Jump to content
Innovative Marine Aquariums

.2 gallon reef experiment


melbourne

Recommended Posts

Hi,

 

Edited to correct the tank capacity - not sure how to update the thread title it should be .094 gallon

 

Going to track my 350ml (11.83 oz) or .094 gallon reef experiment. I'm still in the planning phase but I've already have all the items I need to set it up.

 

For the tank - I'm using an acrylic ant farm tank - it has an interesting look but very challenging to use since it is very narrow.

 

6.5"x 5.5"x 1.25"

 

It does have some nice features, namely viewable from both sides and a decent height and a nice form fitting clear lid which is fairly air tight.

 

 

antworks_led-glowing.jpg

 

antworks.jpg

 

I have the LED illuminated version - still not sure if I will use the LED's although it might be interesting with a thin layer of sand it should shine right through at night.

 

For circulation I plan on a airlift, no heater - plan on keeping the tank at ambient room temperature. Water changes will be 100 % using tank water from my larger tanks.

 

I ordered 30 lbs of live rock rubble from www.toofishy.com at $1 a lb. Stuff is really small only suitable for pico tanks but its good for mounting frags also. I'm going to hand pick some small pieces to use in this tank. My initial plans for the aquascape are two live rock formations left and right, one of them hiding the airlift.

 

For tank inhabitants - I plan on just pods and some very small corals initially. Probably a small purple tree gorgonian and some small mushrooms.

 

For lighting I plan on using a 13w 50/50 PC setup.

 

Any ideas on removing the Antworks logo from the tank? It appears to be printed on the outside - I don't want to scratch the plastic but don't care for the logo.

Link to comment
  • Replies 71
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Any ideas on removing the Antworks logo from the tank? It appears to be printed on the outside - I don't want to scratch the plastic but don't care for the logo.

 

I would suggest acetone, but it may glaze or craze the clear plastic.

Link to comment

those ant things are in the 2005 best inventions of the year.

 

That material is like made of a sugar type of gel so ants can eat it

 

I want to see how this goes, how much are the ant farms anyways?

Link to comment

Yeah if you buy just the regular one they sell the illumination kit for $13 seperately.

Or you could just buy the illuminated one for $33.

Link to comment
hmm

 

a fish tank in this thing? that would be cool except its hard to hide some parts

 

Only thing in tank will be the air lifts. Ok - I cleaned off the label using a magic eraser and some water. Removed the ant gel - tank is cleaned up and ready for phase 2. I measured the actual tank capacity and its only 350 ml of water - thats far less than .2 gallons I originally thought. Aproximately 11.83 fluid oz - so that can of soda will effectively fill up the tank and then some.

 

Here are some pics

 

350 ml Tank with blue LED's going

350ml_reef_tank.jpg

 

Top view with LED's on

350ml_reef_top.jpg

 

Next to a soda can for size comparison

350ml_reef_1.jpg

 

Side view shows how challenging this tank will be to aquascape / setup

350ml_reef_side.jpg

Link to comment

a couple of things popped to mind when i saw the pics above:

 

first and foremost, film algae. you better call cjerome and get his itty-bitty nimble that he just developed.

 

second, maybe you can use stomatella snails or ceriths as the main algae/cleaners.

 

third, a small clump of chaeto wrapped around/wedged at the uplift tube would be good choice for addt'l filtration.

 

lastly, you can still do the 'ant farm' concept but with pods and worms by using a dsb. :lol:

Link to comment

I already use tweezers to place corals in my 2.5g tank - so I'll be doing the same here. I don't plan on using a nimble in this tank because its just too big, even the pico one. I'm going to use a soft brush to clean the tank - the kind used to clean out filter tubes.

 

Update - built a basic airlift for this tiny tank and drilled the cover for a rigid airline tube that I feed the lift with. I could not find a larger water lift tube that I could easily bend so I went with more rigid airline. It puts out a decent current but the bottom portion of the tank is a bit light on flow. I may need to revisit this soon. I put in some plastic bits to see the flow and basically its a slow circle pattern - starting fast from the outlet of the lift and going in a circle ending at the lift again. The slowest part being the bottom of the tank in the middle.

 

pico_airlift3.jpg

 

pico_airlift2.jpg

 

pico_airlift.jpg

 

I'm going to run the tank for a few days to see how bad the evap is with the lift running full throttle. The lid is pretty snug with a white teflon gasket around the edge (you can see it in the pics) - I'm expecting most of my water loss to come from the hole I drilled for the air feed tube.

 

Next phase is to figure out how to hide the lift and design the aquascape.

Link to comment

Corals are a ways off - I still need to sort out a bunch of stuff. My initial plans are for a thin tree like purple gorgonian and some mushrooms. I'll build a rock formation to incorporate the lift on the left and leave the other side I open - since I need the water volume. I'll make my other livestock decisions as the tank matures.

 

Shot taken after I carried the tank to the basement where it can sit running for a few days to measure evap loss.

 

low_light_pico.jpg

Link to comment

is the uplift tube just a u-tube format? i'm not sure if that's what i'm seeing.

 

you'd get a lot more flow running a small tube down within a larger tube. you're pushing the volume of the large tube with every bubble basically.

 

also, don't point the output air tube straight up. set it pointing down for the largest bubbles or at least sideways. that way you're pushing upwards the greatest volume/area of water.

 

you can also slightly heat bend the top of the uplift tube to get even more directional flow. straightup loses half the flow rate to the nearest wall.

 

you can't completely seal the system air-tight. you're constantly introducing air into the system so it has to find a way out. that's why i still lose significant water and atomized splash is jettisoned quite far (up to 2' away) from still tiny cracks in my setup. so i agree, the little drill hole crack will be the area of evaporation as you noted.

Link to comment
is the uplift tube just a u-tube format? i'm not sure if that's what i'm seeing.

 

you'd get a lot more flow running a small tube down within a larger tube. you're pushing the volume of the large tube with every bubble basically.

 

also, don't point the output air tube straight up. set it pointing down for the largest bubbles or at least sideways. that way you're pushing upwards the greatest volume/area of water.

 

you can also slightly heat bend the top of the uplift tube to get even more directional flow. straightup loses half the flow rate to the nearest wall.

 

you can't completely seal the system air-tight. you're constantly introducing air into the system so it has to find a way out. that's why i still lose significant water and atomized splash is jettisoned quite far (up to 2' away) from still tiny cracks in my setup. so i agree, the little drill hole crack will be the area of evaporation as you noted.

The airlift is the same thing that is seen here.

 

DIY airlift

 

The only difference is that mine is in minature and I have a small diameter uplift tube since I couldn't find anything that would fit in the tank and that I could bend easily. I also use a rigid airline for incoming air and use flexible hose to create the elbows - so thats why it looks like a U. The outlet is bent already it directs the flow to the right as seen in the pics. I'm used to seeing current in my larger tanks that is very turbulent. Even in my 2.5g tank I get a surge every few seconds thats moves everything in the tank. With the airlift I get a gentle current - its a nice circular flow since the airlift is sucking in water at the bottom and shooting it out to the right at the top. The other item I added is an air control valve so I can control the flow the airlift puts out.

 

As for macro - I'm still deciding type and how much, its a delicate balance that must be achieved for success in such a small volume of water IMO.

Link to comment

That's one crazy small tank, best of luck with it. I can't wait to see the aquascape, I thought arranging rocks in a Pico was difficult enough. ;):D

 

Best regards

 

Ann

Link to comment
That's one crazy small tank, best of luck with it. I can't wait to see the aquascape, I thought arranging rocks in a Pico was difficult enough. ;):D

 

Best regards

 

Ann

 

Thanks - its a fun little experiment. Checked the evap this morning and it was ok. I took out the airlift and made my first pass at creating a liverock wrap for it. Its basically live rock rubble,epoxy and super glue. When its dry I will add in some more detail but this is the main structure - barely fits into the tank.

 

Front view of disguised airlift

air_lift_rock2.jpg

 

Side view of airlift

air_lift_with_rock.jpg

Link to comment
brent-konieczny

That wrap for the airlift is awesome. So have you figured out how you will place a light above the tank. I recommend a desk lamp for the situation.

Link to comment
brent-konieczny

Just to let you know, the target web site has a ton of different 13watt lamps (a tad overpriced imo, but ok).

Link to comment

Tank update - ended up rebuilding the airlift wrap since it really did not fit. Second one I built barely fit so I ended up using it. Added airlift to tank with some additional liverock and sand. Scratched the left side of the tank pretty bad getting the airlift in there. The flow is interesting to watch now that there is sand. Periodically the lift will grab a few grains of sand and shoot them out the top. Hopefully I won't have anything major clog the lift since getting that piece out is going to be hard.

 

 

Water is still cloudy due to addition of sand

 

femto_fts_03_21_06.jpg

 

femto_03_21_06.jpg

 

Size compared to 9 volt battery

femto_battery.jpg

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...