New_from_Peru

Hi all, Been away on vacation for 3 weeks, back in the seat and what a view! My office dictraction has exploded with babies - I have lots of A/S grade CBS, lots of A/S grade CRS and some higher grade CBS too. I don't want to get too excited but there are a couple very black shrimplets in there with one stripe of white and black faces. The plants have also gone a little feral since I have been away and will need trimmed back. Here is another video of the tank taken this morning, the population is happy and I have been using Borneo Wild Baby Shrimp food to keep the little ones going. If anyone is looking for one of these lights I can build you one - I have been waiting for winter to roll around to acutally put a few on Ebay and see how they sell. the TEC needs some perfecting and I have all the parts now to build a bigger one for a 16 gallon tank at home but again with warm days I haven't started the project yet. See what you think (there is a RKK in the tank somewhere) http://youtu.be/X7jBwPpN3KE

Unfortunatly on this build they sit out in the open in my office - looks a little "mad proffessor" but ok for now. Had to move the intake around a little so the flow is high enough not to cause freezing and the hose to pop off (this did happen and the office carpet got wet). No harm to the wee guys though - all still happy. For the 16 gallon build I am working on - I think one of the mini / micro atx PC cases would work well. I found a resonably nice looking one for less than $50 in memory express - I also found a 450W power supply in there which would happily run 2 x 168W peltiers. This would make for a better looking system / box and allow it to be less obvious in the dining room of the house. The one in the video above cools the water from 22°C to 21°C in around 50 minutes and allows me to have my office at 22°C. I have moved my Blue Diamond neo's in here until the project in the house is done - my house has alot of glass and heats up pretty quick even on a cool day.

All, Something new for the tank!! My office has been freezing as I have been keeping it cool so the tank stays cool for the little guys. I really didn't like the office being 18/19°C to keep the tank at 22°C.... so..... I made a TEC. Here is a video of it with the tank, if I did another (which I will for one of my home tanks) then I would do better job of routing the wires and turn the peltier / cooler arrangement upside down from this setup. My Office Distraction with TEC Cooler added CBS / CRS doing great - blue diamonds moved to this tank after some heat issues in their original tank. That is an IAL sitting in the middle and a tiny sprig of HC that tagged along on one of the other plants too. Next project - much bigger cooler for 16 gallon tank at home! Going to upgrade to a PC power supply and double 120w peliters to get it cool.

Hey, I love the idea of heating the tank with the light fixture - but as summer is round the corner I am going for a cooling system first. I see the cree's are working well and you mention all the plants are growing - great news! As far as thermal cooling of the LEDs my understanding is the disappation of heat is increasing the MTBF (mean time between failure) numbers for the LEDs. Just like cooling a PC - the cooler it runs the longer it will last. I love this light fixture and I worked on one for my Fluval Edge which is working great - got a tag along piece of HC in there now making progress. PC components for cooling / heating type systems is cheap and you can get it from Memory Express Etc - if you could braze the steel hard pipe to the back side of the aluminium (correct spelling) you would get fantastic heat transfer from the light into your water. I don't think you would need a pump as natural convection would take care of the circulation, even think of a closed loop with a heat exchanger in the tank? Titanium or S Steel coil transfering the heat into a corner of the tank? Would be more visable but it's closed so less likely to go wrong - same idea as a liquid cooler for a PC CPU (Corsair H60- http://www.corsair.com/hydro-series-h60-cpu-cooler.html ) You have the hard pipe as the CPU block and some kind of heat exchanger in your tank / fliter instead of the radiator in the link. Great job so far. DP

Haha - I have an order sitting on my browser waiting for a tank to cycle for BD's =)

Any recent pictures to look at over lunch time?

Pictures or it didn't happen =) Would love to see the HC getting established.

Great job on the DIY, very nice fitting! How are the light levels compared to the T5 you had previous (other than the sparkles that is)? Your HC is doing well and the tank looks great.

=) I am currently waiting on a quote for the materials for a lower profile light, will keep all updated! Newest project - Computer based 12v Chiller for my 16 gallon neo tank in the house. Calgary hit 18°C the other day and I had most of the windows open in the house to keep it at 23°C. By the time summer hits my shrimp with be making a broth - most expensive gumbo around! Will post an update on it.

Update with short video - the tank is going great! Here is a short video of the wee guys loving the place.

Hi there, I am from Alberta - grew up in Scotland - lived in Lima for three years - returned to work in Calgary =) We arrived here in Calgary in December last year. I love being able get a hold of everything you need or at least the stuff to make what you need. It's great NFP

Plants are pearling for the first time in this tank using the new light! Possible for a full glosso / HC carpet in the Fluval edge? Would be difficult to trim and keep neat but CRS / CBS climbing over the carpet would be cool =)

Hey, I run with a little Excel which I drip in every three days, the Amazona is good for the basic nutrients and I am lucky because the office water supply is filtered of all the nasties and comes out at around 125 TDS which I buffer up to just below 200 with Fluval Shrimp Water Hardener. The CRS in there appear really happy and are growing away. I'll keep an eye on the plants (and algae) and I have a dimmer on the system which I can adjust the light to gain balance! Just want to see how it goes on super charge mode to start!

Hey, If you include all the tools I purchased etc then way too much! Luckily I have enough basic materials for another one the same. I sourced the materials from the US which was very silly, having done some home work now I realise I can get everything I need either here in Calgary or Red Deer for a fraction of the cost! I reckon the 2nd one with high power LEDs would be in the region of $40 - $50, maybe less from the original materials, if people are interested the I would price up from local materials and provide a cost. This isn't for cash, I just enjoy making stuff. I mentioned above a low profile version and following that I reckon I could get a few powder coated in Black, pewter or white to match peoples tanks! I think that would be very cool. I had ordered the materials when I spotted the pictures of your two tanks (which are awesome btw), how much does the light around the edges help your plant and coral growth?? I think you may have the best Fluval Edge set up that I have seen to date.

Hi all - this is a repeat of a post in the planted tank section but it's an update on this tank so here you go. Hi all, Just thought I would show a couple pictures of my solution for lighting the full area of the Fluval Edge 6g. My first thought was to upgrade the original light (which has been done) but that doesn't solve the problem of lighting the edges (ironic given the name of the tank). So here is my solution! This light bar is bonded pieces of Aluminum acting as a heat sink for high power LEDs, the bar should be giving out between 750 - 850 lumens additonal light to where it is needed most in this type of tank. These are the highest power LEDs I could source to fit inside this type of heat sink, they are capped, bonded and soldered into the frame. I'll be monitoring the tanks temperatures closely as I have a good handle on what they are without the extra light bar. On first impressions the whites of my CRS really pop out making them standout in lot of plant life. The edges of the tank are fully illuminated and I'll be keeping an eye on the plant growth! If anyone is interested I am considering making a lower profile version (depending on the temps) so PM if you think you might like one, I bought all the tools and seems a shame only to build one with all the gear.