I decided to take some pics and share my 5.5g with the community. It's a standard glass 5.5g tank with a small aquafuge on the back. I custom built an acrylic hood with 6 white cree led's and 6 royal blue cree led's. I have them running on 2 buckpucks with potentiometers so I can alter color temperature and brightness. I am keeping mostly shrooms and zoos but also a purple xenia and some other random polyps. I started with base rock from bulk reef supply, and I inoculated the tank with stock from Indo Pacific Sea Farms and some chaeto I got from a fellow reefer. I have a minijet 404 running the fuge and another minijet 404 for tank flow. I think doing my own led's has been the most rewarding aspect of this project so far (thanks, Evil). I learned to sauter wires, use a multimeter, and determine how to wire led's in series to their drivers and power supplies. I have a big heat sink from heatsinkusa which is cooled by a Silenx 120mm case fan (whisper quiet). It never gets warm - ever. When the 12 led's are turned up to maximum (I am running 1000 milliamp buckpucks) it is blinding!

I am thinking of adding a small goby and/or a shrimp down the road. This tank is still young so I am still waiting for coralline algae to appear. So far so good, everything seems to be doing fine. Feel free to send me questions if you have any.

Great set-up. Can't wait to see it mature!

That's awesome, where'd you get the fuge?

small cpr aquafuge from drsfostersmith (I think) or marinedepot. I just built a custom 6500k led light fixture for it to replace the pc light that cpr sells.

There are some minor problems with cpr aquagfuge, though. I might decide to diy it next time around.

Some newer pics of some changes I made. I added a JBJ ATO connected to AW20 Aqua Lifter which feeds into the fuge. The fuge also has a custom canopy with 6 CREE cool white LEDs.

Does your Cheato grow normally in the aquafuge? Whenever I tried to keep it in mine the top would turn white and die, and it hardly grew.

It has so far grown very well, even better with the LED lights I put on it. The top layer is less green than the bottom layer but I think it might be due to the light intensity. I havent had issues with die off at all.

In my last tank I had a big skimmer and I noticed that the iron deficiency in the water led to whiteness and die-off in my chaeto there.

Hmm, interesting. This has given something to think about, thanks.

I just added a yellow clown goby. Lots of pods for him, produced in the aquafuge.

cool build. i love the fuge!

Thanks!

I added a yellow clown goby as well as a leather coral and a feather duster. I worry because I never see the goby eat anything. I tried flakes but I cannot tell if he goes for it or not. I do have a ton of pods in the tank and the fuge and it seems like he must be eating them because I don't see as many of them. But I have yet to actually see him eat anything.

Nice setup! I'm trying to do the same myself on a 5.5 AGA tank. Do you have any pics of your LED layout and spacing?

can you describe how the ato works or show a diagram?

it is very simple. I have it hooked up to the pump, which pulls distilled h2o out of a gallon jug and puts it into the fuge. I put the float switch in the tank itself, but the pump actually puts the water into the refugium. Since the fuge is acrylic, I simply drilled a hole into it and replenish the water that way via airline tubing. Did you have a more specific question?

Here are two more pics with more details on how I built it. I used 1/2" acrylic for the canopy (black and clear). The heatsink simply rests on some 1/2" clear pieces of acrylic (in retrospect they could have been black, too) with velcro.

Ah. great! Thanks for the pics!

Ya I was just curious about the little black canister that is inline with the pump and jug. I am goin to set up the same as you but was confused about that. Is it a prefilter?

That is the aqualifter filter.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Tom_Aquatics_Aq...-FIOFOA-vi.html

that's what i thought. thanks.

Latest observations:

I am starting to have a red slime problem. I think my tubeworm died or something. I cannot seem to find him after he moved out of his tube. I thought he'd build another but he seems to have disappeared. I probably need to change the water soon. Most of the corals seem to be doing well. I decided to run the fuge light 24/7 in response to these changes. I am also considering buying some chemipure elite.

I never see my goby eat anything, yet, almost all the pods in the main tank seem to have disappeared. It was crawling with pods before I got him, now it is almost devoid of them. Crazy.

I added a Koralia Nano pump, I like it much better than the minijet. Much more flow.

I found a baby emerald crab right after adding one redleg hermit to help with the slime problem.

I found a weird nudibranch and took a not so great pic of him here. Can anyone identify it? Do I need to get rid of him?