Jack-the-reefer Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) Players: 1- Bubbles (out) 2- Oregonic (out) 3- Flash21 4- Jack-the-reefer (quitter) 5- Kingfisher (out) 6- Rdavis (out) 7- Gil&fin Edited April 29, 2018 by Jack-the-reefer 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-the-reefer Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) Here we go! The thing that got me back into this hobby 6 years ago was a contest very similar to this one. I didn't participate, but I loved following the builds and seeing what was possible in small tanks. The goal of this is to see how creative people can get with their builds. It's really fun to take something that was definitely not designed to be used as a reef tank, and figuring out how to make it work. I'm only going to put 2 strict rules on this: 1- Total volume must stay under 5 gallons. This is the total system volume. No, plumbing a .5 gallon cube into your established 10,000 gallon system doesn't count. 2- The budget is 100$ or less for the equipment. This is going to force you to get creative. You can use anything you already have on hand, or borrow from a friend who hoards supplies. - Other than that, everything is fair game. The budget applies to equipment only. If you want to keep a 1000$ trachy in your Cuisinart mixer reef, you win. If you want to play, all you need to do is make your first post by next Saturday (3/17). Your first post simply needs to be an equipment list, along with pictures and a cost breakdown. After that, you'll just have to post a tank update, with a full tank shot, every two weeks. So, posts are due by 5pm on 3/17, 3/31, 4/14, 4/28, 5/12, and 5/26. If you miss any of these, you'll be publicly shamed, and removed from the contest. The final posts will be due on June 2 at 5pm. I'll post the final pictures and throw it out there for the community to vote on. I want to start by giving a huge thank you to Saltwater Harmony (Holly), and Cuttle Fish and Corals (Jeff), who have paired up to donate a pico appropriate prize for the winner. The winner will get a pre-quarantined yasha goby and pistol shrimp pair. Finally, I'm going to be playing along, but I want everyone to know that I'm not going to be in the running for the actual contest. Weird pico tanks are kind of my jam and I really just want to help everybody else see how much fun these can be. If you have any questions or need advice, don't hesitate to pm me. Also, this is my first attempt at running a contest, so go easy on me. Edited March 9, 2018 by Jack-the-reefer 7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 This ought to be fun! I have one question on the equipment of under 100$. Would equipment be considered materials? Or is equipment lighting filtration heater tank? Curious as once you posted last week on entertaining this...I had my plan and we’ll I build my tank already 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-the-reefer Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 5 minutes ago, Flash21 said: This ought to be fun! I have one question on the equipment of under 100$. Would equipment be considered materials? Or is equipment lighting filtration heater tank? Curious as once you posted last week on entertaining this...I had my plan and we’ll I build my tank already 😂 Equipment is just the tank, lighting, heater, filter. Anything that goes in the tank (livestock, rock, sand, etc.) isn't counted in the budget. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylorhardy1 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Could the tank be larger than a 5g? Like maybe a 10 or 20g with a max of 5g of water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-the-reefer Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 29 minutes ago, Taylorhardy1 said: Could the tank be larger than a 5g? Like maybe a 10 or 20g with a max of 5g of water? Sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Just so i understand, 100$ applies to new equipment? You can use whatever you have lying around? OR do we factor in cost of all of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-the-reefer Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 1 hour ago, Kingfisher said: Just so i understand, 100$ applies to new equipment? You can use whatever you have lying around? OR do we factor in cost of all of it? It only applies to new equipment. Anything you already have is fair game. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimusprime3605 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Just to confirm...we can still plumb as long as total water volume does not exceed 5gal, yeah? (ex: 3gal dt & 2gal sump) Sent from my man cave while drinking Coors light! [emoji481] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 10 minutes ago, Optimusprime3605 said: Just to confirm...we can still plumb as long as total water volume does not exceed 5gal, yeah? (ex: 3gal dt & 2gal sump) Sent from my man cave while drinking Coors light! I really want to see this! What do you have in mind Dodge? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimusprime3605 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 I really want to see this! What do you have in mind Dodge?I was thinking, maybe a 10gal or 5gal tank, section it off. Kinda like an 5gal AIO, so to speak. Idk...Just brainstorming Sent from my man cave while drinking Coors light! [emoji481] 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 13 minutes ago, Optimusprime3605 said: I was thinking, maybe a 10gal or 5gal tank, section it off. Kinda like an 5gal AIO, so to speak. Idk...Just brainstorming Sent from my man cave while drinking Coors light! Ahh... that makes sense. When you said plumbing, I thought it implied separate "tanks" - which I would really be interested in seeing how that might work on this scale. Am excited to see what people come up with - I know Jack always seems to have interesting ideas bouncing around 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-the-reefer Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) You can do anything you want as long as total volume doesn't exceed 5g. I'll be putting a sump on the betta falls. Edited March 9, 2018 by Jack-the-reefer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 This is awesome that you are doing this Jack! Props to Holly and Cuttlefish for donating a prize too!! I would so do this but I have my heart set on a Nuvo 10. The January/Feb Coral magazine has a great write up on picos if anyone wants to borrow it from me. Be warned the stupid cats knocked my glass of water over (again 🙄) so it’s a little water damaged but ... you get 2 free Bengal cats for your trouble . (Shhhhh don’t tell Sirena...) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 36 minutes ago, Emerald525 said: This is awesome that you are doing this Jack! Props to Holly and Cuttlefish for donating a prize too!! I would so do this but I have my heart set on a Nuvo 10. The January/Feb Coral magazine has a great write up on picos if anyone wants to borrow it from me. Be warned the stupid cats knocked my glass of water over (again 🙄) so it’s a little water damaged but ... you get 2 free Bengal cats for your trouble . (Shhhhh don’t tell Sirena...) Darcy says she would be happy to take those cats... I mean that magazine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 5 hours ago, albertareef said: Darcy says she would be happy to take those cats... I mean that magazine Lol I will try to slip them in there for you ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Do we post our tank here on this thread?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 I assume we start are own nano build thread. Unless the mods make us a sub category? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-the-reefer Posted March 11, 2018 Author Share Posted March 11, 2018 I was thinking we could just post updates here. I'm open to ideas if there's a better way to do it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Okay I'll just post here.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Does cost of tank count towards the equipment cost? Been toying the idea of picking up a Fluval Evo 5 for my night stand for a while and this may be a good excuse 😉. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Does cost of tank count towards the equipment cost? Been toying the idea of picking up a Fluval Evo 5 for my night stand for a while and this may be a good excuse [emoji6]. From what ive heard the tank is part of the equipment cost Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-the-reefer Posted March 11, 2018 Author Share Posted March 11, 2018 Yes, tank counts as equipment. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Okay, here is my build,It's a 3.7 gallon custom built drop-off reef. Equipment: 1) Custom tank and Birch stand- I had the clear acrylic and I had to buy the black- $15.75 and I had the Birch.2) Marine-land maxi-jet 1200 - $27.993) Aqueon 7.5watt heater - $10.994) Evergrow led light - Borrowed from friend.Filtration:1) Bag of chemi-pure blue - Had on handGrand Total $54.73Here is a video of it when I was testing with fresh water.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 That is pretty darn cool! I have a feeling this is going to be a really interesting competition and it’s off to a great start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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