I was at the LFS recently and noticed this absolutely lovely 5.5g glass aquarium with nice looking seamless rounded corners on the front edges like cubes have. It was pretty cheap so I picked one up.
Following the wild success of my 5.5g AGA with built in sump/refugium that started a lot of people off I was considering doing the same kind of mod to this tank, but the real beauty of this tank is the front rounded edges, & to section it off like I did with the AGA tank would really kill it's looks. So I thought of building a refugium/pump area at the back, but I like the back of my aquarium to be transparent and not blocked off with a wall running all the way along the back.
The solution I came up with requires modifying one of those Marina/Pen Plax 5 Way Breeding Traps which seems ideal to house the pump and act as a refugium for the chaeto macro-algea. All of the internal partitions are removable and one entire face of it has long thin slots to let water circulate - perfect. Here is one at marine-depot for reference:
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~cat...MIBN~tab~2.html
I also picked up a Aquarium Systems Premium Maxi-Jet 400 Utility Pump which is significantly smaller than the maxi-jet 400 powerhead that I'm using in my current 5.5g and has the same flow rate and comes with a similar long intake nozzle attachment as the regular maxi-jet's have.
Basically all I had to do was melt a hole in the side of the breeding trap for the pump out nozzle, melt a tiny hole for the cord to get out, put the pump into the trap with it's nozzle sticking out the hole, remove all the internal partitions of the breeder, fill it with chaeto macro-algea and you are all set. I've placed it vertically in the back left corner of my new tank with the intake slot wall facing the front of the tank and the pump out nozzle facing towards the right of the tank. Placed vertically, it does not take up a lot of space and leaves the majority of the tank free for coral placement. The Breeder is big enough that if you wanted you could even place a small titanium heater inside if you want, something I might do down the road.
As it stands the tank looks great so far and has that same uncluttered look at the back while providing a completely open front. I've now moved over my coral island and all inhabitants from my 5.5g AGA with built in sump/refugium
This is what the tank looks like, I just love those curved seamless round corners on the front. Those decorative clips on the top and bottom corners are plastic, not metal so no chance of corrosion. I don't like acrylic tanks, so I'm very happy to find such a nice tank design in glass.
Here is what the converted breeder looks like in the corner. As you can see those slots on the front will allow for easy circulation and turned on it's side like that it's almost the full height of the tank which is great. The maxi-jet is very tiny but powerful.
This is what it looks like from the back. The entire back comes off so you only need a tiny hole at the top edge for the pump cord to get out. As I mentioned the pump comes with that long traditional intake like you find on maxi-jet powerheads and that's what I'm using.
Here are some more images of the tank and inhabitants:
And finally my rarest inhabitant, a tiny baby Elegance frag that I have been nurturing over a year now, he's now developed a mouth as you can see and has a diameter of about the size of a nickel (you can see how big the damsel looks next to it for scale)
Following the wild success of my 5.5g AGA with built in sump/refugium that started a lot of people off I was considering doing the same kind of mod to this tank, but the real beauty of this tank is the front rounded edges, & to section it off like I did with the AGA tank would really kill it's looks. So I thought of building a refugium/pump area at the back, but I like the back of my aquarium to be transparent and not blocked off with a wall running all the way along the back.
The solution I came up with requires modifying one of those Marina/Pen Plax 5 Way Breeding Traps which seems ideal to house the pump and act as a refugium for the chaeto macro-algea. All of the internal partitions are removable and one entire face of it has long thin slots to let water circulate - perfect. Here is one at marine-depot for reference:
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~cat...MIBN~tab~2.html
I also picked up a Aquarium Systems Premium Maxi-Jet 400 Utility Pump which is significantly smaller than the maxi-jet 400 powerhead that I'm using in my current 5.5g and has the same flow rate and comes with a similar long intake nozzle attachment as the regular maxi-jet's have.
Basically all I had to do was melt a hole in the side of the breeding trap for the pump out nozzle, melt a tiny hole for the cord to get out, put the pump into the trap with it's nozzle sticking out the hole, remove all the internal partitions of the breeder, fill it with chaeto macro-algea and you are all set. I've placed it vertically in the back left corner of my new tank with the intake slot wall facing the front of the tank and the pump out nozzle facing towards the right of the tank. Placed vertically, it does not take up a lot of space and leaves the majority of the tank free for coral placement. The Breeder is big enough that if you wanted you could even place a small titanium heater inside if you want, something I might do down the road.
As it stands the tank looks great so far and has that same uncluttered look at the back while providing a completely open front. I've now moved over my coral island and all inhabitants from my 5.5g AGA with built in sump/refugium
This is what the tank looks like, I just love those curved seamless round corners on the front. Those decorative clips on the top and bottom corners are plastic, not metal so no chance of corrosion. I don't like acrylic tanks, so I'm very happy to find such a nice tank design in glass.
Here is what the converted breeder looks like in the corner. As you can see those slots on the front will allow for easy circulation and turned on it's side like that it's almost the full height of the tank which is great. The maxi-jet is very tiny but powerful.
This is what it looks like from the back. The entire back comes off so you only need a tiny hole at the top edge for the pump cord to get out. As I mentioned the pump comes with that long traditional intake like you find on maxi-jet powerheads and that's what I'm using.
Here are some more images of the tank and inhabitants:
And finally my rarest inhabitant, a tiny baby Elegance frag that I have been nurturing over a year now, he's now developed a mouth as you can see and has a diameter of about the size of a nickel (you can see how big the damsel looks next to it for scale)
but i'm trying not to spend anymore money. this isn't helping, lol. great tank. what are those zoas you have in there? i love the color
