tpallas' 5.5g Pico

[tpallas]

I have an empty 5.5 gallon that formerly served as the sump on my 11.4 gallon SPS, and a good number of soft corals and LPS that are sitting unhappily in my SPS tank and my 40 gallon which is close to being broke down. So I've decided to set up the small tank for these corals.

This one will be cheap and easy, but that doesn't necessarily mean ugly! Filtration will be simple, a hang on the back power filter and water changes. Other equipment includes a glass hood, heater, and 24 watt PC fixture (50-50) from micro-reefs.com. Total cost, under $100. Not bad!

Live rock is coming from my 40 gallon and is already fully cured and teaming with life. I've got plenty of zoas, palys, mushrooms, softies, acans, and favia to transfer over. Anticipated setup is this weekend.

Cheers!

 

[Agu]

Looking forward to pics ......

 

[tpallas]

They are a-comin!

 

[CCLAXX]

You broke down your 11.4 or what??

 

[tpallas]

You broke down your 11.4 or what??

No, that's still going strong! I just want to keep that tank SPS pure due to low nutrients and high lighting/flow. I have some LPS in there temporarily but they're just not happy...I'd like this tank just to be for softies and LPS.

Cheers

 

[tpallas]

Here we go!

Ex-sump/new tank:

Masking for paint:

Painted and ready for sand, water, and rocks:

Loving how easy this is!!!

 

[CCLAXX]

Looks good

 

[HiImSean]

looking forward to see what comes of this

 

[tpallas]

Looks good

looking forward to see what comes of this

Thanks guys!

Here's some updates. Set up the tank today and brought over my rocks with softies on them.

Here's the tank on its stand, power filter, sand and heater:

Set up and ready for water:

 

[tpallas]

Saltwater mixed and sand added. Need to give it some time to clear up....

 

[tpallas]

Here it is with rock and livestock placed in....Probably need a few pieces of rock for the right hand side. Light arrives Wednesday.

 

[tpallas]

Here we are!

 

[CCLAXX]

Wow! looks great and even under $100 .

 

[romsoccer12]

looks great! i doubt that filter will be able to keep the tank up. i wouldnt add many fish

 

[CCLAXX]

Could i get some info on how hard it is to keep up this tank? Im going to start a 5.5 and eventualy upgrade to a mr aqua 12inch cube (for my birthday).

 

[The Rio Reef]

i have similar set up