7.5 Gallon Mr. Aqua rimless build

[Chain]

Figured I might as well start a build thread on this tank since I have ordered it and the necessary equipment. The tank itself and the light fixture are the only two items which haven't shipped yet so hopefully by sometime in the middle of the next week or next weekend I can upload progress pictures. For any who missed my thread im running a Mr. aqua 7.5 gallon rimless cube 12x12x12 with a finnex HOB fuge. The lighting will be a 20k ecoxotic par 38 bulb with 40 degree optics.. Im only using the return pump for the fuge and a 180 gph hydor pico powerhead with a hydor flow attachment for flow atm. I will add a mp10 when I start adding sps. The 40 degree optic spotlight will have around a 10^3 diameter so the idea is to place all the sps within the main light and possibly some zoas and ricordae around the outer edges of the tank itself. With the fuge the total water volume should come to around 8.5 gallons. No skimmer at this time but I do have a remora nano in the box should I require it. I will also probably buy a jbj ATO system due to the tank not having a top (I will cut some eggcrate should I wish to add fish.) At this time I haven't decided whether to add fish to this setup or not, so that decision will come later. I have around 150 mandarins in a 800 gallon breeding vat which have been aquacultured, but this tank will be a bit small for a full grown mandarin. Just a waiting game now. I went ahead and picked up a few extra 2 gallon containers and filled them from my RO/DI unit ahead of time. Tested the finnex heater and the hydro pico to make sure they worked since they have been boxed since purchase, which has been a while. The only other thing worthy of reef mentioning I have done is make another 5 bags of fish food. I make my own out of standard food groupings using a blender. I've found it to be very effective, especially when aquaculturing fry; however I use alot of ingredients and in all honesty probably more then I should. Thats about it for now. Hopefully I can snag the wifes new camera and take some unboxing pictures of everything when it starts to come in next week. Thank you all for your help and I only hope to repay it 10 fold. (anyone need a aq mandarin or YWG lol?)

 

[NanoReefer]

thats gonna be an awesome build, i love mr aquas stuff

 

[little_fish]

OMG!!! I WANNA SEE YOUR OTHER SETUPS!!!

Something tells me this is going to be a great build!

 

[ErinCahir]

I'm with Hannah! Pics!!!

 

[JustinsReefTank]

I would love a YWG. I have always wanted one of those. I thik they are awesome little guys. But yeah I would loev to see pics of your other set-ups.

 

[Chain]

Been trying to upload some pics, but I keep getting that my pic files are too large. Is there some special way to post them that Im probably missing? I have some 29 gallon pics on this computer and my big tank pics are over on the desktop. Im really anxious to try the new camera out on some coral just to see how I can get them to look. She seems to like it enough to keep it locked up tight so ill probably have to beg for it. Light fixture came in today, tank should be here tommorrow, and everything else Monday. May not have time to setup until the weekend, but will definitely take pics and post updates.

 

[little_fish]

The easiest way to upload photos is to upload them first to a site like photobucket. There you can reduce the size. Then click the button that looks like a picture and copy and paste in the direct link.

 

[Chain]

I have removed the hydor pico and the flow attachment and moved it to take the place of the standard air pump for the fuge. (This pico pump is one of the only ones I could find which will work perfect without any additional attachments) The air pump was making too much noise and literally was putting out around 0.5 GPH flow. I had to regulate the hydor, but its working perfect now. No noise at all and nice little flow through the refugium. I moved the clamp lights to the main tank so I could add the top to the fuge. The fuge is actually pretty nice. If an overflow occurs its built to occur back into the main tank and won't flood anything. The wifes stand will not work so im still looking for a stand. Might build something. The table is one from outside I set the tank up on and just moved it inside to get an idea of how its going to look. Went ahead an ordered an MP10 for flow and am going to stick a hydor nano 240 in the tank until in comes in. Haven't filled the tank yet, but I do have the aquascape set up. Water is already mixed just waiting for inspiration haha. Debating on sand or no sand, and will probably go with sand since I have around 20 lbs already. Ran the light constant for around 5 hours and wasn't even warm to the touch. Still running atm. Both of those lights for the fuge are probably a little overkill so i'll see how the macro responds when I put it in. Had to put the heater in the display due to the top on the fuge not allowing any cord room. Painted the back of the tank black with krylon. The picture was taken on an iphone so the quality isn't too great but you can get the idea.

 

[NanoReefer]

you should get a digital thermometer for like 10 bucks, throw the sensor in the fuge and you wont have that eyesore of a thermometer in the display! but looking gooood!

 

[marcah]

I am with Hannah I would like to see the other setups also ...:D

 

[Chain]

I apologize for the time issue. I have been working quite a bit lately and it doesn't look to be getting any better any time soon. The new year always seems to screw everything up as new laws are implemented concerning drugs, insurances, medicare, medicaid, etc. I will try to get some pictures up soon of my other systems as all other prior attempts didn't work save for a few of my 29 gallon. I am keeping the thermometer simply because I plan to add a reefkeeper aquarium control unit to this system. We have everything up and running now. Around 1-2 inches of live sand in the display with around an inch in the fuge. Aquascape is finished along with some live rock rubble in the fuge and a bag of chemipure elite. Everything is working well atm. Tank is still a bit cloudy as I have been moving everything around trying to find the best fit and hide the wonderful cords. Hopefully the MP10 will be here in a few days. It hasn't shipped yet, but I have a Hydor nano in their atm which is doing just fine along with the return from the fuge. Tested everything today and got ammonia levels and nitrite levels on par. Didn't test nitrate as I usually wait a week or so to begin testing anyways. Most of my rock was previously cooked and dead; however I did add a couple of pieces of live rock to the system to help it along. Will post picks as soon as it clears up enough to see the aquascape entirely. Also added around 20 empty snail shells as extra hermit homes. Really like the light, but don't like the fixture that much. Will probably go for the LED Neo arm sold by aquatouch. I also like that glass protein skimmer sold by MAME simply for the asthetic value; however replacing airstones isn't up my alley, and Cluttering up an already confined space isn't going to help in the least. Water changes are my friend and im confident that it will be enough coupled with the fuge. Believe it or not the mandarins were actually very easy to breed and rear compared to the yellow watchman gobies. The gobies wouldn't accept rotifers as a viable food source and I went through a few batches of offspring searching for an answer. I'll quit rambling though and go to bed. Just an update. All is still well and hopefully by tommorrow I can upload some real pictures worth looking at.

 

[beeguiles]

I can't wait to see pictures of everything! I love the look of rimless tanks. They just look so much cleaner and sharper to me

 

[Chain]

Update:

Wow didn't realize it had been this long. Have the ATO and reefkeeper installed. Had to remove the Mp10 in favor of the koralia nano due to the flow being too strong. I had to keep my tanks water level alot lower then I wanted so I opted back to the koralia. Stuck the mp10 in my 29 with my other one. Really the only big addition I've added is a finnex PX360. I rigged the output with a hydor flo deflector which keeps the flow random for the output. I removed all the media in the filter and am running the prefilter floss along with a bag of chemi pure elite and a bag of purigen in the filter media chambers. I keep two pieces of filter floss in the filter and clean one every two weeks in a bowl of tank water. I clean the Oposite after two more weeks. I clean one media bag every month so I haven't cleaned one yet but it will be coming up. This seems to work fine and keep the filter really clean. Idk if I will keep this up but the fuge just didn't have enough room to run any media with the live rock and cheato. I do 2 water changes every week, Sunday and thursday. This has worked perfectly to keep the water clean of protein and any oils on the surface. Tank is looking good. The only life in the tank is a cerith snail that made it through the cycle on the live rock and my CUC I got from john at reefcleaners. I needed a few extra snails for my other tanks so I just nabbed a big buy from john at once and threw a few in this tank. The diatom bloom came and the snails devoured it in two days. The live rock has purple coraline and nice green coraline sprouting up. I also added a bag of water from one of my fuges and I have a load of pods all in my tank and fuge. I threw some empty snail shells in the tank also but I won't be getting any hermits. I have around 20 frags of some Zoas, purple haze monti, and a couple of acros ready for insertion whenever the mood strikes me. Thinking about adding a small group of sexy shrimp and no fish. Going to give the tank a while longer though to see how things look. Everything is great atm though so i can't complain. No setbacks yet and the cycle kicked through fairly quickly. The maintenance on this small tank is pretty extensive though. The canister filter has the potential to become a nitrate factory without proper maintenance, so I may opt for something else. I liked it because I could hide it and run the tubes up and keep them hidden, but I may have to go a different route. Pictures on Sunday (X :heartpump, just because im out of the state for business :grumble:

Crazy to see that much destruction off to the east due to the storms. Sorry you folks had to endure that and hope any and everyone in that part of the country is ok. Used to that here, but Oklahoma is sparsely populated (for good reason) so alot of times they don't do any damage. Wish you all the best.

 

[Dana42078]

Yea a mp10 in that small of a tank really has to be dialed down. That nano doesnt push that much as i have 3 in a 20g so it should be good.

Cant wait for some more picture ;)