Easy nano ideas

[Eekee]

I'd like to change my 4 year old's danio tank to a marine tank. It's just a 5 gallon Regent Walmart cheapie. I don't want anything fancy in it. Maybe just some mushrooms (Can't they do OK with regular light strip?) and some sort of little harmless looking crab or shrimp. The tank really just serves as a nightlight.

Anyway, I had one set up as saltwater a while back, but I couldn't seem to keep the temp stable. I need some suggestions on keeping a tiny tank stable. Cheaply. And what to put in it. Cheaply. (There's a pattern here. )

This little project has to tide me over until the day comes when I can get a BIG tank for ME!

 

[Colin]

Hi Erica,

Is this the Eclipse 6 knockoff? Acryllic bowfront with a fluorescent hood and a filter that sits above? I've been running one of these as a nano for a couple of years now. It's currently overrun with shrooms and a capnella coral.

I've upgraded the lighting to 2x13W PC's. I keep the top lid propped open to keep it cool, and I run a 50W Whisper heater that I got from Wal-Mart to keep it warm. This particular heater is very small and is pre-set to 78 degrees so there is no dial to mess with. If you're interested, I can take some pics later.

--Colin

 

[papagimp]

I've got a 2.5gallon that I use for raising newly released bangaii cardinals and I also keep some shrooms and a Kenya tree in there (capnella sp?). I don't have a heater and deal with a similar problem but for lighting I have the same spiral type bulb from home depot that I use on my refugium. Seems to be working so far.

 

[MyMonkey]

Where can you find this tank? Does Wal Mart still have these? Never seen them. I am planning a small tank for my office.

 

[papagimp]

Walmart carries them still, I believe I've seen them at petsmart as well. Monkey, just go around to the various LFS and Local Pet stores, you'll find many great options for small nano tanks.

 

[MyMonkey]

Hope so. I have looked at many small tanks. They were mostly plexiglass. Glad to hear there are some of acrylic.

 

[Colin]

Well, I can't promise it's acrylic and not plexiglas (not sure I could tell the difference), but the manual says "Because your Regent Aqua-Tech 5 aquarium may be made from acrylic, it is susceptable to scratching".

It's the Regent Aqua-Tech 5. It came with a hood that includes an 8W fluorescent light (which I removed) and a bio-wheel filter that sits on top of the tank under the hood.

From what I can tell, it's identical to the Eclipse 6 and made by Marineland, only less expensive. Don't know if they still sell them, though.

--Colin

 

[MyMonkey]

Sounds perfect.

 

[Eekee]

Yes, it's the cheap knockoff of the Eclipse system. I'm pretty sure it came from Walmart.

Colin, I'd be interested in seeing some pictures if you have time. Could you tell me how you upgraded the lights? Are you using the hood it came with, and just replaced the ballast? I'm not sure how that works.

Thanks all.

 

[Colin]

Here's some I took when I built it, plus commentary on how it is now.

First Pic: Inside view.

I took out the stock lighting and replaced it with 2 13W 50/50 PC kits from www.ahsupply.com . The sockets are screwed into the top of the stock top. I took out the biowheel and filter material. The little heater you see in the filter has been replaced with a bigger unit that's in the tank. I recently put some chaeto in the filter box and glued some aluminum foil to the underside of the lid to reflect light down on the chaeto.

Next, top view:

I drilled a small hole in the lid for the fan, but ended up removing the fan and now I just prop open the lid for temperature control. The vent caps you see came with the 13W kits (plus a couple of extra). I drilled 1" holes in the plastic and just popped them in. The little nubs you see to the right and left of the vent caps are just little covers for the screws that are holding in the light sockets.

Third pic, showing the ballasts:

These are just screwed onto the back of the hood. One for each lamp.

The 13W kit from AH Supply comes with 2 ballasts, sockets, vent covers, and some wires. You'll need to add a power cord and get the bulbs separately. I like the 50/50's.
I'm about to build a custom canopy to hold a couple more lights, plus I'm going to add a modified Aquaclear 70 HOB filter as a refugium. Plus I'm going to thin out the shrooms.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

--Colin

 

[Eekee]

That looks really cool, Colin.

Would I have problems if I just used the original lighting? I don't want it too bright, since it serves as a nightlight. Right now it gives the right amount of glow to keep my kid happy at bedtime, but not keep him awake and blinded!

 

[Colin]

Hmmm, not sure about that. Mushrooms tolerate lower light, but the 8 watts that fixture puts out isn't very much. You might see if you can get some free shrooms to try it with, rather than spending cash on them just in case.

I'm a little more worried about having the lights on 24 hours a day. Seems like that could cause algae problems.

--Colin

 

[Eekee]

The lights go out in the daytime. It's on from about 8:30 pm to about 7:30 am. Occasionally, it's left on, but not often.

I might try a few shrooms. I have some loose ones in my tank that I could test. If it doesn't work out, I don't have a problem with a FOWLR tank. Minus the fish, I guess.

 

[jkhudson]

If someone thinks they'de be okay, I'll give you some kenyi tree "sprouts" that are growing like weeds all over my tank. I'd like to get rid of a few and just throwing them away would be a waste.

 

[Colin]

FYI, I saw those Regent tanks at the Midwest City Wal-Mart yesterday. $40.

I also picked up a 27W daylight (6500K) compact flourescent swing arm desk lamp at Home Depot. It's going to become a fuge light.

 

[pwhitby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8976014#post8976014 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jkhudson
If someone thinks they'de be okay, I'll give you some kenyi tree "sprouts" that are growing like weeds all over my tank. I'd like to get rid of a few and just throwing them away would be a waste.

If you can, see if you can get a few sprouts mounted and bring them to the club meeting one day. We have the kenya tree on the donor program and new frags are always in demand.

PM if you want more information.

Paul.