4.5g nano vase

So after a bit of research on the picos, I decided to go with a bit of a bigger vase for my project because I wanted to add a small fish. I'm moving ahead with the project using a 5.5g vase I found, after a thin layer of sand and a few pieces of live rock I'm guessing it would hold around 4.5g of water.


My plan is to plumb it into my existing 55g sump so I have to drill it, 1-1/4 dimond bit on order. Using a standard bulkhead wouldn't work because it's a curved surface, with the help of a member here I was directed to "uniseals", also on order. For a nice clean look, I'm planning on running the return line inside the over-flow line.
For return I will T-off my main tank return pump with a 1/4" line and I'll run it inside the 1/2" overflow line.

Now for circulation, I'm planning on running a koralia-nano...any ideas on a smaller pump that wouldn't break my wallet?...need to figure out a way to mount it on a curved glass 1/2 way down the vase where it would not be visible....bouncing around some ideas that would require some square PVC pipe/tubes, if I can find it. If not, I'll have to make it with black/smoked acrylic.

For lighting I have a 5xLED-BoostLED on order....also recommended by a member here.

I already have a small pink/yellow damsel, a coral banded shrimp and some LR from my sump to add to the tank...just need to buy some LS.

Question:
Would adding a few pounds of new LS to my system cause any parm issues?

I'll get some pics of what I have so far up soon....

 

Sounds like an interesting and well thought out project. Can't wait to see the pic.

Since you're running your plumbing through your existing sump, why not use some regular sand of your choise and some of your existing live sand from your tank to seed it?
I never trusted LFS's live sand, for example... you never know what will come in it. It would not be a lot of sand you'll remove from your tank anyway to seed a 5 gallon.

 

Thanks. I was thinking of getting a sealed bag of Caribsea-fiji pink live sand, rinse it out a bit and also seed it with a handful of LS from my display.

 

Depending on how much flow is coming through your return, you may not even need additional powerheads. I would get the vase up and running with water first before deciding on if it needs any more flow.

I would just put rinsed dry sand into this as well, if it's plumbed into your main tank no live sand is needed whatsoever.

Good project idea, can't wait to see pictures.

 

I only plan on running 1/4 tubing for the return so I may need more flow...I'll have to test it out. I have a koralia-nano PH that I'll probably use if needed, hopefully that wouldn't be too much flow...

For the BoostLED I ordered, I got it with 40 degree optics. I ordered it with 2-cool whites and 3-royal blues, the guy at BoostLED recommended 4xRoyal blues and 1xCool white.....what do you guys thing, would the 4&1 combination work for coral growth?

 

I think Night-Rida or Dingo would probably be able to chip in here. They definitely know more than me about LED's. I know Night-Rida build his but using cree led's. He was happy with them. I'll point them to this thread.

 

Thanks mag
Now for your question map, this depends on if you got the white in the normal or in the more powerful XP-G and what color temperature you want. The blues pump out a very nice blue color but You will absolutely need at least one xp-g white or I would say probably two normal whites (depending on what CCT you want).

As for your driver... I'm not to sure the meanwells will drive only 5 LEDs efficiently as they are optimized for a 12 led string so you might want to double check on that. If the meanwells are too powerful you could use a buckpuck driver as they are perfect for 6 led strings. You can also add a potentiometer to the buckpucks or to the meanwell 48D driver for dimming capabilities.
You tell me what you want and I'll tell you how to do it

 

Thanks for the info Dingo. This would be my mini test of LEDs, if it work out to my satisfaction I would definitely need your help in building a LED replacemant for my T5 setup on my main tank. I looked into this earlier this year but I was reading mixed reviews so I figure I'll wait a bit for the technology to evolve a bit more.

Here's what I ordered for my mini reef project, I plan on mostly softies, LPS and a few pieces of SPS higher up to test out growth/color with the LEDs. They recommended going with 4xblue, 1xwhite, the driver is built in to the bulb...what do you think?

BoostLED

 

Here is a pic my 12 LEDs dimmed to 30%. At 100% my camera can't even pick up any colors cuz it's too blue. I would say upwards of 50,000K (if that means anything to you)

 

Ahh yes the par38 bulbs... I have never used one but I hear they are pretty awesome. On a shallow tank you might want to keep an eye on what corals you put in, LEDs will burn corals if you don't acclimate them