# 5.5G AGA AC200 Fuge Nano Reef



## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

well here is the start of my 5.5g AGA aquaclear 200 fuge nano..

plans for this tank are.
get 70w MH/LED lighting

I plan on keeping zoas primarily going to try and get my hands on some rarer zoos and get them going so that I can frag for my local reef club.
also once I get the MH/LED keep 1-2 sps small frags.
but for now till lighting changes just basic zoos,gsp,shrooms
this is in a dorm room and is placed on my nightstand thats the reason for it being turned as it will be viewed from the bed as well as from the end from my desk so hopefully I can come up with rockwork that does both views.
I will be modding the AC200 tomorrow hopefully once I get the correct silicone.

still working on figuring out a canopy that will hold the lights I am going to be using currently along with a reflector till such time as I can afford either LED or I make a DIY 70w mh.
I ended up painting the ACs intake tubes as well so they blend quite well with the back wall. Also needing to decide on if the 200 is enough flow or if my maxi jet 900 is needed not sure if the 900 will be to powerful although.

Krylon fusion.









finished product.









my lighting setup for now 4x 23w 6500k CFLs.



























more to come shortly when I get sand and rock.
the rock is fully cured so I will be pretty much skipping any cycle if all goes well.

anyone know if a sheet of acrylic would melt if it was semi close to those bulbs trying to think of what I can use as a splash guard but also keep evap down on my tank


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

How about a piece of glass? Acrylic will either melt or turn cloudy if placed so close to the lights.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

yah I ended up deciding glass last night for those reasons but also likely salt build p will happen from evap/splashing and scraping it off on acrylic would defeat the purpose, glass simply wipe with vinegar cloth and crystal clear.

I am working on a canopy design that will cover 3/4s of the tank housing the lights and helping prevent massive evap but still leave enough open to allow good gas exchange..

been looking at alot of other 5.5g nanos and seeing what other people had as inhabitants and what worked well for them.( I have never been so shocked and mortified with what people do to SW fish before)
and for myself come up with maybe some sexy shrimp, porcelain crab or 2(seen some interesting colour variants), and CUC,still looking at other reef safe inverts that would be interesting.
5.5g seems to small for anything fish wise, maybe within a month of me going home to my 25g reef a 1" damsel or goby but I am satisfied with just coral and inverts anyways.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

Well I went into a small shop run out of a guys basement this evening only planning on getting sand -_- first mistake there.
I left with enough sand to do a nice thin layer on my 5.5g half of it seeded from his display tank :O .
we then proceeded to pick out 2 nice display pieces of jakarta LR about 4 and a half pounds combined, so I said round it upto 6 pounds with some small rubble for moving around.

well I got about 6 pounds with the rubble he didn't charge me for the sand at all, and only charged me for 4 pounds of LR so 30$ and my reef is set pretty much(may yet get chunk of tonga branch to complete it).
so to say the least I have much love and he just bought further business from me.
also next week when I go for corals if the tank is ready I will take photos of his display tank I have never seen such a gorgeous reef tank flowing beautifully.

here is sand and rock + ghetto reflector till I can buy wood to build a legit canopy tomorrow.






















































I will get better photos tomorrow once the water is crystal clear again. that and mod the AC200 into the fuge


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

tank this morning its crystal clear now this evening.










params were ammonia .3 and nitrates/nitrites had colour but not enough to register above the .2 colour.

I may have just got a line on a 70w MH ballast so I can get this puppy rolling also had a guy offer to sell me 2 14k 70w bulbs that he got for this exact project but never used for 2/3rds there original cost so might do that yet.

here are 3 photos of tanks I am hoping to aspire to yet with my tank, if I can make it look half as good I will be incredibly happy let alone dare I say better?.

3g jbj pico tank.









and 5.5g AIO









custom 6g nano with 4g display this one has the same lighting as I will be using 70w MH.










simply amazing tanks in there own way


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

well params are near perfect already which is wicked, already noticed some new coraline growth on a few of the rocks as well.
moved the rocks a tiny bit so stirred the sand a tiny bit.
right now I am just waiting on another reefer to get my information for payment of a 70w MH ballast and I will be rolling with that shortly.

likely going to look at getting the start of my CUC saturday if all goes well.

















still undecided on if I should get more rock or not just yet if I do thinking a larger piece to complete the right corner of the tank.


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

gunna put any sort of fish in it? or a clam? LOL


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

CORALS WOOP.
went to get a small clean up crew and ended up walking out with corals funny how that works huh.
so for CUC so far I got 5 blue legged hermits and these are tiny tiny little ones not the larger blue legged, and 1 nassarius snail, and 3 brittle stars he tossed in.
I then asked if I could get a GSP frag and he said yah I will give you that for free, then I said okay can I get the gorilla nipples zoas frag as well then, sure, he then proceeded to give me a small tiny kenya tree frag with zoa polyp attached at the base as well, and a tiny tiny little ric he broke off accidently, plus a semi bleached photosynthetic gorgonian that had fallen under some rock and couldn't get light. and only charged me 17$ for it all.
and to top it off proceeded to email me an hour later saying I forgot to get chaeto and to come by tomorrow for some more 0_o.
this is called customer service I love the guy.
so now for some pics.

brittle star hiding already.








GSP thats supposed to grow up the back well yet.








bleached gorgonian that I am going to try and baby back the half not facing the camera still has some colour.








gorilla nips not opened yet, they are peaking out now although.








yay snail.








my small kenya tree and zoa polyp frag.








baby ric








and tiny little guy.








and now this is truly amazing this is his display tank, the things simple beautiful.








no editing at all that came straight from the camera its sooo beautiful the GSP pulses and waves with the flow like a sea of green glowing arms.

anyways thats all for now, more might come tomorrow unless I somehow resist and ive never resisted


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

NIPPLES NIPPLES NIPPLES ahhh I love this way to much I have a named zoa now lol.


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Absolutely love it 
Btw, don't plant the gorgonian directly in the sand.
It's very easy for them to rot down, which part of it "looks" like it has some started.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

well not much change yet, getting some algae likely due to the 6500k bulbs  but my ballast should be here sometime this week yet, shipped out this morning express post so hopefully gets here quick, just waiting to find out about bulbs and I am all set for 70watss of sun.
that and I held a moment of silence as a brave little blue legged hermit discovered today why one never leaves his shell and wander upto the AC200 intake, apparently AC200 impellers don't leave much to clean up  he will be missed.
did a quick water change after I cleaned the parts I could find out of the tank so hopefully that doesn't affect water.

oh also picked up some blue eyes zoas from the reefshoppe last night as well


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

I use the same ghetto reflector idea for my fuge!

Congrats on the new tank. Your 5.5 gallon looks as big as my 10gal for some reason.

Nice live-rockwork! If I were you I'd get more pieces and stack higher...


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

well got 2 14k 70w bulbs today in the mail both fired up perfectly, still waiting on a 20k ushio through the reefshoppe but till that comes in using these.

tank looks sooooooo much better under 14k vs 6500k CFLs instantly noticed a change in the zoas colours.


































and now 2 comparison shots from the day before with old lighting.
















can't wait to get some LPS and SPS going :O


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

well yet again went to the reefshoppe and yet again the owner never ceases to amaze me with his stock, also he hooked me up with an ushio 20000k 70w DE MH bulb so now I have to decide between liking 20k or 14k more.

anyways here is pics, the hair algae bloomed due to the crappy lights I was using I figure as its already receding rapidly since I got the 14k MH its browned up and easier to remove so good sign I figure.
got an orange monti cap frag, and a small pinkish acro frag, the gsp frag is starting to attack to the glass also so eventually I hope to get that to spread and cover the back corner as a living wall.

















will get some tomorrow with the 20k bulb for comparison
ooh and here is that tiny little baby ric I got way back








I am also supposed to pick this guy up on sunday he is about 5" 10$ so figured why not. will see what else I can get my hands on while in the area.


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## k-dawg- (Feb 2, 2006)

looking pretty sweet Nate! Looks like I have some competition in the pico reef area. Good call switching to to MH colors look 100% better. I still need to scrounge up the cash for some royal blue LEDs, my tank is still 6500K yellow =(.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

you working with cree LEDs? I had thought about it but the issue was cost for a 5.5g and then once I go back home for the summer I will be upgrading this all to a 10g so the MH works perfect lighting that also with no difference really.

you got a thread going for yours yet?


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## k-dawg- (Feb 2, 2006)

yea, white crees and royal blue luxeons. I'll bump the thread its here in the reef section.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

well went home this weekend and picked up a nice acro frag from a reefer, and then proceeded to go to the local reef store -_- bad idea #1,,, bad idea #2 going alone,, and finally bad idea #3 going in with cash and a cooler ready for trip doht.
but can't complain walked out with a 6 head favia frag, and decent orange paly colony, the orange paly are amazing, everything opened when I was floating bags but I took a few minutes to inspect for hitchhikers so now they are pissed off  .

the gsp is covering the frag plug so quick I can check each morning and see that its actually covered more and more, no wonder its a weed for most people.
anyways new pics.

























































and 2 final FTS from 2 viewing angles.


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2009)

i LOVE your tank dude!!!!!!!!!!!


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## k-dawg- (Feb 2, 2006)

how are the blue legs acting? Mine were little devils in my big tank so I banished them all to the sump.


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