Well here is my new "not so nano" nano-reef. I had been seeking a tank that would be perfectly lit by a single MH bulb as an upgrade for my current 10-gallon nano. The 37-gallon Oceanic Show fit the bill. It is 24½ x 18½ x 21 ½. This makes it very similar to an AGA 25-gallon tank except it is wider. So it holds more water than your typical nano, but takes up about the same space. So really it holds too much water to be considered an actual nano-reef.
This is a standard Oceanic tank, but I wanted cherry trim, so it had to be special ordered and I had to freaking wait for it to be made and shipped from Oceanic (there weren't any at the distributor’s warehouse). I guess not too many people have this tank made with a cherry finish, but I wanted mine to look like the cherry finished 30-gallon cubes.
To save money and retain my Oceanic warrantee, I also ordered an Oceanic unfinished pine stand. I stained it to be a close match to the cherry trim on the tank, and then I varnished it with a marine spar varnish. It isn't oak, but it still turned out pretty nice.
Here is the tank and stand when I first got it:
It will be lit with a 250 watt MH system and I am going to use my existing PC setup for actinic supplementation. It was bought used for $75. I am however now thinking I want just a 175 watt MH though. I don't really think I need to burn the extra power.
I have 65Lbs of LR and a 5" DSB using the all holy SD sand and just a little bit of CC since a little was still in my 10-gallon. The LR was cured for about 4 months in my 75-gallon tank. The Southdown was the YardRight packaging.
Well, here it is on the 24th of July with the finished stand. I still lack a canopy though:
Here is a picture of it on the 25th with the 5" DSB installed and the LR added. The lighting is still my old PCs that were over my 10-gallon that have been "rigged" to sit on top of the tank.
And here it is on the 31 all nice and clear with some of the livestock spread around. I still need to move some around as a lot of it is till bunched up or hidden. It took me a while to aquascape. I wanted to get it just how I wanted it. My 10-gallon really wasn't aquascaped that great and I felt I had to make up for it by creating two nice pillars and an arch across the middle of the tank. The middle is designed in hopes of holding a nice big Rose Anemone with a couple of Black Clowns.
