DurocShark Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Took the tank down this week, moved the critters to the 70. I'd like to say it's because I'm building the 17, but the real reason is that piece of shit Penn Plaxx canister. It can't stop sucking air. Since it's right next to my bed, this wasn't going to work. I'm going to fire up the old 9g again to use as my QT tank, with the cheap Chinese canister and everything. FTS 9/20/15: ________________________________________________________________________ I guess it's time to start a thread for this. I have a 5.5 gallon AGA tank that I'm setting up for my desk at work. When it's stocked, I expect a string of people coming into my office to check it out. Sigh. Oh well... Equipment: 5.5 Gallon Aqueon (AGA) glass box with frames and everything. Penn Plax Cascade 500 Canister Filter Surface skimmer attachment for canister Wave-Point 12in 16W Super Blue/ Daylight clamp LED light Dry rock from reefcleaners Dry aragonite sand Livestock ideas: GSP Pulsing Xenia Rock nems One "star" piece of something. It can't grow too big though, so I haven't decided on what CUC Sexy Shrimp Porcelain crab MAYBE a tiny fish, not decided. This tank is awfully small for a fish. I've had good luck with a canister on my 9 gallon tank, so I went with another one. This was cheap and had the quick releases so I don't make as much of a mess in my office (thereby saving having the owner of the company getting pissed at me). I'll fill it the same way as the other one, with filter floss, Purigen, and carbon. The light isn't super bright, so I may end up shoving a blue stunner in there. I'll check it out when it's cycling. There's places I can fit 2 stunner strips if needed. I will need to trim the tank's frame for the light's clamps, they're thin assuming a frameless tank. I'll probably seed the rock with some live rock from my 9g or if I get that far with my 70 by that point, with some aquacultured rock rubble and some live sand from Florida. At this moment, the tank is in my living room with the canister hooked up and treated tap water running through it to test for leaks and issues. So far the only issue is the stupid surface skimmer. It can't handle jack shit for flow. The strainer cup sucks down into the device at more than 10% of the canister's flow. That's maybe ok, but I'm not happy. I'm going to play with it and see if some fine tuning will help, or I'll glue some pieces of foam to the bottom to help keep it held up high. FTS dry, on the stand for my 70 gallon tank: Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Thanks! Can't wait until it can't be seen... Link to comment
Varano14 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Will be following this, I'm starting a 5.5g aga for my desk at college. Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I had a 5.5 gallon EcoPico on my desk at work for a while. You'll be surprised how much you can cram in there, and all the cool options available to you. I ran mine without any mechanical filtration. Being that small you can do pretty well with just weekly water changes of about a gallon or two. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 There's something about the insanely crystal clear water in a small tank that you can only get with filtration... Plus, can't have any stinky. Not in my little office that has the door closed as often as not. Because of how low the flow has to be through the canister, I may add my Hydor nano powerhead from my 9 and put the Jebao back in. Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I hear ya... as long as you can figure out what to do with the hoses. A small circ pump should be fine for that tank, and if you find that your light's not enough, the PAR38 bulbs out there are pretty bad-ass! Looking forward to seeing what you put together! Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 No way. Glass is too thin. Tempered or not, I don't trust it. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Water! (Treated tap water, but still...) With the canister: In that first pic, you can kinda see the surface skimmer I got. It's this one. I guess for $7 I can't expect too much. But it just can't handle any flow at all. I've been tweaking the flow at the canister and the skimmer, and there's little I can do to get it to work. Sigh. Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I'm not sure what you mean by surface skimmer attached to the canister filter. Are you just looking to have something that keeps the scum off the top of the water? Link to comment
jojoe972 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Very Very cool!!!! I dig the scape as well and the table art next to it. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 I'm not sure what you mean by surface skimmer attached to the canister filter. Are you just looking to have something that keeps the scum off the top of the water? Exactly. The link I posted will take you to it on Amazon. Very Very cool!!!! I dig the scape as well and the table art next to it. That table art is part of the 'scape for my 70. Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If you find that it's not cutting it, you can try the Eheim Skim 350. It's not attached to your filter, but rather it's attached to a small powerhead. So it'll clean the surface of the water, and provide you with a little extra flow. Not a ton, maybe an extra 100 gph, but if you place it strategically, it could help. I have one running in my fuge now, and it's a champ... Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Yeah, I considered that. I just don't want more gear in the little tank. I will try adding some foam to the strainer this weekend to increase its buoyancy. Link to comment
jojoe972 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Sorry my mistake!!! looks cool on the table or in the tank..... Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 Got the light. I didn't have to shave the frame to get the mounts on, but it was a close thing. I did have to remove the suction cups and massage the clips on VERY carefully. But it's solid now. Nice bright blue light. I can't wait to see what it looks like with corals. In that pic, the ambient light is the same as the previous photos. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 The 70 is on the stand! WOOT! http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/356381-durocsharks-70t-build/ Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Came into the office today to set up the tank: Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Nice! How are going to manage the water changes w. no skimmer? The Top-Off? I'm thinking you can keep like 5g of water under the desk and do a weekly 1g water change. Also you could store a similar amount of RO/DI water in a drawer or under the desk and use the Tunze Nano Osmulator! Or keep it simple :-). On your work desk you can watch it and do maintenance really well Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Heh, so here's the plan: I picked up two 2.3 gallon jugs of saltwater from Petsmart the other day. They were on clearance for $5 each. I didn't care about the water so much (it'll be fine for cycling anyway), but I wanted the jugs. One will be the drain tank and one will be filled with mixed water from home. A 2 gallon per week change should be great. Top off, I have a 1 gallon jug of RODI I'll keep under my desk. I'm here every day within several inches of the tank. I don't need an ATO. Old skool siphon with gravel vac will do nicely for the water changes. No need for anything fancy. I considered Dr Tim's bacteria so I could drop critters in right away, but I think I'll just buy some ammonia crystals instead and do this the right way. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 I got the surface skimmer working... I stuffed styrofoam from a coffee cup into the space where the air bubble is captured. I added too much, tearing off little bits until it was just slightly floating too high (and slurping like mad). Then I opened the lower vent a little at a time until the slurping stopped. Now it's skimming the surface like it should, and the canister is at 100%. WOOT! Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Hell yeah! I don't know how you'll every be able to concentrate again! "Hmm so next quarters profits will be bordering OMG LOOK A COPEPOD" Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Well, I normally have the DropCam on my 9g running on one of my 3 monitors, so this will actually free up a monitor for more work! Really!!! Link to comment
DurocShark Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 I'm fishless cycling right now using powdered ammonium chloride. It's taking more than I would have thought to get it to 5ppm. One full teaspoon only gets it to .5ppm. Weird. I'm gonna check this Seneye against a proper test kit before I add any more. Link to comment
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