Hi All,
My name is Zach and I live in Fort Collins. I have had several freshwater setups over the years, but I have not had a tank set up in about 10 years. My interest in aquatics was re-sparked when my wife brought home a goldfish for our daughter back in October. I really love building/designing things so I knew I could improve on the "standard fishbowl" that she picked up with the goldfish. After looking around a bit I found the Fluval Spec V at petco and thought it was a pretty neat format for a small tank, so I bought one. It was still in the box when I thought to myself, this is a NICE tank for one goldfish... then my mind started drifting to thoughts of gutting out the existing filtration in the Spec V and finally trying a saltwater system. After lots of research, reading and talking to people at the LFS, everyone seemed to discourage such a tiny setup for a beginner, but it is all I could really afford at the time so I took the plunge anyway. So long story short, the goldfish is still swimming in his "bowl" and my Spec V has been thoroughly modded and now (just a few weeks ago right before Reefstock '14) looks like this: (They are not great photos because they were taken with my phone)
From end of tank:
View attachment 18433
From above:
View attachment 18434
In the past, I have, for the most part, been a lurker on many forums of various topics. Searching and trying to absorb the knowledge from millions of existing posts can consume HUGE amounts of time! but when I have some time I could post a build thread with some pictures of the DIY components that went into this little guy, if anyone is interested.
I'm still trying to figure out how to tune my lights to provide what the corals really need/like, and I feel I've been pretty lucky with no major troubles so far in the tank. However, luck can only last so long and I hope I can learn from the community here enough to have some long term success!
My name is Zach and I live in Fort Collins. I have had several freshwater setups over the years, but I have not had a tank set up in about 10 years. My interest in aquatics was re-sparked when my wife brought home a goldfish for our daughter back in October. I really love building/designing things so I knew I could improve on the "standard fishbowl" that she picked up with the goldfish. After looking around a bit I found the Fluval Spec V at petco and thought it was a pretty neat format for a small tank, so I bought one. It was still in the box when I thought to myself, this is a NICE tank for one goldfish... then my mind started drifting to thoughts of gutting out the existing filtration in the Spec V and finally trying a saltwater system. After lots of research, reading and talking to people at the LFS, everyone seemed to discourage such a tiny setup for a beginner, but it is all I could really afford at the time so I took the plunge anyway. So long story short, the goldfish is still swimming in his "bowl" and my Spec V has been thoroughly modded and now (just a few weeks ago right before Reefstock '14) looks like this: (They are not great photos because they were taken with my phone)
From end of tank:
View attachment 18433
From above:
View attachment 18434
In the past, I have, for the most part, been a lurker on many forums of various topics. Searching and trying to absorb the knowledge from millions of existing posts can consume HUGE amounts of time! but when I have some time I could post a build thread with some pictures of the DIY components that went into this little guy, if anyone is interested.
I'm still trying to figure out how to tune my lights to provide what the corals really need/like, and I feel I've been pretty lucky with no major troubles so far in the tank. However, luck can only last so long and I hope I can learn from the community here enough to have some long term success!
