Megs Mini Ocean!

[Jnicho]

So my 12 year old daughter talked me into putting a 10 gal in her room. Here are some pics from the build. I call it an experiment because we had some of what it took to coble it together already sitting around and also because we are trying a real DIY lighting setup. We are using 3 standard 26W twisty bulbs. 2 are 6500K and I made 1 blue using a special anodize spray which is translucent. The color with a good coating mimics the color of actinic quite well. I also gave her LR, LS and water from my big tank, so the cycle should be minimal. It's fun to do a project like this with your kids. She is really getting into researching fish and corals trying to decide what she wants to put it in. She even got an official initiation tonight when I made her start the siphon out of the bucket and she got a mouthful of saltwater. She was really worried that she swallowed some of the pods we saw swimming around in the bottom of the bucket!

Anyway, on with the pics.

In the beginning:



Basic hood thrown together to house the twistys:


Hood in place with all bulbs lit:


Only the fake actinic lit:


In goes the water:


And finally all done for tonight...still a little cloudy, but not a bad start:


More to come....

[dobejazz]

Welcome to the Build off !!

[VWD]

Very cool, Good Luck!

[fish.freak]

Glad to have another tank in the build. Good luck!

[miniwhinny]

Hey, welcome to you and your daughter. It's great to see these kids getting involved in the build-off. Maybe we need a "special" award for the kids. Good luck.

[DarthOcellaris]

neato. Welcome to the contest

[Loverotties]

Good Luck!

[JY13131]

Hey that is cool how you made that light fixture!!

[Wiskey]

Welcome to the buildoff! Looks like a fun project, I'm sure your daughtor will love it Have you considered some kind of reflector for those lamps?

Whiskey

[kerrnel]

Creative lighting setup! I'd be very interested to see what will grow in a 6500K tank. I'd thought about it with my own setup until I bit the bullet and went and got a corallite fixture.

From what I've read, many "standard" bulbs are 5500K or below and foster a lot of algae growth, much of it non-desirable. Having replaced all the bulbs in my house to the new swirly fluorescents, I know they have full-spectrum 6500K bulbs which is what I was originally looking at. My understanding is at the 6500K range, the non-desirable algae growth tapers off and shallow-water corals and fish should be happy.

Should be a great learning experience for your daughter!

Mike.

[fish.freak]

Originally Posted by kerrnel

Creative lighting setup! I'd be very interested to see what will grow in a 6500K tank. I'd thought about it with my own setup until I bit the bullet and went and got a corallite fixture.

From what I've read, many "standard" bulbs are 5500K or below and foster a lot of algae growth, much of it non-desirable. Having replaced all the bulbs in my house to the new swirly fluorescents, I know they have full-spectrum 6500K bulbs which is what I was originally looking at. My understanding is at the 6500K range, the non-desirable algae growth tapers off and shallow-water corals and fish should be happy.

Should be a great learning experience for your daughter!

Mike.

Stuff will grow fine, it just may not color up as it would normally

[Wiskey]

Let's not forget that the sun at high noon puts out ~6500K light

Let's also not forget that a few years ago most SPS keepers used iwsakia 6500K MH bulbs, with a bunch of atinics, and some still do.

Whiskey

[Tim224DT]

Great start!! Like the hood for the tank that was made.

[dobejazz]

any updates

[Jnicho]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

Welcome to the buildoff! Looks like a fun project, I'm sure your daughtor will love it Have you considered some kind of reflector for those lamps?

Whiskey

I made some aluminum reflectors to individually go over each lamp. Honestly I don't notice much difference with or without them in place, but I suppose they must reflect some light. I think painting the inside of the hood might be good too.