bilti Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 I had a very old wish to make a small pico reef for my office so I said that now is the time. As the ordinary glass is not the best decision for such a tank I have decided to go with the ultra clear type : Diamant de Saint Gobain. Below you can compare the quality, in the left is the ordinary one. After ordering the glass is time to use the silicon and make the tank. Due to it miniature size the quality of the seal is very important and we have to use some tape. the tank is 26x23x16 cm and 5 are reserved for the filtration located in the back. In inch this is coresponding to 10x9x6 so a total volume arround 2.6 gallons. The back will have a DIY background in order to hide the pump and the filtration. to be continued Link to comment
asting Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Looking very good. It's worth noting though that the smaller the tank the less important starfire glass is, because smaller tanks use thinner glass. The effect becomes more pronounced as the the glass gets thicker. Link to comment
bilti Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 Thanks Astking. The regular glass has a very bad quality here and this was the main reason to go for ultraclear. Back to my pico now is time for hood preparation! For this I use a DIY one made out of komatex and cover with black tape (is a kind of tape which is use to cover large area and to give a wood look. I don't know the word in English). First I want to cut the hole for the LED`s. The main purpose is to have the heatsink out of the hood. This is to keep the water cool. LED, pump and electrical connection: Base on my experience I have choose the 10watt led model so 2x10000K and 2x actinic blue under driven at 2,5watt. In total of 10watt. And this is the final look: Link to comment
bilti Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Background preparation: Step 1: make a thin layer of silicon on the back. Step 2: use some coral coarse higher dimension. press it with your finger on the silicon layer Step 3: use some coral sand and press it with your finger on the silicon layer Step4: put some silicon on the background and on the back of the rocks press and press it on the background. Final result: Wait at list 5 days and fill it with water: First day after the set-up: Link to comment
bilti Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 new additions: sexy shrimp and a small clown fish: Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I like the rock walls.I seen someone put barnicle shells in one of theres i thought it was a good place for a fish to hide. Link to comment
bilti Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 The algae is from the old setup. I hope to solve it in time with a blue leg hermit. Can I use other method? Link to comment
VeganBrian Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Emerald crab, hermits. I would say don't have the lights on long for a couple days ton try and starve it and water change. Link to comment
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