AirAngel's 3.6g Piece of the Reef

[airangel]

 

Welcome to my 3.6 gallon piece of the reef

 

I wasn't particularly looking to set up any salt water tanks again, story of how that happened is in my 24gAP link below. BUT having the 24gAP as given me such pleasure and the opportunity to learn so much & meet some wonderful NanoReefers (both on & off line), that I have no regrets setting up that tank and have now gone deep sea diving into the realm of the Pico Reef.

 

Having quite a few small frags that look lost at this point in the AquaPod, and after numerous fiddling with resetting them on the rocks after the CUC has knocked them over, I decided to look into setting up another tank, but smaller.

 

I started looking at the Finnex 4g. I loved the rimless clean look but not the 13w lamp or the price tag ($64.99 shipped). Then found the 4g Jalli ($38.99 plus s/h), but didn't like the thick rimmed look but did like the 18w lamp and the price tag. Both tanks were the rounded edged tanks which I really liked and both were glass, another plus.

 

Deciding that since I had a multitude of small tanks already in the house and not in use, I sacrificed a wee bit of gallonage and the rounded edge but I decided to put my Lee Mar 3.6g into use. Following fantastic directions from Mr Fosi on spray painting the back (I am NOT the DIY type at all), this is where we are now.

 

Equipment Specs:

3.6g (12"Lx6"Wx11"H) Lee Mar All Glass Aquarium spray painted black backing using Krylon Gloss

Coralife Aqualight 12" 2X18w 50/50

Caribsea Tahitian Black Moon Sand

Taam Rio Nano Skimmer (110 GPH)

25w Heater

Nimble Super magnet

5 lbs (4 pieces) of well established LR (possibly 2 more LR from main tank)

Thermometer

 

Livestock/Invert/Corals (which arrived with the LR):

Micro brittle stars

Asterina stars

Spaghetti worms

Feather dusters-2

Ricordea-1

Nassarius Snail

 

My Livestock plans:

Yellow clown goby moved from existing 24gAP

Misc snails

1 or 2 blue legged hermits

Possibly an Emerald or another type of crab (although I've read the Mithrex are not all that reef safe) and/or shrimp(?)

*Open for suggestions at this point*

Corals (moved from existing 24gAP):

Zoanthids

Mushrooms (red/green/purple)

Anthelia/Kenya/Leather

Frogspawn

Others depending on space issues moved from 24gAP

Other pertinent info:

Looking into a DIY small ATO for this tank (if you've got a great one, please post link)

Will be using salted water to start from the LFS, Mitey Mite RO system has been ordered ($103.xx shipped) and I've got Petco Premium Salt mix which I will be using.

Got my eBay refractometer and API salt & reef test kits

Small water changes weekly with manual RO top offs

The back of the Taam Rio (or AC filter) will have felt attached to the part touching the back of the tank to prevent scratching/chipping of the paint.

 

 

 

The 5 lbs of established seriously corallined live rock complete with micro brittle star & asterina invasion came from fellow reefer along with the Coralife 36w fixture. This was the deciding factor on not going with either the Finnex or the Jalli, getting a stronger light fixture.

 

I figured I'd try the Taam Rio Nano skimmer, price was really nice and I thought why not. If this doesn't work to my liking I will set up one of my ACs and make it a fuge with some chaeto, LRR and my Palm Lite. I'm not sure at this point if my Mini AC will fit HOB next to the Taam Rio...or if the combined flow from both will cause issues.

 

 

At this point I'm not adding a powerhead to the display. I'm debating on using the 25w heater as well...will see how temps do once things are running. The tank is small, its hotter than Hades here in Arizona and the light will be on over a small body of water for approx 8 hours a day.

 

More pics when I get the tank set up. Still expecting the sand, taam rio and coralife fixture.

 

I'd like to take the time to thank Mr Fosi for his detailed PM about painting the back of the tank, Matty0206 for the box o'rocks, critters and light fixture on it's way.

[YeahitsK]

Paint job looks great! I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

[diggman08]

HEY so you finally started the thread.. nice.. that tank looks awesome, i cant wait to see it up and running.... the live rock looks great tooo... ill stay tuned

[airangel]

Thanks

 

Been working on the thread but wanted to wait till was closer to getting it up and running. The black sand and skimmer were due today via UPS (per place I ordered from, no tracking info given of course) but UPS was here earlier with my Mitey Mite only

 

Not that I have figured out a place to situate this lil guy yet

 

Can't wait to see the Tahitian moon sand and those corallined LR in the tank. Curious to find out if the Ricordea survived the trip (both Feather Dusters have, also have seen a few Asterinas & Micro Brittle stars)

[matty0206]

Woot! Woot! Lookin good.

[airangel]

Matt..can you spot your Ric? LOL

[matty0206]

I am almost positive its in one of the holes on the rock in the lower left of the pic.............I think! lol

[Kimberly63]

Wow looks really good so far! I didn't know AGA made such a small tank. You might not need a heater because of the lid and the coralife light probably gives off some heat. Are you sure you want an ATO? you might have very minimal evaporation.

[airangel]

Kimberly

thanks...the lid isn't staying. The tank will be open, the lite has legs. I figure the amount of evap won't be that great, hoping its not, but its in my office and I work from home. I have the heater but figure with the heat we have here in Az (106 today outside, near 79 inside...ugh) and the lamp on 8 hrs a day, I shouldn' t need it till it cools off a bit (it really never cools off here in Az)

I've got a bunch of std 2.5g glass tanks but thought the extra gallonage and height on this Lee Mar tank would make a nice Pico Reef, also its the one tank that I've got that never had anything in it.

[Berkey]

I'm jumping on for the ride, can't wait to see the black sand in there with those amazing pieces of live rock you have there. Hopefully UPS will arrive soon with everything.

[airangel]

Thanks, I can't wait to see it either. No word from place I ordered from, first time at this place and may be the last. Good communication till its time to alert you with shipping info. Hope UPS arrives today.

[Mr. Fosi]

Good lookin' paint job.

[tarajean0627]

airangel! So glad to see you have got it up and I will be following along. I am sorry I didn't get back to your emails yet but I got real busy here lately. I will definately be watching your thread. I am already jealous of your moon sand. LOL Have fun with it all!

 

Sarah

[airangel]

Slight snafu's in getting this wee lil piece of the reef set up....

 

1. Place I ordered from screwed up on getting my order of 6/9 shipped out. They told me everything was in stock. On the order was an EDD of 6/16. I emailed them twice asking what gives...finally get response that one item (not the sand or taam rio) was oops out of stock...due in NEXT week so they were holding my order. After fuming I sent a "lovely" note about their lack of customer service, that I asked before I paid if everything was in stock and was told yes. I would not have ordered the item if they didnt' have it as I didn't want my order held up. They had a box to check if you ordered an OOS item, did you want to hold up order or have it shipped separately (with additional ship cost). Which is why I asked prior to being billed. Guy did apologize and supposedly was mailing out my order and was going to ship the OOS item at their cost, but again, not a happy camper. It's June 20th and I'm still waiting. And no, this was not from a "big box" mail order place or a sponser.

 

2. My Coralife 36w lite arrived. Unfortunately the tank is not as wide as the legs are so I can't use the legs to raise the lamp over the tank. The adjustable legs they sell don't appear to be any better due to their size. The LeeMar tank is about 6" front to back. The lamp fits fine sitting right over it but thats not what I want to do, so working on some ideas (feel free to suggest) on how to get it over the tank to allow for air flow etc etc.

 

other than that, its a go. Sigh.

[Mr. Fosi]

How far are the legs from fitting on each side?

[blazeyreef]

this is gona be a great tank, I know it. What corals are you planning on keeping, espesially in a tank that small? zoos and shrooms?

[airangel]

How far are the legs from fitting on each side?

 

Hey Mr F

Well if the back legs hook onto the tank the front hang over big time. The coralife's legs are on the front and back not on the sides. I removed the legs to get the thing back into the box last nite. There doesn't seem to be a way around it. Seems the fixture is too wide to use with the legs. (Oh I will PM you later re: MJ1200)

 

Hi BlazeyReef

Hoping it will be great, lol. Right now I'd like to see it assembled. The stocking plans are basically leftovers from my 24gAP. I've got a few red/green/purple shrooms, some zoas, a rock with pulsing xenia I was thinking to possible use (now that two arms of xenia walked off it and attached to the back wall), also I bought a 2 headed frag of frogspawn for the tank (I already have a huge hammer in the AP). I have a 2 headed neon green candy cane, looks lost in the big tank, that may move over to the Pico Reef. If anything gets to big, it goes back into the main tank.

[evilc66]

I had problems getting that fixture to work with my 4 gallon Finnex. Had to concoct a pvc rig to get it to work. The Current USA version fits better on these smaller tanks, and I think the bulbs give a better color too. Shame it's a fair bit more expensive.

[Mr. Fosi]

I had problems getting that fixture to work with my 4 gallon Finnex. Had to concoct a pvc rig to get it to work.

 

That's the direction I was thinking.

[airangel]

Evil & Mr F

 

Umm, please share the ideas, links? pics? Right now the lites on some painted 1x2s or such that I used on my 2.5g tanks to keep the strip lights off the glass. Of course I'm the furthest think from DIY but curious to see what direction you two were going in.

[Mr. Fosi]

I need to see pics of the fixture and the tank, preferable together and from more than one angle. I've never used with your tank or our fixture, but I am sure we can come up with some ideas.

 

You've probably seen the custom blocks I made for my Sunpod... The legs didn't fit the tank, especially with my closed loop, but the blocks fixed it.

 

Probably won't be able to do the same thing with yours, but I am sure there is something that can be made that won't look ghetto.

[airangel]

Mr F

Will try to snap a few pics of the tank and light, underside of the fixture I assume?

Saw your Sunpod blocks but can't tell exactly how they are done, but at least the Sunpod has decent legs and its on the side of the tank. The Coralife is too wide a fixture to have legs on the front/back for my tank. May need to concoct some wooden stand straddling the tank (and yeah, not something I'm able to do) to get the fixture to work.

Will send pics sometime tomorrow.

 

Anyone with some ideas, feel free to suggest here.

[Mr. Fosi]

Pics of the fixture, legs attached, next to the tank so that I can see how far off they are and in what way.

 

Or fixture with legs attached sitting on the tank, if the legs are far enough off to do that. Anything that shows the perspective that will allow me (and others) to see what exactly can be done.

[airangel]

Mr Fosi and anyone else with a DIY mind:

Will do. The legs are way off. If the back sits on the tank, the front won't, so can't let go of the fixture. If the legs didn't attach to the front/back but on the sides I'd have no issues.

 

I've also contacted the CowKid and have Joshua thinking about some type of non ghetto acrylic gizmo as well.

 

Okay....

Just washed the Tahitian moon sand...I had thought if it looked nice, I'd convert my 80g FW Angelfish tank to it, thought it would look great, its a black tank, stand, hood, with gold and gold marble angels. FORGET IT. The stuff is like sugar ..really fine and super dirty. Can't tell how many times I washed it, and mind you, just enough for the Pico tank, and I've got wrinkly fingers.

 

Pics tomorrow once I dismantle the 6.6g bookshelf Guppy tank and get this tank situated.

 

Stay tuned.....

[airangel]

Okay, didn't do pics with the legs on but you can see that if you hooked legs up (they go on front and back of light in the indented track) they would not hook to the tanks rim.

 

 

Right now it's on two wooden blocks (which won't allow me to use the Taam Rio Skimmer, but I think an AC would fit). It's leaning towards ghetto but it's doable (just not really stable)