budahsacman Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 Hello everyone, I'm new to nano-reef.com but I’m totally impressed with it's wealth of information. Anyway I setup my first 5-gallon nano about a week ago and wanted to get some feedback. I've seen lots of eclipse 6 posts but none from this particular company. It was manufactured by Hawkeye aquariums (http://www.hawkeyeaquarium.com/) It's the 5-gallon brite V. It came with HOB filter. Anyway I know some people have it out for Wal-Mart but the setup was considerably cheaper than the eclipse system and even the "Regent 5" eclipse knockoff. It totaled around 35 bucks after taxes. The hood is a little deeper also and looks promising for a DIY light upgrade. The trapezoidal shape is also pretty cool. You can see pictures of my tank and its progress at the link below p.s. I'd like a little feedack on what everyone thinks of this brand of tank vs other 5-8 gallons, thanks. http://www.onealconcepts.com/nano.html Link to comment
JohnnyMTB Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 Looks pretty sweet! I like the trapezoid shape, it's a neat change from all the bowfronts. What kind of lighting does it come with, and what do you forsee being able to upgrade to with the stock hood? Link to comment
budahsacman Posted January 31, 2004 Author Share Posted January 31, 2004 JohnnyMTB- im pretty sure the stock lighting is just an 8 watt t5 fluro, it lights the tank ok but it's not up to nano-reef.com standards yet. As for the upgrade, I'm considering either 13W pc or maybe a 2X13 if it will fit another possibility would be the screw in type compact fluros. I dont have the exact mesusurments of the space yet, and I'm not a lighting expert either. The light holding part of the hood is somwhere aound 14 inches long and about 4-6 inches Wide and about 9 inches deep thats just an estimate Link to comment
JohnnyMTB Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 If that's the case, and you're willing to spend $100 the Coralife 96w might fit on there. The entire fixture is 20 inches wide, but the bulb is centered and only 14 inches, with the adjustible legs it will fit on any size tank. If the overhang bothers you there is the 32w retrofit that fits a lot of the Eclipse hoods. Check http://store.yahoo.com/lamps-now/index.html (hellolights.com) for some different options. I think lighting is one of the most important factors next to water quality. Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 Welcome to the club! I'm with Johnny, in that if you can, try to squeeze some more light on it. If you're going for a softy tanks.....try for atleast 32W. The power quad would kick a$$ and you could keep pretty much anything you want......maybe a couple of those 27W 6500K lights of america screw-ins? Post some more pics from different angles and maybe the top....I bet you'll get some DYI feed back!!! Link to comment
budahsacman Posted January 31, 2004 Author Share Posted January 31, 2004 JohnnyMTB & onthefly- Thanks so much for the input. I realize how important the lighting is and since I cant really add livestock right now my next purchase is gonna be the lighting upgrade. Ive got 3 descent snapshots of the hood, they give a pretty good feel of about how its is laid out. The first one is an overall top view. 2nd Side view View of the hood up Link to comment
Bio Hazard Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Nice bro, im new to this too...The people here are great, lots of info! Link to comment
jmt Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 I've been looking into getting one of these and I think it be possible to get two coralife 20w 50/50 self ballasted screw ins in the hood. Material wise, it'd cost probably $40, and would take a little DIY time. The results would be great though. I am currently looking for a tank for my mom, who insists she have a "reef" tank and a "nemo". I know, i know. Anyway, I'll post if I decided to go down that route. -Justin Link to comment
budahsacman Posted February 15, 2004 Author Share Posted February 15, 2004 That sounds like a Great idea. The tank is coming along nicely I've added a young tank raised false perc dubbed "krusty". You read my mind with the 20 watt MINI COMPACT 50/50 . I have a pair orderd from this place. Cheapest I could find. MY TANK PROGRESS HERE LINK TO LIGHTS HERE Link to comment
budahsacman Posted February 22, 2004 Author Share Posted February 22, 2004 Hey I just did a little DIY upgrade and thought I would post and update. I ordered a couple 20 watt self ballasted bulbs from Big Al's and while I was waiting for them decided to do a little LED upgrade. I’ve read several posts where people wire up some LEDs in their hoods for moonlighting effects. I used a set of LEDS from Wal-Mart that were designed for an automobile windshield wiper nozzle replacement. I found them on clearance for 4.99. Anyway check out the pictures below or Check out this thread Frontal Shot LED package Blurry Pic of LEDs LED mounted inside HOOD More Pics Here Link to comment
Optimus-JD Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 The moonlights are similiar to the tag LEDs from autozone that I used. They look fantastic at night and I can see all the little critters now. Link to comment
budahsacman Posted April 20, 2004 Author Share Posted April 20, 2004 Hey everyone, Haven’t posted in a while...Been very busy. Just thought I'd post a 3 month update of my progress. The little chunk of reef is doing really great. I'm amazed when I look back to the day 1 pictures. Over the course of a few months several things have happened. I purchased a clown fish early on, "krusty" He suffered from a malicious ich infection and needless to say didn't make it. R.I.P. The death was a combination of my "new tank impatience" and the already present ich from the lfs. The one fish death aside the rest of the tank is doing awesome. I upgraded the lighting from stock to 2 coralife mini 20 watt 50/50's. The jump in light improved the life of the tank enormously. I have added a small colony of brown button polyps, a single mushroom frag(I'm not sure of the species), a nice bubble coral frag and an emerald crab. The GSP is booming as well as the other critters. Frontal Shot You can see more pics HERE!! Link to comment
budahsacman Posted April 20, 2004 Author Share Posted April 20, 2004 I'm very pleased with the investment I have made in this little reef. I want to thank everyone on nano-reef for all the help. This project is a long way from finished but without this forum I would be reef-less. Anyone who reads this and is thinking about starting a nano reef, then you've come to the right place. A little advice though that is often hard learned. Be patient with your nano and it will treat you right. Thanks again Scott Link to comment
taketz Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Question: I have a similar set-up with a 5 gallon tank and i was wondering about those lights you used? How thick are they and how much DIY did it take? Thanks for any info you give me and the tank looks great. ~ Link to comment
budahsacman Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 - taketz The lights fit into the stock hood perfect with minimal modification. The hood already had two layers, one for the light area and one for the wiring area. I drilled 4 holes around the area where the waterproof sockets went and zip tyed them in real secure like using the drilled holes. The hood alrady has a locking acrylic lens and the new lights didnt affect the working mechanisim of the lens. I used a 98 cent extension cable from walmart to wire the sockets in series. The install was very easy and took less than an hour. This current lighting setup is only temporary though. I consider this the end of phase 1, phase 2 will be a new custom made wooden hood that I can add another row of lights 2. Phase 3 will be a nice custom wooden stand with a sump/fuge underneath hidden on 24 hour light. Hope this answers your question. Thanks for your interest. Scott Link to comment
budahsacman Posted July 13, 2004 Author Share Posted July 13, 2004 Hey everyone I just wanted to post some 6th month update pictures. I havnt added anything new since the last update but I'm about to be moving it. That being said I will probably be upgrading to a 10-15 gallon tank as the main and this 5 as the fuge. So before all that goes down I wanted to update the 5 gallon pictures. And the gsp has shown some growth Nothing new really. You can see the eintire progress on my web-journal HERE It's kind of interesting to see the progress summed up. The difference in the corlaine coverages is amazing as well. Hope everyone likes. Link to comment
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