Reef Noob's 5.5 Nano

[reef_noob]

Hi all, so here's my plan.

Edit: most of this plan has changed...see below.

In the spirit of full disclosure:

I have a currently set up 5.5 aga nano which has been running for @ 1 month with some live rock and a couple small soft frags. I will be tearing this down and leaving it free of water for at least a week. The live rock will be placed in my primary tank for that week. At that point, I will be taking the live rock which was in the nano along with a bit more rock and re aquascaping it in the 5.5 which I will be drilling to accomodate a cls. I will post dated pictures showing the nano in its current incarnation, its empty week, and of course, its progress in the buildoff.

The buildoff plan:

I will be doing this on the cheap, and will be using a lot of diy ingenuity.

Flow:

I plan on building a switching cls similar to melev's (see here). it will be plumbed with 1/2" pvc and powered by a mag(5 I think). Instead of an over the top, the cls will be drilled directly into the tank.

In addition I will be using a hob power filter for flow and carbon/phosphate pads.

Lighting:

I am currently planning on adapting a 65w pc floodlight from home depot for my primary light source, although I'm debating a 96w 50/50 coralife fixture.

Nutrient export:

I don't currently plan on using a skimmer. Rather, my nutrient export will be through weekly 50% water changes.

Livestock:

This will primarily be an sps tank. I may add some zoos, and a favites or some other small lps. Additionally, I will be placing a few mushrooms and a frag off my lucky GSP (first coral I ever bought).

I'm on the fence about fish. I may not have any at all. if I do have a fish it will be some sort of small goby such as a court jester, a green clown or a neon blue.

The cleanup crew will be ceriths and astreas. I'm fed up with hermits and will not add them to this tank.

Substrate:

This will be either a bare bottom or a very fine layer of sand (1/8"). I'm leaning toward BB (with cutting board) at this point.

System management:

I am planning on daily ro/di topoffs and a two part ca/alk dosing(b-ionic). I will not be adding anything else directly. All levels will be maintained with weekly water changes.

I will be adding a 50w titanium heater to maintain temp (although I suspect it will be seldom used)

Conclusion:

That's it. As I said, I'm doing this on the cheap. I hope to spend less than $300 on the system, not counting livestock. I wish everybody luck in their own buildoffs and I look forward to seeing some awesome tanks

[VWD]

Going to be cool

[wharyat]

Sounds like it will be nice.

[Loverotties]

Sounds GREAT!

[reef_noob]

Well, here is the tank prior to teardown, which, if the gods of homework are gentle, will happen thursday. I'll post dated empty pics that show a week span of non-wateredness.

[Awestralian]

Thats a very well laid out and very well thought up first post!

Sounds good so far.
The timing of the build off may not have been perfect, but at least didnt get so far that you couldnt start again.

[reef_noob]

Well, I broke down the nano today. I'll post another pic next thursday or friday proving that it has been empty for a week. The live rock is cycling in a spare 20 gal and the coral frags went into the refuge.

[VWD]

Getting it done . Looking forward to the updates

[reef_noob]

Ok, so, because I'm incapable of doing things the simple way...I have changed my mind. I'll still be doing a very small nano, but I'm going to be fitting it inside a slightly unconventional self-contained tank stand/case.
So, without further ado, I present you my new nano reef stand:



Yes! I am going to be fitting a 6-10 gal nano into this monitor case.
I'll be making an 11h x 13w x 5d acrylic display tank. Directly behind the display tank will be a 3-7 gal sump which will be directly plumbed via bulkheads and pvc to the bottom of the rear wall of the display tank. The sump will hold 10 lbs of live rock, some chaeto, and will be lit by a small pc lamp.

Behind the sump will be a mag 5 which will draw water from the sump and return it through a scwd to the left and right sides of the display tank.

Lighting will be a 70w de MH retrofit kit. I hope to fit the electronic ballast in the case as well. I will be putting a 4" fan on the back of the case to keep it cool.

Depending on space, I may try to build a powerstrip into the case so that there is only one cord leaving it, but we'll see. I'll also be cutting the top 2 or 3 inches of the case so that I can lift the whole top off to do maintenance. I'm considering running a small bit of pvc from outside of the case to the sump so that I can add water to the sump without taking the whole top off.

The display itself will be minimal, in the spirit of bonsai. I will have a couple of carefully selected tonga branches upon which will grow a few sps. I'll be regularly pruning the sps for attractiveness and health. The only additional livestock will be some ceriths and astreas. The bottom will be white cutting board.

[reef_noob]

Oh, in case anyone has ever wondered what the guts of a crt monitor look like:

[VWD]

Cool! That looks like a good plan, Looks like You have some work cut out for You. Good luck with the new plan.

[tims]

hahah now that is a new way of crusin the internet!

[alaskaknucklehead]

[Casey]

Man that is way to cool sweeet I love this one!!!!

[wharyat]

Very nice Chris.

Geoff has some photos of his macquarium on his site.