4.5 Gallon Pico Reef

[chrissaysyes]

Ok so this tank is underway already. I'll post some info on it and my plans for it later but for now, pics!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Alrighty soooo here we go.

The tank is a 4.5 gallon bow front acrylic tank that came from who knows where. It cost me a total of $5.99 on ebay. Here's what's been done thus far:

-Drilled two holes in the bottom and inserted air line pieces and sealed them in place. The inside of the tank has air stones, the outside has check valves, then some valves to let me adjust the air flow, then theyre run to two generic air pumps. I had one air pump with dual outputs but um...I broke it
The pumps along with the air line cost me about $9.99 off of ebay.

-Painted the back of the tank with some blue paint I had laying around. Did two coats but it really doesnt matter because this stuff will come off pretty easily regardless Still it looks nice and for the application it will more than likely remain ding proof.

-Used a sheet of acrylic to cut out a lid for the tank. This is to help with evaporation, and to protect my desk from the mist/spray that comes off the top of the water from the air stones. Made the lid two-ply for extra support as it will be supporting my lighting fixture.

-Attached little plastic "knobs" to the lid to keep the lid in place and from being knocked off of/into the tank.

-Added about 1" or live sand and a few live rock rubble bits.



Future:

Waiting for my lights to get here and then we'll see. I made take the paint off and go with a black background instead. For one thing I want to drill holes in the tank to add ports for a canister filter. The canister will be filled with rubble along with rowaphos, and carbon if necessary.

Stocking:

No clue as of yet...I'm really thinking I'm just going to add a large rock to the tank and frag corals from my larger tank to decorate the rock. Also going to remove any coral frags from the biocube upstairs (future seahorse home) and add them to this tank.

As far as any special fish or inverts...no clue...I'd like to go with a mantis but Im not sure. I wish I could do a small puffer but I just dont think that would work. Was also thinking of having some interesting gobies. I just have no idea yet. Any suggestions or ideas are totally welcome.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Just ordered a tiny 100gph powerhead for flow...now to try and figure out how to install it without it looking unsightly

 

[SkiFletch]

Sounds great Chris. One word of caution.... Small airline check-valves are prone to failure (especially the "affordable" ones). Might be worth adding two of them on each line as a failsafe. My personal preference are check-valves that are designed for Luer Lock fittings.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Good idea, that would be a really easy way to ruin my carpet

 

[Demm]

look good so far tank looks like an eclipse tank. i have one exactly like that except mine is 6 gallons. lookin forward to more pictures

 

[chrissaysyes]

The tank really does look better in person. Next step is to get a nice looking large rock for it. Gonna go rock shoppin next week The light and 100gph powerhead are supposed to ship monday.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Well...I broke the lid that I made Was trying to put vents in the middle and um...it didnt work So I'm trying a new approach, this way it's stronger, had gaps in the back and front for ventilation, not as attractive...but I'm not finished with it yet. I still need to trim the sides and round the corners but anyways, my water is clear so I thought I'd post a couple of pics. As you can see I went ahead and threw in a little chunk of live rock that was sitting in my sump.

 

[nogarobluenano]

Looks like you messed up the lid from too much miller. It looks good so far, I think the canister filter is a good idea, you would just have to go with something small for that tank.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Probably a fluval 205 since I have one laying around.

 

[SkiFletch]

Miller Lite?

*shudder*

 

[chrissaysyes]

All my money goes to my tanks, doesnt leave much for the friday night fund

 

[chrissaysyes]

Why was this moved?

 

[timpetty]

hey hey hey dont get down on yourself.... its always high class as long as its in a bottle haha. Good luck on the Pico chris

 

[chrissaysyes]

Hah, good man. Bottled beer is good beer. My girlfriend is a beer fanatic so the fridge is always stocked full of all sorts of imported mess. It's always miller and bud light for me