pjr's new nano build thread

[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! :-)

[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:



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



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.)




Nem:

[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

[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!