Updated Photos of 2 Gallon Cube

[ninjafish]

Here are some updated pictures of my 2gal cube at work:

The tank has been running for a couple months and everything is going great!

Livestock:

- bicolor blenny
- porcelin anemone crab
- blue leg hermit
- pepermint shrimp

- zoanthids
- palythoa
- mushroom
- pulsing xenia
- colt
- green star polyp

 

[ninjafish]

I also swapped out the 6700K blub in the desklamp for a 13W 50/50 PC (10000K/actinic03). The new bulb is awesome.

I started out with a baby clown in the tank but had to trade for the blenny instead because there was too much current and the clown was getting exhausted.

I will try and get a photo of the blenny.

- Chad

 

[CPT. MURPHY]

glad to see it's still going great!

 

[Detritivore]

i dont see any powerheads...what are you doing for circulation? great job, BTW :thumbsup:

 

[20rules]

cool, i mean, your doing great!

 

["F" is 4 Fish]

i spy with my little eye :eek1: no flow maker. BTW nice job on hiding

 

[KING OF THE REEF]

i remember the posts he did awhile back when he first got it up. correct me if im wrong nija but dont you have the filtration under the desk? i believe you drilled the tank or had it drilled to add a way of concieling the return line and the intake line. btw awsome job keep us updated on it

 

[Jimsmowen]

That looks great! Gives me ideas for the 1.4gal =)

 

[Jordan55]

Thats very neat! Did you make it yourself or buy it?

 

[phergus_25]

Its a canister filter that has the return and intake hidden like was said before. Its an awsome tank keep it up.

 

[mightymouse]

thats amazing i was getting ready to ask how he did a tank with no water movement thats a great job hiding it i would still swear that there isnt movement in the tank if i couldnt see the surface rippled

 

[mightymouse]

o i see one pipe now right by the crab is that the intake or return line?

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks for the compliments guys... and sorry for the drama . I should have described it at the start but I still get a kick out of it when people wonder about circulation. Even when people see the tank in person they get a wierd look on their faces like there is something not right about the tank - "what's making the water move???" .

phergus was right, I plumbed this tank into an eheim 2222 cannister filter under the desk. As a result, this 2 gal tank has:

3 gals of water

5 lbs live rock

chaeto fuge

constant 80 degree temperature

and

40x's turnover - so much circulation that I almost killed a clownfish that was getting exhausted from smimming against the current :eek2: . The bicolor blenny is better suited for this tank because he can just sit down and take a break.

- Chad

 

[ninjafish]

o i see one pipe now right by the crab is that the intake or return line?

That pipe opening below the crab is the only visible piece of equipment. It is my return line. The intake is a bare bulkhead hidden underneath the substrate. I made an undergravel plate by cutting the bottom off of a fluval filter media basket and then covering the top with a carbon filter bag. The water sinks through the substrate and down the intake to the cannister filter. It moves though a compartment full of chaetomorpha and then another compartment full of LR rubble and then back up through the outlet pipe. The current causes the surface to be agitated and then splits into all directions to provide a nice random turbulance.

- Chad

 

[Lunchbucket]

sweet!!! come on post some pics of the equipment and process of hiding the stuff!!!

Lunchbucket

 

[ninjafish]

You bet bro!

Here is a photo of the tank with bulkheads drilled. It is an 8" starfire cube:

Here are the 5w halogen lights for the chaeto fuge... doing a temp test:

Modded cannister filter drilled with lights (chaeto is bottom compartment):

 

[Jordan55]

Did you get the tank locally? I would love to own one of these!

 

[ninjafish]

Here is a shot of testing just before I was ready to stock. Kinda gives an idea of how it works:

I'm sorry that I didn't take a picture of the undergravel plate before I burried it but it is about 1/2" tall and about 7" in diameter. I cut a round hole in the plate just above the return bulkhead and inserted a short length of 3/4" pvc which sits directly on the the return bulkhead and prevents the filtered water from mixing with the unfiltered water under the plate. I glued some "efi substrat" filter media around the rim of the exit in order to try and hide it a bit better and then poured crushed coral up to the level of the exit. That's pretty much it.

- Chad

 

[ninjafish]

Did you get the tank locally? I would love to own one of these!

Ya, IA built it for me to my measurments (i only had a 3.5" slot in the desk for the plumbing - you know, one of those computer cable slots). I've been in to see them a few times and they built this one for me for $50can.

 

[KING OF THE REEF]

damn straight man awsomely done get a pic of the blenny