PufferMan's 10gal DIY GU10 LED frag tank

PufferMan

PufferMan

Member
I had a 10 gallon tank and stand laying around, and was tired of having a bunch of frag plugs all over the bottom of my display tank, so threw together a little frag tank with a few things I had laying around. The big question was what to do about lighting, since that was the only thing I didn't already have. I figured I should try my hand at LED, but didn't want to invest in a really nice LED fixture for such a small tank, so after seeing some of the GU10 LED (ebay LEDs) projects on some other sites, decided that was the way to go.

All I have had in here so far are zoas, and some LPS, but everything has been really happy and shown good growth over the past couple months. It will be interesting to see how it performs over time.

Setup:
10gal AGA
generic HOB filter rated for 20gal
small aquaclear powerhead
PVC and eggcrate rack
8lbs live rock rubble

Lighting:
3 4watt blue GU10 with 60 degree optics
3 3watt blue GU10 with 45 degree optics
3 3watt cool white GU10 with 45 degree optics
3 IKEA tross fixtures

FTS
be039c10.jpg


Lights
3f14967e.jpg


Current frags
1165c00a.jpg


91e38f96.jpg
 
Awesome for sure! Thanks for sharing! Just FYI, krylon fusion paint is reef safe once cured for a few days. That rack would look sick if you hit it with a coat of satin black!
 
I have a 12gallon nano that would probably look pretty cool with some of those lights. What was the ebay seller that you got them from? Do you have to buy sockets for the bulbs or do they come wired already? How do they power up?

Sorry for all the questions but I don't know much about leds and I'm looking to learn.
 
saltymike said:
I have a 12gallon nano that would probably look pretty cool with some of those lights. What was the ebay seller that you got them from? Do you have to buy sockets for the bulbs or do they come wired already? How do they power up?

Sorry for all the questions but I don't know much about leds and I'm looking to learn.
Click to expand...

Well, It's a little more involved than just buying the setup from someone on ebay. I only purchased the light bulbs on ebay. They are 3 and 4 watt led bulbs with a GU10 base. They require no drivers, however, you will need to either hack an existing GU10 fixture (which is what I did) or you can purchase sockets also and build your own fixture. I used an Ikea fixture (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90151103/) which I just wired to a plug instead of ceiling mounting.

You can check out this other thread on another site for more ideas, this is what I referenced while building mine. It's a long thread, but there are lots of ideas and information in there, read through it:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=267432
 
Thanks for the response. I actually ran across that nano build yesterday and read the whole thread. I'm definitely gonna try it with my nano and if all works out well I'll add some to my 125. I'm running mh over the 125 right now so maybe I'll slowly transition into the leds.
 
I've always been interested by those lights, let me know how they work for you because I was considering doing my next tank with them because they're so much cheaper than a true custom LED setup.

Looking good! Keep us posted on how well things grow!
 
Well it's been a couple months now and I'm wondering how those lights have worked out for you. How has the growth been? Did the frags lose any color???
 
That is an awesome setup, I wanted to do a frag tank but didn't want to start as small as a 10g figuring I'd want to go bigger fast. But this really looks great and as you show works well.

I might scrap the 40B idea and try this route with a 10g or 20g L

Awesome setup!
 
saltymike said:
Well it's been a couple months now and I'm wondering how those lights have worked out for you. How has the growth been? Did the frags lose any color???
Click to expand...

Growth has been great. I absolutely did not lose any color. Everything actually colored up better than my display tank. I have been so impressed with LED, that I just upgraded my 20L display tank to LED, and hacked together a little gu10 setup for my pico too. I was going to do this same type of diy setup for my 20L display, but ended up going with a 60w dimmable cree setup instead of doing a setup like my frag tank that was twice as big.

Lil BamBam said:
I seen this tank in person.. Was shocked :eek: Not a bad DIY for softies IMO. His zoas & acans looked amazing....
Click to expand...

Thanks BamBam!


PS: If anyone is interested in doing one of these setups themselves, I think I have 10 of these bulbs extra that I ordered (5 white, 5 blue), that I was going to use for my display tank, but didn't. They are still in the package. I also have the ceramic bases that they screw into that you use to wire them up. I paid $6 each for the bulbs and $1 per base and had to wait almost a month for shipping, but I could pass them along (bulbs and bases) to someone that could use them for $50 if you want. I would have to double check the exact number I have, but PM me if you're interested.
 
This is a nice idea. I have an extra 15 gallon tank and I think you just inspired me to make a frag tank too. Yours is really simple but really nice looking at the same time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top