Rosebud161616's Wall Aquarium

[rosebud161616]

Well with my recent acceptance of a position in Cincinnati, I didn't think I would be able to do this contest. However, my husband and I received this tank as a Christmas present and I thought this would make for a fun tank that could be easily moved when the time comes. So... my contest entry.

I believe this tank is 2.2 gallons. I have seen these tanks sold online previously and thought how cruel they were for fish. But when we opened the box and saw it, my wheels instantly started turning with what could be done with this tank.

Here is the front of the tank:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Aquarium01.jpg

Back:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Mounting01.jpg

Top:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Aquarium02.jpg

The background could easily be removed and replaced by removing the screws on the mounting hardware:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Mounting02.jpg

The tank comes with a really cute little filter for the inside:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Pump01.jpg

The filter part pops off of a little 55GPH pump:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Pump02.jpg

The bottom of the filter area pops off to show a sponge:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Pump03.jpg

The other side has another compartment that holds a tiny bag of carbon. I figure I could put GFO in here instead:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Pump04.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Pump05.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Pump06.jpg

The filter also comes with both a spray bar and a venturi. The tank isn't quite wide enough for the spraybar to fit to spray over the length of the tank, so I'm not quite sure why it would be used. I don't think I'll use either, just the filter spraying along the length of the tank.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/SprayBar_Venturi.jpg

The unit comes with a little undercabinet lighting fixture. I plan to build a little strip of LEDs for this instead:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Light.jpg

It also came with a fish net, gravel cleaner with siphon starter, and a grabber:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Accessories.jpg

It has a glass top also, but as you can see it doesn't cover the entire top. I didn't unwrap it because I figure I'll use a small screentop instead.
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Top.jpg

And finally the mounting hardware:
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Hardware.jpg

Overall I'm pretty impressed with this little tank. It is really well built and they really put a lot of thought into what all to include. The glass is plenty thick and has extra supports that really aren't necessary. The acrylic is really just a cover for the tank but is very thick!

And for my plan for this tank:

I'm not exactly sure how I will stock it, but I won't have a lot of money with trying to move to be able to get new stock. I think instead, I'll probably make this an anemone tank and move over a lot of the maxi minis that I have. I'll probably stock it with small inverts like sexy shrimp, anemone shrimp, etc.

Now to find a spot on the wall to mount this thing and get it cycling!

[larryandlaura]

Neat little tank!

[sinistervato]

cant wait to see that running

[rosebud161616]

cant wait to see that running

Thanks! Hopefully this contest takes off and I can get it running. I'm going to wait until it's official whether it's happening or not.

You guys still in Ohio? Thought you would be in Florida by now doing a little :snorkel: rather than enjoying all this lovely Midwest weather...

[MizTanks]

That is just to dang sweet! Never seen one before :)

[nate_newton]

Is there talk of an official contest this year?
edit: found the thread, barely saw the side link

[sinistervato]

yeah we are still in ohio for awhile she graduates in may so we have a bit of time of the great weather lol.

[rosebud161616]

Now that this contest is a go, I'll be mounting and filling this tank this weekend!

[rosebud161616]

I finally got this tank mounted! It was a little more difficult than it looked, but it's up! Here's a short little video I took. You can see that this tiny little pump really puts off a lot of flow in this tiny little tank. And it's mostly hidden by the frame. I think I'll need to stick a small heater in here also.


http://youtu.be/k44rJp5xdFI

And to make things official:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Thanks.jpg

I'm still debating how to stock this. I plan to stop by the local reef farm this weekend and get a couple lbs of live sand. The plan was to get some small rubble and do mainly maxi mini and miscellaneous inverts that would be found in an anemone, but I'm still up in the air. I feel like it might get kind of boring after a while. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any!

[thepanfish]

Are you planning on a skimmer like a slim-skim nano or something? What about lighting?

[rosebud161616]

No skimmer plans. I want to try to keep this clean and simple. I'll make a small strip of leds for it. I'm thinking 6-8 with no optics and a ratio of 1:1:1 royal blue:blue:white.

[rosebud161616]

Well I played around with some rock last night and came up with a bonsai style tree. It's really hard to scape in this tiny little tank! I wanted to make the left branch go out further, but I couldn't go much further and still fit it in the tank because of the glass bracing.

I used super glue (quite a bit of it) to glue a bunch of rocks together that were about the size of a quarter for the branches. It's incredibly light rock since it's mainly pukani pieces with a tiny bit of fiji. When I first put it in, the flow kept blowing it over. Now that the air has crept out of the rocks, it's staying put a little better.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Aquascape.jpg

So I think I'll go with a more mixed reef now rather than just anemones. I think I'll do GSP on the bottom of the tank rather than sand so it kind of looks like grass. I'll have to start being on the look out at upcoming swaps to pick up some GSP, because the price on the rule list is very expensive. I normally get a 2x2 square at swaps for $5-10. That price per the price list would make that $40!!!

[jimsflies]

What are the inside dimensions of the tank?

Wonder if that alternative reef reef shelf that Kev just won would work in there?

[rosebud161616]

What are the inside dimensions of the tank?

Wonder if that alternative reef reef shelf that Kev just won would work in there?

Tiny! :) I'll have to measure it to see, but it's really not much. Maybe 3"?

I would love to use a shelf like that, but I can't get behind the tank to put the magnet in there even if the inside part did fit. It's completely bolted to the wall. I swear the house could fall down around this tank, but the tank would still be standing with the way it's built and secured!

It has crossed my mind to remove the glass bracing at the top/inside and then I would have plenty of room to make the rock as wide as I wanted...

[rosebud161616]

What are the inside dimensions of the tank?

Wonder if that alternative reef reef shelf that Kev just won would work in there?

I measured it tonight and the inside is right at 3".

[CalmSeasQuest]

The Bonsai aquascape looks Great Erika!

[rosebud161616]

The Bonsai aquascape looks Great Erika!
Thanks, Tom! I'm still debating if I want to do more with it or leave it. I will probably just leave it because now it's a lot of work to get it out of the tank, dry it, and add more to it...

[Synergy]

Wow, great mind think alike. We must have been using the same tank for inspiration, the one with the torch corals right? Should be really interesting to see how the two tanks differ, given the big difference in dimensions. What corals are you planning to put in the tree?

Scape looks great by the way. I had a similar problem with the tree tipping over, so I added some branches to balance it out. I'm really excited to see if we will be able to get the grass look. I searched quite a bit for a picture that shows a tank with the bottom completely covered in GSP but wasn't able to find one, seems like most people don't get that far.

Cant wait to see what you do with it!

[rosebud161616]

Wow, great mind think alike. We must have been using the same tank for inspiration, the one with the torch corals right? Should be really interesting to see how the two tanks differ, given the big difference in dimensions. What corals are you planning to put in the tree?

Scape looks great by the way. I had a similar problem with the tree tipping over, so I added some branches to balance it out. I'm really excited to see if we will be able to get the grass look. I searched quite a bit for a picture that shows a tank with the bottom completely covered in GSP but wasn't able to find one, seems like most people don't get that far.

Cant wait to see what you do with it!

Great minds DO think alike! :redneck:

Yep same inspiration tank! I haven't decided on what corals to put on the tree yet. I was thinking maybe some digis, a tiny bit of silvertip xenia (would really need to keep this in check), maybe frogspawn for movement, and some zoas to make the tree sort of look in bloom? I don't have any real plan, it's all just kind of coming together as it happens!

It would be really cool if we could get the bottoms completely covered! I have never seen one completely covered either and I think it would be a really cool effect!

[MizTanks]

Dang for some reason I'm not getting the images :(

[rosebud161616]

Hmmm anyone else having problems? They appear for me... What do you see Jamie? Black space? Red X?

[rosebud161616]

Well I have been cycling every since the rockwork went in on 1/12. Here's where I'm at:

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/Nano_Build_2012/Cycling.jpg

Worst part is waiting...

[Badfish]

According to Mr. Tom Petty, The waiting is the hardest part.

[jimsflies]

Done cycling yet Erika?

[rosebud161616]

That I am! We're headed to a swap this weekend where I have some good stuff preorded. I still need to get a light built for this. I have not had any freetime while in Cbus to get this built. I might have to use a different light temporarily until I can get the LEDs built.