Conskis 1.25gal Pico

[Conski]

Haha it took a little while to find out what exactly i should do to make this work out. I went out and bought a betta cube cause i know that is the exact size im looking for.

I found the most legit TINY pump ever by cascade which is perfect without a doubt for this tank, small as ever still pretty powerful, has an optional sponger filter as well dk if i wanna use it yet but well see.

A hydor mini heater
5 pounds of sand (wont even use alot im sure)

and on tuesday im going to pick up two LEDS blue and white for 35 dollars a pop.

i have the perfect size peice of live rock in my 14 gal with a zoa already growing on it so that will work great!

plans for it so far are epoxying a peice of glass to the back of the tank without about two inches of space so that the pump fits and is hidden along with the mini heater , ill cut slits in the glass so that the water can come back out (just like a biocube except without the wet/dry section) this back portion will be filled with cheto algae and some LR rubble)

Heres some pics to what i mean i demonstrated the sump section with a peice of cardboard ( there will be much tighter fit holes and flits its a quick mock up!

this looks legit to me i dont know about you guys lol but im super pumped this actually looks like it will work.. i love that little pump.

plans for stocking are a sexy shrimp a snail and a hermit crab (thinking even maybe a harlequin) and a deep sand bed that i will never touch.

WHATCHA THINK?!

[gt1009]

I think its super legit and will be awesome!!

[Ace25]

Sounds like a great plan to me. Can't wait to see water in it. Make it a "Sunny D" tank. ;) :cheers:

[Conski]

Have you ever seen a smaller pump?! btw think i should use the sponger filter connection the pump or just go all natural?!

i was thinking about using a filter pad where the water comes right through to the "sump" with carbon as well i think i will!

sunny D's sound good to me great idea! think that the two LEDS will be good enough light for them?>

[Conski]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2124+1968&pcatid=1968

[Amphiprion]

Can't comment on the LEDs, but I wouldn't do a DSB in that size tank by any means. It won't have nearly enough infauna to do well.

[Conski]

Hmm i wish i could find a small little light! if amph cant comment on the two LEDS? does anyone else think anything on the light or know of any that would be better? not really trying for the refuge light from marine depot but its an idea.

alright if you think the DSB is bad then i wont go for it.

i really am leaning towards a Harlequin Shrimp for this tank. it would be awsome to have my favorite marine invert, and with no predators in the tank it would be so unique for a pico.. its a 1.25 gallon tank though hmm.

theres a yellow clown goby, http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...68&pcatid=1968 (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2124+1968&pcatid=1968) this guy,

or a sexy shrimp or a harlequin.

light possibilities
this one looks the best ( http://www.marinedepot.com/JBJ_Nano_Glo_4_LED_Magnetic_Refugium_Light_Refugiu m_Sump_Lighting-JBJ_Lighting-JB9315-FIRFRL-vi.html )

http://www.marinedepot.com/Azoo_Neo_Light_LED_Flexible_Mount_LED_Light_Fixtur es-Azoo-AZ72178-FILTFILDFX-vi.html

http://www.marinedepot.com/Taam_Rio_Mini_Sun_Deep_Sea_Blue_Lighting_Fixture_F lexible_Mount_LED_Light_Fixtures-TAAM-TA6131-FILTFILDFX-TA6135-vi.html

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem.aspx?category=Ecosystem_LED_Accent_Lig hting_Submersible_LED_Light_Fixtures&vendor=EcoSystem_Aquarium&idProduct=EC5113&IdCategory=FILTFILDSB&child=EC5115&tab=0&color=White

[Amphiprion]

Well, I don't want to say too much unless it can be measured, but I'd say that just two of them may not be enough. If you wanted to try it anyway, something like mushrooms would be a good candidate.

[Ace25]

There are 2 distinct types of LEDs.. most of the ones you linked to are the type I use, and are mainly for aesthetic purposes, not meant to be used for any type of growth. Only that JBJ Glo 4 light would be considered a "grow" type of light, but it would look terrible over a tank without blues to supplement it, and it would take A LOT of blues to balance out that much 6500k light. If you did Non Photosynthetic coral like a few heads of nice sun polyps you could get away with those other lights you listed.

I agree on the DSB, not beneficial in a tank that small and just takes up too much room. I was going to comment on that at first but then it slipped my mind when I posted.

It is only 1.25G? I would stay away from ANY type of fish, stick with inverts only, and I wouldn't recommend a harlequin in that small of a tank.. how are you going to feed it. Watching the entire process of them eat a starfish is 1/2 the fun of owning one IMO. Not all tanks need to have fish in it, look at Got2Envy's latest fishless tank.

[odinthejd]

looks great!

[Conski]

so not even use a light on it?

i would just put a the starfish in the tank with it to feed it? i dk how else i would do it.. is there something wrong with that in that size of a tank? if so i guess a sexy shrimp is just the best route to go afterall! sun polyps are also like $100 aret they? they would be awsome to keep.

[Ace25]

I would think a chocolate chip star would be about the same size as that tank.. a little too big and I bet that type of eating would not be good for water parameters in such a small amount of water.

Those lesser LEDs are fine to use for viewing, just don't expect to really grow any corals other than mushrooms with them is what I was saying, unless you go with non photosynthetic corals. With those it doesn't matter what type of light you put on, but lesser is better so you don't burn them. Dendros are expensive, sun polyps are usually $40-$60 for a 10-20 head colony around here. You have to hand feed them often.

[Conski]

o yeaa Dendros are the expensive ones. maybe ill go all out and buy a polyp of that!
the good thing about the harlequin is that when they eat the star they keep it alive for the entire duration of their eating process, and will not eat it if it dies (which is the indication to take it out) which is why i am actually considering it, there wouldnt be any muk up of the water and there would be no corals for the spinuals to bother, thats the only reason i was considering it, it would just need to be paid attention to but maybe something about there is something about that situation im not thinking fully through.(sorry about the persistance i just love that shrimp)

i think a dendro polyp is what i might do, if i go otherwise itll be sunpolyps im gonna do a little bit more research on them, and just go with it. ill probably buy a lesser LED like you said simply for viewing because i do not wanna go all natural. Id rather spend 100 dollars on a single polyp then 60 for for a colony, easier to maintain and feed i presime

[Ace25]

I look at it like this... chocolate chip star is that size tank is like a person sitting in a bathtub of water with a open cut... sure the person won't die from the cut, but the blood getting into the water still fouls it up. That is how I picture a CC star getting eaten in 1G of water would do. Your call if you want to see if that analogy holds true, but I suspect it will and would probably lead to the dead of the shrimp because they are sensitive to water parameters, especially ammonia spikes. Why not do a harlequin in one of your other larger tanks? Both your 14 and 34 are fine for them.

Dendro polyps usually run $30-$40 per polyp/head around here. $100 seems a little high unless that is a couple polyps.

[BioHazard]

Wow, that's a tiny pump!! This could be a neat tank. As far as lighting, there are some nice, small lights on Fosters and Smith.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+17638&pcatid=17638

And I really like this new one...
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+20601&pcatid=20601

Or, if you have more money than I do,
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+15489&pcatid=15489

[Conski]

hahaha a viper on this tank would be nuts. i think it would be to much light though plus this is supposed to be a cheap DIY tank lol. the pump is 40gph which is pretty good for the size of it.

the Elos mini sun is probably what ill end up getting so that i can see my dendro and have enough growth on the cheto im already housing in my 14 gal.

and ace i have this theory and this other guy at one of my lfs shares the same one.. hermit crabs and harlequins have some sort of problem with eachother, sounds crazy but he and myself had a perfectly healthy harlequin that was in the process of eating a star and then out of nowhere ALL of my hermits came upon the harlequin and ripped it in half.. strangest thing i have ever witnessed and the same thing happened to him.

i never knew that the star bled once the harlequin came upon in and began eating,i though there was no fouling of the water until it dies but im not willing to risk buying a 40 dollar shrimp to test this, ill trust your better judgment

and i hope dendros arent that expensive, if they go for your listing price ill probably go with 2. Sun-corals are only supposed to open at night from what i read so i dont really want that

[Trigger1985]

what about using those luxon led's. They have several colors of white in different Kelvins and I think you can 3 led pods custom made with any comination of leds for about 12 bucks.. 2 whites and a blue, if the K values are right. A small heat sink and a driver and you'd be done

[Conski]

i passed electronics by the skin of my teeth, would i have to sodder anything?

mind showing me what you mean trigger with links to these things?

[Conski]

I need a Reef Safe Silicone or epoxy to glue the peice of plexy glass into place for the sump section of the pico?

what a good one, i know that glues have to be cyanoacrylate-based but i would like a very specific brand of SILICONE for around ten bucks that you guys know is at home depot

[Amphiprion]

GE I (not II) silicone is good for aquarium use. There's also DAP's silicone (both their regular silicone and their special "aquarium" silicone, which is more expensive), as well as All Glass silicone that you can find at many LFSs.

[Conski]

okay thanks

[floridaskunkape]

I can't wait to see you figure it all out- you're living your dream!!- who needs to sleep!
sexy shrimp are sooo sexy

[Trigger1985]

No problem, Cory Keeper- the LED guru could direct you further but I'll grab some links for you- there is soldering involved- but it's minimal if you get the ready made driver.
Here's his DIY LED thread- http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173181
Here's a link to the Lux Tri-Stars- The Led's I was talking about- they are actualy only start at $8.04 and go up depending on the led you have mounted. http://www.luxeonstar.com/your-choice-of-any-3-rebel-leds-soldered-to-a-20mm-tristar-base-p-403.php
The warm white looks to be around 3,500 K, the warm white is 6500k Ansi White is 2700k and neutral white is 4100 k. Blue is 470nm and Royal blue is 447.5nm I'm not familar with coral requirments as far as light, so I'm not sure will work for you.

[Conski]

^anyone wanna verify that these lights would be good enough to host Zoanthids?

[Conski]

my dad is flipping out about this idea of mine, he doesnt want anymore aquariums in his house..... i told him its a gallon of water and that i have three gallons of water in a bucket in my room at all times anyways.. his logic makes no sense. he said if he sees it hell smash it and throw anything away, pretty sensible guy, i love how when your dad works at attica for 25 years he gets it into his mindset hes the king and i know its his house and everything i just dont agree with unthought out arguments where the other person doesnt care about what your opp. is.. i used to keep a cooler with 9 gallons of water in my room along with my 3 other aquariums..

gonna have to get rid of my freshwater 2.5 gal with my betta it in to be able to do this, what a dream assassin this guy is. o well

[Ace25]

Your dad and my dad need to get together, sounds like they would have a blast (my dad is ex-military, fun house growing up in I tell ya). At the time I thought being thrown out of the house and having to live on the streets for a year, 1 day after graduation, was bad (his mentality, your 18, your on your own, I was 18 for 6 days when I graduated, 1 week after I turned 18 I was living on the streets) but looking back, I think living in the same house with him any longer would have been much worse.

[Conski]

hahaha i believe you and completely know what your talking about

i got some acrylic and the proper silicone, my dad lied about us having a silicone gun so im gonna go back to home depot and by that along with an exaco knife cause i dont know how im gonna go about cutting this acrylic

[Ace25]

Jigsaw?

[Conski]

aghh good point ill give it a shot. first time using one of those so here goes

[Conski]

Jigsaw doesnt cut it straight enough, i need to find someone with an electric one to cut it nice and perfect when i add this sump section its gonna make it even smaller.

[DoctaQ]

luxeons are outdated, if you wanna go leds there is a group buy on cree xp-g which is the new one on nano-reef. you could possibly build an led fixture for this for less than 100 if youre creative.
with high powered leds you can keep any coral in terms of lighting

[Conski]

thats the thing i would love one of these things and to have one for my 1 gallon tank im building but building one is just not something i have it in me too.

is it simple?

[DoctaQ]

its pretty simple but you do have to solder

on your little cube, i missed the dimensions but 6 would be more than enough which means you would solder 12 connections

[Conski]

I know how to soder, reading OHMS and watts and that stuff is beyond me, i cheated in electronics :(

any idea of cost and a run down of what i would need of that site?

[DoctaQ]

6 leds about 35 bucks
1000ma dimmable buckpuck with pot 20 bucks
24v power supply 15 bucks
heatsink-be creative 0-25 bucks

screws+wires+other stuff not included

the power supply should have a + side and a - side, connect accordingly to the driver which will have marked cable leads
driver will have a + and minus side to the leds
wire all the leds in series and the end

you will have no control over the color with this setup since you will only be able to dim all of them at the same time

if you got two drivers and hooked each driver up to its own color you could have blues going half power and whites going full or any combo you want, you could also get away with using a power supply you might find around the house, like an old laptop cord. you want about 4 volts per led, but a little less is okay and a driver takes 2v i beleive

[Conski]

what do i use a as heat sink?

and as a driver?

And no power supply?

confused as ever omg

[Conski]

http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_mx6.asp

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/361136-REG/EverFocus_AD_2F_AD_2F_24_Volt_Power.html

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS357&q=Heat+Sink&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10208922873334187037&ei=pBNQS_mVH8m8lAey-PSpCg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=6&ved=0CCgQ8gIwBQ#

http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_mx6.asp

All this? maybe be simple to do for some people but for me its kind of confusing, i would prefer an already made system haha.

ill probably go with the helios sun led fixture for cheto and coraline growth and go with purly unsynthetic coral

[Conski]

this is what ill probably go with
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=20601
day light/blue light one enough to grow cheto and observe the corals yet not harsh enough to hurt dendro, i dont think i have ever seen a dendro in a tank without MH's kind of scary thinking about it with 0 light in 1 gallon of water by itself.. my own little dendro garden, i hope it will do okay

plan on finishing the build tomorrow

[Conski]

So i finally figured out a way to cut it, had to use an exactoknife, and cut the same line like 400 times (no one i know has a powersaw) and the jigsaw took to long so after the 400 cuts i used elbow grease and snapped it off.

all theres left to do is seal it and im all set lol. this thing is so small, i dont even know if a sexy shrimp would be a good idea. it will have plenty of flow and sustain heat fine, but do you think a shrimp will be okay in a 4 inch long 6 inch wide set up if not a single dendro will be in there.

sealing will be tomorrow after i get your opps and when i dont have to work. ill be driling 4 holes in a square formation for the water to entre the sump and then a single hole the size of the sump for the output of the water back into the "main portion"
ive seen some small picos but the main portion of this tank might be the smallest

heres some pics of my master creation which my dad says wont work and that im crazy (:rofl:l:duh:)<me

[Conski]

i PMED the LED Guru for either a light fixture built by the master himself or for instructions! neither of which i hold him too but itd be nice have to have some wicked LED's over this little thing

[Cory Keeper]

Uhhh, err thanks.

I can help on diagrams and such, but you should really consult Nanoreef.com on proper amount and type of LEDs.

[DoctaQ]

i thought i laid it out pretty simply
if you looked into anything i said youd see that i made it pretty easy

buckpucks are the drivers you can use and they are easy and adaptable
i like how you gave up at the first sign of having to research anything

[Conski]

whoa whoa whoa man.

you did lay it out fairly simple.. and i did look into it actually, enough to ask questions and send links to you to ask if those were the proper things... no need to get sassy man i didnt mean to offend you in anyway..

[Ace25]

LOL.. saw that response coming a mile away.

Dude, it's almost 3am where you live, what are you doing up?

[Conski]

mine or his?

and although i said id prefer a premade set up if you woulda said yes those things and then said connect this to this and that to that i probably wouldve said different. i will admit that im being farily lazy about the LEDS but its not not the most important thing in the set up

i manage to **** people off pretty easy on this forum i guess

[Ace25]

Your response to him.. I almost responded earlier saying "not gonna make many friends with posts like that DoctaQ" but I just wanted to see how you responded first. Maybe I read it wrong.. but nope.

[Conski]

my friends have been home from college the past month, last party before they leave, i know its hard to believe i have friends cause im so into fish but when they come over and see the tank they love it so what can ya do lol.. but since they have been home i have been going to bed at right about 6am every night.. it starting to get to me college starts back up this wednesday for me so i have a couple days to get back into a normal sleep schedule and once they leave, ill have nothing to do..

update on the tank is ill have it sealed up tomorrow and have water as well.

[Ace25]

but since they have been home i have been going to bed at right about 6am every night..

Newsflash, 6am isn't considered night .. that is actually the morning and about the time I leave for work on weekdays. LOL.

[Conski]

Haha i guess so, ill just pull an all nighter or something in the next few days and go to bed at like 8, wake up early the next morning and then i should be okay with sleeping normally!?

well see?! im kind of excited about tomorrow though i want it to be morning when everyones awake so i can finish this little tank, i wish i didnt have to wait a day for the silicone to cure

[Trigger1985]

6 am isn't so bad.. waiting to go home until after morning rush hour to give you more time to sober up is... especially when you decide to stop at a skate park on your way home, having no idea how to skate vert... ah those were the days...

[DoctaQ]

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?cPath=74&products_id=623

fits in a regular socket, simple enough?

it came out a little harsher than i expected it to, sorry

[Ace25]

Looks cool, I like the cooling fins on it, but how many people have just a light socket hanging over their tank without some type of enclosure? That light states it can't be put in any type of enclosure/reflector or it will overheat.

You know, Costco around here sells LED light bulbs that look similar to the one that Doc just posted, but uses standard LEDs instead of high output ones, but only cost around $10 vs $100 and for your purposes would be just fine, although your color options are nil with the costco type of LED light, you get white and thats it. LED light bulbs are the new Compact Floro bulb that was so great just a year ago but now considered very bad, actually worse than incandescent light bulbs when you look at the environmental cost of producing and disposing of them. Only thing a CFL bulb has over the 100 year old regular bulb is it uses less electricity.

[DoctaQ]

as for the socket there are these ceramic worklights they sell at home depot and you can cut the reflector off, but yeh if there arent ever going to be any photosynthetic coral in that tank theres no point in putting a hundred dollar light on it

the way i see it though is maybe one head of dendro will be okay in that tank in terms of bioload but if you have to feed it it will poop and produce nitrates. a dendro needs to be fed a couple times a week to be happy, and a single head could consume a block of mysis in a couple feedings, might as well have the bioload of a fish.

[Conski]

Its all good dude haha that light you put up that cost 100, is it already pre made and everything? and with that light could i actually put other corals into the tank besides NPS?? which fixture should i get if i go this route? i know its prefrence but having no experiance with LED i wouldnt have a prefrence. I will definitly buy that esepcially if they can grow any kind of coral including SPS and atleast zoas.

he does make a point about the bioload. if you go by old school thought of 1 gal per 1inch of fish i could actually get away with the red goby that is considered smaller then panda and only grows to be 1inch.
something like this http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+31+2613&pcatid=2613

and ace i have never heard of costco so im out of luck lol

6 am isn't so bad.. waiting to go home until after morning rush hour to give you more time to sober up is... especially when you decide to stop at a skate park on your way home, having no idea how to skate vert... ah those were the days...
^LMAO

[Ace25]

Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's, any giant where house wholesale store where you have to pay a yearly membership to get a card to go in and it is just stacked floor to ceiling with shelves of "bulk" items, like 1000 rolls of toilet paper, 20 boxes of cereal, etc. No use for a single person like myself to shop there. I did once, bought a bulk box of "Mac and Cheese".. lasted me years until I got so sick of it I finally ended up tossing out the remaining 25% I didn't eat. If you have a large family is it the place to shop.

I think Wal-Mart (smaller version of Sam's Club, same company) may even sell LED light bulbs now.

[Conski]

hahaha how many boxes were in it?!

are these bulbs pre made as welll?

[Ace25]

I think it was something like 80 or 100 boxes in a package for like $20. Sounded like a good deal at the time and something that didn't spoil.. but there is only so much of one item a person can eat before they are sick of it... and I found my limit with Mac and cheese.

Yes, bulbs are pre-made and sold right next to all the other light bulbs in one of those nice "slice your hand open trying to get it out of the package" type plastic containers.

The bulb looks like this.
http://www1.dealextreme.com/productimages/sku_1476_1.jpg

[Conski]

with any one of those bulbs you or Docta Q suggested would any coral be a possibility?

[Ace25]

No.. not in a 1G tank... water quality/parameters start to come into play so most SPS corals would not do well in that type of tank and most LPS corals would grow too big for it (Dendo's and sun polyps being an exception, they grow slooow, but a frogspawn head wouldn't be a good idea).

I still like the idea of a "Sunny-D" tank, or a mix of a few nice high end zoas and just let them spread.

[Conski]

^the zoas are what i wanted to do, it would be cool to have a rare zao garden!
which of those selections from DoctaQ's link would you choose for it color wise and what i need wise

[Ace25]

If you talking about the $120 bulb he linked to I would pick the 20k version with 40degree (standard) optics for your size tank. You don't need to spread the light any more than that for yours.

[Conski]

Hmm okay, i like that idea so far.. i would have to go to walmart or something to look at the bulbs you suggested ace.

here is is drilled up the one hole is the size of the output nozzle, fits like a glove even though its a little rough (first time with a drill give me a break) then those 6 holes will allow the water back into the sump.

gonna do sealing now. sound good?

[Ace25]

Dude, didn't they have "Shop" classes in your High school when you went? I thought most of the people you hung out with would be the shop class types of people. ;)

[Conski]

LOL at my 10k a year highschool THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE they had no shop class, waste of 40k.. and no theyre all just a bunch of fun loving phish liking pre-hippy people. I could make a wicked peice out of just about anything though (least back the in day) whether it be a carrot, apple, water bottle, you name it i did it.

gonna begin the sealing lol this should be interesting, i dont want to paint the panel black either, the idea of being able to see the sump section and the cheto back there from the front kind of interests me

[Conski]

Siliconing this is going to be a *****..

[Ace25]

Work smarter, not harder. Put a bead of silicon on the piece your putting in, but before that put some of that blue painters tape / masking tape about 1/8" of an inch on the front side where the panel will silicone inside the tank, that way when you silicone and make a mess, you just pull off the tape after it drys for an hour and you get a nice clean seam. ;)

[Conski]

Attempt one MESS!

gonna go with the tape method, the angle is the problem really, its hard to get the gun down in there

[Ace25]

LOL!! Don't put the caulking gun in the small tank, put a bead on the piece you want then use your finger to smooth it out once you get it in the tank.

In the picture with the piece your holding, just put a bead of silicone around 3 of the edges then carefully put it in the tank. With the tape in there you shouldn't make a mess on the sides of the tank.

[Conski]

Can you be more specific with the tap man?

ive had my dad read what you said (hes on board now) and he cant visualize what you mean by 1/8" or what were supposed to do with it..

[Ace25]

You have the spot in your tank you want to silicone the panel to.. if you have to, draw a line in the tank with a sharpie so you know exactly where it goes... then put the masking tape about 1/8" of an inch in front of that line, you can do the backside as well to make it really clean, but not needed. Once you have the tape in there and a clear area where the panel is going to go, put the silicone on the panel and just put it in the tank. Once you place it run your finger along the seams to smooth out the silicone to make it look nice, some will ooze onto the tape (normally be nasty looking stuck to the tank). Let it partially dry and then pull out the tape and it should leave a nice clean line where the silicone meets the tank.

[Conski]

OO OKAY! very good suggestion this time there will be zero mess, and will be much easier.. you can see now how much a shop class wouldve helped haha :) thanks man.

attemp 2 in the works (took an hour to clean all the silicone off the glass gfrom the last time

[Conski]

he doesn't understand the sump portion in the first place or why i have to silicone a separate section lol.. i keep tyring to explain it to him but he doesn't get why it has to be silicon ed in.. wanna put it into better words for me to explain the reasoning behind my sump? or am i wrong and its unnecessary.. i feel this isn't the case though

[DoctaQ]

yo dawg i heard you like tanks so i put a tank inside yo tank so you can keep stuff while you keep other stuff

with 40 degree optics you will be toasting everything including sps coming out of mh, you should run it with no optics and just waste a little light, or use it to light both sides of your tank

[Ace25]

I think it depends on the height he puts the light... 4" from the top of the tank, ya, he will burn everything and a normal LED light would be better, but 4' above the tank the light should be fine. ;)

Tell your dad it is so you can hide the equipment as well as grow macro algae separately to clean the water without risk of the macro algae spreading on the corals you want in the main area.

[addicted2fish]

Let your dad see pics on the web of real big SW tanks. and Sumps, thier purpose to keep your water at a level and then explain that the small back area is to place the green gunk you dont want all in your front tank, but need in the water colomn . I HTH ~

[Conski]

well he was using clamps and he put to much pressure on the tank and cracked it.. fantastic so now tomorrow i get to waste another 3 hours doing this again..

least hes buying the new one and he feels bad so that works to my advantage.

[Ace25]

LOL, clamps? Why? If the piece of plexi you wanted to silicon was cut close enough to tolerance then a couple pieces of scotch tape on top should be enough just to told it in place for 24 hours while it drys. ;) Telling you, jigsaw with a fine tooth blade is the easiest way to cut plexi unless you have a nice table saw.

[DoctaQ]

looks like you have to get optics, go with 80 degree i guess

[Conski]

no no no he cracked the damm cube, luckily it wasnt the peice of plexi glass i cut and holed up already woulda been 20x more annoyed. we were using the clamps to keep the plexi glass in place and on all sides

[Conski]

got the second cube, sealing the side with the pump first (thats the hassle side becuase the pump doesnt lke to stay still for to long) then well do the other 2.. nothing stupid ths tme ether.

[Conski]

Gonna Order the 20k with 40optics light right now that Docta Q suggested the link of (thank you sir)

yes? no dont do it?
about how high will i want this above the tank itself, and just for reasurance i can grow zoas with this light as well as most LPS(might put my most prized coral chalice in there

[Ace25]

Without a doubt you can grow zoas and a chalice with that light in that size of a tank, it may very well be too MUCH light for both of those, but that is easily fixed by just raising the bulb up higher.

Once you get your 34G up and running again I would really suggest having a gallon or two of SW pre-mixed all the time and do a water change in your Pico with water out of your 34G daily, just use a small plastic cup to scoop out whatever amount is easiest to do in the pico in one scoop so it takes all of 30 seconds to do a water change in it.

[Conski]

Oh nice good idea, I have a hunch I won't have 0 trates or ammonia buy well see, is 3 and 1/2 feet good enough on hieght to start with?

[Ace25]

Ya, that is quite high but not playing with those lights I really have no clue where the best position would be. You need a PAR meter to tell you that unfortunately, otherwise just use your observations to react accordingly, if the corals start to brown out, aka burning, raise the light, if they start bleaching out, lower the light. The brown/burning isn't really caused by that, in most cases it is caused by an over saturation of zooxanthellae in the coral from receiving so much light (those little zoox reproduced like bunnies from the extra light), which the color of zoox is brown so that is why the coral appears brown.

[Conski]

All done!
gonna order that 20k light tomorrow
and get this baby cycled up as well.. gonna do what you suggested ace but with my 14 gal instead of the 34 gal for now until i know its disease free.

gonna put sand live rock and cheto in the sump section and in the main ill have a nice peice of live rock in the main!

Kind of a sloppy silicone job for my first time but heres the finished product guys.

[DoctaQ]

i would still go with 80 degree and waste light, and i wouldnt put anything prized in there until you figure out a good distance
when i started with leds i had them all cranked up max and most of my coral paled out within a week then i turned them down and started getting pretty good growth, nothing died as a result of the over lighting tho, except maybe for one acan

[Conski]

what do you mean by waste light?

[DoctaQ]

let it spread outside of the tank

[Conski]

Well you know what your talking about with LEDS and ive always trusted ace with just about everything in my tanks.

i dk know which light fixture to go with, your saying 80 degree with 20k and hes saying 40..

which one should i do?!

[Ace25]

80 degree spread you will have light spilling all over the floor. If it were a larger tank, sure, 80 would be fine, but it is a TINY tank, you want to focus the light into the tank, not onto the floor right?

[Conski]

yes^

[Ace25]

You have played with a Mag light flashlight right? You know, turn it one way, small tight beam, turn it the other way, very spread out beam that isn't as bright, that is what those optics do.

[Conski]

Ohh okay, its thats the only difference between 40 and 80 i dont want waste light to be honest.. i have enough light in my room thats just making my room the sun id rather keep this very direct.

40 it is. im gonna go ahead and order this, what is your reasoning behind 80 though Docta?

[DoctaQ]

40 is going to be way too bright
think about it this way
those 5 leds are very close. my leds are about 3 inches apart, i have no optics at all
i overlit a 12in deep tank at full power

check out the par graph at the middle of the page and think about what you are trying to keep

[Ace25]

Again, simply raising the light will solve the "too much" light, yet with 40degree it will still put the light in the tank. So you either put 80degree optics on it and put the light 2" from the water so it doesn't spill over the sides, or put 40degree and put it 24" above the tank if needed and still the light only goes in the tank.

Also, LEDs have their own "built in" optics so to speak. If you look at LEDs they come in a variety of angles already, from 20degrees to 60degrees normally.

Think about what 80 degrees actually is.. almost 90, almost a right angle the light will spill out in, that is a large spread for a 1 GALLON tank. ;)

[DoctaQ]

i beleive the stock spread for cree xr-es are over 100 degrees

[Ace25]

Wow, didn't know they had such a large spread on them. That is very large. Dang.. that light regardless of optics may be too much unless you go almost all blue on it. If stock Cree's are 100 degree, then any optics added, 80 or 40, will actually be magnifying the light and making it even more intense than it already is..

Really need to think about this a little more Conski.

[DoctaQ]

this fixture pumps 250-300 par at 20 inches over air, but youre gonna be lighting probably a 15 inch area. but led lighting is much more intense than equal par of another type of light
i do admit it would be cool to have a light thats two feet above a tank and just lighting exactly the tank dimensions
i just hope there will be a dark side of the tank just for acclimation

[Ace25]

So for PAR, for reference sake, puts out the same PAR as 2x 24" T5HO actinic bulbs (48w). I think the LED light is what, 21w? So less than 1/2 the power for the same PAR. Sounds good in that respect. Still, 300 PAR is what most people have towards the bottom of their tanks, sun at noon during summer is around 2000 PAR. How is it possible to have "too much" light if it is only 300 PAR?

[Amphiprion]

but led lighting is much more intense than equal par of another type of light

Visibly, maybe, but more useful in terms of photosynthesis, not really. The only small difference there is the increase in usability with bluer wavelengths, which can be accomplished under any lighting. Beyond that, PAR is PAR. If it is equal in terms of PAR, then it will have pretty much the same usefulness for photosynthesis.

If I remember correctly a while back, blue LEDs actually sported slightly higher PAR compared to white ones, for whatever reason. I don't know if that's the same with current LEDs or not, though.

[DoctaQ]

cree xr-e cool whites have one of two major peaks at 450nm
royal blues have thier only peak at 450nm
its a very sharp peak on the RB, and this fixture probably has 3 or 4 rbs

i think that is around peak photosynthesis area, so take that as you will. i think at 20 inches he will still have what is comparable to high light

[DoctaQ]

i missed the dimensions of your tank, if you could post them i could ask the guy who built this as to his reccomendations

[Conski]

you guys are speaking a whole new language to me.

its a 6x6 cube.

im letting you all come to agreement on this before i order it haha so let me know what the group consensus is

[DoctaQ]

6 inches by 6 inches by 6 inches? including the fuge since this will also light that side

[Conski]

yes sir its a betta cube so it has to be 6inches wide by 6inches including the fuge, hopefully the light does go back there becuase theres gonna be cheto, its also 8 inches deep if thats what you wanted to know

[Conski]

Specifications:
Aquarium Dimensions: 6" x 6" x 7.5"
Outside Frame Dimensions: 7" x 7" x 8"
Volume: 1.25 gal./4.73 liters

[Conski]

THERE IS THIS LITTLE TINY LEAK IN THE SILICONE that i simply cannot find, ive tried everything and i dont want any more nasty silicone in the **** thing or soon enough ill just be hosting silicone as a pet n there! just gonna put the sand in and start the cycling its like a drop per minute and it wont really affect anything... any luck on the light DoctaQ?

[DoctaQ]

wrap your tank in a paper towel and you can see where the leak comes from

im waiting on reply on NR

[Conski]

i know where it is coming from and i cant get my hand or anything else back there to seal it from the back, its such a pain in the *** spot to get

[Conski]

okay since sealing it from the front didnt work i thought for a minute and figured a straw could fit in the back there. so i used a straw dabbed silicone on it and sealed it from the back... hopefully this works lol

[DoctaQ]

QUOTE
your led lamp that is available on nanotuners now thats 21watts?
what optics and height would you reccomend for a med-high light tank by the measurements of 6" by 6" by 7.5" i dont want a lot of light spilling if thats possible, im looking for the 20k model


You are going to have light spill no matter what. For the dimensions, using the 80 degree lenses and the lamp mounted 14" above the sand will get you into the light range you want, but will throw a good amount of light outside the tank. Your only option to control the amount of spill would be to try on the of the PAR38 barndoor add-ons that Y-Lighting sells. It will help block the light and is adjustable. I'm not 100% sure that they will fit though, so it will be an experiment.

[Conski]

Alright the 20k it is at 14" inches it is! Thank you very much dude. I'm not so much concerned about excess light as much as just having the proper light and height requirements. Got the leak fixed so I'm all good to go. Gonna order the light tom.

[Conski]

Sand and water are in! such an interesting little thing haha.. gonna let the temp go up a bit then put some cheto, and the live rock in, gonna use a Natural Daylight f6-T5 for the cheto to keep it alive until i get my LED

[DoctaQ]

how does the sg hold up?

[Conski]

sg?

[Ace25]

Specific Gravity, Salt concentration. ;) Does it fluctuate much with evaporation? It probably will with that little of water so frequent top offs will be required.

[Conski]

o haha jeese i havent heard that in so long.

its 1.024.

theres alot of flow in this tank from that little pump plus its so small when i test it WOW midthought i fergot i had a refracto, been wasting water in the hydrometer(so hard to poor back in LOL)

its only been about a half hour since i set it up, when i get home from work at around 10 ill test it again and see what its at.im gonna use a bottle from my solana as an auto top off

theres this absolutly perfect rock i just knoticed in my 34 gal that i wanna use.. but stupid dino is probably in it somewhere so i dont wanna risk it

[Conski]

i cant wait to get that light becuase i desperately need to move some corals out of my 14 gallon.. its so full of corals its ridiculous

[Conski]

These are the Zoanthids im putting in the tank so far.. and that last picture is of how crowded and crazy my 14 gal is at the moment.. and maybe my chalices but i dk if i wanna risk them being in there

[Conski]

home from work! the heater keeps it at a good 79 degrees. no evap since i left so im not to worried about that now!

i doubt theres much sg flux either, the wood fram makes it look great, still a cloudyness in the water though

[Conski]

Just need to order the lght

first pic was of when it was cloudy

[Fishfriend1]

cool

[Conski]

Light ordered

[Conski]

Got the light! it surpised me, i had no idea it had no cord or anything to be housed in.,.. thought it was just a plug in!

Luckily for me theres a light socket that i dont even use right above it where the pico is!
.. thing is i dont know if its supposed to be plugged into it.. it fits and everything but i dk lol!
heres pics

[DoctaQ]

pretty bright huh
interesting that you had the socket right there, good luck getting it on a timer.
how does it look?

[Ace25]

Man that light would last about 30 seconds around me with that giant blue spot on the wall. Yes, you installed it correctly though, that is how they work.

[Conski]

actually its perfect brightness! i enjoy it very much! creates the perfect shimmer and it is so wierd, i was using that little gray thing to hold hats lol looks like it has a better way about it.! and it looks to be enough light for my corals i hope so atleast, thats why i bought it!

ehh no timer will be worth it, im just gonna turn it on and off manually lol.

im switching all my tank hours from 12 to 8 to 2 to 10 that way im more likely to be home then.

haha ace my wall is blue so its the pic making it look so bad!

[Conski]

put a frag of zoas in there to test it out

theyre opening right up and look awsome in this light!

Did some test
SG- .024
Alk- 9
Trite- 0
Amon-0
didnt test trate or Ca im sure theyre perfect

[Conski]

took that peice of live rock smahsed it up into rubble and put it into the sump, now theres only zoas in the tank.. gonna stay that way. just gonna have high end zoas.

so far in there is Armour of god
Sunny Delight
Anddddd these yellow ones LOL (not high end but i rarelly see them anywhere and they have one hell of a yellow on them)

[DoctaQ]

hope you had a dark spot for those guys the light looks pretty close
on a side note
a good fixture to hold that bulb still has not been found it seems, track lighting seems to be the classiest way to do it

[Conski]

theres 22 inches of space between the light and tank, no darkness really in the tank at all but the corals dont seem n any way shape or form upset by it!

it says no enclosure on it, i have a nice one on it but dont wanna risk over heating it.... i dont know if i fully undertsand what you mean though

[DoctaQ]

not everyone has a socket right above thier tank haha

the lamp to hold the bulb is up for debate i guess, they havent really found a good one.

zoas can generally handle intense blue lighting coming out of leds. ive put zoas that came from pcs right into the middle of my tank. on the other hand, one sg swing or alk spike is all it takes to make only the expensive zoas close up never to open again

[Conski]

I really cant believe how bad i lucked out in having that socket there.. i nearly forgot it was one it was holding HATS lol for so long... if theres any problems i have a perfectly healthy 14 gall i can plop them into! they are even open now (its 1:30am) with 0 light on the tank so i think they are happy!

im kind of upset, the first rock i had there now that i thought about it gave it a really unique look, i wish i hadnt smashed it up and used as sump rubble, what can ya do though.

i think everything should be okay, im rather obsessive about my tanks, this one will be no different, they are just zoas as well, i have dups of them all and (even the d's which i put the small frag in jjust incase i lose it i have the nice big one)

pics tomorrow for ya guys, its literally a zoa garden.

[Conski]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?c=720&pCatId=1146

hows that for an interesting pico stock! i found a winner..

[Ace25]

LOL, no, those do not work in a Pico. My LFS had a bunch of those once, those shells on them are huge and they knock everything over and can't get up when they fall. High maintenance crab. From the ones I have seen in person, it wouldn't even fit in the Pico tank you have. Max. Size: 2"

[Conski]

hahaha i wouldnt have anything but him in there but ill trust your better judgement :)

i want to find something really odd and out there for this tank!

a sexy shrimp is my last resort!

[Ace25]

I have always liked the horseshoe crab for odd crabs. Like a spider with a dinosaur shell on it.. but unfortunately there are not too many tanks out there that could support even 1 of them. They need a very big open sand bed to be able to survive long term, like a sand sifting star.

[Conski]

what would be something interesting i could fit!

[Ace25]

Sexy Shrimp... :rofl::rofl:

[Conski]

:thumbsdown: hahaha thanks man! :hypnotized:

[jimi]

you could always do harlequin shrimp but you have to feed them starfish

[Conski]

o dude if i felt like it would work out i would do it in a heartbeat they are awsome creatures and i loved mine. i dk if one gallon of water would work out with one though. the stars would spoil the water, although with careful attention its easy to tell when they die and to remove them.

its a gamble i have been tossing up rather frequently

[Ace25]

You just spent over $100 on a light bulb for that tank! IMO you need to do corals of some type in it now, at least zoas. So if your going to make is a zoa tank then you need to think about what would best go with those. Big things that would walk all over them all day long or fish that would sit on them would not be the best choice to have. Even sexy shrimp will walk on them, but they would probably do the least damage and be best suited for that type of tank.

Actually, one fish I thought of that would work, if you could make some type of cave structure in that little tank, is one I have. The white tiger goby (Priolepis nocturna). They always perch upside down under a cave, never on top out in the open like their cousins the clown gobies, and usually stays in the same place all the time. It just darts out real fast to catch food when I put it in the tank.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4321045035_5b00711fa2_o.jpg

[cam191919]

an interesting nanofish i had at one point was Gobiosoma macrodon, a teeny tiny tiger goby, completely different from the fish in aces pic. it was really active which surprised me, only problem is i caught it myself and i dont know if its common in stores :p:

[DoctaQ]

ora breeds them so i think theyre pretty common, tiger gobies.

[Conski]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+8&ddid=78883

mmmm, way to expensive

[Ace25]

It's a dendro.. price seems about right for that many heads.

[jimi]

its beautiful bit i cant say i would pay that much either

[Conski]

Pics as it is now!
the Orange (armour of godish) zoas are a little bit sucked in, i kalked an apestia last night so thats why! the tank can be sized up nicely by the xbox controller lol, its very small!

[jimi]

i love all the test kits and the xbox controller but i gotta say i love the tank

[Conski]

thanks! :) that desk the tank is on is a mess

[Conski]

http://www.zoanthids.com/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=150

face melting zoas... that site has some incredible ones ill have my eye on for my rare little zoa garden. those red limited edition hornets and those candy apple.. and those grinches.. man are those gorgeous

[rogersb]

pretty pictures but I don't think their prices are fair. I bought the lunars from a frag farm locally for $3/polyp.

[Conski]

wow that is a pretty big difference. well i ordered lunars and the red hornets... couldnt resist.

i dc if theyre 60 dollars im keeping my eye on those other zoas i posted.. those look to good to pass up.

a rare zoanthid garden indeed ill have

[Conski]

Hey Mods can you please change the title of this thread

To Conskis 1.25gal Pico or something like that lol

[hmotorsol]

you keep teasing me with those zoas. I wish that store wasn't sold out of them.

[Conski]

i got two pretty nice ones from them! hopefully theyre as awsome in person!

ill have those zoas in my sights and the instant they come out i will buy them lol, those are awsome! ill probably end up getting the grinches as well

[hmotorsol]

They have some very nice zoas there.

[fsn77]

Hey Mods can you please change the title of this thread

To Conskis 1.25gal Pico or something like that lol


Sure thing... Done. :thumbsup:

[Conski]

thank you!

[jimi]

mmmm zoas are so nice makes me glade im getting into salt.

[Conski]

i ordered these corals on thursday, with obv. one day shipping.. its been 2 now. im starting to worry and the guy hasnt answered his phone.

[Ace25]

Just FYI, I know a lot of places won't ship corals on Thur because of the risk of it not getting there in time. Check out their shipping policy again to make sure there isn't something in there that says "We only ship on Mon-Wed" type of thing.. I have seen that quite a bit. Even when I ordered a CUC from reefs2go.com they said that.

[Conski]

Shipping Times

Orders are shipped Monday through Thursday for delivery Tuesday through Friday. If you have a particular delivery date request, please include it in the Notes section of your order or email sales@zoanthids.com.

aghh good call man hahaa

[Conski]

wow just for kicks i blocked out the two royal blue leds over the tank and holy crap... the corals lit up like neon colors.. it looked way better.. the speckles on the sunny d's shined like crazy and the yellow sunflower corals look different.. looked incredible.. i wish i had gotten the all royal blue led now

[Conski]

The Difference:

[DoctaQ]

blue leds do light up somethin crazy, interesting that your zoas look so tall

[Conski]

they are tall... dk why but all my zoas thrive better then anything i own.. they bud off so much! i really wish i went all blue now though look at those yellow zoas in the blues.. well see when my hornets and lunars get here

[Conski]

still no zoas...
the guy wont answer his phone.
kind of annoying i bet they come tomorrow when m at school all day

[Ace25]

Dang, that sucks, no excuse for not having them today. Worst case they were shipping out yesterday overnight.. but obviously not the case and he is just avoiding people.

Does he have an answering machine/voice mail? If so I would leave him a nice message stating you are posting your experience with him on various forums and he has already lost quite a few sales from him not responding. I know I will never buy anything from that place just from your experience.

[Conski]

Yea i was gonna wait until five when UPS stops shipping. that way i know for a fast they wont come in the next 20 minutes.

the frags shouldve been sent out yesterday night and been here this morning.. ive called twice.. im gonna leave a messege, something better have happened to his guy if i paid 35 dollars for them to be here next day..

[Conski]

I called the number again.. lol it was the guys brothers # that was listed.. he was surprised about what has happened and is getting in direct contact with the "president" of the company. he said this is very unusual and hes shocked at this. He doesnt really have any affiliation to the company either and he spent a good ten minutes on the phone with me helping so thats nice.

waiting for a call back from the owner.. this is really annoying it shouldnt be this hard to get things online when you pay 102 dollars for 2 frags

[Conski]

I finally got ahold of him and he feels terrible, he was very apologetic and said that hes gonna hook me up so well see what happens, theyre gonna be here on thursday. after waiting a week sure i hope he does what he says, he was a very nice guy though and im not a very confrontational person so i cant say im that upset anymore, i just like confirmation of things

[cam191919]

hope things work out for you, he better send you some good stuff

[Conski]

Pics of the new corals

[Conski]

btw he hooked me up with ten polyps of the next gen red hornets and 5 of the lunars.. was only supposed to get 2 and 3 of them lol

[Conski]

Current Stock of Zoas:
Armour of God
Gold Dust Lunar
Sunny Delights
Next Generation Red Hornets
SunFlower

im looking into some expensive, rarer zoas for this tank( i have ALOT in mind), the only one that isnt really hard to find is the sunflowers, but theyre just as pretty as the others.

[DoctaQ]

hey what is the gap between all the leds? like how much room is in the middle? im thinking of building a pendant type dealie

[Conski]

hey what is the gap between all the leds? like how much room is in the middle? im thinking of building a pendant type dealie

an inch in the middle id say and a half inch inbetween each light

[DoctaQ]

thanks bro, i might end up building something similar

[DoctaQ]

pulling this thread out of the closet, hows things doing in here?

[FtwayneFish]

outta the closet indeed. I love it. Love the zoas. FTS! Id like you to look at my pico. 2.5g. Let me know what you think.

[DoctaQ]

haha, where is it ftw? you have a million pics in your tanks sig