SuperDave's 5g pico reef evolution

Hey guys! I've had my little 5g pico reef since last Jan and it's been put up and torn down a couple of times, but it still lives. I'll post some pictures along with some video clips I made. Hope you guys enjoy!


This is what it looked like the first time it was up


Daisy polyps (courtesy of Marine Warehouse)


Tobie the yellow watchman goby






My percula pair playing the pipe organ


A little history on this tiny tank


This particular setup I had up while my AquaPod was cycling. Since all the mechanicals I had were all second hand equipment failure was eminent. I moved the livestock to the AP, and took this one down for a couple of weeks when I had some more time to put it back up again.

This is what it looks like today:



Micro-sump-fuge




Candy canes (courtesy of Marine Warehouse)





This little setup and I have been through quite a bit. Enjoy!

Looks great (both before and after)!! Everything looks beautiful! Love the fish and corals, and your water looks crystal clear! And, I especially LOVE that you posted videos! Super awesome!! What brand of aquarium is it? What lights are you running on it?

Really cool aquascaping btw.

um... brand? well. I'll call it Ken's Garage Brand, because my friend Ken gave it to me out of his garage *laughs*

As for lighting I started to run a 50/50 13w PC bulb from my office desk lamp, and I found a 13" long generic light fixture on the web advertised in another one of my forums brand new for $30 I think it was. New business I believe. The guy even threw in an extra bulb. Right now it's running a 27w PC 50/50. My moonlight I just got from marinedepot.com, and 2-sided-taped it to the underside of the fixture. My student budget doesn't quite yet allow for the self ballasted PAR 38 blue and white LEDs yet.

Ken also gave me an old AquaClear 50 which I modded into a micro refugium before the first teardown. I now run a new AC 30 for mechanical filtration and some water polishing.

Tank looks amazing! I love the thickness of the glass and the aquascape you did with the rocks!

SuperDave0531 wrote:

um... brand? well. I'll call it Ken's Garage Brand, because my friend Ken gave it to me out of his garage *laughs*

As for lighting I started to run a 50/50 13w PC bulb from my office desk lamp, and I found a 13" long generic light fixture on the web advertised in another one of my forums brand new for $30 I think it was. New business I believe. The guy even threw in an extra bulb. Right now it's running a 27w PC 50/50. My moonlight I just got from marinedepot.com, and 2-sided-taped it to the underside of the fixture. My student budget doesn't quite yet allow for the self ballasted PAR 38 blue and white LEDs yet.

Ken also gave me an old AquaClear 50 which I modded into a micro refugium before the first teardown. I now run a new AC 30 for mechanical filtration and some water polishing.

Haha. I'm surprised things look so well under the PC lighting. That's cool to know since it's a cheap way to set up an aquarium. About a year ago, I modded an Aquaclear 110 for a HOB fuge on my old 46 gallon. Worked pretty well.

They are hefty pieces of equipment, those AC's! really built to last I tell ya. The one my friend handed down to me had already been used for years and not really been maintained as well as it could've been. I was still able to get a good 4 months use out of it. I could use it again, but I'd need to replace the driver.

The CF lighting has done pretty well for me with this tank. My candy cane is already breaking splitting, and I think I've only had it for a few weeks at most. My AquaPod on the other hand is another story. I struggle to fulfill it's needs sometimes.

What's the challenge with the Aquapod?

The fish in there don't seem to be as happy as I've seen them before. The on board lighting is quite dodgy and there's not much I can really do about it at the moment. I almost want to rip everything out and start again with it. The water quality isn't quite where I'd like to keep it. Since the setup of it was kind of in a rush because of my old equipment conching out, and not having as much time to get this one going as the first one, I feel as if it was kind of rushed. I'll post it as a new showcase thread in a little while so you can all see it.

Yeah, post a showcase thread for it, and maybe we can help.