Electronic Reef - Complete 1 Gallon Pico System

[davidc]

I've designed and built a 1 gallon picoreef that will act as a complete system in a small package.

Flow:
It's got a built-in sump that fits a 79gph pump (real flow is much less due to restrictions). The pump outputs to two holes (diagonal to each other), and the water returns to the sump through the other two holes.

Lighting:
The lighting is going to be 25 white LEDs with 20000mCd rating each and 16 blue LEDs with 8000mCd rating each.

Temperature:
I've found a heater that is a flat pad, which will fit nicely. What I'd really like to do is use a thermoelectric device (peltier) to provide heat and cooling as needed with a small temperature probe.

Construction:
It's made of 1/8" acrylic and measures 8X6X8 (lXwXh), and the main compartment is designed to hold 1" of sand (if desired) and 6X6X6.5 of water (1 gallon). The divider between the two compartments is 7.5" tall and has four tapped holes in a square pattern for flow between. The sump area is 2X6X8 and fits 1-3 Via Aqua 80 pumps.

Filtration:
Filtration will be provided mostly by chaetomorpha in the sump and whatever liverock/sand is in the main part. As an alternative to sand, I'm considering using small liverock gravel (which I will make with a hammer ). This should provide a large surface area, but I don't know if there will be enough flow through it to do any good. I'm also going to try to build a pico-skimmer It'll be about 1.5" diameter and slightly taller than the tank. Pico V2 will have a built-in skimmer in the sump.

Control:
I plan to build a controller for the pump(s), lighting, heater/chiller and run it from a PC with some nice software (I'm very good at that sort of thing ) I have already written code to simulate the lunar cycle based on the date, and this will be incorporated. The software will allow fully customizable lighting, flow, and temperature control. It will be very graphical and easy to use.

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What are your opinions?

And would anyone be interested in buying such a thing if I decide to fab some in the future. If I sold them, I would fab all the pieces elsewhere and glue it myself. The joints would be much nicer that way. You at least have full specs here and free software will be available if you're a DIY type.

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I'm calling it the 'Electronic Reef', and it just might be the flagship product of a future innovative reef equipment business by the same name

[davidc]

forgot to post a pic.

Here is the finished tank pic. I've since hooked up the pump, added chaeto and sand, and let it run to observe the evaporation rate and temperature swings.

Evaporation isn't that bad. Temperature is completely unacceptable without a heater - might be better with the LEDs on top. The light hood hasn't been built yet.

I will post another picture tonight, and I'll post pics as I make progress.

[dhoffroad]

pic didnt work.
unless you are planing on toping off ATLEAST once a day I would look into some type of auto top off. I know you said not bad now but when the water gets to desired temp I think it will change I have been toping off my pico (look at post burbon glass pico) once a day since it has been going.

[davidc]

Originally Posted by dhoffroad

pic didnt work.
unless you are planing on toping off ATLEAST once a day I would look into some type of auto top off. I know you said not bad now but when the water gets to desired temp I think it will change I have been toping off my pico (look at post burbon glass pico) once a day since it has been going.

I'm not having an evap problem at 72deg, shouldn't be *way* higher at 80-82. I mean to say it's been running for almost a week and the sump is only half empty. That's approximately 1 cup evap per day. The sump affords me some leeway because it doesn't matter so much if the sump gets low - only thing is water param changes. I imagine some people water their plants everyday, so what's the big deal anyway?

Also, it's going to have a tight-fitting lid over the main compartment. The sump will be open though. I think if I can keep most of the water movement below the surface in the sump I won't have that much evaporation. The only problem with that is the lack of gass exchange, but hopefully the chaeto will help with that.

The real problem will be with the pico-skimmer I'm working on - once it gets going I might really have a problem with topoff, but I'll definitely have gas exchange then!

[davidc]

Originally Posted by dhoffroad

pic didnt work.
unless you are planing on toping off ATLEAST once a day I would look into some type of auto top off. I know you said not bad now but when the water gets to desired temp I think it will change I have been toping off my pico (look at post burbon glass pico) once a day since it has been going.

actually I bet the difference is lighting. I'll post what happens to evap when I add the lights.

[davidc]

UPDATES:

latest pic below. This is with 25 white LEDs at 20000mCd each and 16 blue LEDs at 8000mCd each at full blast.
The pic isn't very good. It's washed out looking and has too much purple. Also, I had just put southdown sand in there so it's cloudy. In person it looks much better, and the light looks fairly bright, crisp, and white. I think it'll keep shrooms and zoos easily, probably some LPS, and maybe some hard corals in the upper few inches.

I really like the flow. It's pretty strong for such a small tank, but it isn't blasting because of the output arrangement. I think I'll put a pound or two more rock in there and it'll be a nice little setup.

Evaporation has not increased with the added lights. I can still go about a week before the pump starts running dry. I haven't monitored for a temperature increase with the LEDs, but I doubt it's much. I can't feel any heat from above them. I will increase the temp to about 82 degs and see how that affects evap. Also, I need to finish the cover over the LEDs - that should reduce evap a lot.

I'm working on the software piece of the whole system, and doing some hardware design.

Stay tuned!

[Steve-O]

Looks like a good start. Im interested in more pics when further along.

[VWD]

When looking at pic, Looks bigger , Looks like alot of work , Vince

[davidc]

Originally Posted by VWD

When looking at pic, Looks bigger , Looks like alot of work , Vince

Thanks

The footprint is almost exactly that of a sheet of paper folded in half. Half paper = 46.75 sq in, tank = ~48 sq in.

It even looks a lot bigger in person because of the height and the refraction from the corners.

I've put a few frags in there as an experiment. I have hardy brown digitata, some indestructible yellow polyps, some moderately hardy zoos, and a green elkhorn.

The yellow polyps have been in there since the initial construction, mostly without light until recently. They even got stuck in the plumbing and stayed there for about 10 days. Now they're under a rock, and still alive!

Almost forgot, I have a very tiny frag of ricordea yuma. It's no more than a 1/4" piece of the disk. No mouth, no foot. It's been surviving, and slowly growing, in this tank almost as long as the yellow polyps. Amazing. Maybe these sea creatures are tougher than we sometimes give credit for.

[ski1297]

I like the led Do you think you could make a strip of bule leds ( for moon light) about 1" by 37" and how many watts would that be. Pm will not be a work untill mon and no internet at home.

[wharyat]

Originally Posted by ski1297

I like the led Do you think you could make a strip of bule leds ( for moon light) about 1" by 37" and how many watts would that be. Pm will not be a work untill mon and no internet at home.

Yes, thats what I did, not sure on watts but when you look at leds they are rated in mcd which is 1/1000 of a cd which equals one lumen, ex. 6000mcd=6cd=6 Lumens. I have 33 leds (16 white, 17 blue) in 24" in my tank.

[XsploveReefin]

Hey i have an idea. I have a Computer with 6 isa slots which i think i could use for a program to setup and run my tank lighting ect....

[jabesnyder]

Totally cool idea. Please post more pics!

[wharyat]

Yes, I think some updates are in order

[davidc]

Well, the tank is still running. I've built a pico-skimmer that is powered by an airstone. It works great! I'll post a pic of it later this weekend.


The SPS frags died out, and the zoos aren't doing real well either. I think it's mostly due to not enough light. The LEDs don't seem to be as bright as they used to be. I guess they aren't very good quality. Also, I've been running them 24/7 because I'm lazy. This probably hurts the corals, and probably the LEDs.


For a while I had a real bad algae problem because I was using the tank to experiment with bivalve filtration. This tank had to decompose 2 dead mussels The skimmer helped with that once I got it going.


I haven't had much time at all to work on the software/electronics side of it because I've been very busy at work. I'll probably start spending a little more time with it in the next couple of weeks.