Wiggles92's Nano Reef Build Thread

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
sbuse said:
there are some cheap deals on ebay. i'll put a link to the guys i just got my led light for my planted tank. cheap comparatively.


edit: here is a link to something. they have a few other things as well http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Aquarium-Light-Nano-Pico-Marine-Reef-Cichlid-11-Clamp-9x-1-Watt-/290652859108?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ac42aae4

i just got mine and it is nice well worth the price.
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Does it have a remote by chance?

I just found this one: LEDwholesalers Dimmable High Power PAR38 w/ remote. I found the PAR values to be pretty good on that one (>2000 @ 3", 750 @ 1', 242 @ 2', 111 @ 3', and 64 @ 4'), and the ability to adjust the lights separately is a nice touch.
 
I realize that this is a bit of an older thread, but I made a little bit of progress since my last post.

I've got a decent amount of lime coralline algae growth on the top 25% of the rock, and it's starting to spread fairly nicely. There are a few spots of pink and purple coralline algae as well. I finally got around to adding some coral today; I added a small zoanthid colony that was getting overwhelmed by algae in my 55 gallon. My "guinea pig" zoanthid frag went missing in the 55 gallon, so I never got a chance to put it in here. Also, ceramic tile nippers work pretty good for cutting up slabs of rock that corals are attached to; they're not as precise as a Dremel, but you can get the coral sectioned off on its own little piece way quicker than with the Dremel. I also added a small yellow prawn goby a few weeks ago; it seems to be doing pretty well although it stays hidden most of the time.

I'll post some pictures later tonight as the water's a little cloudy at the moment from a recent algae scrubbing and water change.
 
Great thread. How much evaporation are you getting in the nano? Have you decided what you are going to do with the lighting as far as adding some blue leds?
 
xEchOx said:
Great thread. How much evaporation are you getting in the nano? Have you decided what you are going to do with the lighting as far as adding some blue leds?
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I'm not getting that much evaporation thanks to the lid; the evaporation is minimal as long as I keep the water levels for the filter chamber and pump chamber equal. I typically only need to top it off every other day when I also do a small water change. The pump stays pretty quiet, too, as long as the water level doesn't drop too far; I noticed in one review that someone had made that complaint, but these have been super quiet for me.

I haven't decided on the lights yet; I kind of put those on the back burner while waiting on the coralline algae to get growing. I think that I'm going to see if these zoanthids do fine under this light before proceeding further with the lighting.
 
For what it's worth, I believe that the coralline algae prefers blue light or actinic light to flourish.

Keep us updated.
 
xEchOx said:
For what it's worth, I believe that the coralline algae prefers blue light or actinic light to flourish.

Keep us updated.
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Ya, I read that some place before. I wonder how much faster it will grow if I add more actinic lighting? It's been growing pretty fast with just the two dinky little blue LEDs and and a bunch of little white LEDs. Some of the zoanthid heads opened up already, too, so that's a good sign.
 
When I started up my current tank, I'd say it took about 3 months for the top half of my live rock to get a good coating - that was with 2 actinic bulbs and 2 10k. I did buy actual live cured rock though, so that does make a big difference.

Any chance of getting some pics of the zoas? I love zoas. :D
 
Since we are on the topic of LEDs...what do you guys think about 3 of these for a 135g?

http://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Aq...XPOS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1329320394&sr=8-4

20 bucks cheaper on Ebay, same light, free shipping

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-Co...801?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2565754791

Was looking at 3 of the black ones maybe. I can build panels over at http://www.aquastyleonline.com but leaning towards these taotronics....them seemed to have positive reviews

Only negative I have dug up are the color spectrum, some people have reported too much of a blue/Windex look with these

I know MH are proven, but man just hate to see the power bill every month...
 
I'm pretty gun-shy about LED's myself. I bought the Marineland Reef capable LED's about 6 months ago. Just a small fixture for a 10g with some zoas and mushrooms. 6 of the LEDs are out already. @#$%. I wouldn't buy any LED fixtures off Ebay unless it still had the warranty. Just my opinion though.
 
Yeah x2 the warranty. That is the only advantage with going LFS because you can simply take it back. But you pay sometimes 30-40% more...

LEDs seem to be the cheapest coming out of China atm.

Also found this site,

http://www.current-usa.com/lighting/truelumen-pro-led-striplights

I like their sizing chart, that helps a ton. Trying to spec LED is radically different than any other light I have used....
 
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