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Fred's Fluval Reef 1/30/2010

F

fcruz420

I would like to share my build with NJRC!
Good evening all!!!
I have officially jumped into this addictive hobby .
I have a few plans for different reef tanks, but this is my first tank posting and hopefully it will not be my last.

I was fortunate as this tank was given to me (thx Shawn). With that being said - here is my pico reef. I will be posting up pictures and comments on this journey!!!

Equipment today:
- Fluval edge tank, stock halogen lights
- Aquaclear 20 filter, stock sponge, poly fil
- 1.5" of Florida crushed coral
- 7 lbs of Fuji live rock - no aquascape yet
- Marineland 50w heater
- Instant Ocean salt mix

Equipment coming soon:
- Koralia nano

Equipment in thought:
- 8 LED custom kit. 4 cree Q5, 4 cree royal blue, buckpucks dim drivers, etc.
- 18" dual bulb fixture. Probably power compacts (in case custom kit doesn't work out)

Stocking Plans: (need suggestions here lol)
- 1 goby
- CUC
- Zoos, polyps, ricordea, mushrooms. Pretty much any great color softies

Here are my day 1 pics:
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Please share comments, tips or tricks. ;D
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

First let me say cool looking tank. Where did you get it?
Second I would suggest reading as many of the nano threads as possible.
They will give you good ideas.
Third ... and this will make you swear at me ... lose the crushed coral. Most people hate it as it traps a lot of detrius. Go with a bag of live sand. You will also want to reconsider your filtration. Get rid of the sponge if you are going to run that filter I would suggest using it with the floss and carbon only the sponge will be a nitrate factory. You can change the floss ever few days not bad IMHO though some don't like it.
Last can you put the heater out of sight?

PS I like T5 bulbs much more then power compacts...less heat, longer bulb life, better par.

Welcome aboard...go slow and you will be happier in the long run, I am sure with that tank you will have a beautiful settup eventually.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

JR - it's like a hundred bucks for a 6 gallon tank. I saw these being sold at TFP in lancaster. The design is cool and small - but at 6 gallons (even less when you add sand/lr)- you are really limited to what can be added in the tank. Also the surface-air exchange is poor because it only has that one hole.

I guess that's good for carpet surfers.

A friend of mine has the exact same tank. He keeps a goby and a small false perc in there. I'd avoid corals unless you are talking a sun coral or hardy ones like mushrooms. I just don't think the stock bulb is enough.
 
F

fcruz420

Thanks JRWOHLER. A good buddy gave it to me. He might have picked it up from reef encounters. I'm reading a lot of threads(here and nano-reef). I purchased practical coral farming by Miguel Tolosa and I'm awaiting shipment ;D

Hmmmm crushed coral - would it matter if I stir it up every few days? a few folks have mentioned this and I'm considering LS. Maybe this weekend when I'm trying to figure out my aquascape I will switch out the sand?

I've removed the sponge and I'm only running poly fil in the filter. The heater I was going to try and postion it behind a LR once the aquascape was finished. I also thought of a HOB ac70 or ac110 as the heater might fit in there, but I have to check a few specs to see if it would actually fit on this tank.

Finally the stock lights suck!!! lol - I'm thinking of a master plan for that as well 8)

JRWOHLER said:
First let me say cool looking tank. Where did you get it?
Second I would suggest reading as many of the nano threads as possible.
They will give you good ideas.
Third ... and this will make you swear at me ... lose the crushed coral. Most people hate it as it traps a lot of detrius. Go with a bag of live sand. You will also want to reconsider your filtration. Get rid of the sponge if you are going to run that filter I would suggest using it with the floss and carbon only the sponge will be a nitrate factory. You can change the floss ever few days not bad IMHO though some don't like it.
Last can you put the heater out of sight?

PS I like T5 bulbs much more then power compacts...less heat, longer bulb life, better par.

Welcome aboard...go slow and you will be happier in the long run, I am sure with that tank you will have a beautiful settup eventually.
Click to expand...
 
F

fcruz420

I checked out the tank measurements and its actually 6.62 but whos counting ;D. I agree strongly on the limitations of this tank, but its soooooooo cool and it was given to me so I figured why not try it out.

Hawkeye you're correct, the lighting is horrible but I think more softies can be kept in it with upgraded lighting options.

Hawkeye said:
JR - it's like a hundred bucks for a 6 gallon tank. I saw these being sold at TFP in lancaster. The design is cool and small - but at 6 gallons (even less when you add sand/lr)- you are really limited to what can be added in the tank. Also the surface-air exchange is poor because it only has that one hole.

I guess that's good for carpet surfers.

A friend of mine has the exact same tank. He keeps a goby and a small false perc in there. I'd avoid corals unless you are talking a sun coral or hardy ones like mushrooms. I just don't think the stock bulb is enough.
Click to expand...
 
F

fcruz420

Ok... so a few days in and I made some minor changes in the tank.
- Re-positioned the heater.
- Picked up a couple more pieces of LR. Crazy purple coraline 8)

I will post up pics shortly
 
F

fcruz420

fantom555 said:
Can these house SPS corals? Anyone know of nano tanks that have the lighting to do so?
Click to expand...
Whats up Fantom - Im still a newbie but I dont think this tank can house SPS. Softies yes and maybe with a killer LED kit/halide/T5 lights then it might be possible.
 
F

fcruz420

The extra Ultra Fuji LR I picked up from Reef encounter last night came with these hitch hikers..... Can anyone ID the white sponges?

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DanJ

DanJ

LOL it was a pest in my tank and i bought a ton of bluelegs and they ate them =) like i had about 50 per large rock and everyone told me they were good


LIES!!!!!!!!
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

hehe ... Dan, I did not think sponges in gerneral were that bad? I've heard them called chicken liver sponges too I have a bunch of them too.

That's IS a very cool looking packaged tank. A few mods and it could keep some cool stuff. How is the light hood set up? Does that copper structure do anything or is it just cool? Anywhere to stik an HOT skimmer?

Just watch the bioload and do lots of water changes.

It should be fun.

... Man I am really getting the itch to set my 26 back up, it may have been my coolest tank ever!

... Certainly was the cheapest!!! ::)
 
F

fcruz420

DanJ said:
LOL it was a pest in my tank and i bought a ton of bluelegs and they ate them =) like i had about 50 per large rock and everyone told me they were good


LIES!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Thx for the heads up DanJ. :-\ Im stopping by Reef encounter tonight to confirm.
 
F

fcruz420

Baxreefs said:
hehe ... Dan, I did not think sponges in gerneral were that bad? I've heard them called chicken liver sponges too I have a bunch of them too.

That's IS a very cool looking packaged tank. A few mods and it could keep some cool stuff. How is the light hood set up? Does that copper structure do anything or is it just cool? Anywhere to stik an HOT skimmer?

Just watch the bioload and do lots of water changes.

It should be fun.

... Man I am really getting the itch to set my 26 back up, it may have been my coolest tank ever!

... Certainly was the cheapest!!! ::)
Click to expand...

Thx Baxreefs :). How do you deal with the sponges in your tank?

The lighting are 2 mr11 halogens. Im planning a LED mod and i dont think a skimmer can fit directly on the tank, but maybe in a fuge tank??? :-\
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Those sponges are fine don't worry you won't get that many of them. The little pineapple sponges are different, have read that they can mutiply more. Still not bad they are filter feeders.

Hitchhiker14.jpg
 
F

fcruz420

JRWOHLER said:
Those sponges are fine don't worry you won't get that many of them. The little pineapple sponges are different, have read that they can mutiply more. Still not bad they are filter feeders.
Click to expand...

Thx JRWohler... I discovered some new things in the tank today... pics posting soon. ;D
 
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