Tank for Christmas

[Mustang Boy]

Well my family does secret santa every year and i put a 5-7g tank on my list among other items like a redsea nano HOB, petsmart gift card, n something else that i dont remember. Well my aunt got me(n i just so happened to have gotten her lol) and she bought me an eclipse 5g hex tank AND a $25 gift card for petsmart. i have a few ideas of what to stock in it but i do not want to modifiy it too much if at all, at the very most putting a different light bulb in it(which will be mandatory).

 

so far all that i have set in stone is the cleanup crew so i will go ahead and list it now:

*changed CUC numbers*

2 nassarius snails

1 dwarf cerith snails,

1 astrea snail(maybe a star astrea i dont know yet)

 

i have also decided that im gonna try to make most of the rock structure out of tonga rock to help utilize some of the height that is associated with hex tanks(little trick i learned from the FW world with driftwood lol)

 

and as for corals ive decided the easier the better so they will consist of mushrooms, zoas, paly, and MAYBE an island of green star polyps.

 

now the big question. This tank comes stock with a screw in CFL bulb now i read the warning and it says max wattage allowed is a 15w tube style bulb(may have been worded differently but im not sure i read it like 5hrs ago). now since i do not want to go and change the hood or modify this hood at all(unless there is an easy mod) would this bulb(10w version) be suffecient for the easy corals i listed above:

http://www.oceanicsystems.com/products/505...scent-lamps.php

 

i also remember seeing in the threads about modding an aquapod 24 for more PC bulbs that there is a mirrored acrylic/plexiglass or somwthing like that, now if i can find this i will try to add this to the underside of the hood where any bit of light will reach and try to angle it back towards the tank so that there is no wasted light hitting anywhere.

 

now this little tank only comes with a 35gph HOB(style dont really know what to call it) now i know that even for these little corals that this will not be enough flow so i was thinking of adding a small powerhead i was thinking like 60-70gph should be suffecient. now i remember seeing a thread about someone talking about a pump that fit this bill perfectly and i will be looking for that thread to find a link to the powerhead but if any of you have a link to it or one like it that would make my search a ton easier.

 

i also have a hydor miniheater that i was going to use on a different tank but it wasnt needed so if need be i can use it on this tank.

 

is there anything you all will recommend to run in this filter besides the funky shapped filter cartridges that are used in it? also would you guys recommend using the biowheel or no

 

and dang i always forget all of my questions before i finish the thread but oh well if i remember the rest i will make a reply with them.

 

also i am sorry about all of the questions i had only planned on asking one and more just started popping into my head lol

 

 

*edit*

equipment wishlist:

Hydor Pico Evolution Mini Pump 600 series - ordered

Aquarium Surface Skimmer(not sure if it will be too tall or not but its worth test fitting) - ordered

Nanotuners.com 2x18w PC retrofit kit

Marineland 25w stealth heater - ordered

[Mustang Boy]

ok cool i found a few powerheads that should work for this tank i just have to narrow it down to one and decide on how many gph im gonna need to run

[Marine Man Tom]

ive just started my tank up too im getting my CUC on monday im getting afew snails 1/2 cleaner shrimp and maybe some other nice things.

[Mustang Boy]

cool, im still trying to decide where i should put this tank before i set it up and i also want to have all the supplies im going to need before i set it up.

[ThatCollegeReefer]

Yeah that light looks good... for my 2.5 i just used a natural light spectrum bulb from the hardware store. my zoos, star polyps and mushrooms have been growning fine in it since June

[Mustang Boy]

ok cool thanks that is one thing off my question list.

 

edited original post with my equipment wishlist so i remember what i have decided on and so everybody can see what i am planning

[lakshwadeep]

IMO, you should avoid hermit crabs; they cause more problems than benefits. Remove the filter cartridges from the filter. You could run it empty or even make a small refugium for chaetomorpha if there is sufficient light.

[Mustang Boy]

i had thought about doing a small refugium in the top part but i dont know how deep the water level will be and there wont be any light but i could easily put a cheap LED light in the housing for the filter.

[Mustang Boy]

i had to go to home depot earlier and while there i passed by the plumbing section and i had planned on splitting the outlet of the pump so i was gonna get a T and a couple elbows but then the gears in my brain started turning and i got a much better idea. so i picked up a hand full of T's(didnt get as many as i needed) i also got a handful of elbows(also didnt get as many as i needed) i didnt get any set numbers because i didnt know how many id need so i just got some of each so i could mock something up and see how it looked. i also got a 5ft long piece of pex line which i have no clue what it is used for but from my research it is tank safe.

 

 

 

now the plan i have is to attach it to the pump and have the rockwork all around it and have it aimed so it blows the water through the rock which i have seen done some in larger systems

 

 

now i painted in the T's and Elbows that i was missing now it is hard to draw them in and make it look like they are pointed in the right directions. i did try to make it so i wasnt drawing pieces in on both sides so that you could tell what it is supposed to look like from how the other side looks.

 

 

 

the elbows coming off the sides will be pointed at different angles towards teh center of the tank and the T at the top will be pointed up somewhat towards the waterline

[pismo_reefer]

[Mustang Boy]

???

[Mustang Boy]

ok i stopped by Homedepot today and picked up some more T's and elbows and one angled piece(like 120* angle) and made a new mock up that will get one tiny change which will be to replace one of the elbows with another angle.

 

forgive the horrible tape job this was done quickly and for the last part of the mock up i had a dog constantly nudging me for attention lol.

 

[octoman]

What is the point of all this?

[Mustang Boy]

i thought it would be neat to do and it might be a little more effective than one stream of water coming from the pump which would be aimed around the tank in a circular pattern. i also like experimenting and making things so i thought it would be fun plus at the most im only out <$20 in supplies if it doesnt work.