My nano entry

[jlscrug]

We have been moving into our new house for the past week and still have boxes here and there but today I decided to start up my tank...what a LOOOONG day. I actually started yesterday by siliconing in the overflow and corner pieces...which. to my disappointment, were not the correct size but I have waited long enough for them so, with a bit of modification I believe they will save a little room in the tank for more important things. I have alot of pictures to upload but due to two brand new Mag pumps spewing water I am now spent and agitated so off to bed I go. Hopefully HD or Lowes has thicker rubber O-rings than come with the Mag pumps and I will be off the 'crutches' by tomorrow afternoon...and have some great pics to share

[jlscrug]

Picture 1 - I measured and relayed all my acrylic parts on the inside dimentions...what I received was the exact measurements on the outside dimentions. I probably could have waited and had them remade but I decided to work with it. I notched out the bottoms of all three pieces so that they would fit over the bulkheads. Actually, as they are, they save me some valuable space inside the aquarium so looking back on it, it was a good thing that I did not get exactly what I thought I wanted.

Picture 2 - Starboard cut out to accept corner acrylic piece.

Picture 3 - Starboard cut out to accept overflow.

Picture 4 - Since my overflow was made a little small, I had to cut down my durso to make it fit inside without binding. I simply took a saw and cut off about 1/4" on both the 'T' and the elbow. This wound up making the durso 1/2" smaller in width and now fits nicely inside the overflow...once again, saving a little space inside the aquarium.

Picture 5 - Durso put together after the modification.

[jlscrug]

Another little hiccup came from the Mag pumps. Both of them spewed water out from between the pump body and where the import/export manifolds screw on, and in both cases, the leak came out just behind the export. I wanted to take the old rubber O-rings out and replace them with a thicker version, but after spending an hour in the plumbing dept. of HD, I decided that the best option would be to use silicone. Here are the steps to leak proofing a Mag. Remove manifold. Clean both sides thoroughly with alcohol. Apply a thin layer of silicone around the outer edge of the manifold. Reattach. There will be a thin layer of extruded silicone that should be just barely visible all the way around the manifold. If you use too much silicone, it will ooze over into the path of the impeller and render your pump useless...unless you need an extra heater They should be allowed to dry for 24 hours...I couldn't wait that long to test it so I hooked it up to 'in' water and plugged the 'out' port with my thumb. Once I was convinced there were no leaks, I unplugged it, drained the water, and I will let it continue to cure for the reminder of the 24 hours. Both pumps should be going tomorrow night. In the meantime, I have the tank running with MJs.

[jlscrug]

Pictures 1 and 2 - This is what the tank looks like with all the acrylic in place. The siliconing process to get them in place was a pain but after about an hour, it was worth the trouble.

Picture 3 - I decided to give these little things a try. My last nano was pain in the neck and back to move around. I put these little babies on (note the package says they will move 3000 pounds) and filled the tank. These particular sliders were the largest surface area I could find and they work very well. I would recommend doing this to all small tanks.

Picture 4 and 5 - Some shots of the preliminary plumbing. It has more fasteners and screws than Forrest Gump's 'Magic Legs'. After these were taken, I had to pull the pumps out to fix the leaks and I have reconfigured the plumbing. To begin with, the 1/2' hose is inside diameter and is a HUGE pain to get on the fittings. One little trick I read on TRT is to heat up water and dip the end to be fitted in the hot water for a few seconds. This works pretty well but still is a major problem. One of the other issues I had with the flexible hose is that the wall of it is so thin, the hose tries to kink and this cuts off the flow...another major issue to hurdle. While perusing the plumbing section today I found some 5/8" inside diameter hose. I STILL had to heat it in water to get it on but the wall thickness of the hose it twice that of the 1/2" and it does not kink itself closed...or well, it hasn't yet. One more point of interest is that when the hoses are heated, only the very end should be immersed in water. The heating alters the composition of the vinyl and makes the hose VERY flexible (read very likely to pinch itself closed in the future).

[jlscrug]

Pictures 1 and 2 - PFO said that my pendant could not be screwed directly to my hood as it needs some space between to dissipate heat. I found these little spacers at Lowes, perfect for the application. They allow a one inch space between the top of the pendant and the hood.

Picture 3 - As you can see there was alot of pre-planning to make sure everything fit in this hood. Not alot of room left over for anything.

Picture 4 - The temperature probe for the Ice Cap fan. I bought these little wire clasp at HD. They are a cheap way to tidy up the wiring. I still have to go back and get some that will fit the diameter of the wire going to the pendant. In addition, I was sure to get the stainless steel screws so that I would not have corrosion issues down the road.

Picture 5 - What you see when the door is opened. The ballast box fit nicely on the shelf but until I can find a little clip on fan to blow on it I am leaving the door open. The skimmer dropped in nicely also.

There is still alot left to be done. I hope to get the plumbing fixed, the wires, secured, and the auto top off in place in the next week.

[dobejazz]

Great progress ! on top of moving into a new home. Thats great work

[gamerunr]

Looks like everything is prrogressing nicely, You'll be ready for water in no time. Good Luck!

[Casey]

[wharyat]

Excellent!

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by jlscrug

...One of the other issues I had with the flexible hose is that the wall of it is so thin, the hose tries to kink and this cuts off the flow...another major issue to hurdle. While perusing the plumbing section today I found some 5/8" inside diameter hose. I STILL had to heat it in water to get it on but the wall thickness of the hose it twice that of the 1/2" and it does not kink itself closed...or well, it hasn't yet...

Buy the nylon-reinforced hoses to prevent (or at least, reduce) the likelihood that the flexhose will kink closed. Even better is to use spaflex PVC, but in tight spaces it is a bear to handle.


The tank is looking awesome! I can't wait to see it for real with critters!

[theplatypus]

Looks good

[jlscrug]

Thanks everyone! Tom, I took a LOOONG look at the spaflex but as you mentioned...I have very little room to work with here, especially after I put in the water reservoir, kalk reactor, and auto top off pump...

Well, it is up an running and very noisy Several little issues to work out here:
1. About 1/3 of my corals bleached after I added them
2. Pump vibrations are almost as loud as my snoring wife
3. Overflow is loud...I stopped some of the gurgling/bubbling by drilling two small air vent holes in the pipe just above sump water line.
4. Not nearly the amount of flow that I expected...don't think the current pumps will put me in the low maintainence category of bare bottom tanks...will have to upgrade mag 7 return pump to mag??? remove mag 5 from CLC and replace with mag 7 from return...maybe this will get the poo flying.
5. Need a fan to blow on ballast box inside stand
6. Water line is about 5/8" below hood...suppose I need to silicone in some thin acrylic behind the holes in the overflow to raise it up a little.
7. Skimmer has gone nuts...I am sure it is the 'newness' of the tank but my lordy at all the bubbles and complete lack of skimmate...

...I feel just like Clark W. Griswold in Christmas vacation when he plugged in all the lights on the house...expecting all that hard work to render a joyous and triumphant climatic moment equal to none other...but instead getting the realization that there is ALOT of troubleshooting ahead and this little jewel is far from being polished...

...going to sleep so my internal monologue can be free of the plague of enigmas...

[tdwyatt]

I know where John will be in a few weeks... Scouting out the BBQ pit location...

[gamerunr]

A couple quick suggestions to the start up problems, put a piece of mouse pad under the mag pump to help with the vibration noise. Regarding the bleaching, cut your hours way back (to 4 hrs daily) to help with the new lighting acclimation and bump them up 1 hour per week to help with light acclimation. In my previous tank I went oversized with the pvc used for my durso. I had 1 1/2" bulkheads, but used 2" pvc for durso. Also by making the main pipe to the durso taller it will raise the water level in the tank to help you raise water level in the tank. Hope this helps, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if I can be of any assistance. We both know that I am indebted to you for past services rendered.

[jlscrug]

Bill,
Unfortunately I have lost all of my corals except for a zoanthid frag, the gold crown sarco you gave me, an acan, a hydnophora, and a fungia plate...everything else is gone...be glad I shipped yours before I moved The lighting, rock, salt, heater, etc. is the exact same as it was before I moved. In retrospect, I believe that they got too cold in the move and I probably did not give them enough time to acclimate before I added them. Once a few started to die, the snowball effect took over...maybe..
The only other thing I can guess is that there was some sort of toxin...maybe the silicone was not fully dry and there is a toxin in uncured silicone...I will probably never know for sure...

I have given a couple people frags of the neon sarco so hopefully when theirs grow up a little I can get a frag back, if not, I may be forking over another $144 in shipping to get one from you I will try the mouse pad thing though...be my luck something in it would be toxic