ELCHUPACABRA
New member
So I thought I would introduce myself and share my 15g + 15g trimless nano reef with the locals.
Many years ago I started off with a 50 gallon FOWLR in high school that was lame in retro spec. Really sloppy, just had no clue.
Then at the beginning of this last summer I decided to make a 4g nano reef. I drove to Cali, went surfing and went to some 30+ fish stores looking for live rock and supplies. Came home and started the adventure.
I added the false plexi glass wall that has a powerhead siliconed in and forced water up over the falls into the fuge area that housed rubble and eventually chaeto. Bought a false perc, pep shrimp and CUC. All was good, and started buying some corals locally. Oh yeah I had 1 18w PC 10/6.5K and 1 18w PC super actinic bulb for lighting.
(did I mention I blow glass, self taught, the goblet is safeguarding a mushroom during attachment)
My collection began to grow along with my experience as a reef-keeper, all was looking great. Then I ordered my first coral online from a member on a different board, who had never shipped before and killed the pink zoos I bought in transit due to poor packaging, and due to my inexperience I put them in my tank and crashed it. Who would have though I crashed 4g of water (nerrrrr). Things got gnarly in my under water world and I lost a ton of stuff. All those cheap frags I talked Rob into selling me where now dead. I wanted to quit...
Well I decided to stick with it and went all out and made my existing tank. It took tons of preparation, and loads of work but finally all that I had learned I was able to physically manifest into a clean reef tank. I am a college student so obviously everything is made out of titanium, and the stand is just a bunch a $100 bills I glued together using a special laminate process I created, naturally nasa generated me a superstarfire tank. Oh wait, I am poor, I had to make everything, with a dremel, jig saw, and a spoon. I was sick of everyone doing the same old thing, AGA tank with blue/black background. I set out to make something different.
So I went my own route. I hate substrate it is messy and clouds up the tank, but I hate bare-bottom it looks horrendous IMO. So I said, I like zoo's why not have a carpet of zoos for substrate? I wanted the tank to look clean. I wanted something natural looking. So I bought a 15g, drilled it, ripped off all its trim and painted the back with bright pink and ballerina pink speckles, backed in a custom color spray paint I mad by mixing pink, and purple. It looks just like the live rock and already looks like it is becoming incrusted with coraline. I figured if everything is going to turn pink and purple I might as well embrace it. For the zoo carpet I lined the tank in little marble tiles and fragged away.
For lighting I made my own since that is what I could afford, and I wanted overkill. I helped a friend out with putting a 250w MH on his FW planted tank, and in return he gave me his 48" coralife PC light that was completely broken. I gutted it, and sawed that hunk of metal in half (with a jig saw, in my old apartment kitchen, (wrong tool!!! wrong place!!!)), put 2 70w 14k MH in there and 2x18w PC super actinics. I ordered the ballast for super cheap online, got in on a group buy for the bulbs and hijacked the bulb socket and UV glass out of 2- 300w halogen security lights I picked up at walmart for $8 a piece, just so happens to be the same socket (70w and 150w fit socket).
The tank has a stockholm overflow where water travels to my sump which house rubble, chaeto, ATO(kalk) and the return pump. Most of the water goes back into the sump and a small amount (via adjustable valve) gets sent back up top, this is to keep low flow through the return and eliminates micro bubbles that are caused with high flow between the 2 tanks, I can twist the valve and see living proof of this. I am not into skimmers, I have no problem maintaining zero parameters.
The display features a second pump that runs my closed loop up top for tons of flow (adjustable of course). I cycled it for a couple of months and finally transfered my 4g which was full to say the least to the new tank (which I just moved to my new house very near to the UofA).
With out further a due, I give you EL CHUPACABRAS trimless 15g:
Many years ago I started off with a 50 gallon FOWLR in high school that was lame in retro spec. Really sloppy, just had no clue.
Then at the beginning of this last summer I decided to make a 4g nano reef. I drove to Cali, went surfing and went to some 30+ fish stores looking for live rock and supplies. Came home and started the adventure.
I added the false plexi glass wall that has a powerhead siliconed in and forced water up over the falls into the fuge area that housed rubble and eventually chaeto. Bought a false perc, pep shrimp and CUC. All was good, and started buying some corals locally. Oh yeah I had 1 18w PC 10/6.5K and 1 18w PC super actinic bulb for lighting.
(did I mention I blow glass, self taught, the goblet is safeguarding a mushroom during attachment)
My collection began to grow along with my experience as a reef-keeper, all was looking great. Then I ordered my first coral online from a member on a different board, who had never shipped before and killed the pink zoos I bought in transit due to poor packaging, and due to my inexperience I put them in my tank and crashed it. Who would have though I crashed 4g of water (nerrrrr). Things got gnarly in my under water world and I lost a ton of stuff. All those cheap frags I talked Rob into selling me where now dead. I wanted to quit...
Well I decided to stick with it and went all out and made my existing tank. It took tons of preparation, and loads of work but finally all that I had learned I was able to physically manifest into a clean reef tank. I am a college student so obviously everything is made out of titanium, and the stand is just a bunch a $100 bills I glued together using a special laminate process I created, naturally nasa generated me a superstarfire tank. Oh wait, I am poor, I had to make everything, with a dremel, jig saw, and a spoon. I was sick of everyone doing the same old thing, AGA tank with blue/black background. I set out to make something different.
So I went my own route. I hate substrate it is messy and clouds up the tank, but I hate bare-bottom it looks horrendous IMO. So I said, I like zoo's why not have a carpet of zoos for substrate? I wanted the tank to look clean. I wanted something natural looking. So I bought a 15g, drilled it, ripped off all its trim and painted the back with bright pink and ballerina pink speckles, backed in a custom color spray paint I mad by mixing pink, and purple. It looks just like the live rock and already looks like it is becoming incrusted with coraline. I figured if everything is going to turn pink and purple I might as well embrace it. For the zoo carpet I lined the tank in little marble tiles and fragged away.
For lighting I made my own since that is what I could afford, and I wanted overkill. I helped a friend out with putting a 250w MH on his FW planted tank, and in return he gave me his 48" coralife PC light that was completely broken. I gutted it, and sawed that hunk of metal in half (with a jig saw, in my old apartment kitchen, (wrong tool!!! wrong place!!!)), put 2 70w 14k MH in there and 2x18w PC super actinics. I ordered the ballast for super cheap online, got in on a group buy for the bulbs and hijacked the bulb socket and UV glass out of 2- 300w halogen security lights I picked up at walmart for $8 a piece, just so happens to be the same socket (70w and 150w fit socket).
The tank has a stockholm overflow where water travels to my sump which house rubble, chaeto, ATO(kalk) and the return pump. Most of the water goes back into the sump and a small amount (via adjustable valve) gets sent back up top, this is to keep low flow through the return and eliminates micro bubbles that are caused with high flow between the 2 tanks, I can twist the valve and see living proof of this. I am not into skimmers, I have no problem maintaining zero parameters.
The display features a second pump that runs my closed loop up top for tons of flow (adjustable of course). I cycled it for a couple of months and finally transfered my 4g which was full to say the least to the new tank (which I just moved to my new house very near to the UofA).
With out further a due, I give you EL CHUPACABRAS trimless 15g:
Last edited:
