BUILD: 120g gu10 led bulbs mixed reef with SPS in the mix ;).

[Norahs_dad]

I'm setting up my 120g finally 48x24x25ish have seen some tanks (tiny giant's at NR) for one with 3x1w gu10 led bulbs I have a 4 bulb 8t shop light that I will be usesing thinking of trying to keep the t8 in there and run the 6500k HD bulds for extra light Because I will be growing sps in it and just move them to fit everything may need to put a fan on it. I ordered the 3x1w because they run cooler. People have tryed the 3x3w and they don't seem last very long, heck I may have that problem if I don't keep mine cool enuff next to the t8s it will be open button, suspended hood.
Also building a tall stand for the tank, it will have a homemaid from fish tank basment sump of some kind haven't found a one cheep - free yet. If i have to i will canablize one of my wife's rubbermaid storage bins i will. Got 100lbs of dry pukani rock couldent aford that much live rock oh but i relly liked the pukani so I got it instead of the less costly Fiji and 10 lbs of rubble coming, a ro/di, and a bunch of gu10s and socks. Got about 150lbs of Suger fine sand from nice fellow RF, picked up a pump at harbor frate that says it says it starts out at 2300gph has a 20ft head hight we will see I May do a test with a garden hose from down stares to the top deck to see it does not say how much water at 20ft but if it gets 5-600 I will be happy. Hope that dident make your head hurt I tend to ramble my type and can't spell to save my life.
Glen

 

[Norahs_dad]

Well I got it set up stairs now I just soaked the live rock in tapwater for two days and then powashed them off. After two days the water looked like tea. I dident want to cook them because I dident want to change the outside look of the rock and I seen where an acid bath changes that. I got a 55 gallon from someone on here for $25 and it is up and running as my basment sump. The bean animal is supper quiet, wich I love because my daughter wares couchlear implants and I have hearing aids so a quiet tank upstares is a + . Even the sump is quiet. My sockets have arrived but still waiting in the bulbs so in the mean time I just put a light I had made that was over my aquapod over it right now it is cristle clear don't know if the rocks will turn the water cloudy or not but so fare 24 hours of running and it is crisp.

 

[mojoreef]

Sounds good Glen, one question for ya. Why did you soak the LR? was it used??

Mike

 

[Norahs_dad]

Hi Mike
I soaked it to get the dead sponges and things back hidrated so they would wash off the water was really yellow after two days with a mag 7 and I dident want my tank turning yello and foul smelling.
The rock was pukani dry rock from BRS looks really good (well to me) I ordered 100 lbs for my 120 I ended up putting about 90 in the DT and the other 10 in the sump fuge.
I also had bought 150 lbs of live sand from anuther member and have keep it in a rubber maid tub with a heater and pump and have been feeding it a little sqwert of liquid food every 3 days to feed it hahahah I don't know if that was what I was suppost to do or not but it is also in the tank, of only 100 lbs of it is in the tank.
I have two small live rocks I would like to use to to try to get coraline alge started and a little more seed but they have hair alge on them, I got them that way and dont know how to kill it before putting it in the tank without killing the coraline on the rock and any useful bactria? Vinager?

 

[kpiotrowski]

I ordered the same pukani, and same 100lbs. I soaked mine for a few weeks with several water changes before adding salt and there was still enough dead crap on it to cycle my tank. so I'm with ya on that one!

 

[Norahs_dad]

photos

 

[Norahs_dad]

Well got fixture put together just waiting on gu10s from China oh and the 4 bulbs that are in it now are just 2300k test bulbs I have the 6500k set aside for the tank. Used scrap aluminum track lighting as my heat-sink for the bulb sockets.

 

[Norahs_dad]

Well I got my fixture hung just waiting on bulbs still and two days ago diatoms finally showed up in the tank under where I had the temp light.
If any on can help take a look at these numbers and tell me if my tank is on the way out of the full cycle or just a small cycle that would help.
First off I have two damsels in there from my aquapod 24 I dident know that it wasn't seen as a good way to cycle a tank anymore the last time I cycled my first tank was in 2001 and it was a 12 gallon then I moved that to an aquapod so it really dident cycle and in 2001 I was told to use fish so thats what I did this time too. But after looking online i see now that some people have moved away from using fish, and some still do use them I plan on getting them out of there before I start adding corals but wish I would have seen sooner because now I have the extra job of a getting them out of the tank and finding a place for them to go.

July23
ammonia 0.50 ppm nitrite 0.25 ppm nitrate 5.0ppm Ph8.4
24.th. 0.00. 0.25. 5.0. 8.2
25.th. 0.00. 0.25. 10.0. 8.4
26.th. 0.00. 0.25. 10.0. 8.4
26evening 0.00. 0.25. 10.0. 8.4
29th. 0.00. 0.0. 0.00. 8.4

It never got high and rember I got sand live sand out of anuther RF members tank, (although it is not loaded with the kinds of life my sand from my old tank had lots of Bristol worms and things moving moving in the sand but he had a lot of big fish so it had to have microscopic bacteria life in it.
Just wondering if you think my tank is cycled or went throw a mini cycle. I am not in a hurry I have to fly back to AR at the end of August so I will be working on getting some Cheto in the sump coraline to start spreding on dry rock and things like that till I get back, then I have to catch the damsels too.
So my tank is going sit I just would like to know when I can order a cleanup crew and some copepods?

 

[Norahs_dad]

three days of 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate ph has been holding steady 8.4 i have been feeding pretty heavy to there is still quite a bit of flake food that is on the sand on purpose to see that the tank can handel it and has been for 5-7 days still have 0s for 3days all i can think is because i put 100lbs of sand from anuther members tank and heated it and had a pump and feed it it stayed full of the good bacteriea.
ordered cheto copepods and a CUC and the $.01 macro from reefcleaners will be here this week. oh and i just got a email on my GU1s from China suppler said DHL would not take the pacage with out phone # @$%*^%$% its been 16 days they sent it out last night China time, suppler said to look for it in 3-5 bussness days wich i beleve because it only took the sockes that long to get here.
dry rocks have tinted my water a little will probubly do a first water change this evening.

 

[Norahs_dad]

Well this is my skimmer after two weeks smells like sulfur when I take the lid off It dark greenish gray in color I will dump it tomorrow when I wont gag everyone in the house.

 

[Norahs_dad]

http://img.tapatalk.com/62e81af4-45b6-521f.jpg[/IMG
Just the Moon light

 

[Norahs_dad]

 

[Norahs_dad]

Just the blues

 

[Norahs_dad]

Just the whites

 

[Norahs_dad]

Just the t8 6500ks

 

[Norahs_dad]

With all on looks pretty good only time will tell if the bulbs last? And only time with coral in the tank and good water peramiters will tell if it will grow coral in my 120g.

View from entry door

 

[jgalvin]

looks great! i have a very similar tank (100g - 48X24X20), and recently swapped out most of my 5 year old live rock for 60 lbs of pukani for BRS. i rushed it and soaked only a week and had a pretty bad cycle (lost a bunch of SPS and fish). looking forward to seeing the progress on your tank.

 

[Norahs_dad]

Thanks
Day 4 and nothing had gone wrong yet been running them all 12 hours a day because i only have one timer as of now so i have that plugged into a surge power strip kicks them all on at 5:30 and all off 5:30. No heat issues with the tank but the bulbs them selfs get hot not because they are close but because they just do I plugged one in by it's self and let it hang for a day it is hot enuf that if you put your hand on it after about 8 seconds you will want to take it off. Same with in the fixture. I can't believe they are designed to go in can-lights because it would seem inside a can-light it would get so hot it would fry the LEDs.
I figured they have been making them for a few years now only with minor changes to the heat sink and if there was a major problem with them over heating they would have changed directions by now. Again we will see what happens with time if they start burning out or getting dimmer I will post what is happening.
it's a really cool looking fixture in person, on iPhone most of it gets washed out.

I only soaked mine for two days but then power washed them after that. I went throw the cycle and am one day 29 now for 12 days now I have been at 0 for ammonia-nitrites-nitrates
Calcium is up a little 480 but I am trying to grow some Caroline on the white rock. Phosphates have been in between
The 0.0 and the 0.25 color so around 0.13 for.
I did one 25-30% water change and have pretty much left it alone.
I will get some small frags of SPS from someone on RF and watch them obsessively for any signs of growth, color change (good or bad) or trouble.
With the design of the lights if there is signs of the SPS not getting enuf light
I can pull the two center t8 out and put in a strip of 3w or 5w LEDs down the road that was why I built it that way so if i am almost there with the amount of light I need but still need a little more I can add some strips here and there without scrapping the whole thing as long as the
Bulbs hold up. I hope I don't have to add any but I do have an out if thing go south on me.
Can't wait to get some corals going.

 

[itche_scratche]

Great setup, tagging along. I'm in the middle of purchasing material/equipment to build the same size of your tank. Hopefully can start the build in a month or 2.

 

[Norahs_dad]

Well just a quick update green and burgundy Coraline is starting to form on my rocks, will be trading for some small dark purple coraline seed rocks at the meeting this saterday so after awhile I will have that too and see wich one wins.
Got my 7 hydors put in one stays on all the time and then 3 more come on and 3 more go off so all the time I have 4 running. One 250gph one 500gph four 600gph and one 1200. Plus about 1000gph return.
So I end up with at least 3500gph at all times.
Also will be getting a small desk fan to blow across the tank and LEDs I have a bigger one in there now and it helped keep the tank cool with the Extra hydors
and cooled of the LEDs too so well that I can hold on to them as long at I want too cooled them way down that has to be a good thing for extended life.