SeaSerpants AIO 5.5g Pico (DIY)

[SeaSerpant]

Hey Everybody,
It's me again I'm one of those off again on again people that are on this forum. Before i dive into this i'd like to give a bit of background on myself so that everybody knows who i am
My name is Jonathan and i'm 16 yo. I've been in the hobby for years and i've had tanks for only a short while. I started with a 10g fw tank then i moved to a 55g, then i aquired a 120g from somebody i knew. Thus started my escapade.
Before i didn't have a job so i couldn't afford SW so i stuck with FW. Then i got a job and started a 20g. I didn't have a choice really in the size! I wanted a 10g SW tank but the person who i was getting it from only had a 20g available, then i got greedy. I started up the 120g for SW and that has been up for about a year. Now i have my liscense and a new phone and keeping up the 120 is very expensive because i had to pay for the tank a car and a phone on a monthly basis, which leads me to here!!!
I recently was researching nano's and i loved what some people were able to do with theirs. I wanted a tank that was going to be out in the open where my whole family was able to see it and not only me. But my mom doesn't like seeing the heater and everything in the tank, so i came up with the idea to make an all in one 5.5g Pico/nano.
This is how it started: (prices and everything)

Equipment:
5.5g Tank - 16.99
Acrylic - 11.06
Krylon Fusion Black - 7.99
Pvc - 0.55
L.E.D Lights - 119.99
Biocube Skimmer - 47.99
50w Heater - 29.99
Maxi-Jet 600 - 39.99
Ball Pipe Thingy's - 11.99
Locline - 4.99
Filter Floss- 6.99

Total : 298.52





Now first what i did was measure the inside of the glass from side to side and then the height from the bottom inside to the top where it meets the lid holder. So i took the acrylic and i clamped it and took an exacto knife and cut it all the way through.
Then i measured how far down the Maxijet flow out part was and made a dot to where the hole for the out part of the over flow would be and i got this. I also made sure to find how much room i needed for the maxijet and the heater needed on one side and thats where i put the first baffle, then i made a 2nd baffle about 1.5cm away from there. And at that point i made the overflow slats:




Then i measured how much room i needed from the back to where the overflow would need to be and i cut the baffles out, then i painted it black with krylon:


And i then painted the sides and the back of the aquarium black:



Then with patience and a lot of time to let it dry i siliconed the overflow into place and i cut the lid out of the acrlyic and cut around where the equipment would be and it made a pretty great start to my 5.5g pico:

[DCDN]

Nice, looks like a great start

[SeaSerpant]

Now let a few days pass and my sisters married and now i have sand and rock and corals from the 120g in the tank!
Right now i have 2 torch corals a hammer head, gsp, candy cane coral (i believe), and duncan coral, acro and a few lps that i don't really like and plan to sell (hit me up if you want to trade these for some acro peices, or small frags of softies!)
And here we are (still a bit cloudy cause i played with them a bit):

Front:


Side 1:


Side 2


Candy


Hammer


Torches



Acro


Duncan


GSP


WANT TO BE RID OF!

[SeaSerpant]

Those are all pics taken with my phone, so when it clears up i will take pics with a good camera!
I would love some input on what kind of fish or corals you guys would keep in there? And i always love some good critique!

Thanks
Jonathan

Oh and thanks DCDN i hope it ends up being awesome!

[toytech]

Nice pico, i like the all in one look , nice and clean . For fish clown gobies are cool , or small blennies like a blue and gold . Ive got both in my 15 gal and there fun little fish .