10 gallon tank build on a budget :)

[singmealullaby]

I really like your tank! Some of the corals you might get will probably have live rock with it so that will add to the filtering capacity of the tank. And as Lalani stated, "there is no such thing as too many pics!"

 

thanks alot doctorreef. and that's a good point, alot of corals are attached to huge chunks of rock. i'm glad you liked the pictures.

[singmealullaby]

Very nice man,

what's your total cost so far?

 

well... so far I'm guessing around 165 excluding all the taxes and shipping charges. it's getting up there pretty fast, i'm glad i have to wait for the cycle cause i'm running out of money! anyway thanks tontovila, i'll probably post a final tally when i'm happy with everything.

[Lalani]

that thing is the bane of my existence! But I have a really good professor for my structural biochem class, Dr. Towb. He has one of the best laughs of all time, i love that guy. Anyhow thanks for the comment Lalani. I'm glad you liked the pics cause i took them just for you.

Ah, geez.. You must know I really like photos.

During my first few semesters of college I was a Biology major, so I know what you mean! The math is what really killed me though..

[singmealullaby]

you really cant put anything in there thats

really colorful because you only have 36watts of pc lighting

and the brighter the coral the more light it is going to need...

i would suggust getting t5 or mh

 

the fixture i have is actually a t5 ho with 40 watts of light. there's lots of confusion cause Current mislabeled their packaging on the lights. someone on this forum actually called current and confirmed that each bulb is 20 watts instead of the labeled 18. i don't know... i know i don't have the strongest lights but based on the par output of t5 in general i think i'll be able to keep some interesting things. thanks for the headsup though, this is definitely not an sps frag tank.

[nano reef boy13]

the fixture i have is actually a t5 ho with 40 watts of light. there's lots of confusion cause Current mislabeled their packaging on the lights. someone on this forum actually called current and confirmed that each bulb is 20 watts instead of the labeled 18. i don't know... i know i don't have the strongest lights but based on the par output of t5 in general i think i'll be able to keep some interesting things. thanks for the headsup though, this is definitely not an sps frag tank.

 

o0o0o haha you can do a small corcea clam and

a small birds nest coral.....i had my birds nest coral under

36watts of pc lighting and in a week it grew almost 2 inches!!

but now i started up my ten gallon i got t5 48watts on it and im growing

a lot of light demading corals...but your tank is looking really good

and i would probaly consider more live rock for biological filtration......

[singmealullaby]

Ah, geez.. You must know I really like photos.

During my first few semesters of college I was a Biology major, so I know what you mean! The math is what really killed me though..

 

solidarity. from now on i ban all math problems or mention thereof in this thread, not limited to calculus, statistics, and take-aways!

[Lalani]

Agreed!

Btw, San Diego is beautiful. You're lucky to live in such a great location!

[singmealullaby]

 

I have that same biochem book!

 

Nice tank too!

 

thanks alot Jvzer0. yea, this book's not too bad, it actually explains things pretty well. but i'd trade it in for a coral frag in a second.

[singmealullaby]

Agreed!

Btw, San Diego is beautiful. You're lucky to live in such a great location!

 

[Lalani]

Several years ago, my brother graduated from Marine boot camp at the MCRD, and we stayed in Old Town. That really is a beautiful place. I remember there is a glass shop where they actually demonstrate the glass being blown right behind the counter. I wish I had been into photography at that time. I missed out on so many photo ops.

[singmealullaby]

Several years ago, my brother graduated from Marine boot camp at the MCRD, and we stayed in Old Town. That really is a beautiful place. I remember there is a glass shop where they actually demonstrate the glass being blown right behind the counter. I wish I had been into photography at that time. I missed out on so many photo ops.

 

I feel bad now cause i've been in San Diego almost four years and i've never been there. I have to check it out now, ASAP! By the way, I love your photos, especially the abstract flow ones, they're hypnotizing... nice. I'm glad I clicked on that link.

[singmealullaby]

Well, "on a budget" is officially thrown out the window! i ordered a tunze osmolator auto top off from marinedepot for a cool 200 bucks. I tried to rationalize my decision by telling myself, "your gonna be gone for a long trip sooner or later", but i still feel empty inside..... anyway you can count on some pics of the setup when i get my hands on it. on another note, i thought i'd share some pics from my moonlight kayak in mission bay!

 

 

here's a picture of our group launching just before sunset. the kayaker in the middle of the pic is Elena, she was my guardian angel for the night, i'm a horrible kayaker so she was stuck with babysitting duties.

 

 

 

and here's the bay at night. amazing. it's something that everybody should do, no excuses!

 

 

 

 

well, that's all until i get my auto top-off set up. thanks for stopping by.

[Mr. Fosi]

Why didn't you DIY it? Plenty of write-ups out there and you could have done it for 1/10th the cost.

[singmealullaby]

Why didn't you DIY it? Plenty of write-ups out there and you could have done it for 1/10th the cost.

 

i don't think i could have, i really have no experience with electronics or wiring at all. while i was looking into the different setups i heard the tunze was among the most accurate and reliable, so i decided to take the plunge. i considered the jbj too, but i've had a really good experience with tunze in the past, so that tipped my decision. i'm hoping it works out well, if it doesn't i'll definitely let you guys know! now i guess i have to change my thread title...

[singmealullaby]

Weekend Update!

 

Well... i decided to return the tunze auto top off, the footprint in the tank was just too big. it really took away from the look i was going for so i guess i'll have to go old school for now. on a brighter note i picked up my CUC to take care of the diatom bloom that popped up a few days ago. The dream team consists of 3 cerith snails and 1 bumble bee. Everythings been stable for the past few days and the coralline growth has really picked up.

 

here's a pic of my lone bumble bee snail. he's suprisingly fast, i take my eyes off em for a second and hes gone!

 

 

 

here's my other three cerith snails hard at work. you can kinda see the corraline growth, i'm really happy with the live rock. i think it's why my cycle was so short, the distributor said the rock was out of the water for less than 24 hours, now i believe him!

 

 

more interesting updates later, the past few have been kinda boring, rocks and snails....

 

[edit] just wanted to add that 50% water change every day after my cycle seemed to really speed up my coralline growth, but it was a big hassle getting sg and temp perfectly the same.

[Lalani]

Lookin' good. What about a FTS?

[singmealullaby]

Lookin' good. What about a FTS?

 

I'd walk on fire for you!

 

 

i wish i had money for a better camera cause all my pictures have the same boring look to em, or maybe it's me.... i wonder how some people get a cinamatic look in their pics?

[Lalani]

I'd walk on fire for you!

I like it a lot. At first, I want to say it needs more rock, but I think that won't be a problem once it becomes filled in with corals.

And I have no idea what you are talking about your pics, they don't look boring to me.

[jm82792]

I'm going to do an exact copy almost

Does that T5 light put out enough light for say easy coral/low light ones ?

OR is it stronger than I'm assuming.

[ununknown]

Hey, nice tank, so far. Did you ever put in those fake sea stars? If you did, could you post a pic of them? I just want to see how natural they look, if natural at all...

[singmealullaby]

Well, i've decided to give it a shot and add my first small frags and see how they do! I ordered two small ricordia frags from Coral Morphologic, and they came in absolutely amazing. Colin from Morphologic is one of the coolest reefers I've talked to, I recommend them hands down. They even threw in some free frags, which was really NICE of them. After just 30 minutes they opened up completely, and the colors are AMAZING. I took two quick shots before I left for school.

 

Here's one of the free frags they sent, THANKS again Colin! (but i don't know what it is exactly, any help?)

 

 

And here's a tight shot of the group, including the rics.

 

 

I hope I didn't move too fast cause I'm already in love with these corals. I waited almost a week and a half after my tank cycled, so I hope it's not a huge gamble... my water parameters are perfect as of this morning. I have three huge midterms next week and all i can do is stare at these little guys!

[jm82792]

I'm seriously thinking of doing a coral only 10 gallon I'm not finding anything bigger

Thats awesome how you didn't break the bank and are getting goo results.

I should do exactely what you are doing since I already have a 10 gallon and could order verything asap.

[singmealullaby]

I'm seriously thinking of doing a coral only 10 gallon I'm not finding anything bigger

Thats awesome how you didn't break the bank and are getting goo results.

I should do exactely what you are doing since I already have a 10 gallon and could order verything asap.

 

I'd say go for it, setting up this tank has been a lot of fun. and you'll appreciate having a ten gallon when you have to do water changes, it's a piece of cake to do a 25% change every week. the only purchase i kinda questioned was the light, but it seems to be working great, and wasn't too expensive at all. Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

I like it a lot. At first, I want to say it needs more rock, but I think that won't be a problem once it becomes filled in with corals.

And I have no idea what you are talking about your pics, they don't look boring to me.

 

Thanks!

[singmealullaby]

I'm going to do an exact copy almost

Does that T5 light put out enough light for say easy coral/low light ones ?

OR is it stronger than I'm assuming.

 

it definitely puts out a good amount of light, but exactly how strong i can't say just yet. when i get my first lps i'll definitely let you know how it does under the new lights. but i've read one story of a guy who actually threw in a sps near the top of the tank with the same light and he said it grew and colored up, but who knows. i'll go out on a limb and say you can keep almost any lps with this light depending on placement. good luck with your tank!

[singmealullaby]

Hey, nice tank, so far. Did you ever put in those fake sea stars? If you did, could you post a pic of them? I just want to see how natural they look, if natural at all...

 

i actually never put any of the fake sea stars i bought in my tank. but they are really well made and very realistic, so i bet you could pass it off as a real star here on nano-reef and nobody would even know!. they're really cool to have just lying around the house though. sorry i don't have pics.