DiverDaves new Nano

[DiverDave]

Hi all,

Here's the latest on my 5 gal...

Standard 5 gal tank.




All the softies came from GARF. Also the red Macro and the substrate (GARF grunge!)



SPS from several of you fine folks!


Custom LED rig I built while passing the time overseas. 6 each CREE 3watt white, and royal blue. Buckpuck drivers (dimmable), and 2 24 volt DC power supplies.


Modified Skilter 250 which holds the heater, chiller, temp and pH probes, media, cheato, and a few critters.


And the big picture showing light elevation, and the Remora Mini on the right.

[FeGrrl]

Awesome! It looks so much bigger than a 5 gallon. Nice job.

[DiverDave]

Updated picts. I lost my surf and turf, and red planet is well on its way out. LED's may not look really brite but they WILL burn/bleach out your corals. Lessons painfully (expensively) learned.

[willp2]

Another great looking pico. Very nice.

That is “a lot” of light for that little tank, especially with optics. I assume you’re dimming that down a lot right?

[laffingcrow]

Really nice set up DD...
I love your rock work, that DIY LED hood and your all in one skilter.
Gotta Love that lil Peltier type chiller.

LOL like Will said... that's a lot of light... I'd bet you could get by with half of those LEDs; are you controlling them somehow or are they on full bright?
You could probably put them on the ceiling and still grow SPS on the sand?
Brian

[DiverDave]

Yes I'm dimming it down. First I removed the optics. The white and blues are on seperate power supplies and each has a dimmer. the blues are on 12 hours a day full. The whites are on for 9 hours dimmed down. I have a few more choice corals that I wish to add. Once they are in, and acclimated i want to bring the whites up to full. I've also just sent for 3 3w UV LEDS to add. They will come on with the whites, but be on their own dimmer. I love that it's (at max) 36 watts of light, and can grow ANYTHING with the par putout. Virtually no heat. If there's one issue, pH is tough to control, and growth is happening, but slow. Perhaps thats best givien the small size of the tank but who doesn't like to see things flourish!

[laffingcrow]

Gotta love the UV LEDs, should make everything pop in that tank.

I've been thinking about adding them to my next new light but I think 3-3 watters over that small tank is a lotta overkill?

My question is how much UV? How much is too much?

A quick search confirmed my suspicions about corals sensitivity to UV A and UV B.

FWIW here is what I found from http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/cor...alschange.htm:

UV Light

Corals are very sensitive to UV-A & UV-B light, which can destroy their DNA and RNA. Corals produce colored pigments (blue, purple, pink) in their zooxanthellae cells for protection from the UV light.

In nature, UV rays are filtered out by ocean water. The deeper the water, the more UV rays are filtered out of the spectrum. Since corals produce these colorful pigments as a protection from the UV rays striking them, shallow water corals have more colors: More UV, more color; Less UV, less color.

MH lights are high in UV light, which is why they are best used over glass aquarium canopies, which filter out most of the harmful UV light rays.

Acclimating New Corals

New corals do best if they are slowly acclimated to their new lighting. Placing the new coral in an area of less light for a time, then gradually moving it to more light will allow the corals to adjust their zooxanthellae cell density and their production of chlorophyll.

BTW have you checked PAR output yet?
Brian

[LarryM]

Good info but couldnt find that in link...

Gotta love the UV LEDs, should make everything pop in that tank.

I've been thinking about adding them to my next new light but I think 3-3 watters over that small tank is a lotta overkill?

My question is how much UV? How much is too much?

A quick search confirmed my suspicions about corals sensitivity to UV A and UV B.

FWIW here is what I found from http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/cor...alschange.htm:



BTW have you checked PAR output yet?
Brian

[LarryM]

DD Welcome back to the hobby... hope to see a DIY on your fixture.

You always have had a great eye for aqua scaping and this is no exception...

[DiverDave]

Hi all. Having a great time here in Iraq...again...

But the good news is I'll be going BIG on my next tank...14" cube!

Hope you're all well. Drop me a note sometime. Love to stay in touch!

DD

[prospectclmt]

be safe out there, cant wait for the upgrade when you get back.

[DiverDave]

Hi all. As you can see above I had great expectations of getting the next big tank (14" cube). That didn't happen. My newborn son, Jack, came along instead. I really tried but I couldn't keep him in the tank so I had to put that dream on hiatus.

Sooo...back in the sandbox for another tour of duty (it's nothing like the video game). I did get to dive the Red Sea on a down-and-dirty quick trip to Aqaba. I hope to get another tank started next January (how can my wife turn down my New Year's resolution!). I keep this thread to remined me of another great member of this site, Larry. Sneaky guy that Larry. I left him all my corals and he took 'em to Heaven with him. Rest is peace my freind, we'll keep propogating down here.

So in the words of my favorite character..."And that's all I have to say 'bout that."
DD

[Reefertony47]

beautiful nano reef