Lingwendil Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 Hoo boy, it's been a while, hasn't it? My first successful reef was in a 2.5G AGA way back in November of 2004, and here we come full circle back to one. Paid already, picking up tonight on the way home from work. 10% off if you reserve online 🙂   Plan so far is simple, but I haven't nailed anything down for equipment yet. I may go full retard on a fancy DIY LED light, with a simple sponge filter for the lulz. Who knows 🙂   3 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 27, 2019 Author Share Posted March 27, 2019 Thinking of this heater for the build- Â https://www.amazon.com/Marina-C10-Compact-Heater-10-Watt/dp/B003TLWWOO/ref=pd_sbs_199_11?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B003TLWWOO&pd_rd_r=47e041ad-50c1-11e9-bb6d-ff004e8dad19&pd_rd_w=3eEsN&pd_rd_wg=CzUMI&pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&pf_rd_r=E91B6RQYKRJXZB7G3PBM&psc=1&refRID=E91B6RQYKRJXZB7G3PBM Â It's affordable, and should do the job in our house, as we tend to be pretty warm most of the time. Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Â Got it home, temporarily next to the shrimp 2.5. Time to start collecting equipment. 5 Quote Link to comment
MetaTank Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 57 minutes ago, Lingwendil said: Â Got it home, temporarily next to the shrimp 2.5. Time to start collecting equipment. WOOT! Officially GO time! 1 Quote Link to comment
This guy is extra salty Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 I want that bulbasaur 2 Quote Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Good luck to you! Time to rep '04. :) 1 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Thanks my man! Hard to believe I've been on this forum for fifteen years! I joined my senior year of high school! Â For reference, this is the sister tank to the contest tank. Â Â Â Â All natural light, no algae issues! Â It currently houses half a dozen cherry shrimp, a pair of Dario dario, a mess of ramshorn snails, and five Heterandria formosa fry that I pull from my other planted setup as I find them. I'm thinking planted/reef sister tanks will be neat :) 10 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 30, 2019 Author Share Posted March 30, 2019 Â Â Â Â the suspense is killing me. I want to start it already! 1 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 I love your planted and sister tanks always look great 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Â the xboxhuge powerhead is temporary until the azoo filter comes in tomorrow. 2 Quote Link to comment
asting Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 What's the bar on the back? Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Spraybar connected to the powerhead, it diffuses the flow nicely. Quote Link to comment
asting Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 ah very nice. Is that temporary too? Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Yeah, something similar is probably what I'll go with long term with a much smaller pump on one of the narrow sides of the tank, to go for a mini-gyre sort of effect. Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Oh boy! As I lay in bed, contemplating existence, cuddling my woman, and turning on educational shows for my son (he's almost three) I got the notification from amaon that my package was just a few stops away. Once it arrived, I immediately sprung to action (not a second before, mind you, it's my day off after all) Â Current state of affairs, with MJ water polishing setup. I used 20% or so live sand from my 20 long, mixed with dry (Tropic Eden Tonga miniflakes)sand. I wanted circulation and a way to pull out any leftover particles that didn't wash out. (Also pictured, my son's nutella snack pack) Â Â box is nearly the size of the tank: Â Â By now you should have started prepping for bacon- Â Â Grab a nearby sharp object, as a staunch second amendment supporter I found an East German AK bayonet was the handiest knife available. You can use a bayonet or knife from any country you like. Â Â It made easy work of the box- Â Which contained two products I'd never used before... I thought size wise these would be a good fit. Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 So, I decided to go with the Azoo filter for several reasons, primarily due to cost, and the smaller uptake tube that will be easier to hide. I also have plans for supplemental flow, so the reduced flow over the aquaclear filters was a non issue. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of the aquaclear setups for small tanks. I find the flow is hard to diffuse in a satisfactory manner, and then you end up adding an additional pump anyway. This nice thing about this Azoo filter, is that unlike the "palm" model (now called the 60) is that it has actual slots for media to slide in. This is the primary advantage of the 150 in my opinion. I have plans to make a rack for filter pad instead of the included cartridge.   while I didn't even think of it until now, the heater I chose fits inside nicely too :)    3 Quote Link to comment
MetaTank Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 13 minutes ago, Lingwendil said: So, I decided to go with the Azoo filter for several reasons, primarily due to cost, and the smaller uptake tube that will be easier to hide. I also have plans for supplemental flow, so the reduced flow over the aquaclear filters was a non issue. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of the aquaclear setups for small tanks. I find the flow is hard to diffuse in a satisfactory manner, and then you end up adding an additional pump anyway. This nice thing about this Azoo filter, is that unlike the "palm" model (now called the 60) is that it has actual slots for media to slide in. This is the primary advantage of the 150 in my opinion. I have plans to make a rack for filter pad instead of the included cartridge.   while I didn't even think of it until now, the heater I chose fits inside nicely too 🙂    Yeah that heater is prime size for that azoo 150!! Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019  Closes up nicely and has a leveling foot too :)  installed it has very small impact on the tank as far as intrusive looks. Perfect fit. Very happy with $23 invested for equipment.    2 Quote Link to comment
asting Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Pretty slick setup. What is normally behind the filter in the stock setup? Space? 1 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Yeah it's just an open area. Prime real estate :) 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Lookin' good and great snack choice too. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Â Grabbed a couple pounds of rock, not enough time to arrange it yet, so it's just set in there for now. It's getting there... 3 Quote Link to comment
MetaTank Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 49 minutes ago, Lingwendil said:  Grabbed a couple pounds of rock, not enough time to arrange it yet, so it's just set in there for now. It's getting there... Nice! I on;y have boulders compared to those rocks! I gotta get the hammer and chisel out 😞 Quote Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted April 2, 2019 Author Share Posted April 2, 2019 Experimenting with the lighting setup- Using one of my custom-loadout BlueAcro pucks, I like it! Going to throw a diffuser of some sort on the fixture's splash shield to reduce the color separation, and the rest of the lighting setup is currently a secret  LED count- 1 channel of 3x Royal Blue, 1x420nm Violet, with an added Royal Blue, one channel of 1x Royal Blue, 1x Mint, 1x 90CRI 5700k cool white, 1x Cool Blue, with an added Cyan, all driven at 300mA.     This pic shows off some of the hitchhiker Zoas, and is a very accurate representation of the actual color of the lighting.     Playing with backdrop colors- this is purple construction paper. Likely using either this or a dark navy blue. It looks much better in person! The light spill throws the camera off. 5 Quote Link to comment
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