Maggie's 7 gallon hex build

[Nheko]

This looks fantastic! Love your aquascape, looks perfect for your tank. Can’t wait to see an update of this tank.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Well these darn lights.... 2 strips were flickering (uv and one white strip), so I had to take them out and readjust the contacts, then siliconed everything in place. Now the blue strip is flickering, barely on and several LEDs are out even with them fully on. Hate it. I did contact the seller the day I received them, took him over 2 weeks to reply, and in that time I found several more issues. He did offer a free replacement on one strip, but there are issues with each of the 4 strips. Deciding whether or not to tell the seller what I really think or just leave an honest "this is crap" review.

Now I'm still deciding on which light to replace it with. I really like the new @noopsyche mini light, but I think I'll have to cut out some of the hood to make it fit,I love the controller app and that there's a fan for cooling, which should help with it being installed under a hood, plus if I go without the hood, this light will look the best I'm sure with the mounting arm.

And then there's contender #2, the Lomnie 30, the square light on Amazon, this will be easiest to install, will fit in the spot without to much altering, but no active cooling fan, just passive cooling fins, and no included controller but I can add one at anytime for an extra 20$. The mounting arm is not as nice looking if I go the topless route later on.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[noopsyche]

I will recommend K7 mini This light can have App control for less than $100 (including WiFi and Bluetooth-like AP control. In fact, there is extra control method: Device IP connect, just enter the device IP)

 

[danieyella]

What a mess, make sure you go back and leave a detailed review on ebay!

You make any decisions on lighting?

 

[Mhamilton0911]

What a mess, make sure you go back and leave a detailed review on ebay!

You make any decisions on lighting?

I haven't left a review yet but I should. I'm not good at being openly Grinchy so I need to think about it first.

But I did choose the Lomnie, because I think it'll fit better under the hood and I really like the hood on this tank, I have it right next to the TV so I get zero light spill from the top with the hood on and I liked it.

But I'm still open for trying the noopsyche mini. I'll keep entering any contests they do and maybe I'll score one later. Or I'll just buy one. I could always add another to my 29g or collect for a new build, there's always a new build in my head.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Finally switched lighting and trying different settings to find a color I like. I also bought a par meter to actually know what numbers are where, with this light mounted so close to the water, I'm trying to make sure I'm not going to cook anything I add to it...

Like this bta. I'm terrible. Too early. But, the canister filter is full of live rock from my main display so it's fully cycled. I've had it for over a week now. The clowns found it overnight on the first day and all seems well so far.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Sadly looking into a replacement for this tank. Glass this time. My urchin really got into it's algea eating and has left marks in the acrylic. All over. Everywhere. I'm sad. I spent loads of time on this tank and stand. Still love the urchin though.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Since this tanks' sand has lots of rubble, I threw a bunch of zoas that I pulled off a rock in my other tank so they can stick to something and I'll glue them to a plug later. So far all the polyps look open and not too angry from the trauma of being yanked from their happy rock.

Nice.


And other news, I'm not seeing many options for column tank replacement, so I might just go with a fluval 5g since those are easy to find. I'll be looking today.

 

[Nano_Man]

Finally switched lighting and trying different settings to find a color I like. I also bought a par meter to actually know what numbers are where, with this light mounted so close to the water, I'm trying to make sure I'm not going to cook anything I add to it...

Like this bta. I'm terrible. Too early. But, the canister filter is full of live rock from my main display so it's fully cycled. I've had it for over a week now. The clowns found it overnight on the first day and all seems well so far.

Tank looks brilliant great job .

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Well it's the beginning of the end for this column tank. The urchins' nibbles in the acrylic were just too unsightly to keep looking at so I've acquired a fluval 13.5. I set it up on the kitchen counter overnight so I can make sure the heater was still working and it's not, I guess I should have gotten a new one yesterday as well. So after I get another heater I'll get this one filled proper. Kids are excited because it's going in their room on the dresser.

Also when i added water to this I got 11 gallons. You could see the gallons in the bubbles lines on the tank so I know I didn't count wrong. No way could I get 2.5 more gallons in here.

I am bummed this column tank didn't last longer, I spent quite a bit of time on it, not just in prepping the tank itself but also on the stand with adding the door and everything. But, meh.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Link to new build thread, since this one will sadly wither away...

Thread 'Maggie's 13.5 Reef' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/maggies-13-5-reef.971590/

 

[Mhamilton0911]

So although I took the tank down, I left the stand there, I thought I could put a plant on it. BUT THEN IT HIT ME. I could probably find a cube tank to go on the stand. At it's widest is almost 15". I have some 2" thick cedar slabs that we cut off out property years ago, and I think I have the perfect piece that I can attach to the top of the stand and have room to slap a IM 15 cube on it. Thinking about frag tank. It's been nice to have a temp frag tank on my counter, just to watch new corals, but not loving the loss of counter space, so it's definitely temporary.

Thinking of the IM cube 15, a noop mini light and working in an auto water changer.

And I'm thinking of painting something artsy on the stand. because.