My 5.5 desktop nano reef buid log

[TCU Reefer]

It's time to upgrade my betta bowl at work and what better way to do so than a nano reef?

It's a standard 5.5g that I spray painted the back of it black.

(The beer is um..... strictly for scale :) )

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160062.jpg

I had Liem at TranquilScape (a great LFS) to put an acrylic baffle in an old AC 300 that will be the fuge and I will also use to run carbon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160064.jpg

I also picked up a half bag of Caribsea that they had there. It was damaged to they gave me a good deal on it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160072.jpg

Now for the good stuff. I told Vincent that I needed hood to house my lighting because I was too busy to build my own. I ordered a Sunpaq retrofit kit that was 2 x 32w of PC lighting at 15". Perfect for my setup. I knew it would probably give off a lot of heat so he built the hood so the bulbs would be around 4"-5" off the water. Also, this will prevent any problems with splashing water becuase there is nothing seperating the bulbs from the water.

He did a great job. Thanks Vincent!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160067.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160068.jpg

After Vincent finished the hood, Liem mounted the lights and the fan to help with the heat. Thanks Liem!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160069.jpg

This fan is a beast! I think I have to move it over to one side so the AC will fit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160070.jpg

Speaking of beasts, check out the ballast for this thing. I'm going to have to get pretty creative to get all this stuff to fit on my desk at work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA160071.jpg

For those of you just interested in the tank in the background, here's a FTS just for grins.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/TropheusKid/PA050186.jpg

This tank is housing some nice peices of Figi LR I also got from TS. Some frags that I have bought from there in the past will be going in this work distraction project.

The next step is for me to stain the hood. I might bring the tank up to work this week to set it up.

I'll keep you guys and girls updated as I go.

[KING OF THE REEF]

nice tanks man. With the fan make sure it isnt blowing into the canopy, rather sucking from the canopy as this will greatly help in the heat issuses. The ballast can get hot (min get lukewarm) so make sure it is in a farely cool place and that it is well ventalated for saftey. hope this helps btw if you need a few small frags of stuff i might be able to help

[lil_fishey]

lookin great keep us updated

[TCU Reefer]

Thanks Imareefer for the compliment and the offer.

The fan does blow in the canopy and it moves a lot of air. The ballast will be sitting on my desk behind the tank so it will be well-ventilated. Thanks for the concern.

Do you ship frags?

[Daemonfly]

Fan is deffinately a beast. 120v too. I'd rather just downsize to a good 12v fan and run off a 12v dc wall supply.

Looks like the retrofit reflectors are pretty decent.

[trmisi]

good looking nano. is that a small rose buble anemonie on the bottom right?

[TCU Reefer]

Daemonfly, I will try this fan out for a while and see what kind of water temps I am facing. I can always downgrade later if needed but for now, I just didn't want my corals to boil to death.

trmisi, that's actually two BTA's right next to each other. The larger one on the left is the rose colored and I recently added a smaller one that is green. Both are doing great and eat every day.

[leeweber85]

Similar setup to mine... Great looking canopy and you will probably like the power that those lights will give off.

BTW is that a Gibson Les Paul that I see in the background?

[leeweber85]

I should add that I have a 80mm fan on mine and it pulls the temperture down more than 5 degrees shortly after the lights are on. (i have it set on the same timer as the lights) I just now put it on a dimmer switch and it has helped a little.

What are you using for a heater? I have the 50w hydor theo heater and hate it. Something has to be wrong with the thermostate in it.

[TCU Reefer]

leeweber,
Good eye you have there. It's actually a 2001 Gibson J-150 jumbo body acoustic. My baby.

I haven't picked out a heater yet becuase I'm in Texas and it's still 90 freakin' degrees here and it's the middle of October.

I'll take your advice on the Hydor becuase I was actually considering it due to its' size.

What are you keeping under your lighting setup?

[leeweber85]

I don't have anything yet.... I still can't get my temperture to stay very stable. When i do it will probablybe all softies (zoos, shroom, xenia, green star polyps, maybe a rasta leather) Although maybe a brain or something would be cool too.