My 5G Hex DIY

[magic9418]

Hello All,

I was so glad to meet everyone on Sat. and I am greatful for all the frags that were donated. I am going to do a compleate post from when I started to now.

[magic9418]

Well I started on 11/26/05 with the tank and some non-live sand.

 

I then went to the LFS and got 5.5lbs of live rock and a Rio 180 power head for flow.

here is one that is all cleared up.

[magic9418]

12/13/2005 Here I moded out my stock hood to hold screw-in PC I got my hood finished and I added a turbo snail and a peperment shrimp. Here are alot of pics.

Here is an overview shot of the tank

 

 

Here is a little closer shot

 

 

Here is an overview with my turbo in the pic

 

 

Here is a close up of the turbo

 

 

Here is the best shot of my pepperment shrimp I could get. He is shyy

 

As for my hood this is what I did.

First I went out and got the required materials

(3) surface mount light bulb sockets

(1) coil of lamp cord

(1) can of Liquid Electrical Tape(dont recommend)

(1) sheet of plexieglass/lexan/acrilic(your choice, i got plexie bc it is cheep)

 

 

1. Ok I took the plexie and cut out a top for my tank. I didnt want all the condinsation to get on my PC and fry them/me.

2. I guted the stock hood to allow as much room as possable. This included grinding down of ridges inside of the hood.

 

 

3. I measured the size of the plexie so that the lights would be on each side of the hood. I figured that I could get a 10watt and a 20 watt bulb in the front side(where the org. socket was) and a 20watt bulb in the back hood(the one that covered the filter org.). With haveing one of each bulb it was doable. And So I cut 3 pieces of plexie to fit in the hoods. They were about 2 inches by 3 inches but it varied and I had to put some angles on them due to the slope of the hoods. I just used fast setting epoxie. As you can see from the Pic. I also at this point drilled holes going from one hood to the other so that I could put the wires through.

 

4. Next I cut the wire to the length I wanted and hooked up all three bases. I then put two coats of liquid ele. tape on the contacts to help with any moisture problems.

5. I then took the 20watt setup and expoxied it onto the piece of plexie. The problem i had was that I mounted it fulsh on the plexie and i need to have a slight slope so that I could have enought room to mount the 10watter, but I didnt and so I can only get one 20 watt bulb in the front hood.

Here is the front bulb

And the rear mounting

 

6. I mounted the rear socket the same way.

7. Hook up all the wires in parellel and I put 2 coats of liquid ele. tape on the connections and then because I didnt like that stuff to much I used real ele. tape on the connections.

8. I expoied the two shells together because of the wireing going through and linking them anyways.

Here are them running

 

So there you have it. How I did it and messed up a little but I think that 40 watts of PC 50/50 is enought for this 4 gallon setup.

[magic9418]

12/18/2005

Well here is an update...

I got some more sails.

2 Astrea Snails

2 Nassarius Snails

Those with my one turbo snail and one peperment shrip make up my current live stock in the cleaning crew area.

Here are some updated pics...broadband only large pics

Overview shot

Another overview

A close up of Capnella

Closeup of one of my Astrea Snails

A close up of one of the Nassarius Snails that is close to the surface

[magic9418]

1/3/2006

Well I have been keeping my 5 gallon hex nano for a month and a half and all was well.

I have been doing 1 gallon water changes every week with premix from my LFS. I have had NP. I decided to use tap water and mix at home to see what would happen. I went with what they posted on a nano fourm I mixed 5 gallons and arrated and powerheaded it for 3 days. Warmed it up to proper temp and SG and did a 2.5 gallon water change on the tank. That was Sunday and look at what I came home to today.

Diatoms

They are diatoms I beleave. If they are not please tell me. Also you can tell me what to do besides use RO water. LOL

Well that is bad in my book even though I have read that it isnt all that bad. I am a perfectionist kinda.

I found this as well

Red Hair Algea

Just to the left of my sail. It is just a spot. Isnt that bad?

[magic9418]

Well here we are up to date. I took on the diatoms full charge and did a 2 gallon water change and put in a phospate pad and carbon and it turned out ok. Just a little bit left around but it will work itself out. On friday I went to Eric's house and picked up the swf.com order I placed. I got a feather duster, a citron goby, and a common Green Ricordea, Eric was kind enough to give me a white fuji pompom Xenia.

Here is an overview pic

Here is the feather duster

Here is the Ricordea

Here is the Xenia

The goby is hidding for a while. :-)

[magic9418]

Then there was Saturday. The social at BRK. I must say thank to all that gave me stuff to fill out my little tank. As you can see there was nothing in it really. Now I have a large selection to look at and further produce. THANKS

Tank Overview

Overview front right

Front left

and the left

As you can see I have recieved alot of diffrent corals.

I have had a few problems and please comment to help me.

First the long red sea xenia I recieved was doing great yesterday and today a few of the fingers are white/damaged

Next I got a recodia from a fella that lives in Falls Church, sorry you name slips me and please PM me bc I need to match the names with the face. I placed it in the tank and it didnt want to cooperate with the placement and I think I just damaged it to much bc I cant find it anywhere. The only other problem is that while attaching the frog spawn his stem became damaged some and I hope it fixes itself. I thank everyone for the info and input Sat. and I will see you at the next meet. Also I would like to revieve the tank tours if anyone else is interested.

Matt

[Caribbean Jake]

Matt

nice going, and is looking good too.

suggestion, get rid of the anthelia (the coral at the top of the rock work) trust me you willl regret putting that weed in there. and move the green bali slimer to the top of your tank, perhaps were the anthelia is now located. just MHO suggestion.

Jacob

[magic9418]

Jake,

I took you advise and put the slimer up top right where the anthelia was. I trashed it, it was already attached to the rock so pulling it off tore it up. The slimer is already greener than befor. Do you know if the todstool will fix itself or should I do something such as cut the stem right below the top and glue it down?

Thanks Matt

[magic9418]

double post

[Caribbean Jake]

Matt.

I am against putting anykind of glue in my tanks. If you want to use glue, then give it a try, otherwise with time it will stick to the rock. Also, if you don't want to use glue, use a rubber band to fix it to the rock, this will help in attaching to the rock.

[magic9418]

Ok Guys and Girls,

I got my marinedepot order in and did all my water test. This is what has turned out.

SpecificG 1.024

PH 8.1

Ammonia 0 mg/L

Nitite 0 mg/L

Nitrate 2 mg/L

Alk 4 meq/L

Calcium 330 mg/L

 

I have B-Ionic two part system part1 alk buffer, part2 calcium supp. Also I have a ph buffer/alk buffer by kent marine. I need to raise my calcium but dont need the alk to move much at all. The ph is fine where it is or up a .1 wouldnt hurt. Sould I use the bionic or should I get a specific calcium supplement?

Thanks Any Input would be of help.

[flowerseller]

Looks great!

In a little tank like that, the two part might be nice along with testing.

I can cut you a little stalk of green sinularia also.

[magic9418]

Thanks FlowerSeller. I like the devilshand you gave me at the social. It is doing well and growing. I have 2 types of xenia and a capnella that is going fast. I dont think I could handle the green sinularia right now. I have looked up the coral in google and I have not seen any that are green persay. Is yours green green or the off white color? If it is green green then I would like a piece and I will move stuff around in the tank. I will be working on my 55 soon enought for grouth in the future also so if it gets to big then I can frag/put it in the 55

thanks

[flowerseller]

green link

[magic9418]

I would love a piece of that green sinularia. I like the long soft corals alot. THanks

[magic9418]

OK Update Time

I got a calcium supplement today Seachem Reef Comlete Calcium Raiser

Added per the instrucitons about 2ml, I will keep a 1 ml addition every 3 days until I reach 410 mg/L.

My Feather duster died, I think it was due to the peperment shirmp eathing his feathers.

 

Here are some updated pics. They are not that good sorry.

 

Front Left

That purple monti came unglued. Does anyone know how to get them to attach to the rock?????

 

Front Right

I was messing with my lights when the pic was taken so the xenia closed up, ass did the devilshand.

 

Here is the Ric that I got from Kragon(Ryan), Along with a mush from Emissary

 

Here is my citron goby. I had to doctor the pic alot to be able to see him in a dark cave

 

My orange center, green rim zoos. I cant remember who I got them from. Let me know if you did just for info perposes.

 

My Yellow Polyps Also I cant remember who I got them from. Let me know if you did just for info perposes.

 

Here is my frag from Jacob of Pachicavularia/Green Star Polp

 

And my common Fl Ric for SWF.com

 

I do have some questions if everyone could help. The rics, especially the little frag from Ryan. It has not grown really at all. Are they slow growers? What are there light requirments?

 

Also the mushrooms that were doing really well are not doing so well now. My water perramerters are good except calcium at 330. I did change the way my tank faces and with that the hood rotated also and the lights deminished on that side of the tank some.

 

Any answers to these puzzles(at least to me) would be much appreciated.

Thanks to all that helped me get my tank up in the air.

[emissary]

I do have some questions if everyone could help.  The rics, especially the little frag from Ryan.  It has not grown really at all.  Are they slow growers?  What are there light requirments?

 

I have almost identical rics in my tank. My nano has only a 13W PC and it's doing fine. Haven't noticed much growth though. I'm still trying to learn how to do the whole nano thing though so who knows what I'm doing My 75G the rics are going fine and multiplying aplenty. I have 5 96WPCs.

[Lee Stearns]

I have found in my true nano cube that I have at work the 13G version that I have a ricordia in it that is very bright green and pretty but has not grown one bit in two years- Most corals in a nano survive and look great but do not grow or propagate well- I have the same thing with many zoos that are in there- I believe I gave you the green skirted zoos- I brought several bags to give out. Not all zoos require the same light- the ones that are brownish seem to thrive in lower light, while some of the brighter require more light to multiply- though they will all pretty wel hold thier own in a nano- Capnella is the grow fast anywhere softie. Mushrooms may look like they are not thriving but they will open and close quite a bit depending on the light- too much and they will not grow too little and they will puff up real large and reach, or just float to a new location. With such a small volume many of these corals wil fight each other chemically- I would suggest some cabon to hopefully absorb some of the organics in the water- I know that devils hand is pretty potent against sps.

You have a great start there just know that softies will do very well in there, but mixing in some sps raises by several orders of magnatude the stability and water maintenance difficulties.

[fishface]

Hi there:

 

Everything looks great. All of the things you are asking are good questions.

I don't have a Nano or Micro because there is a much narrower band in which to work. Due to the small water volume you have to monitor them closely.

 

I would check out the other forums, ie ReefCentral to get some more opinions. I would only suggest that it may benefit if you could add a sump to increase water volume.

If they are near each other, add a sump/fuge below the 55 and so they share a skimmer, calcium supply and top off. (Items that you are probably going to add as you go anyway).

 

To mount frags, buy the coral epoxy. It's like a stick of putty, and you cut off a piece that you think would work and knead it to mix the two parts and stick it on a rock and embed the frag quickly.

Regards.

FF

[magic9418]

Thanks for the info guys. The tank is doing well but now without the peperment shrimp my apostias are all over the place. I will need to get some sort of shirmp. Any suggestions??