5 Gallon Cylinder Picotank

[NanoTank1]

I ordered a cool 5 gallon cylinder-shaped tank from Cobalt Aquatics

https://www.cobaltaquatics.com/products/decoria-nano-tank

 

Slowly I plan to work through the rest of the equipment needed for this coral-only tank.  Haven't decided what coral quite yet.

 

Any ideas on an unobtrusive heater and something to push flow?  I want to keep the setup minimal.  Would love to hide as much equipment as possible, but difficult given this tank is a cylinder.

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

Nice pick! I thought very seriously about getting a Cobalt Decoria tank before settling on my reefbowl. The 5 gallon cylinder was at the top of my list.

 

The Cobalt Neo-Therm 25 watt heater is well rated, has a fairly low profile and could heat 5 gallons. There is also the Mini-Therm 20 watt, but it has no thermostat and would need a temp controller.

 

Since you're interested in hiding equipment, my suggestion would be to get an air pump rated for maybe 15 or 20 gallons and run an airline with no airstone. It's more unobtrusive than any submersible circulation pump and would provide good random flow in your cylindrical tank. To control splash and salt creep, you would need a lid (e.g. a glass terrarium lid like those sold at craft stores).  This would also keep evaporation to a minimum.  Another advantage of an air pump over a submersible pump: It requires far less maintenance.

 

Continuing the hidden-equipment theme, you could run a canister filter fed with glass lily pipes like the ones used in planted tanks. That would be compatible with the airline-and-lid idea and give you a really clean look.

[NanoTank1]

Thanks for the excellent ideas.  I really like the idea of a canister filter with glass lily pipes.  One challenge is finding a canister filter that would provide the right amount of flow for a roughly 5 gallon tank.

 

The cylinder tank should arrive today.  I'll double-check the diameter when it arrives.  My first step is figuring out where to get a custom lid made.  I'm thinking of an acrylic lid.

 

18 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Nice pick! I thought very seriously about getting a Cobalt Decoria tank before settling on my reefbowl. The 5 gallon cylinder was at the top of my list.

 

The Cobalt Neo-Therm 25 watt heater is well rated, has a fairly low profile and could heat 5 gallons. There is also the Mini-Therm 20 watt, but it has no thermostat and would need a temp controller.

 

Since you're interested in hiding equipment, my suggestion would be to get an air pump rated for maybe 15 or 20 gallons and run an airline with no airstone. It's more unobtrusive than any submersible circulation pump and would provide good random flow in your cylindrical tank. To control splash and salt creep, you would need a lid (e.g. a glass terrarium lid like those sold at craft stores).  This would also keep evaporation to a minimum.  Another advantage of an air pump over a submersible pump: It requires far less maintenance.

 

Continuing the hidden-equipment theme, you could run a canister filter fed with glass lily pipes like the ones used in planted tanks. That would be compatible with the airline-and-lid idea and give you a really clean look.

 

[Outofstock]

https://www.amazon.com/KollerCraft-Rapids-Mini-Canister-Filter/dp/B000YJ0M1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490193472&sr=8-1&keywords=rapids+mini+canister+filter

 

I had one of these on a roughly 6 gallon betta bowl. Well I had two, one on each bowl but one did fail after a few months. Just randomly sprung a leak and started leaking water out of where the power cord goes. I swapped the intake with the outflow and drilled it so it acted like a spray bar. Maybe consider making your own DIY canister filter. I personally wouldnt go the mini canister route just due to my experience. 

[NanoTank1]

I can sympathize!  It seems like every 5th canister review complains of leaks.  In terms of the tank I don't really need filtration.  I can take care of that part with larger water changes.  I still have a goal of providing water circulation and heating the water while hiding the equipment.

 

I wonder if a combination of an in-line heater and an in-line water pump would work.

For example:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11369

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=26070&rel=1

 

 

2 hours ago, Outofstock said:

https://www.amazon.com/KollerCraft-Rapids-Mini-Canister-Filter/dp/B000YJ0M1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490193472&sr=8-1&keywords=rapids+mini+canister+filter

 

I had one of these on a roughly 6 gallon betta bowl. Well I had two, one on each bowl but one did fail after a few months. Just randomly sprung a leak and started leaking water out of where the power cord goes. I swapped the intake with the outflow and drilled it so it acted like a spray bar. Maybe consider making your own DIY canister filter. I personally wouldnt go the mini canister route just due to my experience. 

 

[Lula_Mae]

This tank was TOTM a while back, he used a canister and lily pipes and made a gorgeous tank.  As far as a heater--I literally just got this one and put it into my tank yesterday but I really like it so far.  It's holding it at close to 79 degrees, it's slim and it has external control for the thermostat.  Good price too.

 

This should be a nifty build!

[SeaFurn]

I don't think I'd go with that in-line heater. It's going to be too bulky. I'd go with a smaller one like the one Lulu suggested. I used a Cobalt Mini-therm 10W with a temperature controller.  It's pretty small. I've seen an Aqueon that was really small too.

https://www.amazon.com/Aqueon-AQE06194-Heater-Aquarium-10-watt/dp/B009ETLY30/ref=sr_1_2?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1490226246&sr=1-2&keywords=aqueon+10+watt+heater

 

I like the pump idea but was always worried it would heat the water too much.  But maybe if you had one you wouldn't need a heater at all.

Would something like this work for the pump?  It's pretty small (could be hidden easily) and it's flow is only 40-55 gph. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CKU4JMC?psc=1

[Marc.The.Shark]

I had an 8 gallon cylinder tank that I ran for over 2 years before I upgraded to a larger tank. I also wanted minimal equipment in the display and ended up putting a small 10x10x10 sump underneath and sticking the equipment down there. For flow I used a SCWD with split returns for alternating flow, worked pretty well. One thing I will tell you from experience is that no matter what flow pattern you have the cylinder will tend to swirl the flow around the outside. I kinda minimized this with the SCWD, but it was still there and there were some dead spots in the tank (center). Make sure you keep up with maintenance and blow off the rocks frequently. I loved the look of the tank tho and just upgraded for a larger tank. Here's the thread I had on the tank, I'm always a little lax on updating.....lol