biggest thread on this website

aakaakaak

Superstar Fish
Sep 9, 2010
1,324
0
0
Chesapeake, Virginia
I'm in the process of making a DIY plastic rain gutter CFL setup. It's much simpler than I expected it to be. Maybe do that for the 20 gal? If you're 24 inches you could stuff 78 CFL watts in it. Or if you're 30 inches you can do up to 104 CFL watts.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
this one?

not out of water lol.


ok then I'll try to find a goodwill store near me this weekend and see if they have good bowls. i think theres one store 2 miles away from me.
also another main part is finding the right lamp for this. an elegant lamp with a design will make the bowl look much better but the lamp usually costs around the same as a new 55gal tank lol.
i guess i am limited to simple desk lamps. i wonder if goodwill will have anything good in terms of lamps?
 

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bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
this one?

not out of water lol.


ok then I'll try to find a goodwill store near me this weekend and see if they have good bowls. i think theres one store 2 miles away from me.
also another main part is finding the right lamp for this. an elegant lamp with a design will make the bowl look much better but the lamp usually costs around the same as a new 55gal tank lol.
i guess i am limited to simple desk lamps. i wonder if goodwill will have anything good in terms of lamps?
I tried to find that pic, but when I saw it in the bar up above, it wouldn't let me save it. Blah!

As far as lamps at Goodwill. Sometimes they have some really cool stuff! Remember: Goodwill is where I got my 9gal steel-rimmed tank. ;)
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
betta out of water looks a bit different...



As for you question on SW 1.5 gal you can keep soft corals with PC, or T5 lighting. those are good for a beginner but of course you have to research. in a tank that small only dwarf cerith snails would work well. you can do sexy shrimp because those are also small. or instead of the shrimp you can do a boxer crab or emerald crab. you can also chose a dwarf hemit crab type instead of a snail i guess.
 

aakaakaak

Superstar Fish
Sep 9, 2010
1,324
0
0
Chesapeake, Virginia
Well, here's what I'm doing:

Shopping List
4 screw-in 26W Daylight (6500k) bulbs ($10-15)
4 individual screw in light fixtures ($5-10)
1 Extension cord ($1-4)
1 Power Switch ($1-4)
1 pack of heat shrink ($3-4)
1 plastic rain gutter ($5-7)
2 Plastic gutter ends ($2-5)
2 small scraps of wood or something else you can use as a riser (free in garage)
some random screws (free in garage)

Some of this other stuff you may have sitting in your garage. The gutter will be around 12 feet, but you'll only need 30 inches.

1. Cut the gutter to 30 inches using heavy duty scissors or box cutter or hacksaw.
Put the ends on the gutter (You have your shell)
2. screw in the spacers. You can alternatively glue them in or use double sided tape
3. Screw the fixtures into the spacers
4. drill a hole (or two) in the side/end or the gutter (however you want to make it look)
5. put the shrink wrap sleves on the cables
6. cut off the female end of the extension cable and attach to switch (white to white, black to written on) (The switch side is on the black side)
7. cook all the shrink wrap onto the exposed wiring
8. screw in your CFLs and make sure they fit right
9. put on some sunglasses
10. turn on lights

There's something with pics on how to do this in the DIY section on the forum.
 

Oct 3, 2010
308
0
0
Detriot Mi
betta out of water looks a bit different...



As for you question on SW 1.5 gal you can keep soft corals with PC, or T5 lighting. those are good for a beginner but of course you have to research. in a tank that small only dwarf cerith snails would work well. you can do sexy shrimp because those are also small. or instead of the shrimp you can do a boxer crab or emerald crab. you can also chose a dwarf hemit crab type instead of a snail i guess.
__________________
thxs so no fish would work well in there
YouTube - 1.5 gallon saltwater tank
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
no you can do a tiny fish its just that you have to sacrifice invert space then. i can find several things wrong with that tank IMO.
The astrea snail is a large snail and is too large for a small ecosystem like that. same goes for the giant feather duster. he has a young one but those suckers grow to be 7" large in diameter i think. lots of waste from a worm like that. that work would barely work in a 3 gallon, with 10+ gallons being best but many would say 5 gals is ok.

Idk what fish he had in there but if its a blenny, dont do it. grows too big. the only ones you could do is gobies - the clown gobies and trimma gobies. maybe red head goby but he also grows too big IMO.

So if you have a goby in there I'd do maybe just one dwarf hermit crab and 2 dwarf ceriths (these will breed so you have to keep taking some out periodically)

If you do go with a fish, I advise you also go with a macro alga in your tank. there are some WICKED macros out there that look even better than some corals. give macros some serious consideration. their benefit is that they feed on the waste your inverts produce.
 

ryanoh

Large Fish
Mar 22, 2010
858
0
0
I know for one you use protein skimmers and UV sterilizers. Sumps are for anyone I guess, but I think they're way more common in saltwater.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
a very small SW tank needs neither UV sterilizer nor skimmer. you cant even fit a skimmer on most pico tanks anyway. pico in SW refers to anything below 5.5 gallons I believe.
these little tanks run on very frequent water changes. the more frequent the better. even everyday or other day 100% water changes dont hurt as long as the water change water is matches precisely with whats in the tank.

most people will say that is very hard to run a small SW tank because you have no room for beginner error or any errors for that matter. if you want to learn more about keeping a small SW tank visit Nano reef forums, and look at their pico section.
 

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
Okay, random announcement for today...I think I've decided how I'm going to 'scape Emmett's 10gal. I was thinking of doing a Mayan, Asian or sunken ship theme...and then one of my friends said something that got an idea rolling. Emmett is named after the Twilight character. That character's favorite pastime is wrestling grizzly bears. So, I'm going to use the piece of DW I have that will fit perfectly in the tank, stand up lengths of bamboo (deadwood) to act as tree trunks, float either frogbit or duckweed on the surface to make it seem like it's under the forest canopy, add some java fern and java moss to simulate undergrowth...and then put a plastic (or resin) grizzly bear toy in it! ROFL! It's perfect!
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
I constantly keep thinking up of new tank ideas. Now i think that my 10 gallon reef is way too busy with al the different types of corals, I would like to have a reef someday primarily made of montipora capricornis. just different colors and that would be the majority of the tank! they are such awesome and unique corals. If my monti caps grow well, I may let them take over my tank lol. I will probably then have to sell my other corals away, but the monti caps stay for sure.

Also very inclined to get a shrimp bowl going...