May. 11, 2009 - FrankenHex update

UPDATE

Saltwater FrankenHex has been laid to rest. He will be resurrected as Freshwater FrankenHex

Ok, I added some saltwater on Friday (5/8)
Added a Profile 1000 air pump to my skimmer and tested.

I took some pics on Saturday after the sand and everything settled down. Added a few pieces of live rock from my main tank and a couple from my sump. I will add more rock soon.

Skimmer Test
This is actually the first time that I tested the skimmer. Pics are from 2about 4 hours after first turning it on.

May. 4, 2009 - Nano-Hex Project

Ok, I went and did it. I started a Nano-Hex reef project.

Dang it, I could'nt just stick to one aquarium. After selling my 30 gal bow front, my 40 gal and my 110gal, I got the itch to start another tank. Don't have too much space in my new place for a big tank, so I will go little.

This tank is a total Frankenstein project. Parts are coming from all different parts I had just lying around

So I am calling it FrankenHex

Tank: Hex is about a 10-12gal acrylic, TruVu. I've had this little thing for like 8 years, just floating around and finally decided to do something with it.

Filtration:  AquaClear 70 hang on the back filter fitted with a surface skimmer and retro fitted it with a modded/Frankenstein Visi-Jet skimmer. It will be air driven, so there will be a limewood airstone in it and I got to fit the skimmer with an air pump. I have not tested it yet, but I am sure that I will have to put a control valve on the air.  Cross my fingers and hope it works the way I want it to. I did some research on nano skimmers but decided to try making one from parts I already had.

Lighting: 1 65w 50/50 PC. Light housing is a little bigger than the tank, but I dont mind.

Additional motion: Koralia nano. Not sure if I would need this, so I kind of have to see what kind of movement the Aqua Clear does. "Better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it"

Substrate:  Approx 3" aragonite sand. I will seed it with some sand from my 55 gal reef or better yet, someone local cause my 55 is battling flat worms. I might not even use any rocks from the 55 either till I get rid of all the flat worms. I did rock sharing with my other tanks and got flat worms in all of them :-(

But am also shopping for some nice pieces live rock from other San Diego club members locally.

Occupants: I am honestly not even sure what kind of fish I will be putting in here.

Of course a few snails and couple of hermits, the usual clean up crew.

Some FrankenHex pics

No water in it yet, so you can totally see the scratches in the acrylic

Filter and Skimmer

Franken-Skimmer

I added some PVC under the base rock to lift it up a tad

Sorry for crappy pics.
I will post more pics once I get it up and running