I'm Back !!!! Desktop reef build thread

[mildcustom2]

Well after a divorce 7 years ago and my career not allowing me to keep my 220G Reef I shut it down and sold everything off.

Now that I am the new big boss man in the Canadian division I don't have to travel very much anymore if at all. However the desk life isn't kind to me some days so I find myself looking at two options to deal with the day to day challenges. Keep a bottle or rum in the desk drawer or get a desktop reef going.

Sooooooo I decided to go for the desktop reef plan. Now a lot things have changed in the hobby since I left as far as technology so I am back to experimenting and researching.

Plans are as follows :

JBJ Cubey 3 gallon tank

In addition to the LED lighting in it I will try to cram in 5x ECOPICO LED 12000K / 435 light strips

Bare bottom with one or two pieces of live rock only

50W heater to keep things warm

As far as livestock it will be a shrimp or two and mostly LPS and Zoa's.

I will also add a ATO system to keep things balanced.


Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated.

[WarDog]

Rum in the drawer would be cheaper... just sayin'.

Welcome back.

[Aquattro]

Rum in the drawer would be cheaper... just sayin'.

Welcome back.

Would have been my choice..:)

[mildcustom2]

I can assure you there will be some drank during the process of setup and observation after hours. May even sneak in a cigar while I am at it.

[Aquattro]

Cuban??

[mildcustom2]

Cuban??

Of course !!!

[Ram3500]

My vote is for rum and a reef tank.

[mildcustom2]

Call me a little cracked if you may but what's the chance I could keep some basic SPS frags in a little tank like this?

Maybe some monti digitata, birds nest or millipora.

Any thoughts?

[Aquattro]

Call me a little cracked if you may but what's the chance I could keep some basic SPS frags in a little tank like this?

Maybe some monti digitata, birds nest or millipora.

Any thoughts?

Given the right light, not too much heat and the ability to keep water reasonably stable, I don't see why not. If it were my tank, that's what I'd do.

[mildcustom2]

Given the right light, not too much heat and the ability to keep water reasonably stable, I don't see why not. If it were my tank, that's what I'd do.

With LED lights I think that's the part that raises the most questions for me. This is a territory I am not overly familiar with as far as light output.

As far as stability goes the office is air conditioned in the summer so increase in heat isn't a concern. I think a nano ATO setup will be critical to stable water conditions by replacing water as it evaporates. I will order one tonight.

[Craigdillman]

beauty of that system is doing any water changes at all is super easy and high % as nutrient export so sps wouldn't be an issue once it got all stable

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Call me a little cracked if you may but what's the chance I could keep some basic SPS frags in a little tank like this?

Maybe some monti digitata, birds nest or millipora.

Any thoughts?

Try Purple Valida:wink:. One of the easiest sps IME and one that loves light and can tolerate some nutrients in the water. So a good candidate for a nano sps reef, IMO.

[mildcustom2]

Well the Cubey shoes up today. They've made a lot of improvements over the original design in this version. I'm just running some tests on the heater, pump and lights before setting it up at the office tomorrow. Then I will drop some live rock in it right away.

There's no carbon or anything in the filter setup so I will add this. Must resist the temptation to drop livestock in it within the first week.

[mildcustom2]

I have changed my direction a bit and going LPS and some softies like shrooms and Zoa.

Keep it bare bottom or put in a small layer of aragonite?

[mildcustom2]

So the tank has been up and running for over a week now and everything seems perfect. My only concern is the LED lighting and wether I have enough light to keep LPS and some easy SPS like montipora.

I am running the LED that came with the tank plus 4 strips of ECOPICO LED. It gives me a total of 17x 12,000K white LED and 13x 453NM blue LED.

Really would like some input on my lighting and if I am good to go or not.

Thanks in advance.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

What are the wattage of the LED emitters?

[mildcustom2]

What are the wattage of the LED emitters?

Looks like it's a combined wattage of 30 watts. The tank is only 10" deep.

[mildcustom2]

Some additional information I found according to the light specs. : 90 lumens/watt White, 30 lumens/watt Blue