After going through El Fabs pico thread I had to have some sexies!! So I decided on the Finnex G4. Came with their CL-26 light fixture. 26watts with LED night view.
Got it set up in the bedroom....convinced the wife it's quiet enough.... So I'll be adding sand tomorrow, live rock from my hookup...... and then wait.....here some pics.
Leak test....

New home......

RO/DI water and salt mixin up....

Night veiw.....

More to come!!

oo! I will most definately be following this one! What are your plans with it for corals, livestock, etc?

I bought the same 4g Finnex about a month and a half ago or so and have slowly been adding in my corals. I have some zoas, some shrooms, ric, and GSP, along wit a skunk cleaner shrimp because they are such bold little creatures. Thinking about adding in a Tail Spot Blenny sooner or later becaue they have such great personality.

What do you think of the lighting?

I just got my 4g Finnex about a month and a half ago too. I don't have much in the tank right now as far as corals, but I've got one frag of mint chocolate chips (2 polyps) that are doing well and blue snowflakes that are really thriving in this light. I do have a rock with coralline on it that seems to've bleached, though. I'm looking forward to watching this thread.

I'm impressed with such a small fixture. Not sure about the filter system though. I think it needs more water movement? Might just be me though.
Stocking..........not sure, I want bright, brilliant corals though. Lots of zoas, and some sexi shrimp! One fish.........I am only going to have one fish in this tank, so it needs to be something nice that will co exist with the corals.
I just hope I'm not starting this too quickly....I just started my Nanocube 24dx on the 10th...

Do I need more flow in the tank???? Fab......?? You think?

I think you should absolutely add some more water movement. That little HOB won't do much if anything.

I'm glad I was able to inspire.


Yes. If nothing else at least a small powerhead. A Rio 90 pump should give you plenty of flow in that tank.

Just ordered the MiniJet 404....

That works too.

So when it's ready......can you send me in the right direction for sexies fab? My lfs does not have a clue about them, so i am going to have to risk shipping. And advice on a fish that will be good to go with them?

Sexies are a lot hardier than you think. That sucks that your LFS doesn't know a thing about them, the least they can do is order some for you! Clown gobies should be fine with them. Hell, even my yellowtail damsel gets along with them.

Yeah, I have been putting off ordering something for more flow but I need to get on that. The one thing about the filter system I am not a fan of is the small size of the filter. It is inconvenient IMO. But overall the whole set up is really nifty! I am anxious for the cycle to finish so you can start putting stuff in it!

Aquaclear filters are almost mandatory for tanks of this size. The stock filtration is never enough. ACs are nice and big, and the flow is adjustable.

I love my Finnex 4g too. It's almost coming up to it's two year anniversary (January)

What would be a Petsmart equvilent evil? Wife works there, I get 15% discount
On a side note...Ken at OceanRefletions is a great guy, they were out of the 404, so he's sending out a 606 adjustable flow for the same price.

Petsmart carries the Hagen Aquaclears. Usually at a pretty good price too.

Cool, small one would be good? I dont imagine I would need the biggest they make.....lol Yeah the tank does need more, I went home for lunch today and the cloud was still in there from adding sand last night.

the AC70 is what most people use. it can also double as a fuge with a little modding

Well I ended up getting the AC20, needed a heater too.....

This was after the stock filter setup running for 24 hours after sand was added.

Now it's almost clear with the AC20, Gravity is at 1.024-1.025, I'll check everything else tomorrow. And add my rock too, I get to go and hand pick as much as I want! Yay!
Running out of funds though......starting two tanks this close kills!

I have also decided I'm going to cut a custom glass top for it.......I'll make the pattern this weekend, and cut it on Monday. OOoooohhhhh...

I really like these tanks. I was torn between the finnex and the picotope. the finnex is taller which can make for a cool look.

So, checked the water perams today..everythings perfect. tryed to get my rock tonight......hookup was busy but going to bring some by. His wife is sick....bla, bla, so I didn't hear from him.
Oh, well. There is tomorrow still.
Pics as soon as I rock scape.

No luck with the rock today......if he does not come through tomorrow, I'll just go to the lfs and buy some........ Got to get the cycle going!!!

Here are some pics of my glass lid I cut today....... I hope this will help a little with evaporation. It will at the least keep my cats out of it.



Still waiting on my rock......

The glass looks good. If you ever want to hide your heater, you can upgrade your filter to an AC70 and stick in there.

Yes....in the works. I just didn't have the extra $$ when the tank came. Prolly in a couple weeks I'll get it and mod it. I am amazed at the evap on this tank......I'm topping off daily as it's in the bedroom and needs to be quiet....
Which the top actually helped with. How much more water volume does the AC70 add???

Wooohooo, now I have too much rock... I'll post some pics tomorrow of my scape....real cloudy now so I am not sure what I have......Will see tomorrow.

I can't remember who posted, but someone measured the volume of a few of the AC filters, the AC70 measured to hold about 3 quarts, the AC110 hold a bit over a gallon. Pretty good amount of extra volume in either for added stability in these small tanks, plus room for heater, probes, and 'fuge. I have the AC70 myself and love it. If you get it, I advise cutting the little tab at the ride side where the intake tube meets the impeller area, so you can reduce flow a bit more until your sand starts to get more sticky, then perhaps experiment with increasing flow to find what suits.

BTW, that glass lid is GORGEOUS, I wish I had the gumption to measure my JBJ and have one cut to fit around my filter and light. I also have cats. You can see in my pico thread what I came up with to help with the cat issue.

Got home today and found hitch hickers...and some aptasia I need to kill.......First aquascape.....

Didn't like that, so here is what I'm sticking with I think....



And one of the hitch hikers....there is a snail of some sort too.....

Thats it for now...

Good start. Keep it coming.

Mini Jet 606 came in today.......holy crap! It's turned all the way down and it's a ton of flow......

Wow!! Everything looks so good! I definately like the 2nd scape better than the first. It is amazing how much rock these little tanks can hold.

And I had to throw out a good sized chunk......just had no place for it to go.
Need to do a 25% water change..nitrates are high, ph high......How ofter are you guys doing partial water changes??

I top off with RO every day but if the salitity of the water is a little low, then I top off with SW. Typically I do about 3/4 gal water change once a week unless things are reading a little higher then I do 1 gal water change which is a little more than 25% because of the amount of rock in the tank. So far, besides a little bit of a hair algae break out that I quickly got rid of, everything has been golden!

What do you plan on doing?

Well I did a quick 20-25% water change right after I tested the water. Next day another 50% change, everything fine now. The lid I cut took care of my evaporation........I need maybe a cup a week to top off. It's probably just a little die off from my rock being transported..... I went and got a hermit crab, and a turbo snail for a little cuc.....Don't go to Petco near closing time....
The fricking girl put them in FRESHWATER.......which my wife didn't bother to mention till we got home!! So needless to say the snail died.....hermit crab's o.k. so far...

I haven't heard of anyone buying a CUC at PetCo simply because the places in the MN region don't have salt water critters. That is a huge bummer that the girl put the snail and hermmie into freshwater!

So..... How much would you want to cut a glass lid like yours for my tank??? I'm just kidding... but serioulsy...

Lol....bout the lid......
Keep it on the D.L. But I would do one for you if you cover shipping.......

Well I have the Petco and one other store local who deal with saltwater stuff around me. Close anyway..

Thats nice that Petco has the stuff you need! There are quite a few LFSs around these parts so I actually haven't really looked at Petco/PetSmart, etc.

And on the DL about the lid, I would totally cover shipping cost!

I would need the measurments from the back of the tank....you have the AC70 right? So it's going to be a bit different from mine. Are you using the stock light in the same position as me?.........P.M. me please.

PMed!
When are you gonna throw more pictures up here?

Haven't taken any recently.....tanks just cycling, no changes. Well I did get my Minijet in there...... I'll take some pics tonight.

I am thinking about a fish for the tank.......I'm going to stock with mosty SPS,ect. And I'm only going to have one fish....of course it's only 4 gallons. But what?? A goby is what I'm leaning towards. What is a really awsome looking "center piece" goby???

I was going to get a goby and then ran into the Tail Spot Blenny and am going to order that here sometime soon. I am super excited about it. There is a type of goby, however that is a sweet looking goby but it costs upwards of $130 or so. It is called a Flaming Prawn Goby super cool!

FYI, my computer had a bad virus so I have been off the comp for a bit. I'll have those dimentions to ya here pretty quick.

tic toc...paint drying

No Problem....I have been busy at work anyway...I'm going to have to change mine too... Going to upgrade the light to a Nova 18' T5 setup.
Just ordered this!!!!
http://www.lnt.com/product/light-fixtures/...m-actinic-.html
What a deal, I got their blue led night light too...

So my new T5 light gets here Monday, And I'm moving the tank. So I'll get some pics then, and I'm going to order my Highfin shrimp goby too. Then I think I'll add some coral, I have one mushroom in there now...lol

Good move on upgrading to T5 lights, they will produce a hue that will make your corals/mushrooms shout...

MG

I can't wait.... Now it's time to stock it.

Here is the new light, and I moved the tank.


Some sort of hitch hicker... there are two of them.

FTS

Need to order one more of the LED for night.

One more... Stocking very soon. I have to cut my lid down now too.

Really nice work on your aquascaping, I love the natural looking cave. You have created some really nice spots to put some nice frags into that beauty.

Love the color of your moonlight as well, and once you get that other site lite your tank will scream even more.

Keep us posted and I'm keeping on eye on this thread.

MG