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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Sarah's 5gal Hex


saraswati

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Well, I moved houses, and I've been trying to use all of the stuff that I have sitting around. Found my 5 gal hex again. Figured I would try it out! The tank is scratched all to hell, but it's just going in my room for my own pleasure, so I'm not very concerned. I actually went ahead and cemented all the rock together in one chunk so that I'm not constantly knocking stuff over, and if I ever need to move it there will be no need for re-arranging. Here it is:

 

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Dry run.

 

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Filled up and in place. Makes for a lovely bedside table.

 

I scrapped the entire hood part after experimenting with different bulbs (I never did find a screw-in Coralife.) I ended up getting a par20 from Lowe's just to see what it looked like.

 

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And it's not terrible. I think I'll keep it. There's also a little LED moonlight in there that I had in my bits and parts. Might get another one of those (although it's pretty bright already, and I don't want it keeping me up.)

 

I just tossed a little chunk of rock from my 29's sump in there to get it rolling. Everything else was straight dry rock. Going to actually try and cycle this thing for reals for once :-) Haven't tested anything yet (can't find the test tube... ugh moving.) I did see this though!

 

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Diatoms! Guess we're rolling!

 

As far as equipment goes, this is pretty plain and simple. I really just used the tank itself (acrylic 5gal hex), slapped the AC30 from my old 10gal on the back, with filter floss and some chaeto from the 29, and it has the lights, and a cheapo heater. That's it. Ahhh... simplicity.

 

I think I'm just going to put overflow softies in here. A little of the Kenya that's going crazy, maybe separate some of my ric's and those awesome green shrooms that keep multiplying. Maybe a tiny goby or something. I'll have to figure out some sort of lid if I put a fish in there... Could modify the rim that comes with the tank and screen it in. I dunno, we'll see! Anyway, just wanted to update for once!

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Well, this thing is doing SOMETHING, that's for sure... mostly growing algae :-/ I didn't really have to cycle my first tank, so this is all a little weird. Here's what it looks like right now.

 

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Bleh. I'm guessing most of the algae is because my room gets a LOT of light. At least that's what I'm guessing, since the back doesn't seem to be growing much at all.

 

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Weird.

 

In all that algae, there is a little tube-worm-looking guy that made it on the little chunk of live rock I threw in there!

 

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Other than that, I tested the nitrate and nitrite last night for the first time (been laaaazy.)

 

Right now it's at

 

Nitrate: 15 ppm

Nitrite: 1 ppm

 

I'll try to remember to write it down as I go. It'll be interesting to see it progress. Now I just need to get a CUC and let it keep on cooking!

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WWWwwwwwWWWwooooOOOOoooooOOOOooooooOOOOOooo

 

 

 

That's not even a word.

 

 

Also, may I direct your attention to my super-fancy waterline marker?

 

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Don't you wish your tank had stick-on earrings like mine?

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Just noticed that you have a stick on thermometer too... I've read that those only work on glass... am I wrong?

 

Entirely possibly. I want to say it was on there when I had a betta in there... Not particularly concerned since it's empty right now, but I'll get a glass one eventually. I had a digital one for a while but didn't really like it, and then it got dropped in water :huh:

 

gross

 

Still mad that we can't "like" things on here. They need to work on that.

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