Wonderboy's UGFuge 2.5G Pico

[Wonderboy]

38 minutes ago, seabass said:

Maybe it's because I've never won anything.

 

I wanted to give you a haha and a sad reaction but I can't do anything because I can't pick one or the other...

 

Guess I can just do a plain 'ol like.

[seabass]

1 hour ago, Wonderboy said:

I wanted to give you a haha and a sad reaction but I can't do anything because I can't pick one or the other.

 

I originally ended the statement with a ; but then thought a was more accurate.  Ultimately, I settled on no emoji.  It's cool, I never expect to win anything.  Usually, I'm towards the bottom.  Last contest I got one vote.  Once I ended in third (I believe there were only three or four contestants left at the end).  I do it for the fun of it.  I can't believe how many contestants we have this time.  Such an awesome turnout.

[MetaTank]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

 

I originally ended the statement with a ; but then thought I'd use a .  Ultimately, I settled on no emoji.  It's cool, I never expect to win anything.  Usually, I'm towards the bottom.  Last contest I got one vote.  Once I ended in third (I believe there was only three or four contestants left at the end).  I do it for the fun of it.  I can't believe how many contestants we have this time.  Such an awesome turnout.

It’s all for fun anyway. Last contest I remember was the one that @Islandoftiki won for his mantis pest tank i think. That must have been years ago

[Islandoftiki]

42 minutes ago, MetaTank said:

It’s all for fun anyway. Last contest I remember was the one that @Islandoftiki won for his mantis pest tank i think. That must have been years ago

Years ago indeed. That was before I moved to Hawaii, so at least 5 years. 🙂

[MetaTank]

1 hour ago, Islandoftiki said:

Years ago indeed. That was before I moved to Hawaii, so at least 5 years. 🙂

Hope life is treating you well!

[Wonderboy]

After finding mounting bolts on the underside of the chiller/heater unit:

 

I decided that it is going to be suspended under the shelf which leaves me a lot more room to work with behind the 2.5G - I mounted it facing rear because the front of the unit is the exhaust side. It's in the middle so that it hangs level with the slack in the screen:

 

I have intentions to build a snug fitting sump for the shelf - trying to finalize the design...

[This guy is extra salty]

Hmm a chiller for the 2.5 

i allow it

[Wonderboy]

I think I'm ready to start cutting the glass

 

Lol - forgot to specify the bottom panel dimensions... 10 1/4" x 4 1/2" 😅

[Wonderboy]

Some cuts are a little janky, but I'm moving forward:

[Wonderboy]

The calcite came in - it was in pretty large pieces, but breaking it up exposed better colors, so I had fun being angry; I smashed it up until everything fit through egg-crate, violently rinsed many times with RODI and sieved out all debri under 1/8" (opted for mostly larger pieces to prioritize water flow). Couple chunks in vinegar for a few hours only produced small amount of bubbles, no color/texture changes - all ready to go:

 

Sump progress:

 

The sump is also drilled everywhere it needs to be; just need to finish sealing. Kind of impatient to see how the calcite looks - it's somewhat transparent, yet looks almost black under blue light (all blue on camera though). I think it's going to be interesting with the UGF LEDs. 😎

Edited May 29, 2019 by Wonderboy

[Wonderboy]

The way that I plan to plumb the DT to the sump will allow me to simply remove the HOB and the return (lock-line) from the rim of the 2.5G and then I can move the aquarium separately from the stand and sump. This will allow me to document chaeto growth. Since I smashed and cleaned the calcite, and the sump doesn't necessarily need to be finished to fill the DT... I filled the 2.5G near midnight so it can begin to cycle:

 

 

I'm using the same rock, but it has since gone through extensive treatment including multiple activated carbon powder baths, multiple 100% daily water changes, and a few RODI rinses. After all this, I found a stomatella snail in the rock's QT-bucket ready to go into the new setup, so I'm feeling almost comfortable with reintroducing the rock.

 

I was also thinking of sacrificing my 'Two Little Fishies' Nano-Mag glass scrubber into the plenum of the UGF, but I changed my mind after seeing a feather duster crawling across the glass this morning - I wouldn't want to disturb any duster tubes... Going to have to let the chaeto fight for itself. Anyways, I'm hoping this is a good omen:

 

 

First shot is all lights running - this one's without the CFL:

 

And this is what the calcite does with just the UGF LEDs:

 

Things are going to get interesting in here... not to mention, I'm planning to run the underglow a lot more since the chiller/heater should keep temp in check. Probably not keeping the mag float in there. Also, I'm going to mildly reshape the top of the rock for more room. The sump is finishing cure; shortly, it's ready to clean and install.

[RudyEnt]

Looking good

[Tigahboy]

29 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

And this is what the calcite does with just the UGF LEDs:

First thing I saw when I opened up your thread, and I thought to myself: that Wonderboy has now added Cheetos to his tank.  

 

Good luck with this latest version!  Super cool build!

[ef4life]

Reminds me of lava. And your sump is pretty awesome.

[Ratvan]

 I love it looks so warm

[Wonderboy]

Thanks everyone - it surprised me a little when it lit up like embers - I was concerned that the UGFuge LED diffuser wasn't in place, but it is in there. I mean, I was okay with the calcite being moderately see-through so that more surface area would be available to all types of algaes and so that it would be obvious that something is glowing on down there, but ...  Yet I'm still just going to let it do it's thing.

 

Update: just dosed bacteria, phyto, pods, and threw in some reef roids. Used some water from 2 other systems. Working on the plumbing for the sump. Also, some new chaeto is going in today.

[Wonderboy]

Didn't get around to adding the chaeto until this afternoon.

 

I spotted the little duster before digging  :]  it found a spot right at the top of the display rock

 

 

 

 

[This guy is extra salty]

I’m totally digging this!

i had the same/ish idea from the start of the competition but it got banned 

 

[Wonderboy]

I know how you feel lol...

[Wonderboy]

Here's to breaking rules:

 

 

[Tigahboy]

Nicely done!!

[Ratvan]

Well a perfect example of in for a penny in for a pound

Looks really good

[Wonderboy]

Thanks guys!

 

8 hours ago, Ratvan said:

in for a penny in for a pound

I find it ironic that this setup still stands on four legs leveled by pennies   :]

 

Sump in place:

 

I'm still making final decisions with plumbing options. This build is definitely not so much old school anymore, but I have done my best to make sure that everything going on is not too distracting from a "keep it simple" presentation; kind of like a sleeper pico... or a Q-pico ;]

 

 

... where did one of my chopsticks go?

[Wonderboy]

I was watching for ammonia to show up; have been feeding tidbits daily and now I'm seeing brown algae all over. I don't think I'm going to see a cycle because I kept the rock alive? I've put the GSP (recovered) tree back to see what happens.

 

Fancy FTS before GSP:

[Wonderboy]

GSP was looking like this all day yesterday:

 

 

 

And brown algae was exponentially appearing, so I moved most the original CUC back in (2 of blue leg hermits, the 1 blue knee hermit and 2 trochus snails).

 

A few days ago, when I saw the chance, I moved my bubble-tip anemone out of my pico jar to a holding container in my 10G so that I could add it to this 2.5G system when it was stable. Well, I have felt pretty bad watching it try to escape from the container 24/7, so I figured it was time to set the anemone free - so far it seems well:

 

 

 

Here's the blue knee hermit making sure it feels comfortable in it's new environment:

 

 

 

This is the system (kitchen's night-light) last night:

 

 

 

This morning's FTS: