5.5 A-G-A nano

[Green-Day711]

hi everyone,

i thought i would start this thread to keep track of my new project. i am going to start a 5.5 nano reef. here is the stuff i am planning to get-

 

5.5 gallon All-glass (Specs. are 16'' long 8'' wide 10'' tall)

custom canopy and base

two or three power compacts (fits right into canopy)

moonlight

25 watt heater

one or two powerheads (necessary?)

hang on mechanical filtration

possibly a hang on fuge

live rock and sand from Tampa Bay Liverock

2 sexy shrimp

1 clown goby (can i get two, or a firefish?)

 

Please tell me if i am missing anything because i am still in the research phase.

 

what type of hang on filter should i get?

 

i also wanted to paint the backside with either blue or light blue. if anyone can tell me how to do this or what you think is the coolest color.

 

i am planning to just have some zoos, softies, and maybe mushrooms. i dont think i have light for sps, but any lps?

 

Also does anyone have any other suggestions on the livestock?

 

i would greatly appreciate all your input. thanks

[Green-Day711]

anyone?

[Whitten]

Green day, I am actually in the process of building a tank just like what you are wanting to setup, but with just a bit more to it.

 

I have a question, would you be against drilling the tank and doing some DIY? I could walk you through it, and the tank would be super bad ass if you wanted to try what my idea is.

 

I noticed that you wanted to do 3 or so PCS, and while that is fine for your softies you will more than likely want to keep other things later on. To be honest I think you would be better served to buy this Light

 

That little 12 inch strip would be more than enough light and end up being cheap than doing three 13 watters.

 

If you wanted to do a little more you could always do the 70 watt MH DIY that is going on.

[reefer769]

hey lets here a little more about drilling a 5.5 gallon tank, becuase im getting a 5gallon custom made with a bulkhead for overflow, and i just wanna get a few ideas. lets here it.

[Daemonfly]

An AC500 (new name = 110) fits on a 5.5g tank. It does only leave about 2" total on the back of the tank for whatever else you're gonna put in. Could also go with the smaller AC300. Convert either to a fuge (tons of info in the "Refugiums" or "DIY" sections).

 

As for paint, Just mask the tank off & paint the outside of the back of the tank. If I remember correctly, the one I use is "Fusion" by, I beleive, Rustoleum. Made to stick to glass & plastics better then standard spray paint (still removeable with razor blade though).

 

For lighting, I'm doing 2 28w 10k bulbs & 1 28w Actinic. I'm lazy & the hood isn't doen yet, so right now I have a 96w power-quad over it & the corals love it, lol.

[Whitten]

Ok I meant to post this last night but my puter went on the fritz.

So here it is.

 

 

 

I went through and looked at what you are trying to accomplish and I am seeing that you have some DIY stuff outlined so I am going to go ahead and give you an idea or two.

 

Drill two holes in the tank with 1/2-3/4 " bulkheads. Make a small surface skimmer box out of acrylic and put it infront of one bulk head. On the other put in mpt fitting, with a nozzle and then let the tank sit. Find a rubber made bin or container that is big enough house all of your equipment; heater, pumps, and fuge, and then build a small fuge out of that. You know have almost triple the water volume and a sumped tank. Get a Minijet 1200 as a return pump and plumb every thing up. Now you have a tank that has a nice base and top and none of the equipment is visible.

 

In a tank as small as the 5 it would be foolish to put any powerheads in there as they would detract away from the beauty of the tank.

 

 

 

 

For an easier idea just buy the above mentioned hood, atatch moon light, build small cover around hood, and make a base.

Buy an AC300 and put a small piece of acrylic in it between the filter media compartment and the impellor. This will serve as your fuge. Buy an Azoo 13 watt galaxy light and you are set with a fuge, and enough water flow to keep everyone happy without any PH.

[waynefish]

I have a 5.5 with an AC300 (as refugium) and surface skimmer attachment. I found the flow too much with the stock AC300 impeller (my torch and hammer coral seemed really annoyed with the high flow) so I swapped it with one from an AC mini. For a powerhead I'm using a Hagen 101 powerhead with it's impeller shaved down, gonna replace it with the mini jet 404 soon though. I would suggest you don't use 20w screw in type PC bulbs from coralife. I had two and one died on me within 2 months. Since the ballast is attached to the bulb they generate a lot of heat.

[Green-Day711]

thanks everybody for the input

i am in favor of all the DIY stuff, but i am a little nervous as to drilling holes in the tank, especially if it is glass.

Whitten: if i just had one of those aqualights, what corals could i keep ? and do u think that would be better than 2 13 watts, or 2 28 watts?

the idea of using a bin or something for a fuge is a great idea, but i am a little space limited(i have to fit it on my bureau in my room) i really like the idea of using the AC300 as a fuge also (my brother did the same on his JBJ nano)

the custom cannopy will have 2 fans in it, but their is also the option of 1/4 inch piece glass in the canopy. do u think this is also necessary?

thanks

[Green-Day711]

what kind of lighting do you have? have the torch and hammer done well in it?

[waynefish]

I'm currently using the coralife 20w bulb. I'm waiting for my PFO kit to arrive. I bought mine in Canada but I believe nanocustoms.com sells this kit for 55. here is the link:

 

http://www.nanocustoms.com/catalog/product...dec93fd6da71120

 

Mine come with everything including a reflector kit also.

 

With the 20 watts of 50/50 light the torch and hammer are doing well I believe. They expand fully and have been developing new heads. I think they will like the PFO kit even more. What I like about the kit is that it will fit under my strip light hood (the kind AGA makes) so it looks neat and compact. Also the ballast is separate so I won't have to worry about heat as much. Here is what my hood looks like

[Green-Day711]

nice

[Green-Day711]

my brother has a JBJ nano, and right now he has one 24W, and one 32W CF. he is upgrading to a Metal Halide pendent, and i just realized that i could use his old lights. i know they will fit the length (16 in.) but i am not sure they will be able to fit width wise. i will have more watts than the other fixture (aqualight). any suggestions? Thanks

[waynefish]

if u're talking about the width of the canopy i posted, I don't think two would fit under the hood. one would fit easily. however, i've been thinking of gluing some acrylic under the lid and then putting a second light between the flip lid and acrylic.

 

by the way i've received and set up the 28w kit today. wow what a difference. really bright. two would be awesome though haha...

[Green-Day711]

the canopy that i am planning to get is at about 8 inches wide, and my bro has these lights positioned in his nano which i think will fit in the 5.5. also, there might be room for a moonlight

[Green-Day711]

what about this? is it a little too powerful?

http://www.projectx.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=64

[waynefish]

I have one 3/4 moonlight and it lights about two thirds of my tank pretty well...6 would be really bright, but u could get a nice dusk to dawn effect...good price though..

[Green-Day711]

would it be too bright to leave on all night? it is pretty cool... any other moonlights?

[Green-Day711]

i found the other stuff, but is this a better moonlight?

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_lighti...ght.asp?CartId=

[phergus_25]

go down to advanced autoparts and buy some of these "exterior accent lights". they are the correct blue to make corals floursece, and they cost $10. I dropped them in the tank when they were on and they still work, you can also run them on diff volts, i can move it from 12 to 6 and lower it is adjustable, whole procest cost like 15 bucks

[Green-Day711]

great, thanks!

[Green-Day711]

do you think i would have heating problems if i stuck two 32W in the canopy?

[Whitten]

Hey Green day if you were to use your Bros lights from his cube that would be some majorly kick ass lighting as well as a fun little DIY. Seeing as how you are wanting to build a hood the Aqualight might have cut into or detracted away from your plan. Either way you could keep any softy you wanted, All the LPS, and even some low light SPS like Montis.

 

Be forwarned though, if you want to do SPS, make sure you don;t have any kind of leathers in that tank as they will put out enough toxin to keep the SPS from growing. I think a 5.5 with those two lights and a bunch of different Monti caps and digis would be cool, then you could fill the bottom with zoos and rics.

[jmt]

Tommy?! Wtf? That backstabbing sissy who tucked tale and ran from Ole Miss? What an emabrassing sig line. He barely kept his job at Auburn.

 

Hotty Toddy.

 

-jmt

[Whitten]

barely?....he just signed a contract 7 more years. He left ole miss cause Auburn paid him more. We just finished upa 13-0 season there is nothing embarassing about that. Embarassing is what the BCS did for OU...they didn't deserve to be there, or even ranked #2 still.

[Green-Day711]

great idea about the corals, thanks whitten! i am just looking for a detailed plan on how to build the canopy. any ideas?