Not too nano anymore.

[Hinecken]

So in 5 years I've never logged any of my tanks. My latest reef holds special meaning to me though. It's the first one I've set up since Hurricane Wilma completely devastated my last reef, it was heartbreaking. I was never out of the hobby though, took care of my mother-in-law's 72 bowfront reef and slowly brought it back from the brink.

This log starts a little late in the build, but I guess better late than never. Plumbing was completed and saltwater added on March 1st of 2007, but equipment gathering began on March 29th, 2006. So happens to be my birthday, and it's when I received my 65gal reef-ready AGA and unfinished pine stand from my fiance and mother.

The reason it took a year before water went in was planning. I kicked around every style and idea I could find, designed my plumbing, chose all of my equipment, and planned my inhabitants during this time. I all ready know exactly what I still need to buy down to the brand, store, and cost. With that said, let me say the following:

 

Disclaimer:

I appreciate and welcome all comments from fellow members, but please don't ask me to run out and buy the latest fad, change my equipment, move my rocks (they're all glued down anyway), or change my methodology. I've been here since '02 and have been keeping reefs since '96, all of my decisions have stemmed either from research or personal and professional experiance. Every thing has been carefully thought out down to the smallest detail, and this is the way my aquarium is going to run. Period.

 

Ok, now that the disclaimer is out of the way here's a pic to lighten things up. More to follow.

[Vertigo]

Looks good,BUT...you need better lighting! Its too dark and sad looking, poor fish...NAH just messin' About the same style I want to build soon. I had to get you going though.

[fewskillz]

Looks good! Great looking rocks. I'm not a DSB fan, but to each his own. Very nice looking start. What lighting are you planning? and livestock ideas?

[Hinecken]

Tank Specs:

 

AGA Reef-Ready 65 gallon

36" x 18" x 24"

 

Stand and Skirt Specs:

unfinished pine stained cherry

37" x 19" x 36"

Skirt was also built using pine and stained to match the stand.

It's only purpose is to hide the MH retro that will be suspended from my ceiling.

 

[Hinecken]

I'm not a DSB fan, but to each his own. Very nice looking start. What lighting are you planning? and livestock ideas?

 

Over the years I've tried various methods including BB and plenum beds. The DSB is by far my favorite for a few reasons.

 

1. I love the look of sand. Looks natural.

2. All that aragonite in there really helps to buffer the water.

3. Helps hide my crazy plumbing.

4. Nitrate reduction machine.

5. Spreads the weight of the rocks across the glass better.

 

Lighting will be twin 250 MH moguls, 14k bulbs, and no supplementation. Livestock will be a mix of SPS and LPS with some choice zoo's and ric's mixed in. I'm lucky enough to live in South Florida and have a ton of LFS's and reef specialty stores to chose from. I've also worked "in the business" for a few years and made many friends. Some of which manage a few of the better LFS. One of my best friends handles the orders and maintains the coral livestock in one of the largest reef stores in my area and has been saving the choicest pieces in his "Not For Sale" 150 display for almost a year.

 

Looks good,BUT...you need better lighting! Its too dark and sad looking, poor fish...NAH just messin' About the same style I want to build soon. I had to get you going though.

 

Thanks man, stay tuned. I got a bunch of pics to upload still.

[Hinecken]

Sump/Fuge Specs:

 

Old-School Perfecto 45 gallon tank.

It was passed around between friends for the last 5 years and ended up in my fiance's mom's shed.

 

96w 6700k Quad PC retro from hellolights.com

 

6.5" sandbed comprised of 40lbs of of aragonite and 40lbs of arag-alive sand.

 

14lbs various live-rock. I bought small pieces of rock from 5 different LFS's in the area. I had them grab me small 1-1.5lb pieces from the bottoms of their rock tanks.

 

 

The drain from the display is made from 4" PVC "T" fitting with one end capped off. My skimmer, reactor, and ATO also empty into this. It helps contain many of the micro bubbles and provides a super-oxygenated area for my reactor effluent to drip into.

 

I made a shelf using egg-crate in the rear 1/3 of the fuge to hold my pumps and skimmer up off the sand, and allow me to pack the space underneath the shelf with live-rock. The front 2/3's of the fuge is chock-full of chaeto. I wish I had a pic of the original soft-ball sized clump I started with in March, this stuff grows like a weed. I trim it back more or less weekly. This pic was taken today after a severe cut-back so the pumps would be viewable from the front. It is absolutely infested with pods of all kinds and bristleworms the size of pythons.

This is the real heart and life-blood of my system. I've used refugiums since my first nano set-up in '02. It was a 20xh with a 15h fuge. That reef was bulletproof. To date it's my favorite of the many I've had until now. Since then I've always tried to incorporate the largest possible fuge in my set-ups.

 

 

 

[pheallox]

Dude that sump/fuge is sick I could sleep on that bed of cheato and sleep well.....looks good but can we get a close look at the aquascape I dig open rock work and want to see a closer look if you dont mind.

[c est ma]

The reason it took a year before water went in was planning. I kicked around every style and idea I could find, designed my plumbing, chose all of my equipment, and planned my inhabitants during this time.

 

You are nothing if not thorough!

 

Sweet fuge!

 

This is what I would do differently:

 

 

 

...change that wooden chair for a Lazy Boy or something--you've gotta be comfortable watching that tank!

 

BTW, were you motivated to employ any anti-hurricane measures (I mean like generators, etc.--not voodoo or anything!) or do you figure that's just something that can't be planned for? Sorry about the reef you lost.

 

--Diane

[Hinecken]

BTW, were you motivated to employ any anti-hurricane measures (I mean like generators, etc.--not voodoo or anything!) or do you figure that's just something that can't be planned for? Sorry about the reef you lost.

 

Hurricanes can and should be planned for. The first purchases made after the tank was given to me were for just that.

 

Hurricane Insurance Hinecken Style:

 

100gpd RO/DI, 30gal reservoir, two 20gal water only garbage cans ready to roll.

 

Snapper 5600 running watt generator.

 

20 gallons of spare fuel.

[Hinecken]

Dude that sump/fuge is sick I could sleep on that bed of cheato and sleep well.....looks good but can we get a close look at the aquascape I dig open rock work and want to see a closer look if you dont mind.

 

I had planned on explaining everything in detail including the rock work later, but I guess I can do it now.

 

As you can plainly see, I'm a big fan of open rock work and strange arches and caves. I also firmly beleive that there should be as few contact points as possible with a DSB. This calls for some serious aquascaping. I've been collecting the rocks that are in the display for over 5 years. They were all good and dry before they went into the tank. The only live rock in the display is 3 small pieces totaling 1.75lbs to help seed the rest of the rock.

 

 

I took me almost two weeks to complete the aquascape. I started by placing 80lbs of aragonite in the tank covering all of my plumbing and providing a solid 5" base at the front and almost 6.5" in the back.. 20lbs of arag-alive would follow after water goes in giving me a 5.5" sandbed in the very front and 7" at it's highest point in the back left.

Next I started the aquascape by taking all of my rubble ( I had enough to half fill a 5 gallon bucket ) and gluing it to the PVC pipes coming down the back wall of the tank that supply the return water from the fuge and closed loop return. I had more than enough rubble to completely cover up the pipes. I then started with the largest pieces of rock and placed them in the bottom of the aquarium. I kept rearranging the rocks until I found an arrangement with the fewest possible contact points to the sand. The next 10 days or so were spent taking one piece at a time and moving it all over the tank until it looked "just right." As soon as a permanent home was found for each rock, the silicon was busted out and the rock was glued in place.

The end result is pretty cool IMO. My rock work hides a pile of PVC, and you can hardly tell that I have a closed loop with 8 lockline returns and 2 more from my fuge. The open aquascape allows for ZERO dead spots in the tank, and most importantly, more water.

[Choadmeyer]

I have the exact same tank. 65g RR AGA. No sand or live rock in it yet, thinking about 40-50lbs of LS and somewhere around 80lbs live rock. Did you order your LR online or pick it up locally?

 

I've heard keeping a deep sand bed is hard to maintain and is often a pain in the butt. Yours seems a little deep IMO but I know you are hiding the return line plumbing.

 

Looks great so far though.

[Withers]

I'm usually not a fan of arches but that looks stunning!

[Hinecken]

I have the exact same tank. 65g RR AGA. No sand or live rock in it yet, thinking about 40-50lbs of LS and somewhere around 80lbs live rock. Did you order your LR online or pick it up locally?

 

I've heard keeping a deep sand bed is hard to maintain and is often a pain in the butt. Yours seems a little deep IMO but I know you are hiding the return line plumbing.

 

Looks great so far though.

 

All of my rock was bought locally here in South Florida. DSB's are not hard to maintain at all, infact I can not recall ever having an issue with one.

 

I'm usually not a fan of arches but that looks stunning!

 

Thanks Vic, it'll look a lot better once there is light over the tank. I had to use a flash to get those pics to come out so you really can't appreciate the depth of the arches without the shadow from overhead light.

[Hinecken]

Update...

 

Despite all the kind words about my aquascape, and I do thank you all very much. I was disgusted with the way the photographs came out. The flash washed away all of the shadows in the caves and made the tank 2 dimensional. Those photos don't really do it justice.

Tonight I broke out the tripod and pointed the track lighting on my ceiling into the tank. I slowed the shutter speed to an absolute crawl and used the timer to take the picture so it wouldn't blur. Even though these shots are a little dark, I feel these allow for a better appreciation of the aquascape with overhead light.

 

FTS

 

left

 

center

 

right

[Hinecken]

Now for some equipment.

 

Circulation:

 

Mag Drive 950 return pump.

This pump has a pile of head-pressure on it. It comes out of the fuge through 3/4" line and runs 4 feet along the wall in 3/4" PVC exiting through a reducer to 1/2" and into the chiller. It leaves the chiller 1/2" and is then converted back to 3/4" before returning up to the tank, down the back wall, and under the sand. By my calculation, after all this pressure the pump is only outputting roughly 400gph. The low output allows for longer contact time with the chaeto in the fuge as well as more efficient skimming.

 

Mag Drive 1800 closed loop.

This bad-boy is plumbed using 3/4" PVC with 8 x 1/2" lock-line outlets. I calculate after head pressure this pump is running at about 1600gph conservatively. The 8 outlets allow the flow to disburse gently throughout the entire water column with out having any fire hose "no fly zones," and zero dead spots.

 

At 2,000 gallons per hour turnover in a display with only 53 gallons of water, that's a 37.7x turnover rate. Not bad for having a DSB.

 

My Skimmer:

Ok, you guys are gonna crack up when you see this. My skimmer is a P.O.S. Sealife Systems 75. Why you ask would I go all out designing a tank and use such a bunk skimmer? There are a few reasons.

1. It was free

2. After a month or so of tweaking, I have respectable coffee colored skimmate production that suits my needs just fine.

3. I normally never run a skimmer, and I do believe in the theory that you can over-skim water.

4. Running two DSB's, my afro of chaeto, and huge refugium easily make up the difference.

5. It was free

 

Don't think for a minute I didn't look at every high end skimmer out there before deciding to use this one. I was between the Life-Reef SVS2-24 and the Euro-Reef RC80 when I decided I really didn't need anything like that.

 

Here ya go

[Hinecken]

Extras:

 

To help keep the temp in check I bought a 1/10 hp Prime Chiller with dual stage thermostat. In total my display only has 83 gallons of water falling well within the parameters of the chiller. My reef runs at 79 with everything but halides. I have the chiller set at 80 so it hasn't even kicked on yet due to the 2 degree differential. I only expect a rise of roughly 2 degrees when I get my lights, so my chiller won't even break a sweat. I also have it sitting on an 18"x18" tile next to the tank where it can get good air flow.

 

The next order of business was keeping my calcium and alkalinity in check via a calcium reactor. Through more research and calling a bunch of company's, I decided on the MRC CR-Nano. I read some mixed reviews on the unit, but also read some great things on other forums. I had a nice long conversation with Andy, the owner, and decided to to give him my business. Some of the things I really liked about the unit:

1. Way over built.

2. Modular, I can always add a tube for height and more media or another next to it to help raise the effluent PH.

3. Very simple design with a small amount of plumbing. I like simple designs, less garbage to break.

4. Good customer service, Andy really helped to reassure me and didn't try to up-sell me.

 

So far I'm very happy with the reactor, it raised my Kh from 80 to 110 in a week and and my calcium is pegged at 460 with very little adjustment. Only time will tell how it holds up.

 

Monitoring the PH in the reactor is a Milwaukee SMS122 PH controller connected to a Milwaukee electronic solenoid, bubble counter, and regulator. The tank is a a small 5lb'er.

 

And now the pics:

 

[BibleSue]

Lookin' good! Welcome back. Glad you didn't give up. I was in your area after the hurricane cutting out trees & putting on tarps. Our church was sent to Seacrest Pres. to work out of there. If you saw a bunch of people in bright orange base ball caps-that was us. We came back early from MS when the storm was hitting cause we knew we would be needed. I lived just west of Ocala at the time.

 

http://www.storesonline.com/site/600145/page/684176

[Hinecken]

Lookin' good! Welcome back. Glad you didn't give up. I was in your area after the hurricane cutting out trees & putting on tarps. Our church was sent to Seacrest Pres. to work out of there. If you saw a bunch of people in bright orange base ball caps-that was us. We came back early from MS when the storm was hitting cause we knew we would be needed. I lived just west of Ocala at the time.

 

http://www.storesonline.com/site/600145/page/684176

 

I'm sure I speak for everyone down here when I say thank you. Thank you very much for giving up your air conditioning and electricity to come sweat it out and help us get our lives back to a state of normalcy.

[c est ma]

Update...

 

Despite all the kind words about my aquascape, and I do thank you all very much. I was disgusted with the way the photographs came out. The flash washed away all of the shadows in the caves and made the tank 2 dimensional. Those photos don't really do it justice.

Tonight I broke out the tripod and pointed the track lighting on my ceiling into the tank. I slowed the shutter speed to an absolute crawl and used the timer to take the picture so it wouldn't blur. Even though these shots are a little dark, I feel these allow for a better appreciation of the aquascape with overhead light.

 

FTS

 

left

 

center

 

right

 

You are a perfectionist! But it's true, these pics really do show off the "3-D-ness" of the rockscape much better. I can't wait to see it populated.

 

Nice hurricane prep. I hope you never need it.

 

--Diane

[BibleSue]

I'm sure I speak for everyone down here when I say thank you. Thank you very much for giving up your air conditioning and electricity to come sweat it out and help us get our lives back to a state of normalcy.

 

We were happy to do it. Most of the guys on the team were in their 70's. After Charlie went through south of us the year before, they took their chain saws & went down every day. The church got behind them & set up 2 trailers & bought chains saws & equipment & the team was born. Only the guys went to Biloxi on the first trip after Katrina. I went on the second trip to Moss Point & Biloxi, home for a week & up to Mount Olive, MS, home for a few days & over to your area. The team still goes to Biloxi once a month to help people who had to gut their houses put them back together. Here's a link if you are interested.

 

http://www.sevenrivers.org/disasterresponse.htm

[Gvtv44]

Looks like you are ready for anything LOOking good!

[Hinecken]

Looks like you are ready for anything LOOking good!

 

Thanks! My grandfather used to tell me when I was a kid (in Portuguese) "fish for snapper, but pack for shark."

[Gvtv44]

Makes sense enough- I am fishing for shark, but packed for catching guppies

[JustReef]

20 gallons of spare fuel.

 

I know your very thorough, but I got to ask. Did you put stabil in your gas?

 

I'm not a fan of the arches in your live rock, but I think when you start adding coral and the rocks turn purple it's going to look really cool.

 

BTW - nice dolphin in your av. 50 pounder?

[FLcracker94]

Nice lookin tank. One thing about Florida, ALLWAYS keep a generator on hand. usually when any storm hits were I live, this tree knocks out power...I'm about to knock out that tree!

 

Just make sure you don't turn on the generator IN the house or garage. Allways keep it outside when it's on, nomatter what. No one is going to complain.

 

Nice tank. Keep it up.