My 7 Gallon Minibow

[Eric65]

Hi, I just found this forum while doing a search for minibows. I figured I'd share some shots of the minibow I just bought and throw my hat into the nano build off 2008 ring at the same time.

Here are some specs:
7 Gallon minibow with custom hood and stand
2 x 32w power compact lights
Small Aquafuge by CPR
Ice Probe Chiller drilled into Aquafuge

I want to keep this tank as low wattage as possible. I already have a 7 gallon minibow -set up since July 2007 plus 2 other tanks.

I'll probably add a couple of Koralia nanos for circulation and if I decide to skip chaeto in the aquafuge I'll be placing a Tunze 9002 protein skimmer in there instead.

Enough talking- here are some photos before I cleaned it up. It can't get any uglier at this point I'll take more shots tomorrow.

[dobejazz]

Welcome to TRT and the Build off!!

[Eric65]

Wow!! I just noticed I initally joined this site back in Feb2004. I got out of the hobby soon after because I was tired of not having a bank account. 4 years later and I'm back at it again !!

This hobby is not an easy addiction to quit,

[fish.freak]

Originally Posted by Eric65

This hobby is not an easy addiction to quit,

Welcome back to the hobby

[Loverotties]

Welcome back to TRT! and good luck! P.S. were in NJ are you?I'm in Mountainside(union Co.).

[Eric65]

I'm in Toms River (Ocean County)

[Loverotties]

Cool! going right by you tomarrow night!Going to a dog show for the weekend down in Wildwood!Glad you desided to get back in the hobbie!

[Loverotties]

Don't know if there are any good LFS down by you.20 yrs ago there was a great one on I think it was route 9 in your town.It was a house that sit back off the highway down their.He was just salt water.

[Loverotties]

The name was Aqua something?maybe world or plus?

[Eric65]

Thanks Here's (hopefully) the quick story of how this hobby dragged me back into it's grips again.

I was having intense back pain so I went to the doctor and he referred me to a physical therapist. Well, lo and behold he had what looked to be a 75 gallon fish only tank. It had a pair of skunk clows with anemone and 2 green chromis. After staring at the tank for a month while walking on the treadmill, I realised how much I missed saltwater fish.

Initially I only wanted a nano tank- mainly because my girlfriend was dead set against me getting back into the hobby. But after a couple of visits to our old favorite lfs, she also admitted she missed the fish.

Still, just to keep things as cheap as possible I only wanted a 16 gallon bowfront. Well, to make this increasingly long story short, we wound up buying in order of purchase: a 46 gallon bowfront, a 7 gallon minibow, a 16 gallon bowfront and finally, our newest build, a reef ready 90 gallon Oceanic. The 46 and 16 will be combined into the 90- hopefully by Monday. I FINALLY finished the plumbing this week.

As you can see, I'm not very good at saving money

[Eric65]

Ahhhhh...Aqua Oceans. He's still in business and we go there almost daily. We are such regular customers he will call us to let us know he has a new shipment in.
Funny thing is, I don't think he has aged in appearance in those 20 years. I visited his store some 20 years ago to set up a saltwater fish tank when I graduated high school. Don't ask how that set up went. I shudder to think if I even cycled the tank at all. I just remember the experiment probably ended in about a week with a dead domino damsel and false perc.

[Hop]

Good luck on the build!

[Eric65]

Thanks! The great thing about this build off is it gives me an excuse to get this tank up and running. My girlfriend wasn't thrilled that I bought it. I bought the entire set up for only $110. How could I pass up such a great deal.

I've always wanted to experiment with an Aquafuge, and the Iceprobe was just icing on the cake. She admits to liking the custom hood. She always wanted one on our current minibow but with the sunpod and my woodworking skills, that wasn't going to happen.

[kimsie]

Wow - what a great story! Welcome back!

What are you planning to put in the tank?

[Eric65]

Don't worry, I know no thread is worth following without pictures So to remedy that:

Here's the tank after a bath:



Here's the inside of the hood. It needs some TLC. I'm going to polish the reflectors and paint the inside white:



Here's a crack in the side of the hood that has grown the more I handle it. Going to get some wood putty and repaint the hood.



Finally the view from the back


As you can see, it will be a while before I get it filled with water.
As for what's going in it, I was thinking mostly softies since it will be a low light low flow tank. maybe a couple of gobies. I'm kinda partial to gobies.