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Fish's new cube diary


ninjafish

  

258 members have voted

  1. 1. What should I put on the bottom of the tank?

    • Thin layer of aragonite
      218
    • Bare bottom
      40


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The mmajority of people who voted said go with a thin layer of sand and what doeshe do? he doesnt put any...lol.. :P its ok...i did the same thing...i had a Poll on stay small or go big....turns out a ton of people said go big....guess what im doing? going small....lol...ohh well...i cant wait to see the results..like when its all cleared up

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Haha are you reading the posts or just looking at the pictures? :P:D

If so, I should have a doosey for you this time tomorrow. The tank does have a thin layer of aragonite - just as my learned friends suggested - the barebottom photo is just of when I did the flow/leak test.

 

- Chad

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Gorgeous tank!

 

Why not just make the holes in the desk a little bit bigger? If not, I'm sure that you could set the tank on top of a base. Kind of like a very small stand, but something just to raise the tank a couple of inches. Good luck with that!

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Sebea,

Thanks! I would love to just widen the hole a bit but unfortunately the desk is owned by the tax payers in my city :P . Also, I will not be in the office forever and in a few months could be replaced by someone else. I was thinking that I could even raise the tank up on hockey pucks or something (of course I don't want it to look ghetto). If I had the tools/materials, I would just make a nice cherry-colored wood base for the tank to sit on.

 

- Chad

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Thanks Cliff,

 

For those who do better with pictures (frishfreak), here's a couple shots.

 

 

Cube against the wall - it will be moved back to the old spot next week:

 

 

new_tank73.JPG

 

 

 

 

Not the best shot, but it should give you an idea of the shape of the aquascaping:

 

 

new_tank24.JPG

 

 

 

The livestock are getting along really well (that means Ike hasn't eaten the damsel yet, which is good because it really is a handsome fish).

 

Damsel yawning:

 

 

new_tank82.JPG

 

 

 

 

Stomatopod smiling:

 

 

new_tank88.JPG

 

 

 

The white epoxy is a bit of an eye sore right now but it should be grown over with time.

 

Hope you enjoy,

 

- Chad

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LOLOL..its true...i do do better w/ pics...so post alot :D:lol: anyway great looking...the color on that damsel is VERY nice.....mine didnt look that sky bluish when i had them

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Cool, I'm diggin' the birdsnest on top.

 

Aaron,

 

Thanks, and good eye. I wish I hadn't cropped the top of the picture like that, but the birdsnest is a couple of inches from the surface of the water. Once I have my auto topoff rate dialled in, I will probably fill the tank up a bit closer to the top...

 

 

 

LOLOL..its true...i do do better w/ pics...so post alot :D:lol: anyway great looking...the color on that damsel is VERY nice.....mine didnt look that sky bluish when i had them

 

You got it. Actually I was a little dissapointed that all the LFS had was a plain old blue damsel - I was hoping for a yellow tailed at least. Being in this tank though, between the 20k halide above and the white sand below, this fish shines like a blue gem swimming around.

 

Cheers,

 

- Chad

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I just received a PM from a member asking me to list the equipment that I am using with this tank. Incase anyone else was wondering, I will post it here.

From top to bottom.

 

70w de halide in reflector

- 20k bulb

- mounted in desk lamp housing to look more natural in the office

- electronic ballast sits on the edge of the desk like a paper weight

- on a 12 hour timer

 

12" cube tank

- 7.5gal

- starfire glass with polished edges

- two 3/4" bulkheads in the bottom

- pvc strainer on the intake bulkhead and wide plastic mesh on the return bulkhead to prevent Ike from going down

- 3/4" hosebarbs threaded into the bottoms of the bulkheads

 

Eheim 2128 cannister filter

- Hoses connect filter directly to the bottom of the tank

- Drilled for lights and heater

- 50w Hydor heater in top media compartment

- 5w submersible halogen light growing chaeto 24/7 in the middle compartment

- LR rubble in bottom compartment

 

Auto Topoff

- Laboratory grade Advantage Controls electronic metering pump

- Set to deliver RO/DI water at the same rate of evaporation (approx. 0.6ml/minute real time)

- Sits on top of a 2 gal resevoir bucket

- Connected via a tee-fitting to inject topoff water directly into the intake hose halfway between the bottom of the tank and the cannister filter

 

Controller * (pending)

- Ranco digital electronic (single stage)

- Controls the Hydor heater in the cannister filter (shuts the heater off if temp ever goes above 82 degrees)

- Temperature probe connected via tee-fitting into the middle of the cannister filters return hose

 

 

I know that this is all a little more complicated/costly than a 7.5 gal tank has to be. The reason I designed this setup is so that I would have a nano that was:

 

stable - auto topoff eliminates salinity swings (and allows me to go two weeks before filling up the topoff resevoir). The heater and controller prevent temp dropping at night (or stuck-on failure) and so far the tank stays 79degrees during the day and 78 degrees at night.

 

healthy - LR rubble and chaeto fuge prevents ph swings, provides filtration, adds oxygen, grows pods. Turnover is approx 30xs.

 

AND

Be viewable from 360degrees with no visible equipment or wires!

The result? This is the ugly side of my tank:

 

 

new_tank25.JPG

 

 

The two 3/4" bulkheads are the only thing visible in the tank. All of the other plumbing and equipment is hidden under the desk.

 

I hope that makes sence. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Cheers,

 

- Chad

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Hey dude!

I didn't enter the contest because I didn't think that a 7.5gal tank would qualify under the size requirements and I didn't want to limit myself to the contest rules. I have been following your thread and think that your surge setup is awesome! The mantis in a pico is also a great idea (whoever thought of that is a genious :P ). Your peacock is a beautiful animal but a 2.5gal tank is probably way too small for one. Everywhere I checked, the recommendation was for a 20gal tank with really deep substrate. That's why I had to get a smaller and less-attractive g. smithii. I hope I'm wrong but check it out and see what you find. I know a few hobbiests that recently got stomatopods after seeing my last thread and with all the views you are going to get with your current project, there might be a lot of people who run out and try and shoe horn an animal into a tank that's too small...

 

Cheers,

 

 

- Chad

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Update,

 

I just recently got my ranco controller in the mail

 

rancosingle.jpg

 

 

As soon as I figure out how to wire my heater to it I will connect it to the intake hose on my cannister filter and move the tank over.

 

 

- Chad

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  • 2 weeks later...

what kind of damsel was it???

 

Fish:

 

thats one helluva awesome tank... would love to do something similar, but unfortunatley i havent got anywhere where i can setup a display plus sump type tank...

do you have a sump or is the cannister the only extra "water space"... ive probly just missed that somewhere in the thread...

i have a Fluval 104 that i am considering taking off of my 18g display and converting that to "berlin" (i belive it is called) method...

would that work well with a smallish (2-4g tank)???

thanks for advice figured your the man to ask...

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what kind of damsel was it???

 

Fish:

 

thats one helluva awesome tank... would love to do something similar, but unfortunatley i havent got anywhere where i can setup a display plus sump type tank...

do you have a sump or is the cannister the only extra "water space"... ive probly just missed that somewhere in the thread...

i have a Fluval 104 that i am considering taking off of my 18g display and converting that to "berlin" (i belive it is called) method...

would that work well with a smallish (2-4g tank)???

thanks for advice figured your the man to ask...

 

 

Thanks spawns!

Stn49,

The canister is my only extra water space. I went with a cannister instead of a sump because I wanted the tank to be viewable from 5 sides (everywhere except bottom pane) and didn't want to have an overflow or any other equopment visible.

Cheers,

 

- Chad

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I like Ike, even if he did eat the damsel.

 

Do you have anything in the way of a cleanup crew that Ike won't eat? I had some success with the much-maligned <I>Asterina</i> stars kept with an <i>N. wennerae</i>, but they seem to have dissapeared when I did a major LR-switchout and tank upgrade.

 

This tank was an inspiration as a 2 gallon cube. I can't wait to see its progress as a 7! Any updates?

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