Chi w/ rice

[Mr Cob]

good news.


....you are very experimental!

[StevenSeas]

good news.


....you are very experimental!

LOL I am unsure as to if this is a good or bad thing, I will take it as good for now, if it fails on my 2nd attempt I will take it as bad for a while.


If this attempt fails horribly then I will quit for a while if not well then I will keep at it so long as it doesnt cost too much more money.
I am planning a second attempt on the LEDs this time just encasing the entire piece in clear epoxy and then hopefully being able to remove the epoxy from the lenses if not then ooo well.

[StevenSeas]

OK well I got my new super clear epoxy for 22 dollars today ... only needed 20o ml of the 1000 I paid for ... now i know why I didnt go this route origianlly. HOwever I have applied it and it Is now sitting in a jug of water testing its waterproofness and is coming up with flying colors. Why I didnt originally go this way I have no Idea, soo much easier and better looking, just not as cheap. OOO well hopefully the LEDs will be back on by tonite or tomorrow

[StevenSeas]

OK so I got impatient after 0 stray voltage and minimal temp change (could have been due to external factors) So I threw the LEDs back on the Chi and it looks soo much better than the PC light that was on it. the zoas have color that pop and look good. Just have to wait now to get more frags for it...

[tebstan]

words words words... where's the pics?!

[StevenSeas]

So somehow I blew out my LEDs. I had unplugged them after the switch that i had put inline and was servicing the tank, then go to plug the quick disconnects back in and one bright flash later my LEDs no longer work. My best guess is that its because i was running 5 LEDs on a meanwell 700 ma constant current driver which apparently has a minimum load of 6 LEDs.....OOPS. So now I have ordered some new LEDs. I ordered 3 RB, 3 7000K, 3 10,000K and 3 Cyan to play around with configurations with. I am getting the cheap Chinese knock offs that a few people have gone with as they are only 2 dollars each and so i can get 12 including shipping for $28. I hope to play around with these to keep the nice look of LEDs but improve on some of the "missing spectrum." I am looking at running these off of a buckpuck or maybe a meanwell but still undecided there, as well as dimming.

On the upside after a while of no cycle going on in my tank due to lack of bacteria.... Silly me using dry rock and barebottom didnt think of the fact that i wouldnt have any LIVE bacteria to multiply. I had bought Cycle in order to cycle my tank but had forgot that it requires some bacteria. As I kinda needed it sooner than later I picked up biozyme from petco. This was the only other biological starting agent other than Cycle that they sold :( However now i finally seeing a reduction in ammonia and getting nitrites and nitrates, so I am excited. I didnt expect it to work at all as it was 5 dollars to treat 500 gallons and was a dry powder.

[StevenSeas]

Well after some debating and going back and forth I am deciding to try out this whole rice thing, am looking at ways of making it a nano SPS tank. I have read Aurora's thread on RC and half of the other 33 pager. I will NOT be using a reactor for this as it will probably only take up about a teaspoon or so lol. I will be having the rice hidden away in the built in filtering system. The way I have the flow worked out and its designed it should essentially act like a reactor anyways. I will probably just run an air stone on the top layer to infuse some fresh air. My plans are to only run a sponge, rice, and an airstone, maybe a small bag of carbon as the only means of filtration.

We shall see