Tasler
New Member
Hello fellow reef keepers!
I have been in and out of the salt water fish tank scene over the last 10 years. I have spent alot of money on equipment and chemicals and have had minimal success and each time I vow not to set up anthor money sucking salt tank. But guess what! I am back again because this hobbie is extremely addicting as I am sure you all know. Recently a friend of mine changed from a 55g salt tank to a 100g salt tank. This had sparked my intres again in the hobby. I did no want to spend an arm and a leg this time around so I went looking for some of my old equipment in my storage. Just my luck I found a 12g eclipse tank I used around 10 years ago for a fresh water tank. I also had a Aquatic Life skimmer from last year when I had a tank to large for the skimmer set up. Sense I always used to try and buy the best equipment I could afford along with all the chemicals the fish stores would recommend and failed with keeping a successful tank, I am now following a few good friends techniques. These friends are the ones I used to give a hard time to for not buying all the extra stuff for their tanks but their tanks are still thriving years later without additives. ( I know some people are very successful with all the additives, it just did not work for me.) I have not and will not be adding any chemicals to tank. 2g water changes weekly and only putting filtered water in the tank.
So what I have on a budget build this time for my nano-tank.
-12g Eclipse tank that has nothing left of eclipse filteration or lighting
-Heater I have had that is still reliable
-Aquatic Life skimmer that I also have had and am very happy with after it broke in correctly to my tank
-Power head I had running in one of my fresh water tanks
-Cycled water from friends tank along with 15lbs of live rock from him
(All no additional cost so far! Made setting up this tank so much easier.)
-20lbs of black live sand (I prefer the darker look in tanks)
-Cheap hang on back filter that only running filter floss in to help pick up big gunk and help add water movement in tank
-No lide to help with heat sense tank is next to window, but probably going to get a piece of plastic cut tomorrow sense water evap. is high
-Ledtric Par38 20k LED bulb that I couldnt be happier with.
Live stock:
-2 small clown fish that are extremely friendly and it helps my son loves them because of the movie Nemo....
-1 Cleaner shrimp
-10 Snails
-5 red leg hermits
Corals:
-Nepthea tree
-Frog Spawn
-Mushrooms
-Zoas
(have small frags of mushrooms and zoas right now, planning on getting more of both and a open brain coral and that will do it for my coral expenses)
Going to attempt to add pictures of tank, the pictures with the bulb on looks way way bluer and spot light-ish than it actually is. At my local aquarium store the have a Kiesel? (sorry my spelling is horrible) 15k, and the Ledtric 20k bulb looks just a bit more blue than that bulb. Does not look like a straight antic bulb. Pictures are taking with iPhone so it does not give the look of the tank justice.
Tank with light off, just sunlight from outside
Tank with home made light fixture for par38 bulb sense they are heavy and I didnt trust a walmart lamp clamp to hold it up. (Boost LED lamp clamps were out of stock, plus thi is cheaper and can hold 3 bulbs)
Like said before thank does not looks this blue and isnt super white over the frog spawn, it has a very nice color under the light. (I did not like this piece much at store under their bright white lighting but this thing is beautiful under the "20k" look
Before ordering my light for this tank I was concerned about supporting a heavy bulb hanging over a open tank. This prevented me from purchasing the light for quite some time and looking for DIY fixtures allover the internet. I could not do can lighting,hang something from cieling, (girl friend said no) or drilling into anything. I went to Lowes and looked around and found pvc piping and thought this would work! So if you have been stuck on not ordering one of these lights like I was here is an idea for you. Hopefully it sparks your brain for an idea of your own or you can copy it. I would have painted it but I am not good at pretty much any DIY stuff so I bought treated wood because it was cheapest and afterwards they said you are unable to paint it. (As far as I know this is true up to this moment so it remains unpainted and I look at it and think of different things I could have done so I may change its support structure later to be more eye friendly.) Remember this picture below is just the beginning basic idea of how it was gonna be put togther. Feel free to message me and ask what I used and Ill dig up the reciept and find exactly what it was if you want to do something similar. Around $40 to buld.
Behind Tank, have adjusted the height sense this photo.
Thank you for looking!! Comments good or bad are welcome!
I have been in and out of the salt water fish tank scene over the last 10 years. I have spent alot of money on equipment and chemicals and have had minimal success and each time I vow not to set up anthor money sucking salt tank. But guess what! I am back again because this hobbie is extremely addicting as I am sure you all know. Recently a friend of mine changed from a 55g salt tank to a 100g salt tank. This had sparked my intres again in the hobby. I did no want to spend an arm and a leg this time around so I went looking for some of my old equipment in my storage. Just my luck I found a 12g eclipse tank I used around 10 years ago for a fresh water tank. I also had a Aquatic Life skimmer from last year when I had a tank to large for the skimmer set up. Sense I always used to try and buy the best equipment I could afford along with all the chemicals the fish stores would recommend and failed with keeping a successful tank, I am now following a few good friends techniques. These friends are the ones I used to give a hard time to for not buying all the extra stuff for their tanks but their tanks are still thriving years later without additives. ( I know some people are very successful with all the additives, it just did not work for me.) I have not and will not be adding any chemicals to tank. 2g water changes weekly and only putting filtered water in the tank.
So what I have on a budget build this time for my nano-tank.
-12g Eclipse tank that has nothing left of eclipse filteration or lighting
-Heater I have had that is still reliable
-Aquatic Life skimmer that I also have had and am very happy with after it broke in correctly to my tank
-Power head I had running in one of my fresh water tanks
-Cycled water from friends tank along with 15lbs of live rock from him
(All no additional cost so far! Made setting up this tank so much easier.)
-20lbs of black live sand (I prefer the darker look in tanks)
-Cheap hang on back filter that only running filter floss in to help pick up big gunk and help add water movement in tank
-No lide to help with heat sense tank is next to window, but probably going to get a piece of plastic cut tomorrow sense water evap. is high
-Ledtric Par38 20k LED bulb that I couldnt be happier with.
Live stock:
-2 small clown fish that are extremely friendly and it helps my son loves them because of the movie Nemo....
-1 Cleaner shrimp
-10 Snails
-5 red leg hermits
Corals:
-Nepthea tree
-Frog Spawn
-Mushrooms
-Zoas
(have small frags of mushrooms and zoas right now, planning on getting more of both and a open brain coral and that will do it for my coral expenses)
Going to attempt to add pictures of tank, the pictures with the bulb on looks way way bluer and spot light-ish than it actually is. At my local aquarium store the have a Kiesel? (sorry my spelling is horrible) 15k, and the Ledtric 20k bulb looks just a bit more blue than that bulb. Does not look like a straight antic bulb. Pictures are taking with iPhone so it does not give the look of the tank justice.
Tank with light off, just sunlight from outside
Tank with home made light fixture for par38 bulb sense they are heavy and I didnt trust a walmart lamp clamp to hold it up. (Boost LED lamp clamps were out of stock, plus thi is cheaper and can hold 3 bulbs)
Like said before thank does not looks this blue and isnt super white over the frog spawn, it has a very nice color under the light. (I did not like this piece much at store under their bright white lighting but this thing is beautiful under the "20k" look
Before ordering my light for this tank I was concerned about supporting a heavy bulb hanging over a open tank. This prevented me from purchasing the light for quite some time and looking for DIY fixtures allover the internet. I could not do can lighting,hang something from cieling, (girl friend said no) or drilling into anything. I went to Lowes and looked around and found pvc piping and thought this would work! So if you have been stuck on not ordering one of these lights like I was here is an idea for you. Hopefully it sparks your brain for an idea of your own or you can copy it. I would have painted it but I am not good at pretty much any DIY stuff so I bought treated wood because it was cheapest and afterwards they said you are unable to paint it. (As far as I know this is true up to this moment so it remains unpainted and I look at it and think of different things I could have done so I may change its support structure later to be more eye friendly.) Remember this picture below is just the beginning basic idea of how it was gonna be put togther. Feel free to message me and ask what I used and Ill dig up the reciept and find exactly what it was if you want to do something similar. Around $40 to buld.
Behind Tank, have adjusted the height sense this photo.
Thank you for looking!! Comments good or bad are welcome!
