12" SPS cube

Ok, I had mentioned before that I was interested in doing a SPS nano/pico with minimal equipment. My end product turned out to be a 12" 7.5g Mr. Aqua Cube, with a Rena XP1 for running chemi-pure elite and a MP20 (already had it sitting around). Lighting will be a fishneedit.com 150w MH with 14k phoenix bulb. So here it goes .
Wish me luck.
pics were taken during the first run with RO/DI water only. Will be building the rock scape this week . Really just watching evap , and temp swings from MH. Not sure , but may order an ice probe chiller if the heat gets crazy. I took a really old POS end table/cabinet, that was in our garage to run this until I can go to IKEA and find a cool stand for it.
Couple of FTS :



Filtration :

Still need to install in-line heater.

VIDEO - just a bit of wave action from the vortech :

 

Looks good, can't wait for it to fill up

 

The Vortech looks giant, but this is ingenious.

 

Wow, that is really nice!!

Are you going bare bottom?

 

Thats beautiful

 

An IKEA stand would look awesome with that.

 

bare bottom for sure. the vortech will help keep heat out of the tank the MH might be swapped out for LED, but havent seen any growth reports from current LED owners that really made me think it was a must over proven MH.

 

I could not agree more, and I keep looking for the tank that is solely LED that shows improved growth and coloration over MH.

 

The rock work will be built this week. Going for a bonsai style scape to allow for better circulation throughout the tank. For some reason I dont think that will be much of a problem with the MP20. LOL

 

I kind of agree. IMO, an LED that is only equal to MH in growth and coloration would be superior to MH - due to heating and electricity usage. I don't think an LED needs to be superior in these areas to be a better choice.

That's going to be an awesome little tank.