]

On 3/24/2023 at 6:18 PM, mcarroll said:

Makes sense....that's a fairly big bulb for that small of a tank.  

 

120º lenses would be kinder on the corals, BTW, if you wanted to try that out.  (But would definitely require lower mounting.)

 

Lenses cost almost nothing even if you just wanted to experiment.

 

Usually it takes these....  https://www.ebay.com/itm/221411918888.  (You won't use the holders.)

BTW, how are your NO3/PO4 levels?

Thanks for the link. I will check into the lenses.

 

The last time I checked no3 was 5 and po4 was .25 or less, I could barely see it register with the salifert kit under the normal test procedure.

[mcarroll]

4 hours ago, Goodwood said:

The last time I checked no3 was 5 and po4 was .25 or less, I could barely see it register with the salifert kit under the normal test procedure.

That's sort of a problem with no3 and po4 tests in general....faint color (red, blue respectively) change is your indicator.  

 

IMO it helps to have a "control" sample next to your test vial.  

 

The plain tank water "control" sample serves as a nice reference to ZERO BLUE for your eyes...seems to make it a little easier to discern "light blue" from "a little lighter blue" in the test sample.