I went to the lfs and came home with this

[coral88]

It’s a 14gal and I didn’t need it but it was there and and I liked it so I took it home. I will get better pics tomorrow and I think it should have water in it by tomorrow night. I don’t really know what I’m going to put in it other than it will be a reef of some sort. I’m thinking all zoas or all acans I don’t want a mix of anything it will be all one type of coral. So what do think the coral should be ?

 

[oceanparadise1]

Do an ALL zoa garden. Like instead of sand(still us a lil sand) fill the bottom up with sand, have two small islands connected by branch rock and have the branch rock and island full of zoas

 

[dan10342]

euphyllia dominant. that would look sweet.

or why got go with every single morph of birdnest coral.

 

[coral88]

I don't normally do sand I just cover the bottom with coral. But I was thinking of having one tank with sand maybe this one. I'm really liking the idea of a all acan tank and at only 14gal I could do it without going broke I have a few weeks to come up with a idea tank will have to cycle. But I'm starting it with liverock from one of my other tanks. I don't think I want to do SPS because it may be a little hard to keep cal and KH up in a tank this small.

 

[dan10342]

actually with a tank that small... 2 part or kalk drip should suffice for SPS.

but acans are good too. we talking all the different acans, or just A. lordhowensis?

 

[oceanparadise1]

i think if u can afford it then def do an all acan tank! That would be an awsome looking tank! Do you plan on having any fish in it?

 

[coral88]

I would do acan frags a few polyps of 20 - 30 different colors.
Two part would work but I would have to get something to add it and then I'm spending hundreds on equipment. I just don't think it worth the trouble.

 

[coral88]

I'm making water R/O for the little guy right now should have it full in a few hours. I’m really liking the idea of the all acan tank. I’m 90% that that’s what it’s going to be.

 

[oceanparadise1]

that would be awsome man! what kind of lighting are you going to us?

 

[coral88]

That is my dilemma It has a pc retro in it now and I have another I could add but I would rather have T5s I just don’t know if they will fit. The canopy is only 16in and I don’t think I can get HO T5s that small so it will probable have to be the pcs for now I think they will be adequate for this little tank. It will have two 32w pc and a moon light or two. The only other thing I was thinking was to make my own LED retro. I’ve been looking at the parts to do this and it would be a good little tank to try it on I could run only LEDs for about $100. I will have to think about it

 

[oceanparadise1]

Hmmmm, thats hard, what about just retoring a 150watt hqi, they are small and powerful, or do you think that would be over kill? Or even a 70 watt MH really would be fine. I like the LED idea, where would u get them at, and what color are they rated at?

 

[coral88]

I want to use the canopy or hqi would work the clearance on the canopy is only about 4” so the hqi would make to much heat. I don’t have all the bugs worked out on my diy LEDs yet when I do I will start a thread and show how I did it and give all my sources for parts you can get LEDs in a number of spectrums and blue but I need to know more about what the overpriced led fixtures are using before I know for sure if I’ve found what I’m looking for.

 

[oceanparadise1]

True the LED fixturees are wayyy overpriced! and yea your 150% right on not enough clearance, you would need a chiller then LOL. I think like u said b4 thou the pcs should be enough in a tank that size.

 

[cparka23]

Nice score. I say acanthastrea. The acans will be super hardy and probably more colorful. For an all zoa tank, I'd be too worried about adding one frag and finding out the next few days that it had pests/fungus.

As for the LEDs, what specifically did you need to know?

 

[coral88]

Nice score. I say acanthastrea. The acans will be super hardy and probably more colorful. For an all zoa tank, I'd be too worried about adding one frag and finding out the next few days that it had pests/fungus.

As for the LEDs, what specifically did you need to know?

For the leds I need to know what led is used for the daylight and what led is used for the actinic. I need a model number or something I can reference to find the same or similar leds after that I just need to learn a little more about wiring and the power supply. The leds I’m looking at are at http://www.theledlight.com/LuxeonLEDs.html#luxeon I just need to know which ones I want if they are there.

 

[coral88]

Tank is up and running

Let there be light

 

[oceanparadise1]

so did u pick BB this time again or just dont have sand for it yet? And man those LEDs are niec but VERy costly

 

[coral88]

I'm not sure yet

 

[cparka23]

If you're using Luxeon, I would recommend sticking with the 3W emitters mounted on stars. There are other Luxeon products such as the rebel and the K2, but they both have their drawbacks. Some people suggest using two white (some places say 'cool white') to one blue/royal blue. I haven't used these, so I couldn't really tell you which blue to choose. The white LED is listed as LXHL-LW3C on the bottom of the link for the STARS. You may have to do some trial and error to determine the exact ratio of white:blue, but 2:1 seems to be what many are satisfied with. It boils down to your personal taste, though.

Oh, and that page lists 5W LEDs, which are garbage. They are spec'd at 500+ hours of burn, so they're not worth considering at all. There are other luxeon products out there that are good/better for aquariums, but you'll pay 2-3 times more if you can even get one within a month.

As for wiring and power supply questions, these LEDs MUST be powered by a current-regulated power supply, not a regular DC transformer w/ resistors wired in series (that is a voltage-regulated power supply). Most people are running their DIY lights at 700mA; anything higher is pretty difficult to heat sink from what I've seen. As for the layout of how to wire, there's a bit of math involved there. A lot of it depends on what you have for a power supply.

And before you ask, I never had it in me to DIY my own LED fixture. It ends up requiring a lot of time to assemble, and the availability of the parts I wanted was always low. I didn't have the time nor patience. Hope you don't find this discouraging; this is just my disclaimer.

 

[oceanparadise1]

Heres a link from RC from a guy doing his own led fixture

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1438514