My new and improved 2.5 gallon pico

[sdnesmith]

Here's a pic of my 2.5g at roughly three weeks. I realized a couple of weeks ago that the sand I bought at Petco was a very fine silica based sand. I was $8 for 10 lbs and labeled as Premium Marine White Sand by Nature's Ocean.

 

Anyway, I decided to take it out and replace it with 3 lbs of live sand from a LFS. I like it MUCH better. I am able to turn the flow up on the AC Mini without a major dust storm. Right now, the tanks still clearing, but you can see the additional 2 lbs of live rock I added tonight as well. I think I arranged it so as to not have any dead spots for circulation.

 

Let me know what you guys think, I always appreciate the helpful advice here.

 

Shawn

[sdnesmith]

A before pic can be found here:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=33184

[plhsurfer]

Tank is looking good. I just purchased the same 2.5 from Petco yesterday to swap out my 2.5 minibow. I will post some pics up when I get home tonight.

 

Any pics of your hood/lights?

Also any advice on how to mod the intake tube on the AC like you did?

 

and fyi.. I live down in Clear Lake... I noticed that you live somewhere South of Houston also.

[sdnesmith]

Thanks plhsurfer, looking forward to the pics.

 

I don't have any pics with the lights mounted, but you can see the canopy on this thread:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...?threadid=32008

 

I'll try to post some pics soon. The thread in the post above shows some of the wiring I did. I basically bought a 2x13w Bright Kit from AH Supply for $14.99. I'm using 2 50/50 bulbs. The only problem I had was I didn't realize the heat those bulbs are capable of. The heat split the top of the canopy open where I had glued it with 2000psi epoxy! So I had to strip it, seal it, and repaint it. After that I added the 60mm stealth fan which keeps the tank at a steady 78-80. It does cause about 4 ounces of evaporation a day, even with the acrylic canopy over it.

 

The intake mod idea I got from plapczynski. I cut the top of the intake tube off just below the bulge and cut the end off about 1/8" above the screen. The screen fits nicely inside the larger diameter part from the top of the tube, then you just slip the whole thing over the u-bend tube as you would the normal intake tube. There's a pic in the thread referenced in my above post as well.

 

Clear Lake huh? I live in Missouri City a little to the west of you.

 

BTW, how much live rock/sand do you have in your tank? Any corals yet?

 

Shawn