Pete and AJ's 6.2 Gallon Imagitarium

[pmcgarty]

Hello everyone. My son and I are building our first reef tank together. Took a bit of work to get mom to say yes but we are off and running. I have had salt tanks before but he is finally old enough to help and have a part in this one so this is pretty exciting for me. We picked up a 6.2 gallon Imagitarium Pro from PetCo a couple of days ago and after searching far and wide for something to put it on its finally set up.

 

Got some nice live rock from a local shop and they were cool enough to give some sand to seed the aragonite we had already picked up. If all goes well and the tanks numbers are good we are hoping to pick up some frags from a local frag swap in Ann Arbor, MI, in a couple weeks.

 

Future plans:

 

• Order cleanup crew from Reefcleaners
• Upgrade light to Sanrise Aqua Wave or Full Spectrum Par 30
• Shrimp/Goby pair
• Ricordea Garden
• Acan Garden
• Zoa/Paly Garden

 

[Sharbuckle]

Excellent! Never seen one of these before, Really like the stocking ideas. Its nice to see kids getting involved in the hobby. Future reefers!

[Astinus]

Very Nice! I hope your Son will enjoy this as much as U will

[G L Shane]

I've seen this tank at Petco with their own brand on it as well. Can you take some pics of the filter compartment for us? Also, did it come with a lid?

[pmcgarty]

Sure thing! It has a glass lid. I've included pics of it and the back filtration area. The light definitely has to be replaced as its pretty weak. Haven't decided what to replace it with yet but not really in the mood for a DIY project this time.

 

[Belmore]

That's a sweet little tank!!

[pmcgarty]

Updates

- Hit up the local frag swap last week and picked up a few zoa frags, a couple shrooms, a rock nem, a blasto, some trumpets, and a purple whip gorgonian. Had a bunch of tickets in a raffle to win a Kessil light but didn't win...so sad. Also added a pistol shrimp, CUC (thanks ReefCleaners! Awesome stuff as always), skunk clown, and goby.

- Ordered a light off of eBay. Sanrise LED Aquarium Light 27W Nano Freshwater Marine Fish Tank Rimless Not really happy with it so another light upgrade will happen at some point in the future but it'll do for now.

-Unfortunately we had our first casualty in the tank today. The orange spot goby we got managed to find one of the two small holes in the glass top in the back and take a dive.

[pmcgarty]

New tank pictures

[dorky08]

Awesome u off to a great start I hope I get to share the same experience with my son as he get older

[jstuver]

I bought this tank to set up as freshwater and I'm curious if you upgraded the pump and what with as it is really weak...

[tomtom2245]

Came across your post here while searching for the dimensions of these tank. Your setup looks great by the way! Would you mind providing the dimensions of the tank please? Trying to see if one will fit for me.

[coopdaddy]

I'm thinking of buying this exact set up, what do you do for water circulation? 

[coopdaddy]

but seriously the pump alone is not enough filtration, i had to set up a 5 gallon sump. How often do you do water changes on it? personally im having a hard time keeping my nitrates under control. would love to know what you're doing with it!!!

[Weetabix7]

Adding attractive display Macroalgae is a great way to lower nitrates, they consume it as a food source. 

[Lula_Mae]

7 hours ago, coopdaddy said:

but seriously the pump alone is not enough filtration, i had to set up a 5 gallon sump. How often do you do water changes on it? personally im having a hard time keeping my nitrates under control. would love to know what you're doing with it!!!

How often are you changing the water?  You could probably do 1-2 gallons a week and be ok.  Also macros like Weetie suggested can help.  I think you should start a tank thread so we can all admire your handiwork.

[evoss87]

i have the exact same tank.

im using it for freshwater but still modding the filter and upgraded the light. i bought a wave LED light which grows fresh water plants well but is for marine since it comes with a very week light even for planted tanks. 

For the filter i placed the bio filter backwards in the back slot and placed the black foam between the overflow and the biofilter and topped it with filter floss... this might change. my second chamber where the foam is to be, currently houses my bio media. the second chamber is in the process of becoming a moss refugium with a red/blue light. i have placed black cling to the back around the filter chambers to reduce the amount of escaping light into the room (from the refugium light).  as for the last chamber it holds my hearter, temp probe, purigen and my other bio media that i seeded the tank with. this will all change once i set it up for the the refugium.

 

 even thought the pump is week it works well for my fish (they are swamp, no flow fish).

 

i will post pics once i have it set up with the refugium, and pics of how i have the filter set up and how i plan to set it up.

[Tristannmia]

I have the same tank and am doing the same thing. I was going to turn the internal filter into a refugium. Also I am curious about flow through the back corners. I will be following please keep us updated.

On 10/21/2017 at 9:58 AM, evoss87 said:

i have the exact same tank.

im using it for freshwater but still modding the filter and upgraded the light. i bought a wave LED light which grows fresh water plants well but is for marine since it comes with a very week light even for planted tanks. 

For the filter i placed the bio filter backwards in the back slot and placed the black foam between the overflow and the biofilter and topped it with filter floss... this might change. my second chamber where the foam is to be, currently houses my bio media. the second chamber is in the process of becoming a moss refugium with a red/blue light. i have placed black cling to the back around the filter chambers to reduce the amount of escaping light into the room (from the refugium light).  as for the last chamber it holds my hearter, temp probe, purigen and my other bio media that i seeded the tank with. this will all change once i set it up for the the refugium.

 

 even thought the pump is week it works well for my fish (they are swamp, no flow fish).

 

i will post pics once i have it set up with the refugium, and pics of how i have the filter set up and how i plan to set it up.

I think you and I have the same idea...use the internal filter for a refugium. I am curious to see if it will work. Please post if you decide to do this

[Bren]

I have the same tank. How can I convert mine to a saltwater tank

[MetaTank]

10 hours ago, Bren said:

I have the same tank. How can I convert mine to a saltwater tank

Well this thread is almost 2 years old now(technically created 3 years ago), but you can make most tanks into a saltwater tank as long as you have enough flow and “live” rock....it can be dry rock to start, but you need the rock for the beneficial bacteria to colonize. The rock will be your filter. You will want to add some sort of powerhead for extra flow most likely. You could probably get away with upgrading the return pump, but for my 6.7 gallon imagitarium tank, I added a powerhead AND upgraded the return pump. 

 

Then you just need a marine capable light for it. If you’re only adding fish, you don’t need much light, but you’ll want to upgrade the stock light if you want to add corals