Rosebud161616's 15 gallon custom built nano

[rosebud161616]

Well I hope I'm not jinxing myself by starting this thread without water testing my tank, but here goes nothing...

I have had an idea in my head for some time for a nano tank. My husband, kev2me, and I have always thought we would get small nano cubes once we move and have dueling nanos. Well when this contest came along, I decided to move my idea up and get my nano going.

My idea was always to have a "cube" type tank that could be viewed from all sides and a center overflow. The rockwork would be like a volcano. The overflow would, of course, house the drain to the sump and the return plumbing. The idea is that you would not see any equipment in the tank whatsoever.

Then I plan to fill the center overflow most of the way with sand... making a sort of remote DSB. I plan to have mangrove growing out of the center of the "volcano."

I sat down with google sketchup and made some preliminary drawings. I found that the tank had to be more wide than tall in order to accommodate the overflow and still allow for pyramid type rockwork. So the tank ended up being more like a cube cut horizontally in half.

Here are a few pictures that I made with google sketchup. Don't make fun of them... there seems to be a huge learning curve with this program! :)

Here is a side view of the tank. The overflow will have 4 bulkheads, one for each side. The dimensions of the tank are 20x20x10. The center overflow is 6x6x9. With 1/4" glass, that leaves 3/4" from the total height of the sides. I estimate the water flowing over will add about 1/4" so the water height should be about 1/2" from the top. That tan part of the picture is 1" of sand.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/NanoTank1.jpg

Here is a side view with the overflow see through so that you can see the internal plumbing. I plan to have 2 stand pipes and then the return pump divided with a 5 way to the bulkheads. Yep I'll get a lot of head loss, but I feel like it is a good trade off for a nice, clean tank.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/NanoTank4.jpg

Top down view:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/NanoTank2.jpg

This is the view from the bottom looking up. I couldn't figure out how to make the "sand" fill like a rectangle so it looks like it's recessed. Just use your imagination. :)
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/NanoTank3.jpg

[whitetiger61]

wow Rosebud..very nice..so in the last illustration each nozzel coming out on each side of the overflow..are your returns and the 3 black circles are your drains..very interesting.. subscribing to this one..cant wait to see this one in action..

Rick

[rosebud161616]

So the next step was to research the tank. All of the quotes I got to custom build the tank were pretty pricey. I did some research and decided I would try my hand at building my own tank!

I found glasscages to be the cheapest place to get cut glass. They were coming to my city for deliveries in a week... Perfect! I called and got the glass ordered. I heard horror stories of trying to deal with the company but I had a great experience. They were super nice and Kev went to the delivery point for the glass pickup, but he said it went very smoothly. The website said there was additional fees for sanding and swiping the glass, and since I didn't ever request any, I expected to get sharp pieces of glass. Too my surprise they were all nicely sanded and ready to have a tank made out of them!

I ordered some RTV108 silicone because I read it was the strongest for tank building. I think it was like $13 with shipping.

I picked up a bunch of bulkheads and flexible PVC from Savko. I still need to get a 1/2" 5 way PVC fitting on order...

Next step was to drill the 7 holes. I already had a 1/2" drill bit from a previous build, so I got to work. I think I need a new bit now... by the 7th hole it was feeling pretty dull. No pics here, sorry.

And finally it was time to start putting it all together. Here are a few shots from last night:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Glass_Taped_Siliconed.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Center_Overflow_02.jpg

And here is a close up of the center overflow:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Center_Overflow_01.jpg

Overall the build went pretty smoothly. The fumes are fun :stars:. Today I'll take a razor to the outside and clean up the excess silicone that squirted out. Then in a few days I can water test.

Now I need to motivate myself to build a stand...

[rosebud161616]

wow Rosebud..very nice..so in the last illustration each nozzel coming out on each side of the overflow..are your returns and the 3 black circles are your drains..very interesting.. subscribing to this one..cant wait to see this one in action..

Rick

Thanks!

Actually the last picture is like you're laying below the tank and looking up (yeah hard to tell with my clear sand... :) ). there are 3 holes in the bottom of the tank. 2 are drains and one is the return. The return is divided into 4 and then pumped into the tank through a bulkhead in each side of the overflow. The water will flow over the overflow into that center section where it will drain through 2 stand pipes. Does that make more sense? It's hard to put all of this in writing! :redneck:

[whitetiger61]

makes perfect sense..very good job..

Rick

[Manoj's Reef]

nice job documenting....

[creefer]

Wow! That's a wonderful ideal and equally wonderful execution. I can't wait to see this full of life. Great job, Rosebud. And thanks for sharing the build. Please keep us posted on the build progress.

[rosebud161616]

Thanks, guys!

For lighting, I will be going LED. We are almost completely LED in all of our tanks now. We have built all of the fixtures ourselves, so might as well do one here too!

Yeah, I know, kind of defeats the purpose of the prize for the nano, but I already started this tank so might as well do the contest! I'm sure I can put that light to use some how if I do happen to get lucky and win! :)

Here is the layout that I have come up with. I will have 8 whites, 8 blues, and 8 royal blues. I'm doing this for a couple of reasons. On the other fixtures I was not a fan of all royal blues. It made the tank too purple. All blues is too windex-y. I like the combination of the two.

As for the 2:1 ratio... on the other tanks I have the ability to dim them with our apex so I am closer to 1:1 on those (though I still have a couple extra blues thrown in). This tank won't be in an area where I can easily hook up to the apex and we're out of variable voltage ports on the apex. I would have to buy one of those extra variable voltage modules they just came out with and I think they're like $200. I'm not willing to shell out that kind of cash right now on what was supposed to be an affordable nano contest tank (does affordable tank exist??? :big_grin:)

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/LED_Layout.jpg

I'm thinking I'll use 2 meanwell drivers. I was originally positive I would not do dimmable, but now I'm considering it. That way I could hook it to the apex down the line if I ever wanted... I can use a 9v cell phone charger to power the variable voltage line and light all of the LEDs at 90%.

I may end up putting an extra one or two whites in the center for the mangroves.

The heat sink area is pretty large, so it will probably have to be made out of 2 heat sinks put together.

[JMALACHI]

This is awesome!!! Nice work


Love Should NEVA Be Limited

[MizTanks]

Another subscriber here. Definitely going to love watching this build. As a newb I've never seen anything like it :)


There is nothing like being a REEFER!

[scubamomma]

can you make me one? lol

[whitetiger61]

rosebud

what are the dimensions of your overflow..

Rick

[Sir Patrick]

This is going to be one sweet nano!!!!

[redemer123]

This is a genius idea

[2pairs]

sweet tank, I am looking forward to when it is full and stocked.

[Heidi]

What a neat tank idea! I am new to this and I just love seeing people building their own ideas. Such a unique tank, I cant wait to see more!!

[jolson10450]

What size sump are ya planning on using and any designs for that yet? Very nice though so far! going to be sweet!

[rosebud161616]

Thanks so much, guys!


rosebud

what are the dimensions of your overflow..

Rick

The overflow is 6x6x9.


What size sump are ya planning on using and any designs for that yet? Very nice though so far! going to be sweet!

I'm thinking just a standard 10 gallon should do the trick nicely. There will still be a bit of room left in front and behind the sump for reactors. I would like to try to rig up an ATO somehow...


I water tested it yesterday and no leaks!!!

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Water_Test.jpg

[jolson10450]

woo nice! i use a 10g sump on my 29g tank, works good with my hand on skimmer, i got room for heaters and probes, a fuge, and the return pump with my ATO relays. you should be fine with a 10g. just get a little 5.5g tank and set it behind the 10g for your ATO tank, they are i think 8" wide +10" for your 10g tank so that only makes 18" deep and the main is 20 so you should be fine, and then off to the one side of the ATO there should be still some room for the reactor or a hang on skimmer.

[rosebud161616]

The stand will be built out of 2x4s so I will actually only have 20"-3"=17" for the sump area. I'm thinking I won't push the 10 gallon all the way back or forward. I want to make sure the 10 gallon is under the bulkheads just in case they decide to leak at some point. That way they will drip back into the sump and not onto the stand.

I have used rubbermaid cereal containers and the like in the past. I'll figure something like that out once I get the sump in there and see exactly what I'm working with. A 5.5 gallon tank would have been perfect but not quite enough room...

[jolson10450]

i actually used a 5.5g sump on the same tank before as well and it worked fine for me. i still fit all my probes and heaters and the ATO and return in it, the fuge size was the only thing that changed in it, it went from 3.5" in the 5.5g tank to 7" in the 10g tank, everything else fit fine but that was because i use the hang on skimmer (coralife super skimmer 65) you just got to lay out the baffles right and you can make it all work, just use 2x 5.5g tanks, 1 for the sump, 1 for the ATO. added together is 16.5" i believe with the plastic trim added into that figure.

here is a picture when i had it, the far right baffle should be removed though so right when the water enters the right column it can go under the first baffle and that would open a little more space up, then just throw some rock rubble in the bottom of that first chamber so the water has to flow through the rubble to get to chamber 2 where the fuge is, the 3rd area had a mag 5 return in it and the ATO relays. here is the picture:

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/55gsump1.jpg

[Sir Patrick]

Tanks coming along very nice!

[Fordris]

This is looking sweet! Cant wait to see more!

[rosebud161616]

Thanks guys!

I'm hoping to get a stand built this weekend, and possibly even have this thing plumbed. The 5 way fitting just came in the mail, so I think I have just about everything to get this plumbed!

I have everything ready to aquascape too except for the sand. I have some play sand out in the garage and never had issues with it, but I was thinking I might just try to do the real thing this time...

Then I have some prodibio in the closet that I'm hoping will jump start the cycle. I have cycled dry rock in about a week using prodibio in the past, so here's hoping I can get a jump start on getting stuff in my tank!

I have a few maxi minis waiting around that I have split a couple of times. I was thinking of using some of the clones in this tank. How does the pricing thing work if I'm not buying them new? Do I just ask for a consensus on what the going rate for them is? Around here they seem to go for $40ish at the LFSs. Does that sound like a fair price to everyone to use them?

[rosebud161616]

Well we got a stand built! Our garage is not insulated, so the thought of going out there and building a stand was not high on my list. My husband and I set out to find another way to build the stand. That's when we came across a couple of cheapo end tables at walmart and I thought I could make a stand out two of them.

I flipped one over and then used 1/2"x2" boards to stabilize the legs. The whole thing is pretty sturdy and didn't take us super long to put together. The 1/2"x2" boards leave a 1/4" reveal where I can add some doors down the line.

Here's a shot of the end tables we bought:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Stand_01.jpg

We added a bit of shower pan liner to the bottom and I used to spray adhesive to keep it down. We have some stuff sitting on it while the adhesive dries, so ignore the mess.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Stand_02.jpg

The positioning isn't exactly what I would want for a tank that can be seen from 4 sides, but we don't really have a place in this house to put it where you can see all 4 sides. I had always thought if we had a floating couch in our living room, this would look great sitting behind it where you could see all 4 sides. One day in our dream house... :)

I ran into a bit of a snag on the plumbing. The bulkheads that I bought are all threaded. I don't have quite enough room in the overflow area for a 5 way, the backside of the bulkheads, and a thread/slip pvc adapter. So back to Savko I go on Monday to exchange them. In the meantime, no plumbing for me. :(

My husband also hit the top of one of the corners of the tank with a plate and put a small gash in it. I'm hoping the tank still holds water and doesn't crack under pressure. The smart thing to do would be to take the tank apart, get a new piece of glass, then redo it all. But glasscages isn't coming to our area again till the 29th, then a week of curing, then cycling, and I'm super behind on the competition! So we're gonna fill it and hope it all goes well. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

[Sir Patrick]

Good thinking on the ready bult table.

I will keep my fingers crossed on the tank holding water. Any chance of a pic of the gash? A gash doesnt sound so bad.....would like to see what ya mean.

[rosebud161616]

From one side:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Gash_01.jpg

From the other:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Gash_02.jpg

It has plenty of silicone (I think I used too much silicone on this tank) so I'm not worried about it leaking... more worried about it cracking once there is water in it. But if it cracks, I can still get a piece of glass on order and fix the tank. I figure might as well give it a shot. :-|

[Sir Patrick]

Ive seen cracks/chips like that before on much larger, full of water tanks.....I would vote you will hold just fine.

Either way though- I will keep the fingers crossed. Can only help- right?

[2pairs]

That is a shame you got a chip, I have had bigger ones that never leaked.
Set it somewhere that can get wet and give it a water test. sure hope it works for you.

[rosebud161616]

Well that does make me feel better. Due to the bulkheads in the overflow, I can't really put it anywhere and fill it that high. I'll have to wait until the plumbing is done to fill it... but I'll keep lots of towels, buckets, etc. close by! :)

[cg5071]

I also have a chip in mine like that. No probs so far. I love the tank! I have a similar idea for a bigger tank when I can aford to set one up, now I can view yours lol.

[rosebud161616]

Well a project at work put me behind on getting anything done on this tank this week, but I did finally get some plumbing done tonight!

In the tank the plumbing is about finished. The stand pipes won't quite fit so I'm going to have to go the strainer route. I'll head out to Savko tomorrow morning and pick up a couple of strainers. Then the overflow plumbing should be finished.

I'm also going to pick up some locline and fittings to route the output down away from the surface a bit. Hopefully all of the locline will be hidden by rock and you'll never know it was there... except I just told you... so now you know...:stupidme:

Under the tank, the plumbing isn't glued quite yet. This was after a dry fit, and after opening the PVC glue to find a giant hard chunk. I'll be picking up more glue at Savko tomorrow too! :)

I'm hoping this thing will see water very soon!!!

http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Plumbing_01.jpg
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Plumbing_02.jpg
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Plumbing_03.jpg

[Sir Patrick]

Its coming along!! cant wait to see it full and in action!

[rosebud161616]

Well we ran into some snags over the weekend on this. The plumbing itself was a pain with a cracked bulkhead and changing the locline idea 3 times. 4 trips to savko later, we finally got this thing plumbed.

Problem... the 2, 1/2" drains aren't really enough. They are barely keeping up. I removed the strainers (so it's just straight pvc coming up) and added a piece of 1/4" tubing down each drain. This helped reduce the gulping. However it sounds like water boiling in the sump because of the amount of air that is being pumped down there by the drains.

In the end I think I'm going to have to remove all of the plumbing, flip the tank over and try to drill 2 more drains in the other 2 corners. I don't love the idea of this, but I'm not sure that I have any other option at this point. I'm worried about the structural integrity of the tank with so many holes within a 6"x6". Not to mention trying to figure out how to support the overflow which is 3/4" shorter than the outside of the tank while drilling it.

Then I have to drill 2 more holes in the stand, and make a 5th trip back to savko for 2 more bulkheads. Maybe I'll order them online to save myself the embarrassment... :)

Scrapping the idea crossed my mind over the weekend, but I would really hate to give up after putting all of this work into it... :crying:

So maybe next weekend I'll be able to get some sand and rock in this thing... as long as it doesn't crack during drilling. :duh:

[Heidi]

too bad you cant just widen the existing drains like to 1 inch each is there room for that? don't give up just yet this is gonna be a sweet tank! Plus I gotta root for my fellow woman in this thing :) Girl Power!!

[rosebud161616]

too bad you cant just widen the existing drains like to 1 inch each is there room for that? don't give up just yet this is gonna be a sweet tank! Plus I gotta root for my fellow woman in this thing :) Girl Power!!

Haha thanks!

No, unfortunately there isn't any room to make the hole bigger. Well the hole could be made bigger, but a bigger bulkhead wouldn't fit. I would need to make the overflow wider, which would mean I would have wanted to make that the tank itself that much wider. Grrrr....

[CalmSeasQuest]

This is a great design idea - Don't give up...

A couple ideas,

As you have 2 drains - Shorten the standpipe on the primary slightly and stick a valve on one and run it full siphon ( Herbie Silent Overflow (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=344892).) Restrict it just enough so the excess flows silently down the 2nd pipe. You might be able to coax enough flow with the first pipe in full siphon to make it work (silently) :)

The other option is to reduce the flow to the limits of the 2 pipes and use powerheads for additional flow (if needed.) You could also use a surface skimming filter (i.e. Tunze 3165) if more surface skimming was needed. neither are desirable from an aesthetics point, but it beats starting over ;)

Also, those 2 90 degree elbows are slowing your drains. If you could redesign your water drop and eliminate/reduce those turns, you could speed things up. Maybe a single 45 degree bend?

I'd try the Herbie method -

[rosebud161616]

This is a great design idea - Don't give up...

A couple ideas,

As you have 2 drains - Shorten the standpipe on the primary slightly and stick a valve on one and run it full siphon ( Herbie Silent Overflow (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=344892).) Restrict it just enough so the excess flows silently down the 2nd pipe. You might be able to coax enough flow with the first pipe in full siphon to make it work (silently) :)

The other option is to reduce the flow to the limits of the 2 pipes and use powerheads for additional flow (if needed.) You could also use a surface skimming filter (i.e. Tunze 3165) if more surface skimming was needed. neither are desirable from an aesthetics point, but it beats starting over ;)

Also, those 2 90 degree elbows are slowing your drains. If you could redesign your water drop and eliminate/reduce those turns, you could speed things up. Maybe a single 45 degree bend?

I'd try the Herbie method -


Oooo the Herbie method sounds promising. I have only been able to glance through the info but it sounds like we were trying to do something similar. When we took one of the pvc pipes out, it would make a full, silent siphon through the one bulkhead. It could handle this for about 5 minutes and then eventually caught up and started gulping again. So this sounds very promising! I'll read the whole thing when I get a bit more time here at work.

Good idea on the drains too. I could even get the 1/4" tubing all the way down the tube then too rather than to the first 90*. I really wanted everything draining more to the one side of the sump. Maybe flexible PVC is the way to go with the drains...

[2pairs]

Don't give up yet, keep trying something will work.
This tank is too cool to give up on.

[rosebud161616]

I made a 5th trip to Savko today to get a 1/2" gate valve. Tonight my husband and I put maybe an hour into it and redid most of the plumbing. We are giving the Herbie method a shot. I have to say that it took a little tweaking with the gate valve but it's working amazingly well! 100% quiet! 1 hour of work and we stood there amazed. Thank you so much, Thomas! You saved us so much work with trying to redill this thing!

The Quiet One 3000 we have in there is rattling a bit. I gotta figure out what is going on there so it will be a bit more quiet. I might actually swap it for the Quiet One 4000 that I have on another tank and see if the 1/2" Herbie drain can handle it. It seems like a bit more flow would be better... and now that I have a working drain...:redneck:

I'm going to drain the tank next and epoxy the rock dry. It's too difficult to try to epoxy the rock wet and since it's already dry... might as well do it dry. Hopefully I will get that done tomorrow and then I can fill it for real!

[rosebud161616]

New pics:

http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Plumbing_04.jpg

http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Plumbing_05.jpg

[CalmSeasQuest]

Beautiful job Erika! Love that straight pipe, quiet siphon :)

[rosebud161616]

Well I got the urge to do the rockwork, so I went for it. I ran out of putty at the end, but here's what it looks like so far. I'll get it finished up tomorrow.

http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Rockwork_01.jpg

[Sir Patrick]

I was wondering what you were going to do with the center and aquascapping!!!! I really like it!!!!

[2pairs]

Glad to see it getting close to be up and running, and it looks good.

[Kalmed]

The tank is really coming together. Great concept cant wait to see this grow out. Makes me wish I had and area of the house that I could view a tank form all sides.

[rosebud161616]

I was wondering what you were going to do with the center and aquascapping!!!! I really like it!!!!

Thanks! I'm hoping it will kind of be like a volcano. I plan to have a RDSB in the overflow area with mangroves coming out of it.


Glad to see it getting close to be up and running, and it looks good.

Thank you! I'm glad to finally be past that plumbing stage... :)


The tank is really coming together. Great concept cant wait to see this grow out. Makes me wish I had and area of the house that I could view a tank form all sides.

We don't really have a place in this house to view from all sides either. We plan to eventually build a house and this was a tank we had planned for that house. But I decided to do it for this contest. We put the tank at an angle (diamond shape) to the wall so that you can see all sides. It's not quite the same but for the most part you can see it all.

[Heidi]

Wow this looks lovely! Girl Power! ;)

[rosebud161616]

Well the rockwork is done, sand is in, and tank is filled! Now just a waiting game. Things need to clear up and the cycle needs to begin. I have a raw shrimp in there to get things moving. This gives me a bit to get the light made for the tank.

I also swapped out the QO3000 for a QO4000. The flow seems better and the Herbie drain can still handle the additional flow!

I guess this makes things official, then:

http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/CR_IS_GREAT.jpg

[creefer]

Great job! I love what you're doing with this. It's going to be beautiful grown in with mangroves coming out of the overflow! I'm excited for you!

[nate_newton]

wow the tank is looking great. It should have some really interesting flow.

[rosebud161616]

Well my cycle is going! Last test my ammonia was 2ppm and nitrites weren't quite .25 ppm, but weren't 0 either. I hate this part...

[rosebud161616]

Tank is still cycling. I added quite a bit of biodigest, but I'm not seeing much happen. We have had great results with prodibio in the past so I'm wondering if what we have is just too old. I hate waiting out this part!

[2pairs]

It is hard to just let it go, but nothing good comes fast in salt water.

[Sir Patrick]

No rush....we are all here, waiting pateintly! :)

[rosebud161616]

Still cycling away here. Here is a top down shot of the tank I snapped on my phone, so sorry for the quality. I have a piece of live rock in there for the cycle so ignore that one piece of rock that is out of place.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Overhead.jpg

[Sir Patrick]

Awsome shot of your tank!

[rosebud161616]

Good news!!!! I haven't tested in a few days... tested today and ammonia and nitrites are 0!!!

I'll feed the tank a bit tonight and make sure we're still at 0 tomorrow. Then it's time to get some fish in here!

I have to finish up the light tonight. I gotta run out to Lowes to get some supplies, but I'm hoping to have a light hung and have some action in here very soon!

[jolson10450]

Good news!!!! I haven't tested in a few days... tested today and ammonia and nitrites are 0!!!

I'll feed the tank a bit tonight and make sure we're still at 0 tomorrow. Then it's time to get some fish in here!

I have to finish up the light tonight. I gotta run out to Lowes to get some supplies, but I'm hoping to have a light hung and have some action in here very soon!

woo! nice! looking forward to some updated pictures with lights!

[2pairs]

Good deal, I am looking forward to pics of it up and running.

[Sir Patrick]

Any chance of a walk around the tank video, while its running?

[rosebud161616]

Yep sure can! I had planned on doing that but I have to get the light up first. I'm almost done with the light but we may need to order one more part off the Internet, so that may hold up the show a bit.

[BK's Reef]

cant wait to see this fish tank get going, i do have to say it is an amazing design.

[Sula]

This is my first post on CR and I picked a great thread for it!!
LOVE it Erika!:jester:

[rosebud161616]

Hey Sue!!! Glad to see you on here! Great first post! ;)

[rosebud161616]

Well the light is finished and hung! I ended up using 2 meanwell dimmable drivers connected to potentiometers for dimming. I really like the 1:1:1 ratio of royal blues, cyans, and whites. Corals really pop under these lights! I'd estimate the color to be around 20k, or maybe slightly under. Very similar to a lot of T5 tanks I have seen.

I turned off the return pump and added a baffle to the sump. I couldn't get the water high enough in the sump for the bakpak skimmer and still leave enough room for the water that back siphons during a power outage.

I also added a short little baffle to the other side of the return. When the return pump turns back on, some of the sand in the overflow gets kicked up and drains into the sump. This mini chamber inside of the sump chamber will help to collect the sand and keep it out of pumps.

I started moving a couple of maxi minis in but they have moved into holes and you can't really see them yet.

I did get 17 mangroves off of ebay for $10! Here (http://cgi.ebay.com/15-Red-Mangrove-Seeds-Aquarium-Aquatic-Plant-Bonsai-/170593814129?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b82f0671) is the listing that I bought them from. He threw in 2 extras making it 17. The bad part is that the box was small enough to fit in the mailbox so the post man put them in there. There was no styro or heat pack so they sat out in the cold mailbox until we got home from work and found the box. They're looking a bit rough, but I'm hoping they come through.

I hope to keep getting things moved over and posting receipts. I also still need to rig up an ATO. If I was better with acrylic I would build a small tank for the ATO, but I don't trust my skills enough. I need to see what kind of tupperware containers I can find...

I took a walk around video of the tank, so enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH2bg13TauQ

[jolson10450]

Very nice!!

[Sula]

Okay so the mangrove volcano is definitely a very cool effect!

[iyachtuxivm]

Very nice! Cant wait to see it with corals.

[rosebud161616]

I have added a lot of stuff, but haven't taken pics yet. I wanted to update the thread with what I have so far. I promise to snap some pics soon!

Here is the current price list. I will upload a new image of this as I add more. I'm pretty close to the limit already!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/pricelist1.jpg

Now for the receipts:
Mr Coral:
The water was very cold on this order and the chalice and so-called setosa did not make it so I'm not including it in the list.:thumbsdown: They offered to give me credit on the next order so if I place another order I'll include those at that time.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/mrcoral.jpg

Cherry Corals:
I picked up the Blue Maxi Mini up from Cherry Corals at the Cincy swap but didn't get a receipt. So I'll have to count it as the whole total and not half off because they are a sponsor.

Phishy Business:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/phishy_orders.jpg

Coral Morphologic:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/CM_order.jpg

Tropicorium:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/tropicorium.jpg

Ebay:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/mangroves.jpg

Reef Systems:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/reef_systems.jpg

That leaves almost $85 left over. I feel like I have a ton of stuff but still have a ton of space to cover! I think another Mr Coral order might be in order. I could get another $160 worth of stuff which should get me another 16 frags from the $10 section. I'm hoping the stars will align and we'll get a warm week along with some good corals in the $10 section, leaving a nice warm shipment of beautiful corals.:propellerhead:

[Sir Patrick]

Love the video!

Cant wait to see it with coral!

[CalmSeasQuest]

Tank looks great Erika! (sounds quiet too :))

The Mangroves were a great decision. I've never seen an 1:1:1 LED combination using Cyan. I'm looking forward to seeing your coral coloration.

Beautiful build!

[nate_newton]

The tank looks great. Looking forward to seeing the corals in.

[creefer]

WOW...this really looks great, Erika!

[Heidi]

I am wanting a FTS from each side now that you have some coral up in there! Still loving this tank, GIRLPOWER! ;)

[rosebud161616]

I have pics taken but just haven't gotten around to editing them... Taking pics under LEDs (the blues especially) is not easy, so they need some color correction. We are leaving for Hawaii on Sunday, so we have been very busy getting read for that! If nothing else, I will get the pictures edited on the plane on Sunday.

On a side note, we have a big diatom bloom so I'm going through that ugly phase right now. Hopefully it will be all over with when we get home!

[Sir Patrick]

Ugly stage......the worst part of reefing.....

Hope it doesnt last long for ya!

[nate_newton]

How are the mangroves doing?

[rosebud161616]

Sorry for such a delay! We left for Hawaii and we ended up not even removing the laptop on the plane. The vacation was jam packed with stuff to do and then I ended up getting really sick when we got back. But I'm on the mend and finally have the pics that I took on 3/11 edited:

Black Sun Coral:
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/BlackSunCoral.jpg

A few of the Acans:
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/Acans.jpg

Dendro:
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/Dendro.jpg

Gatsby People Eaters:
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/GatsbyPEs.jpg

Lotus Eaters:
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/LotusEaters.jpg

Grandis:
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/Grandis.jpg

Ricordia Garden:
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/RicGarden.jpg
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/RicGardenL.jpg

FTS (I only took the main 2 sides at the time because that was really where the majority of the frags were)
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/FTS.jpg
http://www.kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/FTS2.jpg

Now I need to get a few more pics taken to see some of the progress!

[CalmSeasQuest]

Looks Great Erika! - I love that Black Sun.

[jolson10450]

very nice! are those cardinals? those look sweet!

[rosebud161616]

Now for some updates!

You may have noticed some fish in those pics above. A few days before we left for Hawaii I added 4 Orange Lined Cardinalfish from a Live Aquaria order. We had planned on actually having 6. The idea was to overstock the tank to minimize aggression. Unfortunately we had a ton of fish in this order die during shipping. Live Aquaria has given us a credit on the other 2 fish and we will be placing a new order for them (and the others that we lost) soon.

You may have also have noticed a large brown acro in the tank. I had that in another tank in low light and it was surviving but super browned out. We're on the list with the local reef club to borrow the par meter and test the lights, however I thought this acro would be a good test to see how the light is doing. I don't plan to keep it in here and that's why I don't have it on the list of livestock.

Since adding this acro and getting back from Hawaii it has started to get some green back to it, so I'm happy to say that I think the PAR levels from this light are adequate or on the high side!

Some bad news...

My sister-in-law stayed at the house to take care of the dogs and tanks while we were on vacation. 2 days into Hawaii we got a call from Emily saying that something was very wrong with the nano. Turns out there was a big storm the night before and we lost power temporarily. Unfortunately the return pump did not turn back on. I spent a good half hour with her walking her through taking the pump off, cleaning the impeller, and many other ways of trying to get the pump going. Unfortunately nothing she tried worked. We had her add a Koralia to the DT and let it go. :thumbs_down:

Kev (kev2me, my husband) got on his iphone and bought a new pump hoping it would get there right away. He didn't realize that he placed an order with a company in California and the pump wouldn't even get there until the day we got back. The water level dropped significantly (to the siphon break) in the tank so quite a bit of the rock at the top dried out. She did move any corals that were out of the water so that they would not die. She also was not sure where the top off level should be any longer. When we got home the Salinity was pretty low at 1.023. I think this happened gradually though and the tank for the most part seemed fine.

We got the new pump hooked up and the tank is running again. We had an ammonia spike for a couple of days due to the dying rock. We were doing 5 gallon water changes and adding Amquel+, but all seems to be right now. The only loss we seem to have had was with one of the cardinalfish. I'm not sure if this was due to the many problems, or aggression with the others. One way or another, the losses could have been much higher than they were.

As for some of the other inhabitants...

The maxi minis seem to like being behind the rock more than outside of the rock. One of the maxi minis finally came out of the rock while we were gone and I have been feeding it quite a bit hoping that it will learn that it should stay where it is to continue getting food. Another maxi moved along the top part of the back of a rock so you can see it when looking down on the tank. The other two are still back behind the rocks. I have added some rubble along the back/top area of the rock in hopes that it will block light from this area and force the maxis to come out of the front. So far no luck. :shrug:

The mangroves are doing OK. I'm seeing some roots on a few of them, but most of them are still slowly shriveling. The ebay guy said he would reship when the weather is warm enough of here and I plan to take him up on that.

Plans:

I have a little bit left in the budget for corals. I'm not sure what to add yet. I'm thinking some cheaper, faster growing corals that can take up some space might be good. Maybe some pulsing xenia or GSP. I will have to keep them in check if I go that route though.

I had also wanted to add an anemone shrimp or two, and a trimma goby, but they also did not make the live aquaria shipment. I think I might skip the trimma as this tank is pretty over stocked as is. I have a ghost pipe shrimp I would like to add out of my 37 if I can ever catch him. He would be so much easier to see in this tank!

[Sir Patrick]

Salinity drop- to 1.023, from evap, isnt bad at all!

Looking forward to your next update.

[Sir Patrick]

Salinity drop- to 1.023, from evap, isnt bad at all!

Looking forward to your next update.

[rosebud161616]

I picked up a few corals at the C-Sea Swap last weekend, so here are the receipts and an updated price list:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/c-sea_receipts.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/pricelist2.jpg

Pictures coming very soon! I cleaned off the glass yesterday and am hoping to take some more pics today!

I had a bit of an algae issue in here. I think it was due to several reasons:


Mangroves dying
GFO reactor clogged
Rock die off
Fish die off


I have since removed the mangroves that were obviously goners. They didn't smell so great. I have a few still in there and the replacements are on their way.

I cleaned up the GFO reactor. The sponges got super dirty which caused the water to only push around the sponge and not through the GFO.

We had a tiny cycle after getting the return pump back to functioning. The top of the rock had a lot of die off which I'm sure led to high nitrates. I did a very large water change and the rock is starting to get its color back.

I placed my replacement order with Live Aquaria and got my 2 cardinals that died in shipping the first time. Within 2 days they both died. I'm giving up on fish from Live Aquaria anymore. We're not having a good track record. We have 3 cardinals in there now. They have a 2 week guarantee so I will get my money back on those 2, however I think they added to the nutrient issue. Water change was done after this point.

Algae seems to be slowly disappearing!

[rosebud161616]

How about some pics? Just a few.... :D

First FTS:

For some reason I only took pics of the back 2 sides. I'll have to take some of the other 2.

Back Right. As you can see, I don't have much back here. That's my next priority on this tank.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/BackRightSide.jpg

Back Left. Slim on corals, but there are some!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/BackLeftSide.jpg

One of the many acans:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Acan.jpg

The "Black" acan that we got on Saturday:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/BlackAcan.jpg

The Blue Maxi has been peaking out. I hope he stays out!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/BlueMaxi.jpg

One of the Cardinals:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Cardinal.jpg

Our Blue/Teal Maxima Clam:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Clam.jpg

The Clove polyps. There are several new babies, but it took a hit during the mini cycle. They're coming back though:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Cloves.jpg

The Dendros having a snack:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Dendros.jpg

This is my favorite Acan:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/FavAcan.jpg

Gatsby People Eaters. This guy has put on quite a few polyps!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/GatsbyPE.jpg

The "Orange" Maxi we bought on Saturday. It looked super orange there, but is more green in this tank.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/GreenMaxi.jpg

The $5 multi zoa frag that we got on Saturday. They're common zoas, but add a lot of color and the price was right!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/MultiZoas.jpg

This mushroom is awesome. I got this guy from Mr. Coral for $10. I saw them at the swap going from $30+
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Mushroom.jpg

This maxi mini has been staying put out in the open and has turned out to be really awesome!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/RainbowMaxi.jpg

The Ric Garden
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/RicGarden.jpg

Close up of a couple of the rics:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Ric.jpg

The snake polyps that we got for $3! I don't know much about these, but they seem to be doing well.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/SnakePolyps.jpg

The Devil's Armors that we got on Saturday for $5 along with the rainbow maxi.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/TopDownDevilsArmor.jpg

Here is what is left of the mangroves:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Mangroves.jpg

As you can see, some of the mangroves are starting to grow roots. Some are still shriveling or just not doing anything, but some are making a little progress!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/MangroveRoots.jpg

That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed!

[Sula]

Very nice! I really think the ric garden is a nice effect!

[Sir Patrick]

That rainbow mini maxi is SWEET!

[Heidi]

Tank is looking great!! I love the black acans, very cool. Watching how your mangroves have done has been educational for me. I really wanted some at one point and almost bought those off ebay. I didn't and now I am thinking if I go that route I will try and find some plants with leaves and stuff. I always worry about "bare root" stuff. I have ordered a few plants for the yard that way and most didn't make it or took a LONG time to do much. Hope the next ones you get in do better for you! Regardless, I am loving this tank still!!

[rosebud161616]

Thanks guys! Chris, that rainbow maxi is my new favorite!


Tank is looking great!! I love the black acans, very cool. Watching how your mangroves have done has been educational for me. I really wanted some at one point and almost bought those off ebay. I didn't and now I am thinking if I go that route I will try and find some plants with leaves and stuff. I always worry about "bare root" stuff. I have ordered a few plants for the yard that way and most didn't make it or took a LONG time to do much. Hope the next ones you get in do better for you! Regardless, I am loving this tank still!!

Well mangroves are different. They can be grown in a wide range of different salinities and to change mangroves from one to salinity to the next has to be done VERY slowly or you risk killing them. It's best to get the mangroves as pods with no roots or leaves. They are the least sensitive at this time. The problem I had was not with getting them as pods, but with the fact that they were shipped from Hawaii to me (so took a week) with no insulation, no plastic keeping them moist, no tracking number, and they sat in my mailbox on a below freezing day until my husband got home from work. Mangroves just can't handle that cold.

I talked to the ebay guy again and he agreed to ship them once it was warmer. He reshipped on Monday and agreed to put them in a plastic bag to keep them moist and wrap them heavily in newspaper. Since it's much warmer now I think they should be OK. I also have a tracking number so that I can grab them as soon as the mail comes. My fingers are crossed!

[rosebud161616]

Well the mangroves came today. The tracking didn't really help much because it still says that it has left Honolulu and is in transit, but I happened to check the mail this morning because I had a feeling they might be in there. They were packaged much better. He wrapped the pods in a wet wash cloth, then in plastic, and in lots of envelopes for insulation. They look much better. And... he sent 20 more! So the top of my tank is packed full of mangroves at this point!

The weird part is a large portion of them look like this:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/plants.jpg

I'm not sure if this is a different type of mangrove. Or maybe this is how it grows from the tree? And then it drops out of that bulb like thing and drops to the ground? It almost seems like the roots grow out of the end that is not in the bulb and that the leaves grow from the bulb end. Anyone have experience with mangroves that look like this?

[rosebud161616]

I did some research and you may all find this interesting. The bulb in the picture is actually the seed that the tree grows. Then from the seed grows the pod. As the pod grows, it eventually detaches from the bulb and drops down to float in the water. The end that grows out of the seed first is the root end. That end is actually slightly heavier causing the pod to float in the water vertically. It floats in the water for the next month or so as it grows roots. The roots then get caught in various items in the water and gets stuck. That is where the tree then grows.

After a month or so the stem and leaves begin to form. The mangrove has the abillity to remove salt and expel it through the leaves. The rains wash away the salt (and minerals). This allows the mangroves to grow in any salinity.

The pods themselves can live out of water for up to a month. However once they begin to sprout, even the most minute of salinity changes can cause osmotic shock.

So, it looks like these pods may have been picked from the tree. From what I can find, these pods may or may not develop. I'm not overly concerned because I have more mangroves than I know what to do with at this point. As long as I get 10 pods that begin to root, I will be more than happy!

[Sir Patrick]

Cool info! I never knew any of this about mangroves.

[rosebud161616]

I took some of the longer mangrove out of the overflow and placed them in the tank since I noticed that they seem to do better completely submerged right after shipping. After reading what I did about mangroves, it makes perfect sense why this would be good for them. I stuck them all along the backside where I don't have many corals so that they would be out of the way of hitting any corals. I think I kind of like the look. The fish love to hide among them. Take a look and tell me what you think. Should I keep the mangroves along the backside or fill it in with coral?

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/MangroveSide.jpg

[CalmSeasQuest]

I like it Erika - All thats missing are some baby Bangaiis :)

[Sir Patrick]

Awesome looking mangrove garden! I like it also.

[Heidi]

I like this too! I think it will look pretty super cool once they get some roots the fish will love that! :)

[pjr]

Well we got a stand built! Our garage is not insulated, so the thought of going out there and building a stand was not high on my list. My husband and I set out to find another way to build the stand. That's when we came across a couple of cheapo end tables at walmart and I thought I could make a stand out two of them.

I flipped one over and then used 1/2"x2" boards to stabilize the legs. The whole thing is pretty sturdy and didn't take us super long to put together. The 1/2"x2" boards leave a 1/4" reveal where I can add some doors down the line.

Here's a shot of the end tables we bought:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Stand_01.jpg

We added a bit of shower pan liner to the bottom and I used to spray adhesive to keep it down. We have some stuff sitting on it while the adhesive dries, so ignore the mess....

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/Stand_02.jpg



how is that end table working out. Is this something like from Ikea or similar? I am going to set up a nano at work and I would like to make it look nie. And end table is a cool idea.... if it can support the weight!

[rosebud161616]

I like it Erika - All thats missing are some baby Bangaiis :)

Or some baby Orange Lined Cardinals? :fish2:


Awesome looking mangrove garden! I like it also.

Thanks! Sounds like it's a keeper!


I like this too! I think it will look pretty super cool once they get some roots the fish will love that! :)

Good point! Grow roots, grow!


how is that end table working out. Is this something like from Ikea or similar? I am going to set up a nano at work and I would like to make it look nie. And end table is a cool idea.... if it can support the weight!

It is very similar to what you would get at Ikea. They were more expensive at Walmart, but they were also the exact dimensions of my tank. The Ikea ones were slightly larger. Plus Ikea is about 100 miles away while Walmart is about 10. So, I went the Walmart route.

It doesn't seem to have any trouble with the weight. I think the big part here is the dimensional lumber that I used to sturdy the whole thing up. Without it, it would have just toppled over. I'll have to try to get a close up of the wood with a flash so you can see what I did.

I still plan on adding doors, but just haven't gotten around to it. I was thinking of laminating some plywood with zebra wood veneer. I haven't laminated before but after doing a ton of research, I really want to give it a shot!

[iyachtuxivm]

I like the mangroves like that.

[pjr]

....It is very similar to what you would get at Ikea. They were more expensive at Walmart, but they were also the exact dimensions of my tank. The Ikea ones were slightly larger. Plus Ikea is about 100 miles away while Walmart is about 10. So, I went the Walmart route.

It doesn't seem to have any trouble with the weight. I think the big part here is the dimensional lumber that I used to sturdy the whole thing up. Without it, it would have just toppled over. I'll have to try to get a close up of the wood with a flash so you can see what I did.

I still plan on adding doors, but just haven't gotten around to it. I was thinking of laminating some plywood with zebra wood veneer. I haven't laminated before but after doing a ton of research, I really want to give it a shot!

Thanks! Any extra info will help!!

[kev2me]

Should I keep the mangroves along the backside or fill it in with coral?

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/MangroveSide.jpg

Mangroves! :thumbsup:

[Sula]

I like it, looks a little like an underwater Stonehenge....or something....

[rosebud161616]

Mangroves! :thumbsup:

Thanks, husband! :)


I like it, looks a little like an underwater Stonehenge....or something....

Sue, you crack me up...:redneck:

[rosebud161616]

Just a quick random picture. I love this Mushroom! It seems to have really expanded quite a bit and settled in.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/mushroom2.jpg

[Sula]

I agree that's a cool little mushroom!

[rosebud161616]

How about another quick picture? My husband snapped this one last night:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-20-2011/Dendro.jpg

[rosebud161616]

I have a bit of bad news today. One of our orange lined cardinal committed suicide. I had read in quite a few places that these guys are not jumpers so I had thought they would be good for a rimless tank...

Well I'm down to 2 and these 2 seem to have paired up. I'm going to leave it at 2. It will be a smaller bioload on this small of a tank and I don't like to have gone through so many fish! On the bright side, maybe I'll get some baby orange lined cardinalfish at some point and raise back the ones I lost!

[MizTanks]

Sorry about your jumper. I plan on adding 2 to my tank also. A Flaming Prawn Goby would do wonderful in your tank. Your corals all look wonderful and healthy :)

[rosebud161616]

Well today was the WORC swap in Dayton, OH and I got some KILLER deals! I got a lot of cheap prices on stuff that was browned out and Free w/purchase items that were more rescue-type frags. Here are the receipts from today's swap:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/WORC_Receipt001.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/WORC_Receipt002.jpg

I ended up removing a few things to make room in my budget for my stuff.

I removed the bright green favia. It has bleached quite a bit and I really think it might just be too bright in the tank for it. I could not find a place where it is happy so I'm going to move it to my main tank and see if I can make it happier.

I also removed the 2 maxi minis that were not cooperating with location. I was able to get to them through some holes in the rock work. The red one had moved to the top of the rocks on the backside so he was relatively easy to get to. The orange one I could get to through a cave on one of the front sides. It wasn't easy but a little work with an ice cube and I was able to get them out.

Then here is my updated price list including everything from today:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/pricelist3.jpg

[rosebud161616]

I took a video of the tank tonight. Excuse the blurriness when I zoomed in. I didn't realize just how blurry everything was getting until I watched back the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A2pLZz0MtI

I took a ton of pictures that I will post as soon as I get them edited. More details to come along with the pics!

[rosebud161616]

Sorry for the delay in pictures. We went out of town for a wedding and I just didn't get the pictures edited until now. So, here are Friday's pictures:

First a few inhabitants:

I added an anemone crab a few weeks ago and he has loved hanging out with the two maxis on the front pane:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/Anemone_Crab.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/Anemone_Crab2.jpg

I also moved over my Ghost Pipe Shrimp from another tank quite a while back. I finally got a shot of him, even though it's pretty blurry:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/shrimp.jpg

I have a couple of turbos in there as well and here is one of them cleaning the mangroves:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/snail.jpg

And for some closeups:

The mangroves are really taking off now. Some of the originals are putting off leaves pretty quickly. The roots are growing like crazy. I think I will add more sand to the overflow now that there are more roots to hold the sand in place.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/mangrove2.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/mangrove.jpg

Tubbs Birdsnest. Notice the growth tips on it. It's starting to take off. I love birdsnests and how fast they grow. I can't wait for this guy to really grow in.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/Birdsnest.jpg

This maxi has really turned out super awesome and about doubled:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/Rainbow_Maxi.jpg

Blue Maxi. This guy has also grown a ton. I'm not exactly sure how big he is since he's always at least partially folded over. He sleeps inside the rock at night, then after the lights come on he expands out.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/blue_maxi.jpg

Orange/Green Maxi. This guy has grow some but not nearly as much as the other two. I think I may need to move the Gatsby PEs near him soon because he gets awfully close to them.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/green_maxi.jpg

This is my favorite acan in the tank and he has really taken off. He started as 2 polyps (or 1.5 polyps) and grown into a nice mini colony:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/acan.jpg

I got this browned out Acro colony the last swap. He has been a bit of a challenge but seems to be doing better! He started receding on the lower left hand corner, but has since stopped and even started encrusting back out. I'm starting to see some blue show up on him too. I have no idea what this guy is supposed to look like, but it's fun watching to find out!

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/brown_acro.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/brown_acro2.jpg

Here is the cyphastrea that I picked up at the last swap also. When I got him he was completely white with the red polyps. I'm happy to see some color coming back.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/cephastrea.jpg

I had little faith in this dendro when I first got him in the very cold Mr. Coral order, but he has turned out great!

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/dendro.jpg

This is the green digi frag I got at the last swap. On the backside he had a large white patch that almost looked like monti eating nudis. However the seller promised me that it fell into another coral and was not monti eating nudi damage. After a short amount of time he is encrusting over that patch and has really colored up.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/digi_green.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/digis.jpg

This is a very blurry pic of the Gatsby PEs but I really wanted to post it for the purpose of growth. These have really grown!

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/gatsby_PEs.jpg

The Grandis polyps have also done very well. I have been very surprised at the speed that they have grown. I have a colony in another tank and they just doubled in size after 2 years. In this tank I started with 2 polyps and 2 babies. The one baby melted right away, but I now have 3 adults and 2 babies.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/grandis.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/grandis2.jpg

At this last swap I had picked up a superman mushroom that is very similar to the green/orange mushroom I already have. I have been so surprised to watch it slowly split. I have never seen a mushroom split so slowly and it has been really cool to watch the progress. Here are the two mushrooms:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/superman_mush.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/green_mush.jpg

I picked up this cactus pavona at the last swap to add something different to the tank. I had no idea how long of sweepers it got at night! It's really fun to watch after lights out. It has also been a very fast grower. I see quite a bit of encrusting happening at the base for the little time it has been in the tank.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/pavona.jpg

My ric garden is still doing good. It loves to eat pellets! I have never gotten my florida rics to ever eat before, but these guys are pigs! So fun to watch!

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/rics.jpg

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/rics2.jpg

The setosa I got at the last swap is still doing good. I haven't seen much growth, but it's still looking good.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/setosa.jpg

These are the zoas I picked up several swaps ago to add some color. I don't think they have put on many polyps, but they look so much healthier than what they started with. Much bigger and I expect them to take off soon. Also in the pic is the elkhorn monti. I haven't seen much growth on him but he has more PE and color than he started with.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/zoas.jpg

Now for some full tank shots in order as you walk around the tank:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/FTS7.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/FTS5.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/FTS4.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/FTS6.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/FTS2.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/FTS.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/FTS3.jpg

That's it for the pictures! The only real changes I have made lately were to remove one of the free Mr. Coral acans (since I didn't use all the corals that I bought to get the Free acan) and the purple haze monti. The monti was receding quickly and then I found little white specks and got worried they might be monti eating nudis. I didn't want to risk it so they were removed.

I have had bryopsis really break out in this tank as I'm sure you can see in the videos and pictures. The blue acro I got at the swap is almost completely covered in it. I did pick up a lettuce nudibranch today so hopefully that should be taken care of shortly.

[rosebud161616]

Here are a few updated shots of the tank that have been taken over the last few weeks. I have yet to get a FTS. I will continue working on that...

Barnacle Blenny (added after contest ended)
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/BarnacleBlenny.jpg

Blue Maxi Mini
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/BlueMaxiMini.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/SexyBlueMaxiMini.jpg

Cloves:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/ClovePolyps.jpg

Dendro and Black Sun Coral. The sun coral spent a few months refusing to open or eat but we finally coaxed it back and is now pigging out and growing back.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/DendroSunCoral.jpg

Devils Armor
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/DevilsArmor.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/DevilsArmor.jpg

Grandis
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/Grandis.jpg

Green digi
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/GreenDigi.jpg

Mangroves
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/Mangroves.jpg

Lava Chalice (added after contest ended in an almost completely bleached state)
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/OrangeChalice.jpg

Porcelain Crab
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/PorcelainCrab.jpg

Sexy Shrimp in green/orange Maxi
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/SexyCrab.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/SexyShrimp.jpg

Tricolor acro
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/TriColor.jpg

Zoas
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/Zoas.jpg

Maxima Clam
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Clam.jpg

Coco Worm (added after contest -- birthday present from my mom)
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/CocoWorm.jpg

Elkhorn monti -REALLY taken off!
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Elkhorn.jpg

Rainbow Maxi Mini
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/RainbowMaxiMini.jpg

Setosa is really starting to take off
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Setosa.jpg

Orange Mushrooms:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/SupermanMushroom.jpg

Harlequin Shrimp (added after contest ended)
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/Harlequin_Shrimp.jpg

[rosebud161616]

Oooops here are a few more I forgot from today:

Birdsnest
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Birdsnest.jpg

Black Sun Coral
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/BlackSunCoral.jpg

Cactus Povona
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/CactusPavona.jpg

Deepwater Acro (maybe a lokani?) -- Added after contest
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/DeepwaterAcro.jpg

Mangroves
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Mangroves.jpg

Red Planet -- The tiny nub is finally starting to do something
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/RedPlanet.jpg

Orange Lined Cardinals -- The sand is really crapped up from all of the little bony bits that are left behind by the chocolate chip starfish after the harlequin shrimp is done. I need to find a way to sift these out of the sand...
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/OrangeLineCardinals.jpg

[rosebud161616]

And how about some comparisons?

Cactus Pavona
5/27/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/pavona.jpg
11/6/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/CactusPavona.jpg

Birdsnest
5/27/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/Birdsnest.jpg
11/6/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Birdsnest.jpg

Devil's Armor
4/13/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/TopDownDevilsArmor.jpg
11/6/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/DevilsArmor.jpg

Elkhorn Monti
5/27/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/zoas.jpg
11/6/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Elkhorn.jpg

Mangroves
4/13/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/Mangroves.jpg
11/6/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Mangroves.jpg

Setosa
5/27/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/setosa.jpg
11/6/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/Setosa.jpg

Orange Mushroom
5/27/11- in the middle of spiltting
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/superman_mush.jpg
11/6/11 - now spit in 2
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/SupermanMushroom.jpg

Grandis
3/11/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/03-11-2011/Grandis.jpg
10/19/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/Grandis.jpg

Green Digi
5/27/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/05-27-2011/digis.jpg
10/19/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/GreenDigi.jpg

Zoas
4/13/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/04-13-2011/MultiZoas.jpg
10/19/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/10-19-2011/Zoas.jpg

Deepwater Acro
This was not in this tank during the contest. I got it over a year ago as a pale colored deepwater acro of some sort. It has receded and grown back many times, but never done much of anything for me. I put him in this tank when we broke down the tank he was in previously and it is all of a sudden so happy. The color has completely changed from a very pale green (pretty much white) to a much nicer deep green with bright green polyps

This is the shot that I purchased the frag from on 9/6/10
http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/rr33/szwabinsky/Ice-blue.jpg
11/6/11
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/DeepwaterAcro.jpg

[jimsflies]

Wow! Thanks for the update...you definitely earned the crown!

How many maxi minis do you have? Any issues with fish disappearing?

---------- Post added at 08:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:33 PM ----------

Wow! Thanks for the update...you definitely earned the crown!

How many maxi minis do you have? Any issues with fish disappearing?

[rcombs]

sweetest DIY build i have seen. love how the mangroves are incorporated in it. props on this.

[rosebud161616]

Wow! Thanks for the update...you definitely earned the crown!

How many maxi minis do you have? Any issues with fish disappearing?[COLOR="Silver"]



Thanks Jim! 5 maxi minis in there before tonight. I actually just took 2 out tonight to split and then they will go back in. One of which was the blue one, he had gotten GIANT!

No fish have disappeared so far *fingers crossed* but I have seen gashes in the orange lined cardinals. I think they have brushed up against them from time to time and they end up with burns. You can kind of see it on the side of the fish in the back right of this:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build/11-06-2011/OrangeLineCardinals.jpg

I keep going back and forth on them. I love the maxis but I would also love some blue striped pipfish in here... I don't have any other tank I'm willing to risk maxis in though, so for now they live in here.


sweetest DIY build i have seen. love how the mangroves are incorporated in it. props on this.

Thank you so much! The mangroves have grown amazingly fast for me for some reason. I'm not sure if it's because all of the water that goes through that area or just because of higher nutrients, but I'm starting to worry about them getting too big! We went out to the local coral farm just recently and I noticed that ours are now larger than theirs that they have been growing for over 2 years! Right now I'm just not thinking about them getting too big and enjoying them. :propellerhead:

[2pairs]

WOW!
Your tank has come a long way, looks great.