Yet another newbie....

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Rich

New Member
Hi all, yet another newbie saying 'hello'.

I've kept large reef tanks for a good many years, but this is my first attempt an a miniature tank. I have a 5 {UK} gallon hexagonal tank which I've just rescued from the garage, and I could use some help in adding the hardware, such as water movement pumps, lighting, etc. Should be a pic of it here somewhere...

Any ideas for water pumps, lights, etc ??

Thanks all,

Rich
 
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Narkon'n'more

New Member
Oi, glad to have you on board.

Hows the weather right now? Guess you will need a heater for it.

I haven't really delt with hex tanks, so not sure about the water motion.

Nathan
 
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Rich

New Member
Thanks for the reply my friend...it's cold here in the UK, and yes..I have a heater for the tank, a small Underworld model. It worked well when the tank was in it's freshwater mode a while ago, so I guess it'll be OK with a spot of salt.

Rich
 
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Rich

New Member
As an alternative to the hex tank, I have a rectangular tank sitting idle...24"x18"x12", approx 18 UK gallons...would that be a better plan ??

Rich
 
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Narkon'n'more

New Member
Yes it should, do you happen to also pick up the HOB filter?
That might be able to be used. If so what kind, got a link?
All the info you have would be nice, what kinda of top you got for it?

What kinda of coral would you want, or fish only?
How about an invert tank?

You could always stick a Metal Halide over it in Pendant format.
 
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Narkon'n'more

New Member
Either tank, depends on what kind of stuff you have on hand for them.

Lights will normally be the most expensive single item, so determine what you want to keep and go from there.
 
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Rich

New Member
OK...I have more stuff available for the rec tank, so perhaps that's the way to go then.

I have a 125 watt suspended pendant lamp {pic below}from my old reef set up, 24" daylight/actinic tubes are easily available...I have a Fluval 4 internal power filter which I could use, splitting the outflow into two different directions to give me plenty of water circulation, but I notice a lot of you guys don't use any filtration at all, not even a skimmer ?

I intend to add some live rock from a friends tank{which has been running for five or six years now} which will also have some polyps on it as a starter, a couple of cleaner shrimps, a boxing shrimp and some soft coral frags. Maybe a small fish, not really sure yet.

[I'd also like to run it as an open topped tank]

Rich


 
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Narkon'n'more

New Member
Sounds like you should go with the rec tank then.

Money, save as much as you can. Thats my opinion for I am not rolling in it.

Sounds like you got a good idea on a start for it.

Do you have room for it? In the house I mean.
 
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Rich

New Member
Money...what's money ? :lol:

This tank is going in my office upstairs, downstairs already has a 90 gallon tank with a 12" black piranha in it, so not too much room down there !!

So...what about this filtration then...or lack of filtration ? Do I use an internal filter...or just live rock and a powerhead ?

My last reef tank had 2 external cannisters, a full Tunze set up, Tunze skimmer and a Berlin skimmer, 8 pumps dotted about, full tidal system, wavemaker, auto top up system....the list was endless, so something simple would be nice this time!!

{back later...dinner's ready!!}

Rich
 
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Narkon'n'more

New Member
Well its all about timely maintance. I have a 29 gal (US ~ 26 UK) as my big tank, and well lets see I have MH on it so can have acros. I have a small skimmer, and a HOB filter I use as a refugium and water mover.

But I am in the works of looking at working on buying stuff for the 110 (US ~ 96 UK) that we want to get like a sump, skimmer, calcium reactor, phosphate reactor.

I do water change each week, and it does fine with my week skimmer, no sump, and 3 power heads.
 
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Rich

New Member
So, it's down to regular maintainence then ? I take it that with a tank capacity of less than 20 gallons water changes should be restricted to about...say, 2 gallons weekly? Even down to one gallon? {that'll be nice....}
Just checked in my cupboard and found a Visitherm 75 watt heater which is almost new, two or three powerheads as well and a 24" actinic tube which works{don't think it's even been used}

Thanks for help my friend, I appreciate that. Kind of you.

Rich
 
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incysor

New Member
Rich said:
So, it's down to regular maintainence then ? I take it that with a tank capacity of less than 20 gallons water changes should be restricted to about...say, 2 gallons weekly? Even down to one gallon? {that'll be nice....}
Just checked in my cupboard and found a Visitherm 75 watt heater which is almost new, two or three powerheads as well and a 24" actinic tube which works{don't think it's even been used}

Thanks for help my friend, I appreciate that. Kind of you.

Rich
Click to expand...
It sounds like you've got all the makings for a great tank. Doing a 10-15% water change weekly along with a decent hang-on-back filter, and a skimmer if you've got one handy, or can find a cheap one will generally keep things pretty clean. The larger tank is gonna give you much more room to play with your aquascaping, and much more room for corals. Keep us updated with pics.

Brian
 
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Rich

New Member
Hi Brian,

Hopefully I've enough bits and bobs to make something work..think this weekend is going to be a busy one!!

I hadn't really thought about skimmers...most of the tank pics I'd looked at didn't even have filters, let alone a skimmer, just a couple of powerheads to move water about. So, you think I need a filter then ? The stock will be 99% inverts...maybe go for a small fish sometime later, but I'm not really fussed.

Rich

I've attached a {not very good}scanned pic of my old reef set up..ran this one for ages with no problems at all.

 
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incysor

New Member
I think you COULD probably get away with running your nano without a filter, but hang on tank type filters are cheap enough for that size tank that I don't really see any reason to skip it. I've posted all over the board about my wife's 10g. We bought a aquaclear500 and the small in-tank surface skimmer attachment to go with it for about $40US with shipping, it was converted into a refugium, and it provides a good amount of flow in her 10g, so she can get away with just that and one little rio50.

B
 
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incysor

New Member
Sorry I forgot to comment on your tank pic...That's fantastic. One of the largest bubble corals I've seen. Do you still have this tank up and running?

B
 
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Rich

New Member
Sorry for the delay in answering, AOL problems !!!

No, I took that tank down a while back now, a friend of mine has the livestock in his reef tank. The bubble coral is now HUGE !!

This time round, I want something smaller, simpler and cheaper...that tank cost me a small fortune all in all, what with all the electronic devices I made for it. The list of things that the tank had is endless...simulated full tidal drain down and refill, simulated clouds and rainstorms, auto top up of freshwater, full dawn/dusk/night/ lighting cycle with dark and moonlight nights, simulated tidal differences to give slack water, full strength incoming tide currents, wavemakers...it drove me mad !!

I'll find some more pics and post them up, but they are only scanned images taken from a VHS video tape I had made of the tank.

Rich
 
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