2.5gal Pico

[Cichlid-Man]

So i mocked up a Stand and Canopy for the 2.5 tonight. Its one of the first things i wanted to take care of so the light could be on the tank. No telling how long it will take me to make, but i'm really looking forward to trying it out. I'll keep you all posted!

Here are a few different angles.

Front: (Wood might be fancier, pic is just to get the idea)
Back 1: (Hole in the side is for cord(s)).
Back 2 & 3: (Hole in the 2nd level is cut perfectly for the light)
Top Open: (Better view of the light hole)
Bottem shot:
Front again:

Of course adjustments will have to be made as i go along, but that is a scale model. I did leave out another hole opposite that of the wire hole that will butt up against the light's built in fan. If i need to a CPU fan will be installed.

The door at the top is more for light mantience then actual tank mantience. Being a 2.5gal, i can easily lift this on and off of the tank to do anything drastic. And having no fish i am not going to have to feed them 1-2 times a day.

Anyways, thats my idea at the moment, looks pretty involved but i can't wait to start it. Any suggestions/comments?

 

[Katie217]

Nice, but your wrong... My tank will be more balla

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

my marriage proposal still stands i love it. i really want you to make me one!

 

[Lotus]

Looks good

I agree, those Mini Aqualights get pretty warm. Also, the switch is on the back of the light, so unless you're using a timer, you should plan something to make access easier.

Are you sure you don't want to cut some kind of feeding hatch into there?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Thanks, i'm acctually gonna stick with my old ViaAqua light for now. Has an external ballast with switches there. And it doesn't get quite as hot as my other Coralife.

Not sure about the feeding hole yet. Will i need it with a tank of just Corals?

 

[saltwater4life]

Looks sweet!
depends on corals if you wanna feed them frozen food, like my open brain loves frozen food

 

[ram man]

That is the most balla thing i have ever seen matt...

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Small updates.

I've made many small changes to my canopy design over the past week or so, still havn't been able to get the wood to build it yet but its coming along slowly. Finally got a pretty decent final design in mind (unless i find any more human measurement errors ). Its going to be a bit bigger then originally planned and seen in the drawings above, but it looks pretty good IMO. Going to eventually finish it off with either a nice walnut or cherry stain i think.

I think for now i'm going to make a makeshift light stand while the canopy is being built and start this tank up. I went ahead and picked up a bag of Aragonite today and ordered a smaller impeller for the filter.

Wish i had more to update, but thats all i got for now! Slow and steady i go.

Question, would i be able to have a jug of mixed SW sit there with a powerhead or airstone and it still be able to be used (After checking SG and pH of course) after a few weeks? Like buying premixed from the LFS...5gal jugs, i can't use all 5gals at once so would it be ok sitting there with an airstone or something?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Update 3/17/07:

Fuge is built, silicone is drying as we speak.

Hopefully getting LR and acctually starting the tank this week.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Busy day today!

Washed the filter/fuge today, it had been drying outside and had pollen in it. Set that up on the tank, washed my Aragonite sand, ran to the LFS and got about 5-6lbs of LR in 2 pieces as well as some premixed SW (I'm lazy ok? ). Set the tank up and its running good and clearing up already, 5 mins into it being started.

I'll probably eventually want to break the LR pieces up maybe into 4 total pieces, but for now i just wanted to get them wet and the tank cycling. So it looks a bit crowded in there.

First a picture before everything started going. You'll notice my AC filter intake mod i ghetto rigged up, little cutting here and there and it fits well now.

And this is it as of 5mins ago

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

looking nice matt see any hitch hikers yet?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Nothing interesting yet. Some featherduster/tube worm (?) tubes but nothing fancy yet.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Small update 3/29:

Broke up my 2 pieces of LR today into 2-3 pieces each. Much smaller and easier to stack together. Has some unsightly, unnatural straight edges now from the chisel but looks ok.

Tank was, according to my readings, cycled this morning. But moving the LR around and taking it out of the tank for a short period of time i'm sure caused a lot of die off. So i will wait a couple more days before i go for a CUC.

 

[Katie217]

sounds good! got any pics?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

As a matter of fact, yes. However i can't seem to take good pics of this tank. And the pics make in look overrun with algae but its really not.

 

[MrBungle]

lookin balla.

 

[Helena21]

wow matt, it looks really good, and thats just with the live rock!!

 

[ram man]

nice rock work matt, i like all the small caves.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Thanks, i wasn't to sure of the rockwork at first...but its growing on me.

 

[CoolWaters]

Filter: AC70 - for water movement (Might downsize this, seems really big and powerful for a 2.5gal. We'll see)

u can use a smaller prop. i just replaced it with my own prop. u can cut some fins of the props if u want. or make it thiner.