6G Nano/Pico Build

[Mitchell0605]

Ok guys I have pictures of many things.

Ok first off a FTS with everything transfered plus a few new guys. You'll meet them later.
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My lights. Someone figure out how they hang please.
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My fuge.
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And a FTS from today. Things got moved a bit as you can see.
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MY BRAND NEW MONTI <3 Green with red polyps. Might have to click the pic to see the polyps.


My new Lobophyllia. Orange and purple. Has a hint of green.


My new Trachyphyllia. He's still adjusting.


My LED fuge light. Love it.



^With that light I get a lot of bleed into the tank. Any ideas how to fix it?

 

[Mitchell0605]

The shots from above that got deleted. They're in order.

 

[azure bones]

Looking good I'm loving the Lobophyllia and Trachyphyllia wish I could do corals like those but I would defiantly need a light upgrade

 

[Mitchell0605]

Maybe. What kind of light do you have?

 

[azure bones]

20 watt 50/50 cf over a 5 gall

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[Mitchell0605]

Hmmm. Maybe enough. LPS aren't huge light demanding corals. The SPS which the Monti is do need a lot. Check with Thomil or Melosu or Zero on that light and LPS but you might get away with a Trachy because you can supplement them by feeding them chunks of meaty foods like mysis because they can eat that easily.

 

[azure bones]

Ok thanks ill look into that most ppl tell me its not much light bc it not very efficient I need to mod some sort of a better reflector in my hood

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[Mitchell0605]

A reflector is great it roughly doubles the amount of light into your tank meaning more PAR for your corals.

 

[azure bones]

Do u know if the angles matter or just any thing shiny would help I've heard different DIY like spraypainting it white or mylar ballon or even aluminum foil

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[Zer0]

Excellent pictures and coral Mitch. I really love that monti. I love those guys. I'm definitely going to have a few species of those in my tank. Those T5's look amazing over your tank. Colors are great.

As for limiting the light coming from the LED fixture over the fuge, you could try moving it closer to the surface of the water in your AC. Or maybe you could build some small circular fixture to put around the light to limit light spill.


Azur, 20w's of CF light over a 5G still isn't all that strong. I would say you could get away with softies and maybe some LPS, but you would definitely have a hard time with SPS. Not to mention that you need to be on top of your water quality if you want SPS because they react quickly to water fluctuations, which is typical in small systems if you don't have proper filtration. If you can keep your water parameters stable, which means no nitrites, no ammonia, and very little nitrates and phosphates you could try some species of SPS that have lower lighting requirements than most of the high-light SPS. They would most definitely need to be placed near the top of your tank. I would look in to a T5HO fixture for your tank, or maybe even LED's. You could try something like a PAR38 LED bulb, which fits in to almost all normal light sockets. But you would need to get rid of the hood on your tank. Or you could go DIY LED's. I know it may be a little complicated, but you can find tons of information on how to setup your LED's. On a tank like yours you would only need 6 LED's at most, maybe 12 if you wanted. Not to mention that LED's give off some of the most amazing colors i've ever seen in corals. If you want some examples or have any questions, just PM me, i don't want to hijack Mitch's build thread.

Check these guys out: Reef Led Lights

That's the site i plan on getting my 24LED DIY kit for my tank.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Thanks KeV and thanks for not hijacking my thread with a rave about LEDs. If you lived in Aus I send you a frag of that Monti.

I fixed up my light bleed issue by constructing a light 'chamber' of sorts out of toilet paper rolls and attaching it to the light. Works like a charm. Very, very little light bleed now. I'll post a oil of it tomorrow with my test results.