Tickles 40 breeder build

[tickle]

Hey everyone, I figured I had done enough trolling in the background and figured now would be a good time to come out of the shadows and say hey and show off my tank build.

This build will be a slow and steady build due to funds but have most the essentials already so I hope to be wet within the next month.

Setup consists of:

40 gallon breeder,stand, canopy acquired from the forums here
15 gallon sump
no name skimmer
700gph return pump
Glass-Holes Super nano overflow kit
Glass-Holes Ista Vortex Flow accelerator
DIY 100 watt LED Fixture
Reefkeeper Lite.


The only things I have thus far in my possesion are what you see in the picture which isnt much. Everything else is in the mail and I should hopefully have in a 2 week timeframe.
I plan on keeping a wide variety of corals and fish. This is just a prelude to a larger tank though, hopefully in a year or 2 I will be moving into a new house and will hopefully be able to have a 180 or larger.

Ive had other tanks before but they were mostly bought as running setups or biocubes, so this is my 1st ground up build per se and Im kinda excited.

The DIY fixture is based on these LEDS http://www.ebay.com/itm/270693085458?ss ... 1632wt_905 I got them in 16k and the 455-457 nm spectrum, they will be driven by 2 meanwell drivers controlled by the reefkeeper lite, The whole fixture not including the reefkeeper was under 200 bucks. I will be showcasing the build of the light here once everything arrives

Thoughts comments and suggestions are welcomed

[skanderson]

i am interested in watching the led build. from my understanding the higher wattage leds are not nearly as efficient as the 3 watters. will be watching with great interest how if goes together and what the par numbers are on a tank. if the read around 200 par right under the unit they wont be all that bright. but it is hard to tell details on that link.

[tickle]

I got the the idea from reef central and people are using them with great success and huge par numbers

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[tickle]

Also I can get a whole array of lenses and target specific spots. I'm going to try and angle the front row of lights to the back to reduce light spill and ramp my par up on my rock work

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[tickle]

Just wanted to say that my reefkeeper lite module came in and I will say that the myreef 2.0 software is by far the hardest, slowest most frustrating software I have ever used, if anyone has any tips they would like to share I would gladly accept them with open arms.

[tickle]

pc4 mounted


Head unit mounted

sorry for the fuzziness, the room is pretty dark believe it or not, i had to use long exposure times.

[jelly]

tip on the reefkeeper. get rid of it and get an apex. so much easier to set up and its wifi with out having to pay the extra.

[tickle]

I went with the reefkeeper because the light setup Im building will work better with it. And because of the price, I won't say but it was sub 100 brand new: )

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[tickle]

Oh and from what I heard jelly you're the one who built my stand lol. Thanks.

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[tickle]

Glass-Holes overflow kit came in today and I got that all drilled and installed and I honestly couldnt be more happy with, goin to get some rock and sand tomorrow and then Ill throw some pics up.

[tickle]

Well I got 40lbs of rock and a ton of sand from meisen ( great guy btw ) and have been waiting for the dust to settle. I threw a 400 watt halide in the hood and I run that for 2-3 hours every day cause there is a couple little coral polyps that i cant identify and Id like to see if they make it.


still a done of dust on the glass and Im gonna rearrange the scape on the left of the tank and see if I cant get it to fill out a little more and no look soo chunky.

Ive gotta work on my camera skills a little as well, the purple doesnt pop as well in the picture as it does in person

[tickle]

Bimmity BAM, some of my led parts came in today. Just the blue ones, so I guess I should say i have everything but my heatsink and whites lol

I couldnt wait for my heatsink to get here so I fired them up without it for a minute or 2. HOLY CHRISTMAS are these things bright, my eyeballs hurt and my test meter wouldnt read over 400mA so that is about half what these should run.


here is 1 10 watt chip


here is how i have them laid out, tighter grouping in the center where most my corals will be and 2 spaced further out.


10% driven at 400mA


I will see if I cant get some better pictures tonight to kind of give you a idea of how bright these bad boys are.

[tickle]

ok got em dialed in to 900mA. They can run 1A but i dont wanna go that high. The light controller for my reefkeeper is in the mail, gonna set it up to do a swing and hit 100% for maybe 1 hour a day and then later down the road when I have most the corals i think im gonna want ramp that up to do it for 2-3 maybe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOkRi54uzmg&feature=plcp

I got the idea from that guy ^^^^^ just took it and shrunk it down a little

still waiting for it to get a little darker for some pics. Its not over the tank yet, hopefully my heatsink will be here soon cause im goin crazy looking at this thing and not being able to have it over the tank
I should just invest in some curtains lol

[tickle]

ok here we go, BBBBBRRRRIIIGGGGHHHHTTTT, the picture does it no justice, im seeing spots still and that pic was taken 15 minutes ago.

[tickle]

Still no heatsinks, little bummed about that, hopefully tuesday cause I have tuesday off work
But ive got most everything mocked up


meanwells moutned along with RK ALC


cabinet tidied up


Lunar pods in white and im lovin em!