1fish2fish Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 I recently found myself in possession of a 4 gallon round Pyrex tank. I work at a research facility and this particular item found its way into the trash. It has a diameter a little larger than a 5 gal bucket. The curve of the glass obviously results in distortion as you move out from the center field, but no matter where you sit you always have at least one decent view of the inside and the distortion actually magnifies the smaller stuff. Tank - 4 gal round Pyrex tank Heat -50 watt ebojager (Would have gone smaller, but it's what I had laying around) Current -1 small powerhead (approx 90 gph I believe) Lighting -Sealife PC -1 x 9 watt actinic power compact -1 x27 watt quad 6700 k power compact I logged my temp for the first two weeks and found that it stayed right between 77.5 and 78.5 F both during day and night. I stocked the system with some liverock and sand that I have had on hand for about 8 months now (fully cured). The liverock has some hard coral polyps (singles not colonial) that are doing quite well and have actually begun to bud off, about 5 Nerite snails (Nerita tessellata I believe), limpets, various encrusting sponges (includeing a lime green variety), a hermit crab, and various other critters. The system has been up and running for about three weeks. I have been been doing 1 gallon water changes once per week and topping off with distilled water. I'm using natural sea water as I have access to an unlimited supply of high quality water through work. It has been filtered to 1 micron and uv sterilized. I ordered some animals this week to help with the algae and test things out. I may be rushing it a little, but had the opportunity to piggyback my shipping with a work order for work and figured I can always do daily 1 liter water changes if needed until things completely sort themselves out and also have the luxury of being able to move animals to flowthrough systems at work if there is a problem. I have ordered -12 blue leg hermit crabs to help combat algae (probably won't add them all, but will put some in a holding tank) -1 ricordea (Caribbean green variety) -1colonial bryozoan -1 small zoanthid colony -300 astrea snails (LOL only 2 are destined for the nano, the rest are going to my research systems) I was also looking at getting an Azoo palm filter as a means of extra and more diverse flow, mixing of the surface layer, and also to have the option of using Chemipure as a chemical filtration. I am looking at this item because of its low 19 GPH flow rate so that it doesn't overpower the tank when combined with my current powerhead and because of it's narrow width it should fit the curvature of my tank (None of the other hob's will fit). Questions: Any advice on the setup as described? Anyone have experience with the palm filter? Is Chemipure a good idea to help keep the water quality stable? I appreciate any advice, Thanks Link to comment
thakidistight Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Sounds pretty cool, got any pics? I dont really know anything about the filter but the powerhead placement in the tank might be difficult because seeing that it is round it might create a kind of whirlpool effect...I would also reccomend not putting all of the hermits in there, I only have 4 in my 10g and it works ok. Keep an eye on them with the snails too, hremits kill them just for the sake of being malicious. But it sounds good to me. Lets see some pics though, it sounds lioke a really cool idea. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted January 27, 2004 Author Share Posted January 27, 2004 The tank is sitting on a table in the corner of my living room (between to couches), so I placed the powerhead and heater at the "back", which is the portion closest to the rooms corner. I put the pump about 1 inch above the substrate and it is blowing against the back of the live rock. The result is that some of the flow gets deflected up, to the sides, and some filters through the rockwork. This seems have resulted in a mix flow rather than a whirlpool, and the tentacles on the coral polyps I have tend to wave back and forth (they are abot 2 to 3 inches long) indicating that the water flow is more turbulent than laminar. I'll snap a few pics to post today if I get the chance. Link to comment
thakidistight Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 sounds like you know what youre doing, I really like those round tanks alot. In Baltimore at the Rainforest Cafe they have two HUGE cylindrical tanks connected by another one that goes along the top. Always thought it looked really cool. Link to comment
CU_Reefer Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 I wish I could find trash like that. Cant wait to see some pics. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted February 18, 2004 Author Share Posted February 18, 2004 Here is a shot of my tank. Sorry for the quality of the pic, but I was using my old Pentax K1000 with no flash and no tripod. I'll post more in the pics section. Moderator Note: Cool tank! Copied this thread to the Member's Tank section Link to comment
Acoustic Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 That tank makes my eyes hurt. You can't focus on anything and everything is distorted. Kind of neat in a unique way though. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted February 18, 2004 Author Share Posted February 18, 2004 Hehe Actually the trick is to look closer to the center. The further you get to the "side" the more it distorts because you are looking through more glass and you get a progressively stronger light difraction. The same thing happens with a bowfront if you look at it from an angle. The biggest bonus aside from being different is that I get at least one good view no matter where I am positioned so its great for between the couches. Not to mention no corners or seams. Link to comment
CU_Reefer Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Looks great, I don't know if I could stand the distortion though. Link to comment
nanocat Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 I imagine it distorts less in real life. The camera probably makes it look more distorted? Very cool tank. Nice set up Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 That's definately unique! I can't remember anyone setting up a nano reef in a glass cylinder. Keep us updated! Link to comment
movingshadow Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 I've got a ~1 Gallon glass cylinder nano, been cycling for about a week, and I have a ~1/2 gallon glass cube which has finished cycling. thats what trips to home furnishing stores get you... somehow I can't avoid looking at stuff and thinking: "could I make a tank out of that and how do I light it".... will try to post pics soon (my digicam finally quit on me...) cool, we can start a "round nano tank crew" Link to comment
C Jerome Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 The cylinder is cool, do you have it aquascaped all the way around with coral or just on like 2/3 or it? I bet it looks a lot better in person, I would think it is hard to capture in a photo. C. Jerome Link to comment
biomekanic Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Very cool nano, do you work at Hatfield? Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted February 19, 2004 Author Share Posted February 19, 2004 Yep. I sure do. Here's another shot. It came out a little better. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted February 19, 2004 Author Share Posted February 19, 2004 Green mushrooms Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted February 19, 2004 Author Share Posted February 19, 2004 My zoos and teh little cup corals that hitchhiked on my LR. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted February 19, 2004 Author Share Posted February 19, 2004 My DIY hood. I fabricated it out of fiberglass. The lights are actually held in place by industrial velcro. The back of the fixture is completely covered by the velcro so I get lots of surface area coverage. It isn't going anywhere. You can also see my DIY moonlight sorta overlapping with the quad. It's a blue LED nightlight I bought in the lighting sectin of Walmart for $1.98. I used epoxy to plug the additional holes on the power cord and have sealed the fixture with the plug to make it a tad safer. I'm planning to add a 13 watt 50/50 actinic 03/10000K from Hello Lights. Who knows, I may try a clam when ti's VERY well broken in. The tank itself is 12" diameter X 12" tall. Link to comment
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