29g Tank in Kids Bedroom

David Grigor · 01-09-2007, 12:13 AM

29g tank w/ 6g sump established on 12/10/2006.

One of the requirements my 4 year old son said was I want tank like yours. Meaning a skimmer, a computer, and probe.

Upgraded from a 23g nano. Main reason for upgrading is becuase the nano was not quite wide enough for T5s and didn't care for the PCs, also back sump area wasn't wide enought for much of a skimmer.

$139 :Stand from petco. The black are chalkboards. I wanted to a make from stand/canopy from black acrylic but wife vetoed when she saw this little setup.
$0 :29g tank drilled ( Free got in trade for an old sump ).
$140: 2X24W T5s. 1 UVL Super Actinic , 1 UVL Actinic/White each on seperate ballasts for dawn / dusk. Reflectors were cut down 36" ones from an old setup.
$70: Eheim 1250 317g pump. estimated 190gph w/head.
$64: Tunze Nanostream 6025 on for 8 hours per day.
$182: AC Jr. controller. PH probe was from my other setup.
$24: 250W Titanium heater
$178: Euroreef RS80 skimmer
$61: Kalkwasser Auto topoff via a fixed 5.6ml a minute dosing pump controlled by the Jr to turn on when the lights go out and oscilate 1 minute on 7 minutes off.
Randy's DIY 2 Part occasionally for CA/ALK adjustments above the Kalkwasser.
$0: Sump was just an acrylic one I had around. Not the ideal demensions. Plan to make a better suited one out of acrylic scrap from the garage.
$36: Live rock. Puchased 1 piece the rest from old nano.
$18: Arago-live sand. Did not attempt to keep the old sand.
$0: All corals and fish from previous setup or frags from my other tanks.

Total expenses for upgrade to date: $894.

Water Parms:

Temp: 79 +/- .3 variance
Alk: 10+ DKH
CA: 430ppm+
PH: morning low 8.18 , evening high 8.29. Kalk is slowly dispensed throughout the night to compensate as described above.

Livestock Goals:

All captive corals grown from frags. No wild caught or even 1st generation.

Mostly LPS/Softies.

Few Acros frags to be added later from my setup. Parms have been very steady and solid but just making sure can be maintained a while longer before adding them.

Fish:
I do plan 1 more small fish. Haven't decided what just yet.
1 neon goby
1 clown goby
1 black oscellaris clown
1 local raised bangaii
1 firefish
Sally lightfoot crab
serpent star
urchin ( that needs to go )
misc. hermits and snails.

Loverotties · 01-09-2007, 03:27 AM

Wow Nice!

dobejazz · 01-09-2007, 06:12 AM

Very Nice !

YLChik · 01-09-2007, 01:52 PM

Saweet! that's one luck 4 yr old... so does he have to take care of it or do you?!

zoa_princess · 01-25-2007, 10:34 PM

wow, your raising a good future reefer there. I really like the set up.

Pinderville · 01-26-2007, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoa_princess

wow, your raising a good future reefer there. I really like the set up.

ditto

David Grigor · 03-04-2007, 09:48 PM

Haven't updated in a while. Several changes. Tank was just too noisy for a bedroom. Now it's practically silent. Very happy with the results.

First to go was the nano streams. Between the clanking and the vibration on the glass they had to go. Replaced with 2 MJ600s controlled by the Jr. at random up to 30minute intervals. I did the Nano mod to one of the Tunze to increase the flow and put it in the show tank downstairs. The other one had shaft issues causing the noise and will need to be sent in for replacement.

Second was the RS80 skimmer. Between the vibrations and the air sucking noise it was too much. Bummer really because the main reason for upgrading from the 23g nano was to add a skimmer. So I built a ecosystems knockoff mud filteration/refugium ( 20L X 12H X 12W ). The old 23g had miracle mud in it ( from previous owner ) and did quite well. Wether or not it's the mud can't really say but it worked and cost wasn't that big of deal for another 10lb bag. Using a corallife mini 2X9w 6700K fixture for the lights on it. Lighting and the mud was $80 total. The acrylic was all just scrap I had from other projects. I'll hold onto the skimmer for a little while longer ( just in case ) before trying to sell.

One of the 24w bulbs didn't burn out but became very very dim for whatever reason. I couldn't see any physical damage to the bulb. Replaced it and tank is much brighter. So much for the so called 24month life expectancy.

Few corals added since but not much. A large leather that was in my misfits tank downstairs and some misc. zoanthids.

One new fish and small blue hippo/regal tang. It's just in there to get a little bigger and make sure it can eat well before thrown into that big tank with several other good sized fish. Got it locally from a guy moving out of town for $10.

I'll post pics in the coming days.

Wiskey · 03-09-2007, 11:16 AM

Very cool! This is a really sweet setup,.. very nice looking. I'll be looking forward to the pics!

I'm suprised you had a bulb go out on you,.. I also have T5's (4*54W) in a Tek retro and I've been tracking their output with my Lux meater using a test I setup when I bought the fixture. There just over a year old now, and have yet to drop much over 10% output, I am very impressed with that since PC bulbs I've done the same thing with drop 20% in about 5 months, keeping them cool helps allot though with PC's.

Whiskey