pjr's new nano build thread

[pjr]

Here's new tank thread......The story to follow. ...

[pjr]

My goal of the project was to set up a larger nano at the office than my 12g JBJ. I have had some interest in rimless-style tanks, but really don't have any desire to take down my big tank at home.... so, what not put two good goals together into one project!

First, the tank.... I already had one! As you can see below, it's a "rimless" tank.... a turtle tank! I purchased it a few years back for frag swaps, but only used it one or twice. It's in pristine shape, so, a good starting point.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130111_211925_zpsa13f6fb5.jpg

---------- Post added at 10:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 PM ----------

Next, a stand..... at the Fall 2012 frag swap at the VFW hall in Plymouth, I was able to trade a frag for an unfinished stand. Great! Except..... for some reason, I thought it was an 18x18 footprint, but it was in fact 24x24.... too big for my office, and a bit too tall as well.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20121227_193052_zps7f1d3023.jpg

[pjr]

So, since that swap two months ago, been considering a number of options. From everything to do nothing and kill the project, to buy a stand, or have one custom built...... until about 10 days ago: why not take this stand apart, and rebuild it to the desired dimensions?

So, it began: new year's day....

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20121230_170151_zpsdad70fda.jpg

Same stand, now in many pieces! One of my team members at work offered to cut the pieces to the right length. The top and bottom were reduced 6 inches on each side to create the 18x18 footprint, and each leg was lowered 4 inches as well.

Tonight, reassembly began:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130111_195506_zpsbb71008e.jpg

More to come....

[pjr]

A quick ps..... despite 20 years of reefing, I have never built a stand before. .. so this is a first try (and hopefully with good outcomes)....

[MizTanks]

Subscribed! Good luck pjr!! :)

[pjr]

Thx Miz!

So, we have a stand frame:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130112_230057_zps346f246e.jpg

However, not sure how to handle the door. I thought I could order one from Home Depot, but they no longer offer them. They told me to buy an entire one of their unfinished cabinets, and just take off the door and use it. They only cost about $40 but it seems like a waste.

I did get some 3/4 oak to skin the stand. More to come.....

[Tom@HaslettMI]

That's going to make a nice unique reef. I especially like the bottom trim/feet.

How many gallons is it?

Tom

[pjr]

Thanks! I put the specs into the calculator last week and it came up with 16.8 gallons. ...

[pjr]

More progress.... now doing some "Load testing" work...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130113_231330.jpg

[Tom@HaslettMI]

More progress.... now doing some "Load testing" work...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130113_231330.jpg

Talk about throwing everything and the kitchen sink into the project...:big_grin:

Looks good.
Tom

[MizTanks]

Talk about throwing everything and the kitchen sink into the project...:big_grin:

Looks good.
Tom

No you didn't say that!?! Lol

[pjr]

Lol he sure did! !!!

[Tom@HaslettMI]

No you didn't say that!?! Lol

Yup. I simply could not help myself.

Back on topic... What type of finish are you going to put on the stand?

[pjr]

Not sure on the finish. Thought about a natural oak, but nobody really does much of that anymore (even thought i really like it). Rest of my office is a reddish oak to mahogony. it'll be in the corner so i probably could make anythink work. Talk me into something!!

Thought about something crazy. Like the natural oak with stainless steel or bronze mouldings.

[MizTanks]

Love the bronze/mahogany idea myself :)

[pjr]

Played with stains tonight... From bottom to top, three MinWax products I had laying around:


Red Mahogany
Mahogany
Bombay Mahogany with Poly


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130115_201306.jpg

The color of the Bombay is very close to my office furniture. It just didn't seem to go on very well.... maybe it's the poly in it? Been a long time since I stained anything, but yeah, the color seems a bit blotchy. Maybe it's just me...


Put in a few screws tonight. Tomorrow is bowling night; Thursday we have a sale at Home Depot, so I'll but the cabinet and just pirate off the door (geez what a waste). I hope to mount the door and trim and finish assembly.

[MizTanks]

The Mahogany and B Mahogany look to much alike to me. I really like the Red but then it has to match with your office furniture. How about a Santo Domingo?Upper right?
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/16/u6y3agav.jpg

[pjr]

My work wife doesn't like the red colors at all. Yes dear. .. May be the bottom color after all...

[MizTanks]

My work wife doesn't like the red colors at all. Yes dear. .. May be the bottom color after all...

I tried :) lol

[pjr]

Been crazed at work. ... I owe an update. Stand finished. Stain however did not go well. color was darker than expected and very blotchy. Would up painting stand. Will provide pics soon! !

[CalmSeasQuest]

Interesting tank Pat - Looking forward to seeing what you do with it :)

[pjr]

Ok... here's the part where we skip ahead to the end! :-)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130129_095225_zpse2abdad5.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130129_132212_zps0cf2bebd.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130129_095330_zpse79e9b41.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130129_132323_zpsae1e1cf7.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130129_095349_zps812216d5.jpg

[pjr]

Pics are from my test phone (Samsung Note II).

Introducing PJR's rimless, low profile, top down, beer budget, office nano!


All rock was transferred from my old JBJ 12g nano... which were extra pieces from either my big tank or from pjr-ette's reef. Livestock was transferred as well:


The teal & gold acan echinata was a 2" frag 18 months ago; now it's very large and thriving!
The smaller Orange acan echinata came from recent frag swap ($20 Cherry Corals).
The RBTA is about a year old. Hope it splits soon!
The zoa rock i created about a month ago; they are a few frags left from frags of the 2012 zoa contest, plus one given to me by a friend. There's a mini colony of another zoa (from contest) and a orange bam-bam rock that I had in the big tank until a year ago.
Fish is a damsel that was sent here to solitary confinement as result of picking on other fish in a friend's tank.
Leather came from frag dropped by colony in my big tank, added to the JBJ about 2 months ago.
filter is a all-in-one UV sterilizer with the bulb removed and replaced by filter material. Too big... Will go soon.
Skimmer coming soon.

[CalmSeasQuest]

Wow - That was fast! Nice job :)

[pjr]

Greetings all! Thought I would provide a quick update. People at work are really fascinated with the tank. The ability to "look into" the shallow rimless open and tank is very cool.

We are still tweaking hardware:


The heater has been replaced with a smaller one. Better visually!
The attempt to re-purpose the in-tank UV into a filter has not gone well. I really need something that does surface skimming.
So, I replaced the unit with an smaller aquaclear and a snap -on micron filter, but it was too much flow and made the RBTA very unhappy. More failure.
The AQ/Micron is now on pjr-ette's Breeder 50 and doing a fine job. In the meantime, the pump has been removed from the body of the UV and is providing the tank with flow.
I am building a surface skimming box this weekend.


In terms of livestock, I am thinking of making this a goby-focused tank. That would be VERY different! I am also thinking about adding plate corals, something that I have not tried in the past. Again, something different. in the meantime, the only purchased livestock added to the setup was that acan echinate frag. Everything else came from the smaller nano or my big reef at home.

More to come!

[pjr]

Some success! A little creativity and the beer budget nano chugs along.


I purchased a surface skimmer box designed for the famous CPR BakPak hang-on skimmers from ReefGeek ($9.95 closeout).
A dremel was used to open up a hole big enough to accept the output from a MaxiJet 600 powerhead that was added to the order. Also had to shorten the output tube in order to fit inside the CPR box.
The CPR box is rigidly held to the back of the tank via an Algae Free 100 magnet ($19.95 closeout at ReefGeek). These are designed to attach to Tunze and MaxiJet pumps but holds the box beautifully without any brackets.


Viola! We have surface skimming!

Also added some livestock:


A sweet yellow ricordia colony from Reef Solutions ($60)
Another rainbow ricordia that was purchased a month ago for pjr-ette's tank from the Trop, but now is coming aboard the nano ($40).
Also adding a purple something.... got it from Mike Z in a trade (go figure, a trade from Mike Z) about a year ago. He thought is was a mini-maxi, but it could be a rhodidactus. Anyway, I put it in pjr-ette's tank, and now there is about a dozen covering a frag rack. Peeled off one tonite, and in the nano it goes ($0).



Pictures to come soon!


Livestock total:

Livestock total up to $120 in purchases (the rics and a small acan echinata).
Leather & mini-maxi are frags from other 2 tanks ($5 market price each).
Large Acan Echinata, big RBTA, misc zoas frags, all grown out in prior nano. Cost of $40, $30, $40 respectively.
Bam Bam zoa rock taken from nano via other tanks, purchased years ago for $20.
Damsel given to me because he was a bully.


Total corals =$260.

[pjr]

P.S. Also, a surprise: about two weeks before I broke down the old nano, I added a good-sized peppermint shrimp. He went into the rock and was never seen again. The assumption was that the damsel ate him.... but 10 days after bringing over the rock to the new tank, he made himself known! Still very shy, he emerges partially throughout the day to amaze the work crew. By the way, no aptasia to be found.. Sweet!

[pjr]

Pics:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/DSC_0088_zpsaf56f23d.jpg

This shot provides a better sense of the DIY filter box. I really am pleased on how it came together!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/DSC_0124_zpsda3c461f.jpg

Full Frontal:

(P.S. Added a thick SPS coral skeleton today next to the box. Th branches diverts the output from the pump around the tank so it's not just one solid single blast of water.)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/DSC_0107_zpsf787247d.jpg


Nem:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/DSC_0100_zps37ccf2b6.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/DSC_0098_zpsa4667208.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/DSC_0126_zps9eee0111.jpg

[pjr]

Tank continues to rock! It's really a captivating little tank. A few reefers who have seen it live are amazed at the color. The led lights are doing a great job and the diy filter is keeping the water clean. A new pic below:

Mobile Photobucket (http://m2.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130226_160553_zpsef748d25.jpg.html?o=0)

[pjr]

Well, the tank is still up. Some things going well, some are not.

The good: livestock continues to rock on. The ricordia are thriving and growing. I added two more polyps in Ann Arbor, one from the Blue Glow and one from another vendor. The existing ones are doing well, as are the rest of the coral. I also added a Rainbow mushroom frag in AA from Mr Coral. Also put in a big frag of Hollywood Stunner from my big tank.

The tank really exudes color! ! And the RBTA is expanded and happy, loving the gentle flow from my diy filter box. People who are total non-reefer folks are coming by on a steady basis to check out the tank. .. same folks had no interest in the prior office setup. It's been a trip!

The bad: I got bubble algae. Bad. Ugh! I got to get in there and start pulling it out of there. Also been some diatom...not too bad, but the tank is super easy to clean.

Pics coming!

[pjr]

Front pics:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130405_155717_zpsaffed08a.jpg


Ricordia section:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130405_155809_zpsf8456431.jpg

The majority of the zoas are in here... growing really well, but the PITA bubble algae! Ugh....

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/c4e6f8c5-307d-42d0-b6b2-d8f3671dae73_zpsea20730d.jpg

Acan echinatas; not really a great pic, the color is too blue. The large one used to be the size of the smaller one!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/Aquaria/2013%20nano/20130405_160107_zps1df16b7e.jpg

[pjr]

Tank is doing ok, I have solved the bubble algae issue but now dealing with cyanobacteria. Reality is that I need to add a skimmer. Corals and the one fish are good. Here's a tank video:

http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/20130511_134342_zps8c39a889.mp4

[MizTanks]

Tank is doing ok, I have solved the bubble algae issue but now dealing with cyanobacteria. Reality is that I need to add a skimmer. Corals and the one fish are good. Here's a tank video:

http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/pjr300/20130511_134342_zps8c39a889.mp4

I didn't notice in the video, what are you doing for flow? Love that LED unit :) Tank looks great pjr :)


Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

[pjr]

I didn't notice in the video, what are you doing for flow? Love that LED unit :) Tank looks great pjr :)



Thanks for the kind words! The flow solution was a nifty (if I say so myself) DIY solution...

It uses a surface skimmer box for the CPR BakPak hang-on skimmers. The CPR box is rigidly held to the back of the tank via an Algae Free 100 magnet. I installed a MaxiJet 600 powerhead inside the box; does a nice job with surface skimming!

[jimsflies]

Great job Pat!

[pjr]

Thx jim! I made a change this weekend... the tank is no longer an 8 gallon... it is now a 10 g cube!! I accomplished this magic by filling the former turtle tank higher to the top. I also removed the reins from the power head, which created too much flow with only 8g in the tank. This was done to help throttle back the cyanobacteria issue... and so far, it has helped quite a bit!