mgsullivan24 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Hey guys, there are a ton of awesome tanks here hopefully I can keep up. I know the people here have the best knowledge of these size tanks so I hope to be able to join in the club and soak in some expert knowledge and advice. After not having a tank for about 9 months I finally got one set back up. I've been moving a lot so I decided to put the dream tank on hold and do a small tank that is easier to break down and set up when the times come. I have never found a small tank I really like so I decided to build my own. This was my first time so it's a little rough but I learned a lot and it holds water so I'm happy enough. If anyone cares to see more about the actual tank build I can put some pics up of the process. Here us the tank just after I finished it, before I cleaned it up. The tank is 12"x12"x9" I didn't realize how thick 1/4" glass actually would be but that's what I ordered so I went with it. If I ever redo it next time i'll use Starphire glass and maybe a little thinner glass. And a bigger overflow next time. I didn't really want any equipment in the display so I put returns on both sides of the overflow. After running it for about a week now I'm realizing I'm going to need either more flow or a swirl nozzle or something like that. Obviously I need a sump so I picked up a standard 2.5g glass aquarium and made it into a 4 chamber sump. Last week I moved to a place I think I'll be at for while so quickly before I left town I grabbed the rest of what I needed to set up when I got moved in. I plan to replace the return pump soon and keep it for a backup because its a little loud, but I got a danner mag1.9 running on it now and its working fine, ill probably order a tunze or sicce soon. I also picked up an Aqueon Pro 50 heater and Aquaticlife 115 protein skimmer. As for lighting, I wanted to try something new to me. I've used PC and LED in the past both with success. this time I am trying metal halide, I got a 70w Viper K-2 and a Ushio 20k bulb. For supplemental/dusk/dawn lighting I am using an Ecoxotic 453 blue Pico Strip. Like I said I've never used mh before but I'm excited to see the results, so far I love the color. I am looking for a small shelf to clamp the light onto to get it off the rim of the tank. ready to set everything up I built a manifold from the return to be able to tune both of the return sides independently. I also have a line coming off the manifold for doing WC's. I left one extra valve to feed a possible starfish holding tank since I would like to put a pair of harlequins in this tank. I had a half of a bag of the Tahitian Moon and I picked up another bag of the Stoney River black sand, basically ended up using a half a bag of each. That's all I can get in tonight. It's been wet for 7 days and i will fill you all in on how it's gone and where I am at now when I get some time tomorrow. Thanks for checking it out. Link to comment
Reef Fever Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 looks good man, I home built my pico tank as well. Didnt do the actual tank itself, just turned it into an AIO Link to comment
Reefer_Girl Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Looks GREAT... I might use the same fish story/supply as you going by those jugs... LOVE THEM! Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 Thanks for the kind words, i appreciate it. Reefer girl what area are you located, Link to comment
defender.TX Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Nice DIY work! I love those 5 gallon containers, they are the same ones my LFS sells and I have a couple. I'm excited to see pictures of the tank wet. Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 Yeah those jugs are very handy while I don't have an RODI hooked up here. About 6 months ago I put a bucket of rocks and sand in my dads sump so when I started this tank the rock and sand was nice and seasoned already. I have about 6lbs of rock in the tank. Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Well I went and picked up some more coral and I'm pretty well stocked now. A friend of mine that I have traded a bunch of coral with went through and fragged some of his sticks and zoas for me. I also had been stocking up some frags in my fathers frag tank, those corals have browned out quite a bit because they were in bad lighting but hopefully I can color them up again. Current stock list Soft- 3 random zoa colonies and frags Radioactive dragon eye zoas Orange Florida ricordea Fire and Ice zoas LPS- 3 acan frags OG Mummy Eye chalice (sunburnt) Orange chalice SPS- Green Millepora Pink/purple Millepora ORA Red Planet actopora Rainbow montipora x2 (different mothers) Superman montipora Meteor Shower cyph Larry Jackskon Tricolor acropora Garf Purple Bonsai Green/yellow acropora Purple/yellow tip acropora Undata montipora Aussie Blue acropora Green/pink acropora Still getting stuff in place, a lot of the SPS will be moved still Link to comment
defender.TX Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Man I love your Zoas! Especially the radioactive dragon eyes, the green really pops with the black sand. Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Anyone know the PAR numbers for a 70w mh? I never really considered wether this light was powerful enough I just decided to give it a shot. Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 So I've been busy and haven't been able to update. I have made a few changes to the tank in the past couple weeks. First off I realized the 70w mh was not supplying enough light for some of the sps. So I added on a dimble PrestigeLed 36w PAR38 bulb. I've had it for a year or so and it's a great light but I got it with a red bulb which I now regret, so for now I have some masking tape over the red bulb. Some of the corals seem to be looking better. I also switched my fathers system onto Zeovit last week. Since I have been having some algae issues I did more research into using it on my tank. It's not going to be easy and it may crash the system, but, I went ahead and switched anyways. I removed the CPE and added zeolite stones KZ carbon in a mesh bag and put that on a media tray in the sump. I am going to swap out the 2.5g sump for a 5g to give me room for a small aquaclear HOB filter that I can put the stones and carbon in to be able to control the flow. I also filled a few syringes of Zeobak, Zeofood7 and zeostart3 from my dads bottles. In the next few weeks ill order the zeo nano kit. Oh and a switched from RC to Red Sea blue bucket salt for the lower alk. Also picked up a male Harlequin shrimp which I'm very excited about and while I was there I got a small blue Mille frag. Link to comment
Akiowalt Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 I can't wait to see your new update, especially the Harlequin shrimp! Link to comment
defender.TX Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Pics with the new LEDs? Honestly, I know LEDs are efficient but I wouldn't have guessed a 38W bulb would put out more light than a 70W Metal Halide. Why don't you like the red diode? Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 Pics coming soon, sorry. I haven't been able to make it home while the lights are on in a few days hopefully this evening. The PAR38 led bulb is WAY brighter than the MH possibly its the 90*optics. ill see if I can get that in the pics. I still want to have the mh spectrum in use so I've dimmed the Led bulb down a lot. The red diode added way too much of a pink look. When I was running two of them on my dads frag tank my red digi morphed to pink, my meteor shower cyphestrea turned pinkish instead of blue and several other colors morphed but not to my liking. Link to comment
Ebn Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Nice looking build so far. Never did get the PAR numbers off the 70W when I had mine up, but it's definitely lacking for SPS. BTW, no unions in your plumbing? I usually stick some in just in case I have to pull the pluming apart (cleaning, moving, etc.). Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 Nice looking build so far. Never did get the PAR numbers off the 70W when I had mine up, but it's definitely lacking for SPS. BTW, no unions in your plumbing? I usually stick some in just in case I have to pull the pluming apart (cleaning, moving, etc.). Thank you, and its funny you should mention it. Yesterday I moved from our townhouse to the neighbors and obviously had to break down the system. Luckily I did put threaded bulkheads on so it can always come apart at the bulkhead but I did have to cut the returns and put in slip couplers this time for the move. Thinking about it now it would have been much much smarter to put in unions. Oh and you have to love nano/picos I broke down, moved everything and got running again within 45mins. Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 So I guess I've been stripping the water to quick and dropping alk a little quick. Have a few pieces not doing well and some RTN. Hoping sps starts to color up First of all the new additions First day Today Harlequin shrimp Lost the assui and you can see the red planet going in the background. I fragged the tip and its up next to the garf bonsai. Superman Link to comment
BulkRate Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Tip for your harlequins... try feeding asterinas. You can usually get 'em for free from most local stores that move a fair amount of live rock, and can keep a few week's worth in your sump (so that none can chance munching on your corals). Bonus in that they're much less likely to foul your water as the harlequins dine. Link to comment
mgsullivan24 Posted August 3, 2013 Author Share Posted August 3, 2013 Tip for your harlequins... try feeding asterinas. You can usually get 'em for free from most local stores that move a fair amount of live rock, and can keep a few week's worth in your sump (so that none can chance munching on your corals). Bonus in that they're much less likely to foul your water as the harlequins dine.Thanks for the tip, that's exactly what I've been doing. I am lucky to have a friend with a well seasoned and loaded up 400g DT that I have been picking them out of about 40-50 per visit. Anyone have any ideas how I can create a more random flow in my tank without dropping hundreds on a mp or tunze? I currently have 2 return lines coming in 1/2 threaded bulkheads and 1 hydor nano but it doesn't create any alternating flow just a strong currents around the tank. Link to comment
Ebn Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Jebao WP25 should do the trick. It's a lot of flow and hopefully doesn't create a sandstorm in there. Link to comment
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