impur's biocube 29

[k2parkstar]

Nice job on the LED work. The scape looks good too. Can't wait to see it stocked.

 

[skinz78]

Great looking LED, good luck in the contest!

 

[impur]

 

[revsgirl]

Lookin' good!!

 

[impur]

Got some free time today to finish up my LEDs

First up I cut each wire and tinned them. You can see the different here. Basically just adding a bit of solder to the stripped wire. Makes it much easier to get them to stick on the pad.

All wired up, test run....

Success!!!

 

[impur]

Next set

I'm on a roll

Added the optics

 

[impur]

I wanted to reuse the moonlights

 

[BarbH]

Looks great, nice job on doing the leds.

 

[impur]

The pentiometers were too big to fit in the spot were the original light switches were. So I headed to Radio Shack and got some new ones. The ones that came with the kit were 27 ohm, I could only find 25 ohm but it works.

Here they are in place

Wiring all done

 

[impur]

100%

I dimmed the whites a bit in this picture

Right side

Left side

 

[impur]

The light doesn't get much at the front of the tank, I am going to remove the optics and see how it looks like that. If that doesn't work i'll need to get new optics wider than 60 degrees. But overall I love it. Just what I wanted.

 

[danielsreefs]

looks good i want to do that to mine now looks sick

 

[skinz78]

Looking great!

 

[impur]

Just a quick update

I've got lots of pods on the glass, stomatella and collonista snails all over, and a fine layer of diatoms on the glass as well. I haven't tested anything yet, I am not in a huge hurry. But this weekend i will probably do some tests. I am not running my skimmer but have been running my lights to help some algae grow so the current critters have some food. I did add a few pinches of flake food and some pellets at the same time I added the piece of live rock. So all is good there.

The downside is I found a patch of the white polyp hydroids on my live rock piece. I removed it and burned the entire area with a lighter so they are gone now. I've spotted a couple other single hydroid polyps as well, so I plan to dose this tank with Hydroxs before I add anything else to it. I have the same hydroids in my other tank and I hate them more than anything on earth. Everything will be dipped in Hydroxs before going into this tank also. I won't let the hydroids take over this tank!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Nice job on the diy led's. Sorry to hear about the hydroids, but sounds like you are on top of them.

-M&T

 

[impur]

Thanks! It was a fun project for sure.

 

[impur]

I removed the optics from the LEDs today and man what a difference!! Full coverage now, the front is nicely lit, and the shimmer is amazing

I added a koralia nano for more flow, and replaced the return pump since it was noisy. Also did some tests, no ammonia, no nitrites, 10ppm nitrates so hopefully almost done with the cycle

Right side

Left side

 

[mallorieGgator]

Looks awesome! I like the rockscape a lot!

 

[impur]

Thanks! I like it so far as well, nice and open. Hopefully the fish will enjoy it also. Its kinda hard to see but that rock in the very middle of the structure has a large hole in the center of it, so even more swimming room

I put in an order to Reef Cleaners just a minute ago. I got snails and some red gracilaria. So my livestock total is up to $5

Livestock:
Red Gracilaria ..... $5

 

[BarbH]

Looking good, and congrats on reaching the end of the cycle one of the hardest parts waiting for it to finish up.