Nightstand Goby 5.5 Gallon It’s wet now!!

[Curtis_Rose]

Alright so I have been into saltwater for around 4 months now. I have an Evo 13.5 in the living room and is doing very well. So I was at Petco...for dog food...found a sale on a 5.5 gallon with hood filter and cheap dinky light for 20 bucks. Convinced my wife and took it home. I quickly decided during a leak test that the HOB that came with it wasn’t nearly enough flow. Back to Petco I went to buy an aquaclear 70. Way better. Got tons of turn over and a lot of flow plus a little added water capacity. I also got 5 pounds of dry rock and 10 pounds of sand. So far my plan is a shrimp and goby pair. Coral of course, gonna use the stock evo light that I don’t need on the 13.5 anymore. I have started to mod the aquaclear (Refugium) and finished my scape. Only things left are to decide exactly what I want for corals and fish. Make a lid. Figure out heater. Have a lighting bracket printed and a couple more odds and ends. Then cycle. More to come stay tuned! 

[RustyRocket]

Good start fella! If its a standard 5.5 gallon dimension then Petco and PetSmart sells the standard glass lids. 

They do a real good job and has a plastic bit where you can score and cut for the filter to sit. 

[Clown79]

Cool tank. I like the aquascape

[Curtis_Rose]

6 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Cool tank. I like the aquascape

Thanks actaully took it apart and put it together like twenty times before I decided lots of caves and through-areas. Broke a lot rocks and used water weld worked great.

[Curtis_Rose]

8 hours ago, RustyRocket said:

Good start fella! If its a standard 5.5 gallon dimension then Petco and PetSmart sells the standard glass lids. 

They do a real good job and has a plastic bit where you can score and cut for the filter to sit. 

Thanks. I have some left over window screen extrusion from making my top for the evo I think I’m just gonna use that for the top. I have a ton of the clear mesh left as well so pretty much free lol but the glass lid does sound nice I’ll have to check it out

[Gourami Swami]

So you bought the combo for 20 bucks... just to not use anything but the tank, which would have been 13 bucks alone 😂

looks like a nice start!

 

[Curtis_Rose]

1 hour ago, Gourami Swami said:

So you bought the combo for 20 bucks... just to not use anything but the tank, which would have been 13 bucks alone 😂

looks like a nice start!

 

I’ll probably end up using the hob to run carbon in both tanks when needed or something idk and yea yea plans always change haha 

[Chris's Fishes]

Looks great! I love the dimensions on 5.5s. Makes the seem a lot bigger than what they are. Great deal, too! I can't find them around here for anything less than $25 for the bare tank.

[Lula_Mae]

16 hours ago, Curtis_Rose said:

Alright so I have been into saltwater for around 4 months now. I have an Evo 13.5 in the living room and is doing very well. So I was at Petco...for dog food...found a sale on a 5.5 gallon with hood filter and cheap dinky light for 20 bucks. Convinced my wife and took it home. I quickly decided during a leak test that the HOB that came with it wasn’t nearly enough flow. Back to Petco I went to buy an aquaclear 70. Way better. Got tons of turn over and a lot of flow plus a little added water capacity. I also got 5 pounds of dry rock and 10 pounds of sand. So far my plan is a shrimp and goby pair. Coral of course, gonna use the stock evo light that I don’t need on the 13.5 anymore. I have started to mod the aquaclear (Refugium) and finished my scape. Only things left are to decide exactly what I want for corals and fish. Make a lid. Figure out heater. Have a lighting bracket printed and a couple more odds and ends. Then cycle. More to come stay tuned! 

Nice! I love 5.5s. Got a temporary one going right now lol. I would suggest the Archaea heater offered by Aqua Forest Aquarium,  I used one in my 5.5 and am using one in my pico as well. I recommended them a lot in the Creative Container contest lol. It's tiny and unobtrusive. 

[Curtis_Rose]

Little update been busy working this weekend so didn’t have a lot of time

 

started work on the aquaclear  and added some feet to my rock scape to hold it up so a little sand go underneath and the goby and shrimp pair I get will have some room to dig and such 

[Curtis_Rose]

Another thing I have been pondering is lighting for my aquaclear fuge. I could use strip led lights but not sure if they would be be enough my other option I’m thinking would be best is this light https://www.amazon.com/ACKE-Lights-Spectrum-Lights，Growing-Hydropoincs/dp/B01LX1EO3W/ref=mp_s_a_1_57?ie=UTF8&qid=1548641538&sr=8-57&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=led+grow+lights+for+indoor+plants&dpPl=1&dpID=411IZctm%2BYL&ref=plSrch   Seen a few others use this light with good results. I know I most likely won’t start running the fuge till I have nutrients in the water but I want to get it all figured out and here before I get the tank wet. That way I can fit everything before there’s water in the aquaclear. What do u guys think. Don’t want to create heat as it’s only a five gallon and I don’t want a traditional lamp fixture on my desk. Also trying to be frugal. Haha big ask for sure. 

[TatorTaco]

That's a pretty neat idea to create little feet out of PVC.  Are you cycling yet? 

[Curtis_Rose]

5 hours ago, TatorTaco said:

That's a pretty neat idea to create little feet out of PVC.  Are you cycling yet? 

Thanks haha just needed something and didn’t have acrylic rod haha  and no not yet plan is to get the tank wet the weekend after next as this coming weekend is my wife’s birthday. Pretty excited to fill it up tho and get the cycle going. I’ll probably throw in some turbo start and some filter floss from my other tank. Still need to purchase a heater and get my light for the refugium. My spending money this week went to salt because my fritz salt is not working out. The levels are all too high. Go figure lol

[Curtis_Rose]

Alright the tank is wet! 

I mixed about 9 gallons last night 7 for the new tank and 2 for the other tank. Had some extra but I wanted to make sure I had more than enough.

Then I rinised the sand and the rock scape in rodi water. Little tip, they make a bag for baby socks that is meant for the washing machine that is super fine. Works amazingly well for rinsing sand. I had one they we never used for anything.

This bag came with my aquaclear gonna use it for sumo rock will make It easy to take out and clean the aquaclear once a month. Added some nitrifying bacteria and some frozen lrs food. And two big pieces of filter floss that has been simmering in my other tank for two weeks! 

 And there you have it! It wet and it’s running well. Time to wait!  In the mean time I’m just enjoying my other tank and continuing to regular maintenance. Reef works here in Seattle is in a couple weeks I’ll be going to that. Probably going to pick up a couple frags for each tank. Though they will probbaly all go in my other tank till this one is ready! 

[Curtis_Rose]

Oh and don’t worry that heater is not the one I’m using that’s my water change heater lol. Amazon packages are late....again seems like happens a lot lately. The fuge light and heater will be here hopefully by the end of the day or Monday who really knows

[Curtis_Rose]

Well amazon finally arrived the other day. Wasn’t happy with the heater (hydor) the thermostat was off and the temp fluctuated too much. Went and bought a Eheim and that seems a lot better but it’s alot bigger as well. That room doesn’t have direct heating during the day the temp is pretty stable at 80. But at night the temp drops to 78.5 but we have a oil heater on at night seems ok still working out keeping the temp as stable as I can. Got the cheato light as well but won’t be using that for now as the system is new. Light mounts will be done today as well as a flow redirect for the aquaclear 

After it’s installed I’ll update. The cycle is well underway now. One week in things looking good. 

[Curtis_Rose]

Temp just dropped to 77.7 Think I’m might just buy an inkbird I have one on the nano mind as well but one for this tank too....

[Superdave]

On 2/16/2019 at 3:12 PM, Curtis_Rose said:

Well amazon finally arrived the other day. Wasn’t happy with the heater (hydor) the thermostat was off and the temp fluctuated too much. Went and bought a Eheim and that seems a lot better but it’s alot bigger as well. That room doesn’t have direct heating during the day the temp is pretty stable at 80. But at night the temp drops to 78.5 but we have a oil heater on at night seems ok still working out keeping the temp as stable as I can. Got the cheato light as well but won’t be using that for now as the system is new. Light mounts will be done today as well as a flow redirect for the aquaclear 

After it’s installed I’ll update. The cycle is well underway now. One week in things looking good. 

Is this an add-on to direct the flow coming out of your AC70?  Really great idea--I love the "full" flow rate, but it does kick up the sand which mounted on the long end of the tank.  I've put some pieces of live rock down near from edge of tank, but the sand is still working out from underneath it.  

 

I have a small heater for sale in the dry goods section I think would work for you if you are interested.  It's brand new and never been used.  If you don't mind me asking, do you know how much it will cost you to make (assuming you are) this diverter pictured above?  

 

I finally bought, after much research, an AC70 recently in large part due to the pictures you posted of your setup showing the flow as I have a 5.5 as well.  

[nanoreeFan]

With the ACKE LED Grow Lights 12W, and aquaclear does anyone think there would be any long term affect on the aquclear flimsy material mounting the led in direct contact with it. Thanks in advance

[Superdave]

5 minutes ago, nanoreeFan said:

With the ACKE LED Grow Lights 12W, and aquaclear does anyone think there would be any long term affect on the aquclear flimsy material mounting the led in direct contact with it. Thanks in advance

I don't intend to hijack/sidetrack this thread, so maybe it should be posted in lighting or refugium forum?  

 

To answer you question briefly I wonder what you mean by long term effect?  Do you mean the plastic housing/lid material of the Aquaclear being affected by the light?  Without knowing/feeling how hot your light gets, I think it would be hard to say.  If the manufacturer of the light speaks to this, then I think that is your best best.  AC is made out of plastic which can weaken and crack over time but I honestly cannot say if this would be accelerated by a light source.  LEDs do not create nearly as much as heat compared to compact fluorescents, but lots of people add lights to their refugium and I have never read of the filter material failing as a result.  

[Curtis_Rose]

I don’t think it’s the heat nanoreeFan is curious abt? Are u thinking the exposure to intense light over a long time? And the light itself doesn’t generate a lot of heat it has a good sized heat sink I haven’t noticed it heating up over the course of an hour. I let it run for an hour when I got it. But haven’t installed on the tank as I am still cycling....stubborn cycle for sure 

[nanoreeFan]

Thanks Curtis appreciate it, yes I've had the odd LED made in china in the past that put out warmth. Glad to hear these are cool. I was thinking about your setup for an office tank so I'd want to be very careful not screw up is the reason for asking. Keep the ole boss-man happy. Thanks for sharing all your info here it's looking great

[Curtis_Rose]

Little update the cycle is finished!!! The lights are mounted and the water diverter is installed still working out the kinks with the design but works for now. Now I’m gonna turn on the lights and wait for the algae to start and add my cleanup crew then let it go for a few more weeks till I add fish. We are putting our house on the market soon. I might wait till the new house to add fish and just have corals for now until after the move not sure yet. I have two tanks to move luckily they are small. I’m gonna move the fish tanks separate from the moving day. House goes on the market early April. Gonna be a busy time I’ll update as I can.  One pic for now excuse the glass. Ew