7.5 Mr. Aqua Bowfront Build

[jenatron]

Hello everyone! I have finally made up my mind as to what tank I'm going to set up when I move away to college June 1st. I'd been debating back and forth and my mind is made up!
I ordered pretty much everything today, so there will be pictures when they arrive.

Tank: 7.5 gallon Mr. Aqua Bowfront (18.1 x 9.4 x 10.2)
Lights: Current USA 36W Nova Extreme T5HO 2x18W 18" fixture
Filter: AquaClear 30 (Not exactly sure what's going in it yet. Not modding into a fuge though..)
Heater: Hydor mini 15w heater (slips into filter). [If this doesn't work out, Hydor Theo 50w]
Powerhead: Koralia Nano 240
Substrate: 10? pounds of white sand. [Don't remember specifics.]

I'm currently figuring out how I'm gonna do a moonlight. My Dad has a bunch of AC adapters laying around, so I'm probably going to use one with some blue car led strips.

Stocking ideas (not all at once, individual ideas):
-Yellow clown goby
-Neon goby
-Firefish
-Ocellaris clown
-3 Sexy shrimp
-Low-light/softies and some LPS

Open to suggestions for CUC.
Also, what if I were to do a goby combo? Would there be aggression issues? I know firefish are jumpers, what about the clown goby or neon goby?
Do you think the clownfish would eat the sexy shrimp?


Well, that's about it for now. The build will be a little slow for a while, considering the only things I can really do up until June is put it all on the stand and maybe buy some base rock, lolz.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: I forgot, if anyone besides Corey/iDreamInSaltwater reads this, then props to you!

 

[iDream]

!

Glad you finally ordered everything!

 

[jenatron]

What a surprise and an honor!

 

[Dylan5359]

I'll be subscribing to this! You should go with the clownfish! Oh and how much did you pay for everything if you don't mind by me asking?

-Dylan

 

[Trhea]

Good luck!

 

[jenatron]

$185 thus far, plus heater, sand, and stand (I don't remember those prices). I can itemize (and estimate) if you'd like.

And thank you!

 

[jenatron]

Well, the filter arrived yesterday, woo exciting. The tank is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I don't know if it will. The most recent shipping update for it is "unload scan" at 6pm this evening about 200 miles away. I sure hope it gets here tomorrow! I'll be pretty happy. If it does, I think I might look for some base rock at my LFS and do some preliminary scaping.
Sooo the waiting game continues!

 

[Badfishofbabylon]

Awesome can't wait to see pics.Figure out the moon light yet? I have a cheap, simple Led moonlight that i made for my pico it looks amazing, let me know if you want the plans for it.

 

[jenatron]

The tank went out for delivery at 7:41! So it should be there when i get home! I'll post pics tonight hopefully!
Badfish, if you send it to me i'll definitely consider it! I'm just lookin for something cheap and easy that works.

 

[Badfishofbabylon]

I'm not sure if you have a electrical experience, or you can have someone help you but this is not a hard as it seem. just get 12x 5mm leds like this

5mm LED RL5-B2430 Specifications

I did 6 blue and 4 Uv and it work out great.
Get a small acrylic sheet drill 12mm hole and glue them in place.
Then wire them in series of 3; thats 4 row of them like the diagram shows. (You'll need to solder them which is super easy). The cut a 12v 1000ma plug, you'll have one probably laying around your house, and wire the negative and positive. If you want you can wire a switch in the line too. Thats it.

 

[jenatron]

Thanks so much badfish! I'll show that to my dad, he helps me with stuff like this. And of course I'll let you know what I end up doing.
But now.. I come bearing pics! I've got some [pictures] of the seals if ya'll would like to see them (since it's kind of a drama about Mr. Aqua), but right now I've got 20ish photos (Corey wanted lots, lol) so I'm not going to post them all.
My opinion on the craftsmanship of the tank? It was $30 cheaper than ADA. I was on a $300 total budget.I can't justify paying extra when I'm going to be on a tight budget in 2 months. Maybe others could, but I can't. Yes, the seals are less than perfect, as well as the edges matching. But they're certainly better than standard rimmed tanks. It's just not that big of a deal to me. BESIDES one issue I have, I don't think it's anything noticeable. I will post the one that irks me though. Sorry if that was rambly.

Big box for a small tank. And 'Donis watching intently.

'Donis testing the waters, hahaha get it?!

Chillin' on the stand.

My one issue. UGLY! Thinkin' about cuttin' it off.

 

[Dylan5359]

Haha love the dog testing it out

-Dylan

 

[jenatron]

Me too!
One more picture! I realized the Koralia Nano and the Nanomag came in today, so I took a "gear" picture.

The nanomag is sooo tiny. I didn't realize it'd be so small! I like it though, that's what I was going for, something much smaller than a magfloat.
The Koralia is a nice size as well. People with nano reefs ***** so much about how big it is, I thought it'd be massive. It's fine.
And I'm 100% content I ordered AC30 rather than the 50, I feel it's the perfect size as well.
So essentially I got my just-right porridge today.

 

[jenatron]

Surprise!

That's about 6 lbs. of base rock. I've got about 3 more I'm going to break up to place behind the "mountain" and in the AC30.
I almost forgot I never mentioned the sand, lolzies. I took my sand from my Edge (never had any inhabitants), left it out to dry for like 2 days. It was still wet (like beach sand), but I threw it in there anyway. That's why it looks like mashed potatoes, as Corey pointed out. It'll obviously look nice when I fill it up and it settles.

I just ended up getting this Current moonlight because:
A) I'm lazy, it's plug and play.
B) It was a good price.
C) It was conveniently located at my LFS (no waiting, no shipping), while I was shopping for base rock.
D) I'd heard good things about it.
Aka, I'm lazy and impatient!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to fill 'er up and cycle 'er (sometime this week)! Then when I do get up to Tallahassee I won't have to wait 1+ month to stock. And it'll keep me (and Corey) content for the next 2.5 months.

--------------------------------------

On a side note: at the LFS we were looking at the livestock.
They had 2 sexy shrimp. OMG. I did not realize they were soooooo small. They were shorter than my pinky nail! We had seen a yellow clown goby, red striped goby, and red spotted goby last time, and they were there again today. Really nice.
I'm thinking a clown goby and something else. My LFS guy said the red gobies would jump, but the clown wouldn't. (Normally I wouldn't trust a LFS, but I'd heard "gobies are jumpers" which is too vague for me, and my LFS is pretty good.) I don't plan on having a top so that's good news about the clown goby. Seeing a pretty big Ocellaris made me not want one in my 7.5. It would feel wrong.
Oh, and this little girl at the LFS was staring at me for a little and then proceeded to say "You look really pretty!"
Anyway, rambling done!

 

[iDream]

 

[jenatron]

Sorry if this is really boring/repetitive, but here are all the pictures I have of the seams/seals.

 

[roydooms]

Did you get the tank rimless or you took them out? Tank looks great. IMO, tanks looks better without rims. BTW, cute dog

 

[jenatron]

The brand is Mr. Aqua, which is rimless. Thanks!

 

[jenatron]

Lights came in today. I took a chance by ordering off Amazon, because it was unclear whether they were the SLR model or not. It was cheaper than everywhere else, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Well, they're individually reflected so I saved at least like $20 there! Also, they shipped with TrueLumen bulbs, which are apparently better than their old bulbs. So I'm a happy camper.
Corey filled it up for me while I was at school. So I'll start cycling sometime this week.
Pics!
FTS

FTS including lights (cause I'm always curious when I'm looking at FTS')

 

[Badfishofbabylon]

Sick. I bet this turns out awesome.