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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Easy Refugium Fuge Light for the Nano Cube


steelhealr

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The chaeto has a tendency to lose pieces, and if you have it set right on top or right next to your pump, the pieces are going to get pulled into the pump and clog it up, requiring frequent cleaning. So you probably want to keep it a chamber or two away from the pump, and have something screening it so that if pieces fall off they don't end up in the pump.

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Diablo and shao lin are right...I imagine that you could put the LR rubble over the pump to keep the macro out of it, but, I'm sure that would be nothing but headache. It would restrict access to your pump for maintenance...restrict flow and possible overheat or burn out the pump....etc etc. If you really wanted to do this, you could consider constructing some sort of screen/shelf above the pump with a small hole to allow the pump tubing to exit. You'd need to DIY this and add some handles perhaps so that the fuge could be pulled up and out to allow access to the pump. You would need to place some sort of sieve over the intake of the pump. It still would be a pain..might make a nice DIY thread tho'. SH

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Hey SH -

 

Do you rotate your chaeto to make sure it all gets some light. I'm wondering with the growth is the stuff that's furthest away from the light getting enough light to grow?

 

Second - what's the wattage on that little Palm Light. Someone in this thread mentioned an under cabinet light. I was an under cabinet PC light at Home Depot month ago that was about the same length as the height of the Nano Cube. It would probably be really easy to trim out enough of the vinyl for that whole fixture, then use some stick tape weather stripping to block the light leakage.

 

BTW - when I transferred tanks I abandoned the home made protein skimmer. It worked great, I was just sick of the hassle of keeping the water levels tweaked for max performance. I'm now thinking about going back to the fuge idea in chamber 2, especially considering the success of this DIY.

 

Let me know when your chaeto gets too thick - I'll buy a sandwich bags worth from you! I promise I'll leave nice feedback for you in the Vendor Forum! :haha:{HA!)

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stoney waters
The chaeto has a tendency to lose pieces, and if you have it set right on top or right next to your pump, the pieces are going to get pulled into the pump and clog it up, requiring frequent cleaning. So you probably want to keep it a chamber or two away from the pump, and have something screening it so that if pieces fall off they don't end up in the pump.

 

This thread inspired me to put a fuge in my tank. I placed it in chamber 3, not because I thought it as the best place, but because it was really the only place left to put it. Chamber 2 would have been the ideal place but it was already occupied by a skimmer. I made a dividing wall out of egg crate lighting deflector and some fiberglass screen. I just placed it in chamber alongside the pump to separate it from the macro. PITA, maybe, but if it wasn't for PITA I probably would have lost interest in this tank a long time ago.

post-12785-1132204606_thumb.jpgpost-12785-1132205347_thumb.jpg

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stoney waters

The egg crate and fiberglass screen can be found at any large hardware store. I used the pet proof screen because the holes are a little larger and I had it laying around the house.

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I think I found the ideal fuge light for this rear-lighting method.

 

http://www.innovativelights.com/jal-2pl1109.html

 

Single 13W PC bulb, in about a 11"x5" fixture, $22. This will be much neater than trying to build a 13W kit (eg AHSupply) into an enclosure that I make.

 

Looks like the same (?) thing is for sale here, sans bulb for $18:

 

https://www.customaquatic.com/customaquatic...ndexID=lt-pc-15

 

It looks like you could just stand the fixture on the flat end behind the tank, shining into the fuge.

 

What spectrum does chaeto need?

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cool.

 

AHAHHA :lol: I found a way to peal the back with pushing the tank to position. What I did is to start pealing the vinyl tape along the side of the tank until it reach to the back point. I keep peeling until I get the desire opening for the light to shine in:D. I got a spare realing book light called Mighty Bright Light from Border book store:), which I'm going to point it down to the back of the tank. Cool Idea huh? B):D:)

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Any good PC light should do back there. I think that putting a larger light backt here and peeling ALL the vinyl away from over chamber 2 (or 3 ) would add for growth.

 

To SNEIRBO...I haven't been able to find the exact wattage of the palm light but it is increasing in size. I don't rotate it tho'. When I used my halogen submersible tho', it had more of an olive color than bright green and it would brown out from the high temp where it got close to the light. Chaeto, for you my friend, is always without charge.

 

To Stoney...take some pix of your setup...sounds like a good additiion to the DIY library......Setting Up a Refugium in Chamber 3.

 

great stuff. SH

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I found a little 2.5G Aquarium at my local PetSmart that has a small PC Light Hood on it - for $10 (including the buld). I'm going to use that hood for a fuge light. I just need to figure out how to secure it to the back of the tank now. Any ideas???

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stoney waters

sNeirbo

 

If the bottom edge is flat and will fit flush against the glass you could try some Velcro around the edges. If it does not get to hot the tape should hold it in place.

I am assuming it has a 7w compact? It might need some ventilation. Or, if you don't mind the backwash effect from the lighting you could try clamping it to the back of the stand or to some hood wires as steel has done.

 

steel

 

I guess I can't officially call it a refugium until I get some cheato in there. lol. None of the lfs around here sell the stuff. There is a few pics in my sig thread. Maybe I should move it to the diy forum. The light fixture I made is really working well. I have no doubt the cheato would thrive.

 

-Stone

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Another thought..which is probably overkill...is to create some sort of refllector to reduce the backwash at night. I just tried some aluminum but it doesn't stay in place well (obviously). SH

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Another thought..which is probably overkill...is to create some sort of refllector to reduce the backwash at night. I just tried some aluminum but it doesn't stay in place well (obviously). SH

 

Hey what do you mean reflector? Did you check out what I did to my nanocube yet? I need some opinions if my techniques work for the refugium.

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StoneyWaters - me likey the velcro idea!

 

I wasn't too worried about heat from the light. I let it run for about 2 hours and it didn't get hot at all. I figured if it was sitting on top of a 2.5G plastic aquarium - they set it up to keep from boiling the water in the little tank!

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10" Red Devil

Have you noticed those Red Sea clip on lights are so chinsy! Mine broke free from the metal rotating neck in like a month,and I only adjusted it once, apparantly the plastic gets too hot, crack and just breaks free!! So ###ed because the thing still works, but it has no support now, maybe Ill just get some electrical tape and see what that does for it.

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FWIW, the Palm Light is 5 watts, PC, 6700K. I finally did today what others recommended....I cut the vinyl down some more...down to the level of the LR rubble. Wanted to let more light in. I"m glad I did anyway...found my 7 day missing yashia haze. SH

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