Yet Another 2.5g Pico Tank...

[muzscman]

Hello everyone. I have just finished setting up my brand new pico and thought I'd share some pics. So, it'll be some pic's first, questions second...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/muzscman/Fish/rightside.jpg
This is a picture of it after I had finished the wood work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/muzscman/Fish/Picture1848.jpg
Here we have some good ol' primer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/muzscman/Fish/Picture1849.jpg
The base of it all painted black and clear coated.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/muzscman/Fish/Picture1854.jpg
Tank with no water, on my desk, no flash.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/muzscman/Fish/Picture1856.jpg
Full desk shot, no flash.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/muzscman/Fish/Picture1861.jpg
Light off in the basement, no flash (probably a little bit fuzy..)


Okay....that all being said, I have it filled right now with some normal old freshwater to make sure that the flow is okay and to test how hot my water is going to get with the coralife 18w fixture about 3 inches from the surface.

At the moment I run an AC50 for the flow/fuge, a coralife 18w light setup (2 9w bulbs..) and that's about all. My tank is heating slowly up to 81 degrees at the moment. I have a fan that I can position at the light if it's needed. Does 81 degrees sound to hot for a small tank? I know that when I had my 10 gallon I kept it around 80 degrees or so.

With no lights, the temp falls to about 76 degrees (what my basement stays at year round..).

Barring temp problems, I plan on probably filling it with some salt water tonight or tomorrow and going to the LFS to get some rock.

:)

[m2434]

Thats wild! love the stand and canopy... it's truly a nano tank all around :D

[muzscman]

I'm having some issues. I put normal freshwater in the tank this weekend to test out the setup, monitor temps, sort of a dry run. With the lights on and the filter on moving the water, temp's shot up to like 85.7 degrees. I put a fan blowing across the top of the light to try and let it breath a little bit, but the lowest I can get the water drop to is around 82.5 degrees or so.

Any ideas or thoughts?

[ZACK007]

install 2 fans one on each inside of your canopy one blowing air in and the other blowing air out.you you could try to increase water volume by installing a canister filter remotely keeping the water away from the light and allowing it to cool down a bit
this would also increase your flow rate and filtering capacity.
hope this helps
Zack

[muzscman]

fans were my next option. i'm not sure about a canister filter....i've never done one and i don't really have a lot of room under my desk for something along those lines (also money is tight right now.....).

I'm sure I can find two fans laying around. My other thought was to also raise up the light fixture so it is above the top of the canopy.

[ZACK007]

start by rasing the light a couple of inches.. and let it run for a day or to to get an idea if the temp drops. if not try the fans
good luck

[muzscman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10929360#post10929360 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZACK007
start by rasing the light a couple of inches.. and let it run for a day or to to get an idea if the temp drops. if not try the fans
good luck

Well with some temp fans, and not all the holes drilled out, it seems to be working good. The fans aren't the best and are being replaced today. But with two crappy fans my temps dropped from 86 degrees to 82.3-82.5...so I have faith that once I get in two good fans I'll be good.

[muzscman]

One question I have is that when I had my 10g tank I had an open brain coral. I gave it to a friend when the tank got taken down and he's had it for well over a year now. He is wanting to get rid of it and I am wondering if it would be okay in such a small tank. At the moment It's smaller so I don't think it would take up to much room. My idea was to get smaller rocks around the outside of the tank and put the brain in the middle....

Thoughts?