Well now that I am working from home, with no return to the office in my new position, it is time to build a tank at my desk. Ive been going over how I want to build it for a while. My buddy continues to try to convince me to make it freshwater. He has a large reef and a small freshwater planted tank. I have a 175g reef but no freshwater tank. (Heres my build thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/biglurrs-175-build-with-pics.379567/)
I decided to stick with saltwater but keep it as simple as possible. I also decided to go with the planted theme. I wanted minimalist style in a tiny tank. I thought about making it a stand alone system with its own sump but decided that was not simple. That got complex quickly.
The plan is a 6gallon UNS tank. Its roughly 24x8x8. I am going to do a saltwater planted lagoon tank. I am going to run a closed loop for circulation and have a masterflex pump run at 3 g/hour from the big reefs sump. This means the tank will have a 100% water change every 2 hours. I am going to build an inline heater on the closed look to keep it from getting cold. Im currently working on the lighting, but it will consist of Phillips 5k 250w equivalent leds and a diy led for blues and uv.
I have the tank and drilled it for the closed loop and nano overflow for the 3g/hour water change. I built a mini desk stand for it to conceal the plumbing and allow me to run the plumbing through the bottom of the tank.
I build rocks out of some old rock I had kicking around. There are two islands, one is submerged and hollow underneath. The other is large and partially exposed. The rock scape is in my main display currently getting seeded.
For stocking, I plan on a Randals goby and shrimp pair. I want something else that will add more movement and swim in the water but struggling on that. I used to have a 6 line in a 7 gallon but it was a little too small and this tank wont have a lid so it will most likely end up on the floor. I also plan on having some hermit and an emerald crab. I am trying to stick to shallow lagoon animals.
I have 4 stalks of Mangroves that I am going to have growing in the tank and I plan on planting some sea grass and other macros along with some softy polyps for color.
Let me know your thoughts and what you think would be good additions to the tank.
I decided to stick with saltwater but keep it as simple as possible. I also decided to go with the planted theme. I wanted minimalist style in a tiny tank. I thought about making it a stand alone system with its own sump but decided that was not simple. That got complex quickly.
The plan is a 6gallon UNS tank. Its roughly 24x8x8. I am going to do a saltwater planted lagoon tank. I am going to run a closed loop for circulation and have a masterflex pump run at 3 g/hour from the big reefs sump. This means the tank will have a 100% water change every 2 hours. I am going to build an inline heater on the closed look to keep it from getting cold. Im currently working on the lighting, but it will consist of Phillips 5k 250w equivalent leds and a diy led for blues and uv.
I have the tank and drilled it for the closed loop and nano overflow for the 3g/hour water change. I built a mini desk stand for it to conceal the plumbing and allow me to run the plumbing through the bottom of the tank.
I build rocks out of some old rock I had kicking around. There are two islands, one is submerged and hollow underneath. The other is large and partially exposed. The rock scape is in my main display currently getting seeded.
For stocking, I plan on a Randals goby and shrimp pair. I want something else that will add more movement and swim in the water but struggling on that. I used to have a 6 line in a 7 gallon but it was a little too small and this tank wont have a lid so it will most likely end up on the floor. I also plan on having some hermit and an emerald crab. I am trying to stick to shallow lagoon animals.
I have 4 stalks of Mangroves that I am going to have growing in the tank and I plan on planting some sea grass and other macros along with some softy polyps for color.
Let me know your thoughts and what you think would be good additions to the tank.
