Benj420 Posted December 20, 2002 Share Posted December 20, 2002 Here are some pictures of my 5.5 gallon nano that has been up for about 4 weeks. It is a DIY hood that currently holds two 13w PC's (6500k). I am trying to decide if I want to buy a 10000k and actinic for the 13's, or if I want to replace them with dual 27's. I had originally designed the hood to be hinged and able to swing up. Ultimately this design didn't work and the hinge is decorative only. During Construction Just before stain/poly 1 week old, diatom bloom 3 weeks old, first corals/mushrooms and more LR Closeup of red shroom Orange Zoos Green Star Polyps and "Mini Me" Spotted Mushroom Equipment List: 5.5 gallon glass tank Penguin Mini HOB filter AquaClear 301 PowerHead (dialed down but still provides a lot of movement, may dial back more or find smaller PH. 3 level inches dry southdown (now 2 - 4 inches on it's own, looks much better this way anyway) seeded with LS from my 20. ~6 lbs LR, various sources and sizes, one piece is too big, but I'm not changing it now, besides, it is fueling the coralline growth. 25 watt sub heater mounted horizontally behind LR Custom Acrylic lid to control evaporation dual 13 watt "Book Worm" lights (got idea from Glazer) 6500k right now. After 4 weeks I can honestly say that there is very little I would change about my nano. I have only had my "hands wet" in this hobby since October, when I set up my first tank, a 20 gallon. After a month I thought that tank was doing well and would try a nano. After the 5.5 being up for a month, there is noticable coralline growth, while there is very little in the 20. The corals and mushrooms look better too. I am really inspired now and am going to try a 2.5 w/ 5.5 refugium/sump for my office. Like I said earlier, the hood didn't really go as planned, so I have to remove it to do anything in the tank outside of a general feeding (I can get to the return of the Penguin). I also painted the back of the tank black, which worked well, but next time I think I will go with blue. That's all for now, if there is any interest I will post more as I go. Link to comment
Spencerx Posted December 20, 2002 Share Posted December 20, 2002 wow i think i have the exact same tank as you! 5.5, 2x13 bookworm light, 6 pounds LR, 2 inch LS, shrroms and zoo's. lol and even my hinge is for decorative purposes only (stupid HOB filter and lights wont allow it to open. Ill post some pics of mine. Anyways, looks good. i am thinking of adding a piece of glass like you did, hows that working out?? nice seeing your tank... Link to comment
Benj420 Posted December 20, 2002 Author Share Posted December 20, 2002 The acrylic is working out good. I cut it out of a larger sheet and put some cutouts in it for powerhead and heater cords and filter overflow. It reduces evaporation (but I still need to top off every 3-4 days) and keeps the inside of my hood dry. It does tend to bow downward a little over time, but I made it symmetrical, so every time I need to get in the tank, I put it on upside down from the last time. Link to comment
cone9 Posted December 20, 2002 Share Posted December 20, 2002 Very nice Benj420 , I'm working on a 10 gal nano and looking for BookWorms, but no luck locally. Do you know the name and location of the company that makes them? I'd like to contact them for a list of retailers. Anyone know of an online source for BookWorms? Thanks, Dave Link to comment
Benj420 Posted December 21, 2002 Author Share Posted December 21, 2002 They are not actually bookworms, but are the same thing packaged under a different name: Rite-Lite Fluorescent Clamp Work Light - FL-612 Bar Code # 017398346863 I bought them at Home Depot for $19.98 each. Edited - Now that I think about it, it may have been Lowes that had the lights. I remember looking at both places, but can't recall which one had them and which one didn't. Check all of the larger home improvement stores in your area, one is bound to have them. You might even find a sale. Link to comment
Spencerx Posted December 21, 2002 Share Posted December 21, 2002 i got mine at lowes... cone- check the thread in DIY about them (chris marks started it, dont remember the name, it was recent though) Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted December 21, 2002 Share Posted December 21, 2002 DIY 13w PC Retro available at Lowes. Link to comment
glazer Posted December 21, 2002 Share Posted December 21, 2002 Tank is looking nice Ben.... you know I kinda like the way the lighting makes it look, or maybe it's the picture. Looks bright in the center and darker towards the ends of the tank...kind of a "accent lighting" affect, hehe. The two 13's kind of limit your stocking list... but if you are thinking about upsizing the lights you know you could fit a couple of 32's over it I'm sure. By the way I am almost certain I saw a pic of you on um, that other board.. MiniMe?....lol uh, hmmmm. Link to comment
Benj420 Posted December 21, 2002 Author Share Posted December 21, 2002 glazer, Thanks for the comments. I think it has come a long way since the last pictures you saw. Actually, the pictures don't do the lighting much justice. You're right, it is brighter in the center and darker on the ends because both PC's are mounted in the center of the hood. I also moved them to the front of the hood and pointed them towards the back of the tank a bit so that the front and top of the rock get the most light. Even though it's a cool effect, I would prefer more wattage. I could squeeze another 13 in there, but think I'm going to get a dual 32 retro kit and put the 13's in a new hood for the newly conceived "Office 2.5 w/sumpfugium". Keeping in mind that watts per gallon is a bad measure of light, I would go from just under 5 wpg to over 11.5 wpg (with a depth of no more than 8 or 9 inches). I could keep just about anything in there with that much light. Also, they still have the original 6500k bulbs, but a 10k and actinic on the way. I wonder if I can use the 6500's on the sumpfugium in the other project. Yes, that was me on that 'other piece of $#%& board' At one time Mini Me and another larger, more agressive damsel lived in my first tank. The larger one used to harass the smaller one and consequently ate more food. He grew fatter, and gained the nickname Fat Bastard, so Mini Me got his name at the same time. For those of you that have actually read this far and don't know the reference, it's from the movie Austin Powers the Spy Who Shagged Me. Cone9, You might want to consider larger lights than 13w for a 10 gallon. You can get a 96watt PC retro kit for $129 that will fit on a 10 (hellolights.com). 7 bookworms (91 watts total) x $20 = $140. Bulbs would add another $50, so $190 total. You would also need to plug in 7 lights, and the ballast is built into the plug, so you can only plug in one per outlet, or two per power strip. Why am I up this early? Link to comment
Benj420 Posted December 23, 2002 Author Share Posted December 23, 2002 New frags yesterday, opened fully today. Prices are what I paid, they are not for sale. Green Button Polyps ($10) Anacropora ($5) - looks like it's flippin' me off, so I had to buy it. Green Pocillopora ($3.50) Ca 280 mg/L Alk 4.5 meg/L Began adding Kent's Tectra CB and DT's phytoplankton 12/22/02 Link to comment
Benj420 Posted December 31, 2002 Author Share Posted December 31, 2002 Got a new Xenia frag over the weekend and a Flame Clownfish. Xenia, long tentacles, but doesn't seem to bother or be bothered by adjacent corals. Full tank shot. You will notice the Flame Clown "Nipsey" peeking at the Xenia. Calcium and Alk levels beginning to rise due to Kent's CB dosing. Dosing as follows: 1/8 tsp Part A daily 1/8 tsp Part B daily .5ml DT's every 3rd day Found out that Kent's CB raises sg by a significant amount. SG was up to 1.025. Did a 1/2 gallon water change with fresh water on a drip over 3 hours. Next day all corals were much happier and opening better. I also slid the front light towards the right so the Xenia could get some rays and it created a darker spot in the powerhead corner at the same time. I don't know if anyone is actually reading this, or cares about the details of my tank, but this is a great place for me to make a journal of the life of my tank for my own reference. Link to comment
Rocket_155 Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 nice tank is coming alone nicely. got any other plans to add any more corals? Link to comment
Benj420 Posted December 31, 2002 Author Share Posted December 31, 2002 Originally posted by rocket_155 nice tank is coming alone nicely. got any other plans to add any more corals? Thanks, not adding any more for right now. I'm pretty broke after christmas and the 5.5 is getting pretty full. I am propogating some shrooms in another tank right now and may add some of them to the lower left of the tank, there is a bare spot there right now. I just ordered a 2x32 PC kit that will replace the 2x13w PC's. The 13's will go on a new project that I have been working on over vacation, a 2.5 nano w/ 5.5 sump/refugium. I will be posting preliminary pictures later today. Link to comment
cmv Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 I don't know if anyone is actually reading this, or cares about the details of my tank, but this is a great place for me to make a journal of the life of my tank for my own reference. I don't have anything to add except keep on posting, please! Great pictures, good writeups, very interesting . Link to comment
Benj420 Posted January 5, 2003 Author Share Posted January 5, 2003 1/5/03 Road trip yesterday. I drove about an hour north in search of two fish stores that a friend had visited in the past. To my lament, both were boarded up. This followed up a 3 hour round trip I performed on Friday night to get some diamond core drill bits to drill my 2.5. Upon arriving at the store, I found that they normally carry the bits, but were out of stock. That really ####ed me off because I called them first and they said they had them. So, at this point I was 0 for 3 and needed to do some tank browsing. Instead of driving home I decided to trek an hour and a half east to a store I had been to in the past, The Animal House. Thankfully I had found it just as I had left it, stocked with a bunch of nice livestock. Here is what I just couldn't leave behind: T. Maxima Full Tank Link to comment
harbingerofthefish Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 I like the way your rock work makes a 5 look like a 20. So that Xenia, is that 2nd chunk up top a new addition to the tank, or is part of the original stalk? By the dates on the posts like 2 weeks passed. Link to comment
Benj420 Posted January 6, 2003 Author Share Posted January 6, 2003 Originally posted by harbingerofthefish So that Xenia, is that 2nd chunk up top a new addition to the tank, or is part of the original stalk? By the dates on the posts like 2 weeks passed. That's a second piece of a slightly different variety. It was in another tank, but the emerald crab in that tank started tearing it apart, so I moved it into the 5.5. Link to comment
Benj420 Posted January 10, 2003 Author Share Posted January 10, 2003 1/10/2003 Time for another update. The 2x32 watt PC retro kit from championlighting.com came on Wednesday. Overall I am pleased with the lights and will order from Champion again, but wish they could have processed my order a little quicker. I ordered on the 31st, it was shipped on the 7th, and I received it on the 8th. Luckily the reflector fit inside the hood and installation was easy. Everyone in the tank seems to like the new light and the colors are 100 times better. Here are some shots of the tank in it's current configuration with just the actinic on: The GSP's Full tank with 10,000k and actinic 03 It looks like it's snowing becuase I'm getting lots of bubbles in the return from the HOB. I'm going to try and play with the water level and see if I can minimize the problem. I really noticed the xenia pulsing well today for the first time. I don't know if it is in response to the additional light, or that they are finally settled in. Next I need to get another timer so I can turn the actinic on for 12 and the 10,000k for 10 hours. The bookworms were moved to the 2.5 and the 13w actinic came from hellolights.com and is now in its new home. Link to comment
Benj420 Posted January 12, 2003 Author Share Posted January 12, 2003 1/12/03 I added a mushroom leather yesterday (yet another "last coral I'm going to put in this tank"), and some loose orange zoos that I got a deal on. The zoos will eventually go in the 2.5 gallon project. I also decided it was time to rearrange the rocks to give Nipsey some more places to hide. He seems to like the two new caves that were formed. The old configuration looked good from the front, but many corals were blocked from view when looking through the right side glass (the "in bed" view), so I took some pieces of rock away from the right side and put them on the left in a more diagonal fashon. Full Tank w/ both lights on Just the Actinic 03 (the camera really doesn't do it justice) Closeup of the shroom leather Link to comment
UncleTed Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 this is a great thread. thanks for sharing, and good luck with the 2.5. can't wait to see the pics. UncleTed Link to comment
Hinecken Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 just tagging along... keep up the good work Link to comment
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