12.5 gallon w/nanotuners PAR38 led
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Topic: 12.5 gallon w/nanotuners PAR38 led
Posted By: kellerexpress
Subject: 12.5 gallon w/nanotuners PAR38 led
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 2:56pm
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I recently got my 12.5 gallon up and thought I'de start a thread. I've been wanting to try led's for a while now, and the PAR38 bulb from nano tuners seemed about perfect for my nano. I was also trying to build this tank on a small budget. My 30g is getting crowded so it will be nice to have a place to put extra coral. I plan on keeping mostly lps and zoas, with some sps as well if it does well under the lights. Here's the specs
Tank: 12.5 gallon all-in-one from AquaEuro Usa, w/glass top. Bought this for cheap from lfs, with no hood which was perfect for the leds. The quality seems a little on the cheap side, but it looks nice and the price was right. Measures 13.5" H x 16.5" W x 15" D. Ive also hooked up an ATO from autotopoff.com. The stand was built by Exceljoe here on the board, super nice guy and the stand turned out great.
Filtration: This is an all-in-one style cube, I plan on just running some filter floss and chemi-pure elite in the back. I will also put some chaeto back there with a light. Tank is too small to worry about a skimmer, ill just rely on water changes. Ive got about 20-25 lbs and fiji live rock that was donated by a friend(thanks again Amy), I probably wont use it all. Also 1" of fiji pink sand.
Flow: return pump w/hydor flo and a koralia nano. Gives me about 36x turnover, I may upgrade the return pump for more flow in the near future.
Lighting: Nanotuners Par38 lamp, 20k with 60degree optics. The bulb is hung 14 inches over the water surface, which seems to have pretty good spread. I should be able to keep most everthing with the lamp, as long as Im careful about placement. For those who are curious, the par plots from this lamp are found in this thread- http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=221433 - http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=221433 . So it looks like sps/lps in the middle, with softies and low light corals on the edges. I may decide to add another lamp in the future but for now I will try it with one.
Mounting the lamp was my biggest challenge, I looked around the net for ideas but never liked any that I found. So I went to home depot and $8 later I have it mounted on an arm above the tank. It still looks a bit ghetto to me, but for now it works and does the job.
Thats about it, not sure what livestock I want yet, the tank needs to cycle for a bit so I have time to decide. Now a few pics.
TANK AND STAND
  And we have light!
 Rock and Sand go in, water still cloudy.
 I'll get some more pics after I do my scape, to be continued... ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Replies:
Posted By: bugzme
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 3:16pm
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That's a cool looking setup. Looks like you have plenty of light also. ------------- Jeff 125 tank 50 gallon sump T-5 lighting Rum drinker, Carbon User I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!! |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 4:26pm
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Thanks! I'm hoping 1 bulb will be enough, it seems pretty bright. ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: npatching
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 5:30pm
| Exceljoe did an awesome job on your stand. |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 5:45pm
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yes he did, Im very happy with it ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: jwoo
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 5:47pm
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You are me but with more drive. I thought about doing this exact thing when I saw those tanks down at reefrunners. I was going to get the same light to put on it! Congrats for being the alternate universe me who went through with this plan! I'm eager to see it with fish and coral. Looks awesome. ------------- None at the moment Soon: 72 Gallon Bowfront |
Posted By: Ahanix
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 7:07pm
Oh nice, you got everything in it. I'm excited to see how this turns out  Looks awesome so far Kevin!
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Posted By: kay181
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 7:22pm
looks good i was going to do that but my wife said no cause just put that nanotuners 4 24w pc kit in my hood so was mad about up grading keep this going want to know more about the par lights thanks  ------------- day light scares me im going back under |
Posted By: Ahanix
Date Posted: June 06 2010 at 8:21pm
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Kay, did your wife tell you to do that because she doesn't like the open top look? if so I can help and show you how to do an led retro (I had the same issue )
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Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: June 07 2010 at 10:31am
Got my rocks moved around, water has cleared up nicely.
  ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: Ahanix
Date Posted: June 07 2010 at 12:06pm
| I like it! Great aquascape for when you start throwing corals in there. |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: June 07 2010 at 12:42pm
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thanks, I think ill be able to throw some coral in real soon, the rock cured in a bucket in my garage for a couple weeks before I put it in the tank, so hopefully Ill have a quick soft cycle. ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: June 14 2010 at 6:20am
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Need some opinions,
Tank has been running a over a week now, did some tests yesterday. Nitrates, nitrites and ammonia were all 0. Im wondering if I will have much of a cycle, or maybe just a really soft cycle. The live rock was taken from an established system, and was out of the water for 6 hrs, so I expected a bunch of die off. It was then cycled in a bucket in my garage for 2.5 weeks before being placed in the tank. I added 5 gallons of water from my 30g, and the sand was new sand with just a little bit of live sand placed on top to seed. I havent seen any diatoms yet.
Do you think its ready to try some coral or should I wait it out another week? ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: kay181
Date Posted: June 21 2010 at 3:54am
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Kay, did your wife tell you to do that because she doesn't like the open top look? if so I can help and show you how to do an led retro (I had the same issue )
no it was the money i spent to get 4x24watt kit ------------- day light scares me im going back under |
Posted By: kay181
Date Posted: June 21 2010 at 3:57am
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updates please ------------- day light scares me im going back under |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: June 23 2010 at 10:33pm
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Update: things are moving right along, have had a diatom bloom for about a week now, added a small CUC consisting of 4 astrea, 2 cerith and 1 nass snail. I also added some corals to see how they would do, and so far everything is doing great! ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: July 02 2010 at 3:02am
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Another update for anyone who cares....
Tank is doing awesome, so far I am loving the led's! The light is mounted far enough away from the tank that there is virtually no heat transfer to the tank from the lights , my temp is rock solid around the clock! Also with the glass top there is hardly any evaporation , I only have to top off the tank once or twice a week tops, and even then is a very small amount of water. I havent been using the ATO because right now its really not needed.
All this = stability, which is something I was worried about with the small amount of water volume in the tank. CUC so far just consists of snails, I have no fish yet but have added a the following corals:
-ora green birdnest
-orange monitpora digitata
-orange monti-cap
-pink acropora
-tri-color acro(was kinda bleached before hand, hoping it will color up)
-rainbow montipora
-blue candy cane
-6 head duncans
-pom pom xenia
-6-7 varietys of zoas
-4 varietys of acans
All corals look very happy and have kept there color. Pics coming soon I promise!
------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: July 03 2010 at 4:48am
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Pics as promised!
Zoas:
 various acans:
 sps:
  duncans:
 and FTS
 ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: jdskidawg
Date Posted: August 11 2010 at 5:08pm
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any updates on this tank? would love to see some ------------- 150 in the works 8g Biocube,minijet 606,par38 led and Intank media tower,koralia nano |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: August 11 2010 at 6:23pm
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me too! ------------- |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: August 11 2010 at 11:24pm
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Tank is still doing well, I sold some of the sps frags in there and have added the following: -Yellow coris wrasse (had a small flatworm outbreak, he seems to be eating them) I will move him to the 30 gallon eventually
-Tail spot blenny. Super cool fish with lots of personality
-RBTA. Just added it a couple days ago.
-small scarlett cleaner shrimp.
-ultra welsophillia
My take on LED so far: softies and lps are loving it and doing really well. SPS is hit and miss, It seems to grow just fine but colors have been lacking.
Ill try and get some pics soon, let me know anyone has questions. ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |