Here is what the tank looks like 45 days after I filled it up with water. I’ve added an auto top-off system and changed the HOB filter with a modded AC50 with some macro algae for nutrient export.

One of the clowns got sick the second day I got him. I treated him with formalin baths and pranzipro and it looks like it is getting better. Time will show… The skunk shrimp molted twice so far! I thought that didn’t happen that fast…

Well the cycle is going full speed ahead. Ammonia has been 0 for a few days now I have to wait for nitrites to go to 0 and nitrates to drop. As you can see there is plenty of algae growth for the last two weeks and it is getting time to add the cleanup crew. However it will probably be at least one more week before I can add them.
For CUC I’m thinking:
1-2 dwarf blue legged hermits
1-2 dwarf scarlet reef hermits
2-3 Cerith snails
2-3 Nassarius snails
2-3 Nerite snails
2-3 Astraea snails

These 10-15 little guys should be enough for my 10g tank.

Last I’m planning to ad a skunk cleaner shrimp and a pair of perculas.

I’m probably not going to be able to have an anemone, even though I’d really love to. I have not decided on corals yet either. Will see..

After I finished the hood of my tank last week, this week the rest of the hardware arrived, along with the live rock and live sand. On Monday I got my RO/DI system. At last we have pure clean water and don’t have to buy Brita filters. Thursday I got two boxes. One with the thermometer, heater, refractometer, two Koralia pumps and tests for Ammonia, Alkalinity, Calcium, Nitrate, Nitrite and Magnesium. In the second box I had my uncured live rock. So I had to fill the tank and setup the rock in it. Yesterday I got my live sand as well and now the the aquarium is arranged with all the hardware and live stuff in it:

After I finished with that I spent some time to test the water:
Ammonia: 1.25
Alkalinity: 2.97
Nitrate: 1.0
Calcium: 460
Magnesium: 1430
Nitrite: 0.1

Now I have to wait for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite to go to 0 (2-4 weeks) and then I can start adding some more life to the system! Stay tuned.

In this post I’ll try to show you how I made my LED light fixture for my new aquarium. THe original aquarium top came with 2 16W Power Compacts, so I thought I should upgrade them if I was to have a successful salt water reef tank.
‘Ingredients’ (for a 10g AGA kit top)
6x Cree XR-E 3W Natural White LED star mount
6x Cree XR-E 3W Royal Blue LED star mount
2x LuxDrive 3021 BuckPuck < - I used the external adjustable DC version
12x Wakefield 658-35AB heatsinks
1x small drape rod from BBB
1x angle aluminum (1/4 x 1/4 x at least 30in)
12х 4-40 screws
4х 40mm fans (EVERCOOL FAN-EC4010M12CA)
2х long bolts with nuts
1х thin acrylic sheet for led protection (big enough for the tank)
1х 24V PSU at a couple of amps at least
1х mating plug for the PSU for convenience
1х SPST switch
some velcro, thermal adhesive, wire, soldering iron etc...

Here is what I have:

So the first step for me was to cut the holes for the fans. I tried to drill them as high as possible so that they can blow out the hottest air and are not in the way of the lights.

Then cut the acrylic sheet (don’t remove the protective plastic yet):

To mount the leds to the heatsinks I used Arctic Silver thermal adhesive. The goal is to mix some and mount 4 leds. By that time the rest of the mixture will be too hard to use:

Cut the angle aluminum in 6 pieces 5inches long. Drill holes for the 4-40 screws about 1in in from each side (two holes per piece) that will be used to hold one white and one blue led.

Mount the heatsinks in the center for 5 of the aluminum pieces. on the 6th, mount the heatsins with as much space between them as possible. That piece will be in the middle of the back row, where the plastic bump in the lid is.

Use some velcro to stick the angles to the rods. I didn’t want to glue them because with velcro you can adjust the direction of your light and it is easier to repair. Also the pieces are quite light so there is no danger that it will fall down.

Next, wire the leds to the buckpucks. We have two Buckpucks, one for each color. The circuit is a series circuit so the positive of the buckpuck goes to the positive of the first led, then the negative of that led goes to the positive of the next led etc until the last netgative goes to the negative of the buckpuck:
Buckpuck + < ------> + LED – < -----> + LED – < ------> + LED – < -----> + LED – < ------> + LED – < -----> + LED – < ------> – Buckpuck

In the end you should end up with something like this:

To mount the rods to the top, I used two bolts, slightly bent , on one side and velcro on the other:

There were two holes on the back, one for the original on/off switch, and one for the power cable. I mounted my 2.5mm PSU plug to the power cable hole, and replaced the original push switch, with my SPST switch.
The fans are wired 2×2 in series, because they are 12V fans and we have 24V PSU and don’t forget to make them blow out, I think that’s the most effective way to cool the heatsinks.
I might do a schematic of the wiring if I’m not too lazy about it…

Yesterday I decided to do some fishing early in the morning so I setup my alarm clock for 6:30 (probably not too early for most fisherman, but early for me). I stopped by the bate shop to grab a couple of fresh bunkers and I had my tackle all set at the spot at around 7:10.

The tide was just starting to rise so I had to move back 3-4 feet every 15 minutes. So about an hour and a half later went through one bunker and no hits. It was time to move to the rocks as the water was coming too fast.

I spent another 30 minutes on bunker and I decided to change to a lure and try that. Unfortunately nothing happened. At about 9:45 the water was coming so fast that I couldn’t touch the bottom with my 1.5oz lure and the wind picked up so I called it a morning and left. I didn’t catch anything, but at least I had fun.