23" Cube Reef, DIY LEDs and DIY Shelf Rock......

Here is my biggest DIY project ever. The stand, light pendant, LEDs, false bottom, shelf rock and rock stand, and the partition section are entirely DIY.

Tank is 23X23X23, 1/2" glass.

Equipment: DIY LED array, DIY stand and light pendant, all DIY live rock. Wavemaster Pro wavemaker + maxijet pumps.

LEDs are a combination of Neutral white (4000K), Warm white (2700K), and Royal Blue.... All Cree or Luxeon Rebels. Has 14 whites and 26 blues. Plus, it will have as a dusk/dawn effect a single 20-watt, 15,000K white LED that will come on early in the morning and go off later at night.

 

OK here are some pics!

Here are the LEDs!!!!





The big one in the middle is a 20,000K white 20-watt LED that I will use for dusk/dawn. The small LED near it is just a slight moonlight overkill. The rest are all driven by Meanwells and are Cree XRE, XPG, or Luxeon Rebel ES.




Here is the rockwork! I sprayed the rocks with pink and purple Krylon fusion as an experiment but I already like it. Looks way, way better than "dead white/grey".

All this rock is DIY home made, as per the first page in this thread.

You may notice the black plastic bottom (sits on the bottom glass)--- it's 1" thick but I used a tablesaw to dado out the bottom such that it's actually hollow, except for the 2" that goes around the edges, so that the weight of this heavy rock formation is spread out to the far edges of the tank (where it sits on the trim) rather than being pressed down in the middle.

Right side:


Right corner view:


Front:


Left corner view:



Left side:

 

neat

 

Very interesting rock work

 

Super DIY skills. My fav is the LEDs.

 

Nice DIY rockwork. sexy! 8)

 

Thanks guys!!

This is tricky to do without having tons of shadows on the rockwork. I made several of them with "fingers" so that I can still get light to the rocks below, and so far I think it worked.



This tank will be soft coral and hardy LPS dominated, with lots of flowing tentacles, and those types tend not to be super sensitive to light levels. We'll see!

 

I am wondering how this setup might slow down the spread of fast growing soft corals like GSP and anthelia. I think they will have a harder time working up the levels since the only connection is between the rocks where there is little to no light.......

 

I've also decided to start putting in, tomorrow, corals like anthelia, GSP, xenia, and zoanthids---- I've put these in uncycled tanks before with no problem, so I'm going to try again.


My theory is, if your tank isn't cycled, but you have some free soft coral sitting around, throw them in (as long as you don't mind risking it, and they aren't SPS or LPS). I do not personally think ammonia exposure, at lower (ie, sane cycle) levels are dangerous to soft corals.

 

Just put in a frag of GSP, pink (common) anthelia, blue anthelia (not so common, but prolific), green palythoa, and a couple fuzzy mushrooms. We will see how these do as the cycle progresses.