My 2.5 Gallon

[nanoreefboy]

Just wanted to post some pics of my 2.5 gallon. I have had this tank going for about a year or so now, just took me forever to stock it up. It is not even close to what I want to have in it but the wife said she wanted more than just a ton of ricordia mushrooms like I wanted. Needless to say she got what she wanted, and I have some ricordia. She insisted we have a fish too so that is why there is an Ocellaris in there.
The set-up includes: An Aquaclear mini HOB filter with the heater in it.
1x9watt daylight bulb and 1x9watt actinic bulb in the coralife light
Usually weekly 1/2 gallon water changes, like I said usually.
Some live rock and a bunch of little frags.
Thats it nice and simple with no fancy shmancy stuff.

Sorry bout the picture quality but my camera is not the best but this will have to do for now. Enjoy

 

[LionfishFinatic]

nice! any full tank shots?

 

[roushboy2857]

Awsome!

 

[nanoreefboy]

I took a couple more photos tonight of the tank so enjoy. Tomorrow is when our LFS get their shipment in, which so happens to be my favorite shopping day, go figure. I do apologize for the algae on the glass at the bottom but with my hands I am not able to reach all the way down, it is after all only 6" from front to back, and have been too lazy to put something together to get it.

Here is a full tank shot which is basically like my other last one just with the other 2" or so of the left side of the tank

Here is a couple shots to see the whole simple set up on a very cheap budget.

 

[Rivenjim]

is it ok to keep a clown in such a small aquarium?

 

[nanoreefboy]

I have had him in there for about a year now and he is doing fine. He is fat and happy. Personally I dont like fish because all they do is eat, poop and die (just my personal opinion) but the wife insisted that we have one and so she got what she wanted. When I get my bigger tank going in the next couple months or so he will be out of there and it will be fishless again. But until then the wife gets what she wants.

 

[Rivenjim]

well if it has worked for you then kudos and the tank looks great too

 

[AVALover5498]

I really like your tank. very nice and very simple.

 

[InvaderJim]

Good looking tank! How much did that setup cost you?

 

[2639]

Very nice tank. How long has the heater been in the filter like that? What's the wattage of it? I've been curious in the past if that could be done but was afraid to try it cause I was afraid the heater would melt the filter.

 

[NanoKat]

That's a sweet little setup you got there. I am currently doing the same tank myself. I like the eggcrate to hold the light...I have been struggling with my lighting options. Right now I have a "daylight" desklamp (a small quad pc 9600k I believe) perched over the tank. I don't have much yet in the way of corals yet in mine due to the lighting situation. I have one on order from eBay that looks good though. If you want to see what I've done too, check out my thread on my home club (FMAS) forum on ReefCentral:

My 2.5g Pico

Good luck with yours...I'll keep an eye on your progess...and to get ideas! Looks great so far!

 

[nanoreefboy]

The set-up was not very expensive at all and is broken down like this:
Tank - 5-10 (depends where you get it)
Filter - 30
Light - 30
Heater - 10
Egg Crate - ?? (I had to buy a whole sheet from home depot dont remember how much I think around 10 or so, ask your LFS if they use it they will have enough to fit the 2.5 easy)
Black Back - 1 (I just taped on the black back paper from the LFS)
So in all around 80 bucks for everything before the goodies inside of it.

As for the heater/filter, the heater is a 50 watt Tronic heater. I had my last set-up just like this, the water level in the filter goes above the little line on the heater that they say is the minimal water line. Also if the power goes out the heater and the filter both go off so the heater will never be on too long to fry the tank or the filter, also even if just the filter fails the water level is high enough not to dry out the heater area.

 

[InvaderJim]

Dang that's good. My 10g project is nearing $200 with nothing in it. The lighting is what got me!

 

[NanoKat]

Yeah, I bought my new light for the 2.5g for $34.95 and my T-5's on my 15g were nearly $200.

Can't wait till my shrooms and stuff grow in like yours!

 

[nanoreefboy]

So I decided to take some pictures today, of course after a cleaning. I know I am only posting one but with the 30 or so I took this is the only decent looking pic. I guess I may want to think about a better camera...
Everything has been going good. The birdsnest fell over during my vacation around thanksgiving and had to be fragged and now is tiny. The orange ricordia also fell and then stuck itself to the back of the rock so it is still in there just on the back side. I have been getting some frags of frags from the LFS since he understands even frags are too big for my size of a tank. But I have been tossing around the idea of cleaning house and giving the LFS the huge rock on the left and starting over since I dont have any room left anymore.

 

[quy_nquyen]

some of those shrooms look really nice!

 

[Rosseau]

Looking good. If you didn't know it was a 2.5 those mushrooms like massive.

My lack of a wife allows me to stock whatever I want! (no hard feelings)