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SLO's HOT5 lit 15


SLOreefer

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My 5.5 gallon AIO is quickly running out of space (When I say quickly, I mean I can't fit another piece on the rock) so I needed to set up something new.

 

I really like the dimensions of travis's tank so i thought that would be my start.

This tank is stil being put together and I still have a ton of work to do to get it running but hopefully in the next week or two we will see some water!

 

Equipment List:

2-Koralia 1's

4x24w T5HO retro in a custom hood or wood pendant....haven't figured it out yet

1-100w EboJager heater

Custom behind the tank refugium (drilling the tank for this) Still need to build it!

Mini jet 600 or 400 to pump water back to tank

 

The tank will be a mixed reef with all of my favorite lps and zoas with a few sps. (mostly caps cause I like em)

 

I will hopefully be adding pics soon with some build progress pics!

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I got the refugium built, and tank drilled...I've gotta leak test and then get this bad boy set up, I just picked up 17 pounds of live rock from a tank breakdown so it is well established, hopefully a short cycle!

 

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I am still waiting for my lights to get here, and once they do I can start on my canopy, or pendant....havent decided which....what do you all think?

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I got the refugium built, and tank drilled...I've gotta leak test and then get this bad boy set up, I just picked up 17 pounds of live rock from a tank breakdown so it is well established, hopefully a short cycle!

 

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I am still waiting for my lights to get here, and once they do I can start on my canopy, or pendant....havent decided which....what do you all think?

 

Just a quick question, where did you get your glass cut?

And your setup looks really nice. Good job.

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thanks for the compliments!

I used acrylic for the refugium from tap plastics with the cut list

the glass was drilled by a local reefer using the diamond tip bits from ebay

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thanks for the compliments!

I used acrylic for the refugium from tap plastics with the cut list

the glass was drilled by a local reefer using the diamond tip bits from ebay

 

How much have you spent so far?

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one of my big goals with this tank was to have it pay for itself...Ive traded for a good portion of the equipment, and sold frags to pay for the rest...its a good thing purple deaths grow pretty fast!

 

I can break down what the equipment would actually cost should I have paid for it...

 

$150-4x24w t5 (used)

$40-tank

$60-2x koralia 1's

$20-mini jet 600

$45-acrylic

$25-misc plumbing supplies/bulkheads

$75-live rock

 

so I guess the total would be about $400 +/- ....I would guess out of pocket I have spent maybe 200 so far...

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one of my big goals with this tank was to have it pay for itself...Ive traded for a good portion of the equipment, and sold frags to pay for the rest...its a good thing purple deaths grow pretty fast!

 

I can break down what the equipment would actually cost should I have paid for it...

 

$290-4x24w t5

$40-tank

$60-2x koralia 1's

$20-mini jet 600

$45-acrylic

$25-misc plumbing supplies/bulkheads

$75-live rock

 

so I guess the total would be about $535....I would guess out of pocket I have spent maybe 150 so far...

 

Thats the way to do it.I wish i could set someting like that up but i have limited space and a girlfriend lol.

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it doesnt take up THAT much space! I have it next to my bed because I rent a room....I needed to upgrade but it had to pay for itself because I am currently unemployed...we shall see how it goes....got some rock in it and we are now cycling!

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it doesnt take up THAT much space! I have it next to my bed because I rent a room....I needed to upgrade but it had to pay for itself because I am currently unemployed...we shall see how it goes....got some rock in it and we are now cycling!

 

My 10g is on a little book shelf about 1.5 feet high and if i take out the only shelf i could put another 10g down there and do a sump, but my girlfriend is afraid of it over flowing and i my self am kind of concerned about it over flowing too. Any advice on it?

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as long as the top tank is drilled and you use some sort of overflow box(on this tank Im just using a pvc elbow) and the bottom tank is not filled more than 3/4 of the way up it should not overflow unless something clogs the drain....to alleviate that issue you can always drill 2 holes so there is a backup drain. I say go for it, you will be glad you did!

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as long as the top tank is drilled and you use some sort of overflow box(on this tank Im just using a pvc elbow) and the bottom tank is not filled more than 3/4 of the way up it should not overflow unless something clogs the drain....to alleviate that issue you can always drill 2 holes so there is a backup drain. I say go for it, you will be glad you did!

 

Im being kinda hesitent about doing it cuz i dont exactly know how to do it all and what to place where and really what to do in all.

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a really good resource for you would be melevsreef.com

He has info on all kinds of sump setups, tank setups, and how to setup the equipment. It has helped me out a ton in the past...check it out!

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Well done. Did you order all the acrylic cut already? If so were the edges finished?

 

I really like the idea of this, I wish I could find a 15L somewhere.

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I did get it precut from the...walked in, gave them a cut list, got it all 10 minutes later.

 

The edges are not finished and still have the saw marks on them. I just used it like that as it wa ssmooth and wasnt too worried about bubbles in the seams...it was really just an experiment because I have never worked with acrylic before...

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I did get it precut from the...walked in, gave them a cut list, got it all 10 minutes later.

 

The edges are not finished and still have the saw marks on them. I just used it like that as it wa ssmooth and wasnt too worried about bubbles in the seams...it was really just an experiment because I have never worked with acrylic before...

 

 

That's awesome. I have never really worked with it either but I sure would like to try. Perhaps you could PM me your methods.

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Ya, it was pretty fun to do it, no real special methods. I just watched the how to videos at tapplastics.com and went from there...I watched the how to make a box and how to glue acrylic...its really pretty easy with the right stuff. all in all it cost me about 45 bucks including glue and stuff.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well the tank is done cycling and I am almost done with my hood....I just got the lights wired up into the canopy and once all the stain and touchups are done there will be pics!

 

I really really like how the rock work came out for the tank and am pretty excited about it! I cant wait to transfer the 5.5 over to it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

lighting being used

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got the tools out

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started to look like something

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added a little trim

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painted the inside

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added the wiring and lights!

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stained and over the tank

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likin the rockwork and color of the lights

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and lastly, an angled shot

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now Ive gotta get the stuff transfered from my 5.5 into this bad boy!

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A bunch of new pics now that the corals are transfered over...

 

acans under actinic getting used to the new spot....feeding tentacles out and all

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the same acan under daylight

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a couple of nice zoas

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darth mauls

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the beginning of "ACAN ISLAND"

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Aussie prism favia and blasto

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prism and friends

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Everything under a little natural sunlight

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and lastly, a horrible FTS

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thanks! I definitely love those pinks...they are the armor of god palys and are super big and bright. Ive added a few new pieces thanks to a shop called underwater paradise that has super nice stuff!

 

Ill try and get some new photos up asap!

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Thanks NanoTy....far from #####in but it holds water...at least for the time being.

 

edge, I went to Poly and graduated in 05....so SLO =San Luis Obispo....I joined the site back in 02 when I was still a student...now that I graduated, I wish I had flunked some more classes so I coulda stayed around there a bit longer

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