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Wonderboy's UGFuge 2.5G Pico


Wonderboy

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Wonderboy

Dealt with a mini cycle after removing the seed rock; it settled back down over a short time period after a partial water change and dose of phyto and pods.

 

I finished putting the underglow under the chassis.

I cut some reflector from an unused T5 fixture (who needs that anyways) and used 12V strip LEDs in red, pink and blue:

IMG_2186.thumb.jpg.62d7d070fbe7e2e9ff17897b02047535.jpg

 

IMG_2187.thumb.jpg.68cfbb82e01a014a30a11ffb1f95579d.jpg

 

It was brighter than expected so I cut a diffuser from Styrofoam packaging sheet (doubles as insulation from the warm LEDs):

IMG_2196.thumb.JPG.22d2a06a79e40cc11c792a885fc80455.JPG

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Wonderboy

Here's the whole setup last night:

IMG_2192.thumb.jpg.4fb5aa417512dd35a84fd9afc4aa4081.jpg

 

Check out those disco bubbles:

IMG_2197.thumb.JPG.1a1a3582f122469b7efed4cd8ff1d684.JPG

 

So I might reduce the power to the LEDs. There was SO much light coming through the gravel that I had to add more gravel; and now, there's still SO much light coming through the gravel... 🤣 For the time being, I'm just going to let whatever happens happen. Running underglow for 18 hrs, DT light for 8 hrs - 1 hour of overlay (both lights on).

 

What it kind of looks like with both lights going (sorry, cell phone pics):

IMG_2199.thumb.JPG.de55a432805d1cd61329f0719ffb6649.JPG

 

Snap shot of this hot bottom:

IMG_2198.thumb.JPG.d423ca921899b7f74ee953ecd164e3ee.JPG

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Wonderboy

The mushroom and zoa started to shrivel up slowly, so I relocated them to another system (hopefully they recover) and did a large water change on the 2.5G. I'm going to try coral again in a couple WCs. I had added 3 small blue leg hermits a while back, 2 large electric blue knuckle hermits a few days ago and a blue damsel just yesterday. So far, these seem to be doing well. The rock is easily removed, so I can catch the damsel easily if I decide he is not staying in here. Also, the rock's back is cut flat and sits off the aquarium wall almost a half inch, so he is able to swim behind, into, and out of the rock's features. He quickly took to observing everyone walking by not far from this tunnel entrance:

 

IMG_2212.thumb.jpg.56b90c8a0bbbd964e6e0452160bbe604.jpg

 

IMG_2210.thumb.jpg.b9fa704795ed9613649aa684457f8f8e.jpg

 

One of the large hermits:

IMG_2208.thumb.jpg.87ff07c7cc346f378e718975d1ffe467.jpg

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I have a cranky mushroom too.  The darn thing looks like a blueberry every morning but by the time I get home it is spread out like a puddle and purple instead of blue.  It seems to want a shaded area from the mouth up but spreads into the light below the mouth.  We have started calling it Mister Cranky Pants.  

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Wonderboy

The zoa that was moved out is now toast - it was an official slime ball in the 10G last night... I guess it's more like jelly for the toast. The mushroom is in the 10G, too; it's starting to look like it might make it.

 

I had added a small powerhead, which is basically a small USB powered pump, to the top right corner to prevent too much debri settling. I programmed it to turn on for 3 hours around lights off and on; running it full time had influenced the tank's temperature too much.

 

Also, after the addition of the underglow, I noticed the temps were hovering at the high end during the night like it was doing when the CFL was on 24hrs. I am going to try running the underglow for one and a half hours then have them cut off for a half hour repeatedly during the night. Probably wouldn't be an issue on a larger tank - I'll be watching. I also have the underglow scheduled to come on midday for an hour and a half so that -theoretically- the tank is assuredly kept warmer during the day.

 

Ironically, the placement of this setup ended up being behind one of my wall mounted oscillating fans in the house, so I got that workhorse on the schedule, too. I have the fan programmed to be on during the day and intermittently during the night.

 

There is a series of analog timers running this operation - one for the oscillating fan, one for the UGF LEDs, one for the powerhead, and one for the display CFL - it's basically a DIY aquarium controller from before our time...

 

Here's a rare look behind the scenes:

 

IMG_2222.thumb.jpg.e86e25d3d95dd08adabc80dd9a9b8f26.jpg

 

IMG_2223.thumb.JPG.a400fba34102f95ec7d1a7640b46a626.JPG

 

IMG_2221.thumb.jpg.582e5df54d5713b0f929efd05164d7de.jpg

Camouflaged?

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9 hours ago, Tigahboy said:

We need more tricks, Wonderboy!

Okay okay... So I noticed that this thing doesn't really evaporate much of anything with the glass lid being nearly sealed, so I figured I could incorporate a small ATO somewhere to help keep the salinity as stable as possible. Without any further ado, this is what I came up with:

 

IMG_2259.thumb.jpg.01abc2ce1609b761113792f4a0923830.jpg

                                                                                                 ...yes, the tank's stand is leveled with pennies.

 

 

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So this is a heat warped piece of conduit tube super-glued to a bulkhead gasket. It's belled to hold an upside-down bottle.

IMG_2264.thumb.jpg.b87e8f994e13ac3c83bda5b780ba4a72.jpg

 

It's supposed to maintain the seal for the "ATO" over the hole I drilled in the glass like so:

IMG_2263.thumb.jpg.f9cfddd576d66c74ccfd51db8fa67927.jpg

 

So that these parts (the shortened air stone/RODI inlet and the air inlet) are suspended at the surface of the water, kind of like this:

IMG_2262.thumb.jpg.6ee38733c4018809232c956779832184.jpg

 

The check valve in the previous post is for slowing the flow so removal is not a hazard.

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It drips a little faster than 1 drop per second when the air inlet isn't plugged [with water]:

IMG_2272.thumb.jpg.5a294dd7d11afbde37358d056e2cc04e.jpg

 

I have to drill another hole tomorrow just for quick access broadcast feeding.

IMG_2276.thumb.jpg.a1c47c201a01a1b0f861ff5135f448be.jpg

 

The ATO unit is not too obvious from the front...

Though I'll have to take a photo when the DT light is on to see how well the in-tank parts are hidden.

IMG_2275.thumb.jpg.3e74e86542c3a49ef4c97f79729b0cd3.jpg

 

Oh yeah, I made a little tree out of some dry rock for some plain Jane green star polyps to grow on - I'm going to mount that frag on there tomorrow, too.

 

52 minutes ago, Tigahboy said:

Yasss!  OP delivered!  Very cool ATO!

Thanks!!

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All the equipment in here turned out to be better hidden than I thought it would be; you can hardly even see the powerhead:

IMG_0451.thumb.JPG.1cc8ddc4a7f92e610551d504c5ce27fc.JPG

 

The ATO in-tank parts are almost invisible

IMG_0452.thumb.JPG.8567e09b5d3f9a78d5c2c3290a83b928.JPG

                                      ...you didn't see anything...

 

I glued a tiny GSP frag onto the back of the rock tree (or the dead coral tree) - really hard to see/shoot:

IMG_2257.thumb.jpg.1e1c39e05565c071441400a548d3d3fa.jpg

 

IMG_0446.thumb.JPG.b412249c8373205f5271f6121c283bae.JPG

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I've been up to some more nonsense...

 

Yesterday, I realized that there was a bunch of unused space inside the light hood and that I had a bunch of extra strip LEDS; though I was and am still absolutely uncertain of what any of their wavelengths are, I decided more blue of whatever nanometer added to the display couldn't hurt much. So, I found the rest of what I needed around the house to Jerry-rig this thing up properly. I was able to get the LEDs on a separate switch mounted sturdily to the rear of the hood; the CFL and the LED strip can operate individually or together. I was also able to better route the airline into the back of the hood and direct it towards the CFL. The acrylic shield still goes over it all without argument.

 

IMG_0457.thumb.JPG.ba276940f81be1fd1ce71aa7de17e94f.JPGIMG_0460.thumb.JPG.8ae77675cc9887cc480d6b1052d74e3a.JPG

 

I also drilled the lid again for that prospective feed hole and made a little cap for it:

IMG_2283.thumb.jpg.b30f2039635a0153f9de0192c31cb9e4.jpg

 

IMG_2284.thumb.jpg.a3b6b76c42c255ea4f31429ce1ccbce6.jpg

 

For comparing...

FTS "pre-op" (just CFL):

IMG_2287.thumb.jpg.1e7b5ffae2905915560bf7a708b9b9f4.jpg

 

FTS after surgery (CFL+LED):

IMG_2288.thumb.jpg.aa1490ac211ccda5288eed0ee87defaf.jpg

 

Again, I am not at all sure of what the actual nanometer these LEDs is, but I can now do this to my camera with my over-hauled incandescent strip light lol:

IMG_2280.thumb.jpg.d0c819ed4fe7b21cae892a7fd1a47a53.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, Wonderboy said:

I've been up to some more nonsense...

 

Yesterday, I realized that there was a bunch of unused space inside the light hood and that I had a bunch of extra strip LEDS; though I was and am still absolutely uncertain of what any of their wavelengths are, I decided more blue of whatever nanometer added to the display couldn't hurt much. So, I found the rest of what I needed around the house to Jerry-rig this thing up properly. I was able to get the LEDs on a separate switch mounted sturdily to the rear of the hood; the CFL and the LED strip can operate individually or together. I was also able to better route the airline into the back of the hood and direct it towards the CFL. The acrylic shield still goes over it all without argument.

 

IMG_0457.thumb.JPG.ba276940f81be1fd1ce71aa7de17e94f.JPGIMG_0460.thumb.JPG.8ae77675cc9887cc480d6b1052d74e3a.JPG

 

I also drilled the lid again for that prospective feed hole and made a little cap for it:

IMG_2283.thumb.jpg.3abcd5954352a189f6491b53d24b2b7d.jpg

 

IMG_2284.thumb.jpg.a3b6b76c42c255ea4f31429ce1ccbce6.jpg

 

For comparing...

FTS pre-op (just CFL):

IMG_2287.thumb.jpg.1e7b5ffae2905915560bf7a708b9b9f4.jpg

 

FTS after surgery (CFL+LED):

IMG_2288.thumb.jpg.aa1490ac211ccda5288eed0ee87defaf.jpg

 

Again, I am not at all sure of what the actual nanometer these LEDs is, but I can now do this to my camera with my over-hauled incandescent strip light lol:

IMG_2280.thumb.jpg.d0c819ed4fe7b21cae892a7fd1a47a53.jpg

 

Nice retrofit, adds a ton of blue. Lookin good

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Awesome setup!  The internal filter might disallow you from winning prizes, but I wouldn't change it.  This tank is sweet.

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A google image search of 'internal filter' brings up what equipment I thought was referenced as restricted. I did not know the terms were characteristic descriptive. UGFs are from way before HOBs, so I rolled with it, but I understand if it's not allowed; I'm just here to share new ideas with the community.

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14 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

UGFs are from way before HOBs, so I rolled with it, but I understand if it's not allowed

Yeah, sorry.

On 3/28/2019 at 11:03 AM, Christopher Marks said:

HOB filters only, or no filter

 

But I'm stoked to see this tank come together.  Keep up the good work!

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"HOBs filters only, or no filter" ...this was referencing a Tetra brand in-tank mechanical filter...

 

But also:

On 3/23/2019 at 7:03 PM, Christopher Marks said:

but you cannot use any additional unapproved equipment.

So, I guess count me in the rule breakers category lol

 

Poor UGFs, always being shunned from the hobby...

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Quick update:

 

I banished one blue knuckle hermit to my 68G. Caught him trying to pry the other one out of its shell :eek: even though he has a couple shell options behind the rock.

 

Though the green star polyps are always open, its 'tentacles' seem to be shrinking/melting slowly away. I'm worried the pea gravel has something to do with it... But I am going to try changing the lighting schedule to something similar to that of my stacking pico's lighting schedule - as that thing can actually keep coral happy.... I am thinking that the issue is pH stabilization? Going to try less consecutive photosynthetic hours for both the display and fuge to help reduce the potential fluctuation. I may have to start testing the water soon. Here's a shot of the new "controllor" settings (powerhead runs for 1hr before and stops one hour after DT lights on and off):

 

IMG_2299.thumb.jpg.389b6c777375c1d1cf7d4e574e79fe39.jpg

 

I added four baby stomatella and two small trochus snails - surplus from my 10G. I also added a new resident today:

 

IMG_2304.thumb.JPG.4b2cf34317a7225a255be6e831a4edb3.JPG

 

Since this one is probably permanent, I let him pick a name; he went with Jaws Jr. He is a sharknose goby after all. He seems to be doing well so far; he ate immediately after adding him; literally. I fed the damsel some frozen brine shrimp as a distraction when adding the goby, and Jaws Jr started chowing down pieces of sea monkey with the damsel.

 

I'm planning on taking a shot of the underside of the tank soon to see what's been going on with the chaeto.

 

Here's a FTS of my nearly FOWLR 2.5G from just now:

IMG_0467.thumb.JPG.40f9d7a6e1bba4898993ac7c73d246c8.JPG

 

Hoping the GSP can recover... I'm going to leave it in here as the canary.

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Nice shark nose!  Almost got one myself, but ended up cancelling my order last minute (like few minutes past the cut-off before they shipped).  Now I want one again.  Liveaquaria is going to hate me.  

 

Hoping the GSP pulls through.

 

 

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Christopher Marks
On 5/13/2019 at 9:22 AM, Wonderboy said:

"HOBs filters only, or no filter" ...this was referencing a Tetra brand in-tank mechanical filter...

 

But also:

So, I guess count me in the rule breakers category lol

 

Poor UGFs, always being shunned from the hobby...

Aww yeah, unfortunately internal filters were specifically excluded from the competition @Wonderboy. I'm sorry I didn't catch the conflict sooner 😞. I have provided a special rule breaker prize category for tanks that fall out of bounds, it's not perfect, but these tanks still deserve some recognition too for participating!

 

This is nonetheless a really awesome concept you're exploring, and I really appreciate you sharing and I hope to continue forward with it! ❤️ 

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