My 1 Gal Pico (It'll be Perfect)

[KMitch]

Yeah I am thinking of doing a custom hood with two of the coralife 50/50 mogul base bulbs in there.

 

My tank will be in a room that lacks AC, so I am not worried about temp. My 10 gal stays right at 78-80F without a heater.

 

I need to design my little hood and get crackin. Only part I am struggling with mentally designing is the "feet" to attach it to the tank. That or it will just lay over the tank with a piece of glass over it.

[Argent]

kmitch -- I'll trade ya some black sand for some zoas

[Fishfreak218]

LOLOLOL^^^^^

that was funny... but it may be cheaper then paying the $20 at a store for a bag of sand...

[Argent]

yeah well considering I bought the 20 pound bag for my tank -- and have 15 pounds left -- I think I can spare some.

[KMitch]

When I get to that point I may well take you up on that. I might have a few frags of something to spare. I gotta work out my lighting first however!

[Argent]

fair enough -- I've got no use for it ATM -- I talked my Dad out of using it in his tank because it's such a pain to keep clean. I can stuff a pound or so in a ziploc baggie and stuff it in a UPS box whenever you want.

[KMitch]

Yeah that sounds fair. When I am getting ready for sand I will send you some pics of things I would be willing to trade and we can work that out. How about lighting ideas?

 

 

I know the black sand will be a PITA to keep clean, but it will look so hot with a white background. White sand may look cool with it too, but I already have some white sand in my other tank.

[Argent]

the only lighting I have experience with is the coralife 18w mini and the nanotuners 2x24w PC retro kit (which I hated having to deal with the wiring) I'd say just go for the coralife - they might even have feet to raise it up above the tank.

[schaadrak]

I would say the easiest light solution is find a nice desk lamp that you think goes with your tank and get a 20W 50/50 screw-in PC bulb.

[The Hound]

Coralife does sell some mounting brackets...I bought some...but even though they say they will work on all coralife hoods, they do not work on the 18 watt one.

[KMitch]

Yeah I thought about the desk lamp option, but I want it to match the look of my tank and that has been harder to find. I actually found a lamp that was 9in long that was a clip light for a picture frame but it was a bit pricey at $40. It really needs to be a clip on light or a light that doesnt impact the tanks footprint.

[Argent]

good luck with the lighting -- I'm having the same problem with my quart pico.

[KMitch]

Get an LED light with a flexible neck. You only need a little bit of light over that bitty little tank and a LED light would prolly do the trick.

[KMitch]

Ok looking at lighting options and I thought about LEDs.

 

What if I got 2 of these:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/24-LED-Dome-Utility-Li...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Do you guys think if I mounted 2 of those fixtures it would be enough to light the tank? It would be 48 LEDs.

[exigency]

i'd say one is even more than enough, i have 2 little blue leds that light up my whole tank.

[Argent]

wow that's hot -- I could even use one of those in my quart pico!

[KMitch]

Yeah I am definately thinking about doing these. Should I get one or two? I dont really know enough about LED lighting to know what to compare it to.

[Argent]

if you only go with one -- I'll buy the other

[SnowShiva]

That Argent has a lot to answer for! (As I look at the tank, powerhead and heater on my desk )

 

Im looking forward to some pics

[travisurfer]

i have leftover black moon sand from the fw days. youll want to reclean it though. pm me if you are interested. after shipping im not sure how much you will save though.

[KMitch]

Hey thanks to everyone thus far for the support. I really have learned alot from you guys since I started my reef in January. Still dont know about those LEDs-- I have been reading the other forums about them but dont understand most of the technical jibberish. Anyone know if those ebay lights would be enough for my one gal?

 

Anyone?

[KMitch]

OK so we got the lighting thing worked out. I got 3 LED light fixtures from eBay. 2 are blue LEDs with 8 leds per fixture (16 total blue LEDs) and 1 24 bulb white fixture for a total of 40 LEDs. Hopefully that will keep these things happy. I need to build my hood for them now, and i have started drawing up plans. Can anyone tell me how hot it will be under that hood? Will I need a fan or no? The goal is to finish the hood soon so I can paint it and have it ready for these lights. I am thinking about making the hood white to match the rest of the tank, but I really think black would be hott looking too. input?

[Argent]

LEDs by themselves don't generate much heat -- so I'd say no to the needing fans.

[KMitch]

I found the perfect Lighting hood for my LED lights already!

 

I was digging through our junk in the basement and ran accross an old grey goose vodka box. It is the right width, right height, but 4 inches too long.

 

 

 

Also nice was it has a precut notch for a piece of glass or acrylic to keep water out of my new hood. I saw the box was just put together with cheap glue which Acetone released easily. Using the end piece that came right off with acetone, I cut the sides down 4 inches to the correct lenght. I was able to trim dow the size of my new hood very quickly and easily. There is an etching on the outside of the box that says "Grey Goose" and has a goose laser engraved, but I am going to use some putty to fill the holes, and after priming and sanding a few times it will look good as new.

 

I am so excited about my find-- it will save me a bunch of trouble by not having to cut the whole thing and it was pre cut with a notch for glass. Today we thank you Mr. Grey Goose Vodka Box Inventor!

 

I will post pics once it is reassembled in its shorter size.

[Argent]

Woo Woo!

 

Can't wait to see pics! pics! and more pics!