My new project, 2.5 gallon display with sump/overflow

[go4broke44]

due to my boredom, and also my paycheck, i'm going to make a new aquarium for my desk. right now i'm still planning and sketching, but i'm thinking a custom acrylic system, with a 2.5g display area, false back wall overflowing into a sump located directly beneath the display.

 

some ideas i want to incorporate:

-bare bottom? i'm considering doing something bare-bottomish, but if i want to stock a goby this might be a bad idea, and i also like a sand bottom. i was thinking of somehow bonding a thin layer of crushed coral/aragonite to the bottom, so its somewhat barebottom, but with the illusion of a sand bottom... i think i might just go with a 50/50 mixture of fine white sand and crushed coral though, thats my substrate of choice right now.

 

-since this tank is going to be relatively small, and a display piece, i'm working on a way to incorporate everything into the system, so that no plumbing is showing, meaning, a weir overflow, and im thinking plumbing the returns through the live rock, so they are hidden.

 

it should be a pretty cool system, i'm considering entering it into the contest under the "custom" category, but i haven't decided yet, money is somewhat limited, and coral is so expensive, besides, tigahboy will probably sweep the contest anyway, haha

 

i'll post some design sketches soon enough, stick around, this should be a pretty good journal thread

[Daemonfly]

You should still consider the 2.5g. I'm entering custom as well, but don't plan on winning, but think it will be fun anyway.

[driftfc]

http://photobucket.com/albums/b232/driftfc/ here some of my 2.5 with a fuge. zack

[go4broke44]

driftc, it won't let me see them, i think you have to make them shared or something

[driftfc]

heres the fuge

 

heres an fts. youi can see the overflow and the return

[go4broke44]

that is a sweet setup!

 

well i decided to cheap out for the time being, and get an AGA 2.5. it was only 10 bucks after discounts, and i scored a free aquaclear 20 to go on the back, so thats what i'm currently running. i guess i could always try to drill an external overflow for it, but theres always time for that down the road. heres some shots of it in action.

 

[go4broke44]

total cost thus far

 

$10 tank

free filter

free heater

free LS

free background

$20 20W 50/50 PC bulb

-------------------------

$30 Total, 10/2

[go4broke44]

made a stand/canopy, and added 5lbs LR:

 

[go4broke44]

tonight i went back to home depot, and picked up some electrical supplies to wire in my lighting. right now, i only have one 20w 50/50 bulb in, but i'm considering running 3 of them eventually. heres some updated shots:

 

 

FTS

 

[driftfc]

looks good man. what are you planning on keeping? zack

[mickey85]

could you post a pic of the inside of the hood with the light off so I can see how it's set up? My plan is to go with 2 screw in bulbs in the canopy for my 2.5 AGA, and I'm trying to decide how I'm going to make the switches. I think I want the ones that have switches on the ends of the sockets so I can stick them through the canopy and then wire them through a common plug. ANyway, how is yours done? Also, how tall is the canopy and how far away from the water is it?

 

Last question, I promise - where do you get those 50/50 lights, and can you get straight actinic or straight daylight or coral bulbs with those? All I can find around here are the standard ones, or the swirly ones, but they're all just normal flourescents, which seem to do okay, but I'd prefer the real deal.

 

thanks.

[go4broke44]

driftfc:

 

i havent decided what i plan on keeping yet, i might experiment with some SPS, not sure yet though. i just ordered 2 11" T-5 VHO bulbs, which will go in the hood once they arrive, and then i should be good for pretty much anything.

 

mickey85:

 

heres a shot of the hood with light off:

 

 

basically, its just a light bulb fixture, wired to a "lamp power cord" for power, nothing special. i got the bulb at a LFS, but coralife makes them, you might have to search high and low to find them from an online retail supplier if your LFS doesn't carry them.

I was gonna do 3 of these bulbs for 60w of PC power over my tank, but i should have 2 T-5 VHO's coming soon, which should be much better than PC. we'll see how that turns out though i guess.

[hyewiz]

I have exact the same setup of the Canopy but i installed 3 20w 50/50 and a moon light.

But i searched for 11" T-5 VHO bulbs couldnt find. who carries them? and how much is it. thanks

[go4broke44]

how is the 3 20w bulbs? can you take a picture of your setup? do you think you could grow SPS in your tank with that much light? ultimately, thats what i'm leaning towards doing i think, which is why the VHO would be awesome. I'm not sure if i want a moonlight or not, after all it would be another cord to run, and usually they are way too bright at night, it's supposed to be dark, not "alittle less brighter than when the lights are on"

 

I found the VHO bulbs on a site called "commodity axis", i think it might just be commodityaxis.com, but i'm not sure. I think they went for like 11.50 a piece, and like 6 bucks shipping.

[mickey85]

I would assume that there would be two on one end, and one on the other (between the opposite two). that is my plan eventually...

[mickey85]

Kinda like this. This is my idea (after the contest) with a fan or two in the front

[hyewiz]

here you go

 

 

Painted with white Enamel

[puppypr]

Woah!! Thanks, finally I found a 11" T-5 light! Thanks for the Commodity Axis reference

[go4broke44]

yeah, thats how i had planned to put my lights if i wasnt gonna go t-5, but i guess i'll see how things go.

[hyewiz]

I have checked and the 11" T-5 II High Performance Standard are 10w and the HO T-5 II High Outputis 24w but it comes only in 23"

[go4broke44]

I just discovered a hitchhiker! looks like some type of nudibranch

[go4broke44]

the T-5 standard bulbs are still VHO though right?

[hyewiz]

I'm not sure though, i dont think they are.

[go4broke44]

heres an updated shot, i added a small favia brain frag on the top left rock, and some zoos in the front:

 

[go4broke44]

heres a new FTS

 

 

alot of new additions! i added the frogspawn in the back, 3 xenia frags, some more zoos, and a small frag of GSP. i also added another light, a 26w screw in PC, its a full spectrum bulb, with high intensity in the red, purple and blue spectrums, so we'll see how it works. if it works nicely, i might add another one in the back, so i'll have 72w of PC, right now its just at 46w. hopefully then the SPS will be added i also had 3 small frags of some green polyped leathers, but then didnt seem to like my tank? i superglued them to a rock, and one began to get dark-gray colored at the base, and it just kinda spread throughout the whole leather, and when i went to move the rock one day, it just came off and pretty much materialized into a bunch of suspended crap all over my tank. the other 2 leathers fell off as well, so for the time being, the 2 existing frags are just hanging out in the back corner on the substrate, i'll just let them do whatever they want, and see what happens.

 

2 of the xenia frags are attached to small shells, and i woke up this morning to find one of them crawling around the tank! i guess one of my hermits decided that it was a good fit for him, so he snatched it! hopefully the other xenia on the shell attaches itself alittle to a rock, so the other hermit can't snag that one as well.

 

i also added a goby and pistol shrimp last night, who proceeded to make a labrynth of tunnels under all my rockwork, hopefully it all still stands so they don't get smashed underneath! they are still both pretty shy, i'll catch a glimpse of them every now and then, anyone have any suggestions for feeding them?