minibow

[MinnowMuncher]

Hey all, how's things going. I'm not exactly new to the hobby, but i do need a little advice.
I'm getting ready to start up a Pico Reef (2.5 minibow, might spring for a 5) and i have a few questions on setup...
My first concerns creating a Sump/Fuge for the tank. plans are for a 5gal aga to be used. Has anyone done this? I'm sure the largest benefit will be the ability to raise my water capacity and hide my equipment.
what is the easiest way to go about installing such a modification? I also plan on modding the hood to ad at last a 20w corallife 50/50 bulb with reflector (which i understand is fairly easy), and i plan on painting the plastic to get rid of the cheap look.
Any advice would be great, i've looked at some of the minibows on here and they are awesome, i plan on an invert tank with zoos and maybe some shrooms. Thanks again for the info.

[grimmjohn]

Look up "Filter fuge mods" either here in the DIY or at nano-reef.com
I think most people use an aquaclear, could be wrong.
Gut the filter..hang it on the back..throw in some cheato and your heater and you are good to go () : )

That's not what you asked for exactly..but I think that is generaly agreed upon to be the easiest (and probably best) way to get a fuge/equipment hider onto a nano tank.

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[K9]

MinnowMuncher,

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

I don't know how safe it would be to drill into a mini-bow. The glass on them is incredibly thin. You may want to think about having a sump and/or fuge that is up higher than the tank itself, and having it gravity-feed back into the mini-bow. You could also modify a hang-on power filter into a fuge as well. Just a suggestion though.

[MinnowMuncher]

Ok, i understand the aquaclear concept, what is the largest that i could (or that has successfully been completed) perform this mod with. My main goal is to increase the water volume of the tank.
Thanks a bunch

[grimmjohn]

Whatever size you want as far as I know...none of them will be a huge amount of water...but a very significant amount compared to the display...seems like many people use the AC500...though there are lots of sizes I believe

Cheers,
grimmjohn

This thread over at nano reef has a bigger AC model on a 2.5 to give you an idea of size.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=34589&highlight=HOB+fuge+filter+mod

Looks realy sweet to me () : )
There are also surface skimmer mods for the AC...so thats cool.

[MinnowMuncher]

do you have any info on the skimmer mods? i love DIY projects... my large fw setup has a DIY fluidized bed filter, the small one a 3-D DIY syro/concrete rock background, and all of my tanks boast DIY moonlights...
Thanks again for the info... also has anyone painted the hood and base of one of these tanks... I just don't like the look of the plastic, and think it would be cool to give one a multi tone (flipflop automotive paint) paintjob.

[grimmjohn]

When I say skimmer I mean surface skimmer...a way for the filter to suck up the water from the surface where organics collect instead of down in the water column...I don't have a link handy but a search here or at nano-reefs.com should do you...in it's simplest form you could just glue the bottom of your filter riser into inside-bottom of a dixie cup (or somethig tall enough to get to the waters surface) then just cut a notch in it or something so that water will fall from the surface of the water down into the cup, where it will then be taken up by the riser...simple idea..if your handy I'm sure you'll love to play aroundwith getting it right so that it it will work without running dry () : )

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[MinnowMuncher]

already got an idea... using a film canister (possibly)...
notch the intake pipe and glue it to the inside of the canister. then notch the upper lip of the film canister to create an overflow of sorts... seem like what you were thinking of?
just throwing the idea out there... let me know if it's stupid. I'm at the computer lab on campus working on an essay midterm for my history class... 3 red bulls at 3am can produce some profoundly stupid ideas, hahaha

[grimmjohn]

Exactly like what I was thinking of () : )

I'd do a search for other ideas before I permently modded my riser though..just for kicks () : )

Good luck on your paper ;)

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[MinnowMuncher]

Most definately, not going to try to jump right in and ruin a brand new piece of equipment :D
it definately seems plausible thought... Can't wait to get started on this... thanks for the ideas...
I'll keep you posted on progress, not going to start this weekend, but possibly next weekend i'll take the plunge!

[MinnowMuncher]

Anyone heard of or used a skilter filter, a power filter with a built in protein skimmer? I was doing a little hardware research and saw one on DRsF&S. Just curious if anyone had some great experiences or terrible ones with them. Thanks a bunch... Pico is scheduled to launch next friday, at least the hardware and prep phase.
Skilter Filter (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3641&N=2004+22769)

[K9]

Skilters are garbage. Save your money. If you search for "skilter" here on RC, you will see that many people share my opinion :D. Can't wait to see photos from the tank though!

[Sugar Magnolia]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=601201&highlight=how+to+DIY+an

That's my DIY mod for an AC 70. For future reference, there's a DIY sticky at the top of this forum with links to all sorts of DIY projects geared towards nanos.

[MinnowMuncher]

Hey, I saw your mods for the AC 70... That DIY guide will be a lot of help when i do mine... and it should definately add to the capacity of the tank.
what do you think of the proposed skimmer idea i had for the intake tube? Have you done anything similar to that?
Going by the LFS today, gotta pick up some food for my catfish and oscars.
Also gonna price the mb and filter and get some info from the people there, they are really helpful... Thanks again, and if anyone has anymore ideas let me know.

[Shade00]

If this is the same 2.5g Mini-bow you can find at Walmart and Petco and the like, then you can buy a 20w 50/50 PC that'll screw into the canopy. It's an awesome bulb. Before I picked up one of those for my 5g Mini-bow I was using 10w PCs from Walmart. They're not 50/50s, but they work pretty darn well.

[K9]

Shade00,

[welcome]

[MinnowMuncher]

i have a local walmart, unfortunately the petsmart is about an hour away... Maybe i'll just splurge and order everything offline this weekend. I'll check around today for prices, and then get the ball rolling...
Thanks for the advice, i've found so much mod infor on here, its great.