5g going on 17g Tank
 

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Here is my first venture into a reef tank. Advice welcome. I am really keen on the ADA 60-P, a 17 gallon rimless low-iron tank. However they are difficult to obtain so I've started with a 5g in the meantime. This also gives me time to figure out plumbing, sumps, ATOs and all the other bits.

Tank: 5 gallon glass tank
Lighting: Evil Par38 14k LED bulb in an Ikea fixture
Live Rock: Marco Dry Rock and misc donated pieces
Substrate: CaribSea Bahamas Oolite sugar fine (10lbs)
Filtration: Tom's Mini Internal Filter with filter floss and Marineland BlackDiamond carbon
Circulation: Vortech MP10 wes
Heater: Marineland 50w
Stand: Ikea Effectiv reinforced with plywood
Water: BuckEye Field Supply Premium 75 gph RO/DI

The tank is cycling. Ammonia just hit zero.

The stand is an IKEA office cabinet reinforced with 5/8" plywood. It is from the IKEA Effectiv line. It's pretty sturdy on its own but there was some flex when pushing down on the top. I sealed the plywood with a wood sealer and used pond liner to create a waterproof basin to catch leaks. Do you think this will hold a 17g tank with a smaller sump below?

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the ikea stand modified looks kewl!

that stand will now hold as big a tank as you want to put on it!:lol:.....sweet touch with the pond liner.....what did you use to attach the liner?...

Thanks guys. Small screws hold the pond liner against the plywood then the edge is sealed with a bead of clear silicone.

Any updates?

A new 25g tank is on order from Concept Aquatics. It turn out a 20L fits perfectly in the bottom of the cabinet so I'll rip out the pond liner and just silicone in the 20L as a sump. Picked up this guy (or girl I can't tell)...


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Otherwise the tank is looking a little ugly. Brown sand and hair algae. Any recommendations? Current animals include:

3 tiny nassarius snails
3 dwarf blue legged herbit crabs
1 stomatella snail
3 tiny asterina stars
1 procelain anemone crab

most likely due to being a new tank and the hair algae is caused by excess nutrients.

tell us a bit about your system like:

water parameters mainly nitrates and phosphates??
light schedule?
food or additives?
ro water?
water changes?
reactors?


when new tanks are set up its really not uncommon to see some brown algae usually it will dissapear in time now long hair algae is another story you need to cut down on its source of food being lights and nutrients.since you have no corals no? cut your lights for a while your crabs and snails wont mind and get your phosphates and nitrates as close to zero as possible.consider buying a small phosphate reactor or building one its quite easy and if your nitrates arent super high and you have some patience just cut back on any food being added to the tank and do some large water changes that should bring them down.it wont happen over night but will dissappear in time.

Loving this system already! The rock work is awesome!