My own 10g custom AIO

[HankB]

OK, I've been teasing with this over in DIY as I flow tested and then built and tested again. Now it's time to come clean. First I have to thank my bride of 30 some years for asking for a reef tank and getting me interested in this. Now that I have my own tank, it will be a little easier for me to not interfere as much with hers.

 

Next, this tank is an homage to Lalani's Pico Upgrade which in turn was inspired by El Chupacabra’s 5.5gal. In addition, I've added a couple of twists of my own.

 

This is a standard 10 gallon tank. I don't see any manufacturers info on it, but it was the second 10g I found in our basement and we only needed one QT tank.

 

I copied the design consisting of a full width overflow with the false wall drilled for a return pump. I selected frosted glass with the frosted side facing the sump/fuge and painted black. I figured that frosted glass would hold paint better and by painting the back side, I would still be able to scrape coralline from the back wall if I chose to do so. I also painted the underside of the tank bottom. I plan to keep this bare bottom.

 

In addition to the overflow, I left a gap at the bottom of the false wall for an underflow. That will serve a couple different functions. It should help to sweep detritus off the bottom and into the fuge. It will also provide an easy passage between the fuge and tank for pods, worms, etc.

 

Inside the fuge and along the gap, I have glued a piece of egg crate about the same height as the gap. This will reduce flow through the underflow without reducing the size of the gap. The portion of the gap that runs along the bottom of the pump chamber is sealed so the only way water can enter the pump chamber is over the overflow or via the fuge.

 

Behind the false wall there are two baffles separating the fuge from the pump and heater. Water must first flow over a baffle about half the height of the tank. This should keep gravel, sand and heavier particles out of the pump. Next water passes under another baffle that extends from the top of the false wall to several inches off the bottom. This should keep bubbles out of the pump, though bubbles are not generally a problem with this style of overflow.

 

Near the bottom of the overlap between the two baffles I have glued some more egg crate. I plan to put some floss in that space to help polish the water. I chose that location because I have noticed that chaeto collects a lot of detritus as it pulls nutrients from the water column. When I do anything with the chaeto, it resuspends th detritus and clouds the tank until it settles or gets filtered out again. My hope is that the floss downstream of the chaeto will trap a substantial amount of this rather than recirculating it.

 

I've chosen an MJ900 pump for flow. If it turns out to be too much or not enough, I think I can substitute other Maxi-Jets as they are nearly the same size. I went with a 25 watt stealth heater. If not enough, I'll swap in a 50 watt stealth. For lighting I have a 150w Sunpod ordered. So I probably won't need much additional heat during daylight hours anyway.

 

Here's a shot of the back end of the tank during a flow test. In this test, there was not enough water to flow over and all flow is through the underflow. The difference in level between the fuge and tank is the head required to drive all flow through underflow. I can control proportioning of flow between underflow and overflow by setting the height of water in the fuge. The closer fuge level is to the surface level in the tank, the less flow there will be through the underflow.

 

 

This morning I filled the tank with water I changed out of our RSM. (Not that I wanted tank water for the new tank, but I figured it would be a better use of water taken out of our RSM than pitching it.) Tonight I picked up 17 lb of Live Rock and placed it in the tank so it is real! Tonight a new reef tank was born. Now I just need to spend some time getting the rocks properly arranged so I can get some pictures posted here.

 

thanks for looking,

hank

[Lalani]

Awesome! Can't wait to see this baby in action!

[nanoty]

Nifty, going to enter the contest?

[HankB]

Awesome! Can't wait to see this baby in action!

Thanks! Either can I!

 

Nifty, going to enter the contest?

Thanks, I'm not sure I can. I just ordered a Sunpod for $250. Add the pump and heater in and that leaves me with about $30 remaining in my budget. I can't see not spending more than that on the tank for the next six months.

 

Heh, now I see why the guy I got the LR from had peppermint shrimp. Just spotted an Aiptasia in the LR. <reaching for lemon juice> Let's see what this does. Boy did he disappear fast! And way back into a hole. I bet that worked to his advantage when it came to the shrimp, but not so good when I squirt his hidey hole full of lemon juice.

 

thanks,

hank

[yardboy]

Sounds great Hank. I love the configuration of these DIY AIO tanks. I'll be very interested in seeing how you set it up. With a Sunpod I'm assuming you are going to add sps corals?

[HankB]

Sounds great Hank. I love the configuration of these DIY AIO tanks. I'll be very interested in seeing how you set it up. With a Sunpod I'm assuming you are going to add sps corals?

 

Thanks and yes. I chose the Sunpod so that I would not be light limited for anything.

 

Here is the tank at two weeks:

 

 

 

Except for a couple snails that I got with the LR it remains unstocked. I have some chaeto in the 'fuge and just added 5 micro-brittle stars I found in the chaeto I harvested from the QT tank. Since I started with rock from an established tank, there has been no cycle to speak of. I never even found detectable nitrates, so I'm comfortable that I can start stocking. I plan to transfer over some palys and a monti cap from the QT tank along with a tiny spaghetti leather. I'm not really planning much in the way of leathers in here, but I am curious to see how it grows under the MH lighting.

 

Oh yeah... There is the issue of what to do with the aiptasia I found on the LR. They bounce back from lemon juice so I need to try something stronger. Maybe I'll try a peppermint shrimp.

 

Thanks for looking,

hank

[Lalani]

Wow...

[smarsh]

This tank is going to be sweet! Nice build Hank!

[Mischeif Nite]

So clean!!!! Looks great!!!

[FiShOnVtEc]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++1!!!! =]

[FishHeaded]

Wowwers, looookin clean! 150w or 70w with the sunpod?

[HankB]

Thanks all, it's easy to look good when I'm standing on the shoulders of giants.

 

I covered the parts of the sump/fuge visible from the room with pieces of black plastic file folder cut to size. They fit well and lie flat with the edges tucked into the frame - don't even need glue. Mostly I wanted to shade the heater and pump because they were already growing algae. I left the fuge portion open to admit sunlight for chaeto growth.

 

That's the 150w Sunpod. I went with that for the better selection of bulbs. It puts out a lot of heat but with that fan, the temperature stays below about 82.

 

I added a peppermint shrimp today to help deal with aiptasia that came in with the rock.

 

thanks,

hank

[fellbeast]

Awesome!!! Hey BTW I am gonna order those dual 10w halogen pond lights for my AC70. Any recommendations for my fuge build. I'm gonna just keep the basket setup, and use something else to block the return so the chaeto doesn't escape. Can I still use foam in the chamber under the chaeto?

[HankB]

Awesome!!! Hey BTW I am gonna order those dual 10w halogen pond lights for my AC70. Any recommendations for my fuge build. I'm gonna just keep the basket setup, and use something else to block the return so the chaeto doesn't escape. Can I still use foam in the chamber under the chaeto?

 

Thanks, I can't offer much help with the AC70 since I haven't done anything with an HOB nor have I paid any attention to what others have done. Best to ask in DIY or equipment or filtration, I suppose.

 

-hank

[hxcaquaman]

loving the DIY on a 10 gallon, I tried my hand at almost the same build, had leaks gave up,

now the 10 gallon is in storage, it ticked me off, so I went a got a 12 aio AP

 

can't wait to see this fully stocked tho

good luck

Ian

[HankB]

loving the DIY on a 10 gallon, I tried my hand at almost the same build, had leaks gave up,

now the 10 gallon is in storage, it ticked me off, so I went a got a 12 aio AP

 

can't wait to see this fully stocked tho

good luck

Ian

 

Thanks. A 12g AP is a good way to go. We chose an RSM for our first tank partly because that gave us a known starting point. I learned enough managing that in a few months to give me the confidence to roll my own. Maybe one day your 10g will come out of storage when you find the 12g is just not enough.

 

I've started stocking and there is not really enough for a FTS but here are some close ups on the present inhabitants.

 

Here's a monti cap frag that I got with the LR. It's out of QT and I'm curious to see how it colors up in better light.

 

 

Here's a couple of tiny zoas. A small piece of rock holding these fell off a frag that went in our other tank. I've held them for months in our QT tank but they don't seem to be gaining much so I put them in here. Hopefully they'll respond to better lighting. You can barely see them with the naked eye but they look pretty good in this closeup.

 

 

And this I need to ID. This whole patch is about 1/4" across so they're much smaller than the aiptasia I see, but maybe they're baby aiptasia?

 

thanks,

hank

[13angels]

looks like a colony of hydras. Not bad, just not pretty.

[Lalani]

Yup, hydroids, I have them.

Great pics, btw

[HankB]

looks like a colony of hydras. Not bad, just not pretty.

 

I've found more info on hyroids than hydra and they are generally described as bad. Is this something different?

 

I've started a thread in the Identification forum and I would appreciate your reply here or there as you prefer.

 

thanks,

hank

[HankB]

Those tiny zoas kept getting knocked down by snails so I glued them down. So technically, they're my first permanent coral. Here's a pic of them by the blue LEDs:

They fluoresce!

 

Here's a tint bit of spaghetti leather. It was a separate part from the big one in our RSM. I put it in here because the lighting in the QT tank wasn't that good and I wanted to see what it would do with better lighting.

Under MH lighting it turns pale green and when the sun hits it in addition (as here) it shrinks up! This is only about 3/4" tall.

 

Here's another monti I picked up from another local reefer. It's a Sunset Monti and our first Monti that's not a cap.

 

 

The last couple days the peppermint seems to be ranging a bit further. I think he's actually eating some of the Aiptasia in the tank. He's also shed at least once.

 

thanks for looking,

hank

[xenon]

I love the sunset monti.

 

I gotta get me one of those!

[lilredneckman]

I want that monti!!

[Nick's Reef]

Nice sunset, now you need a sunrise!

[lilredneckman]

updates?

[HankB]

updates?

 

No. Not much actually. I'm carrying this "take your time" thing to extremes.

 

Well... 'couple things. There was some aiptasia on the LR. I don't want go plunge ahead fill speed until that's been dealt with. And that has been done. I've had a peppermint in there a couple weeks and that seems to have dealt with them.

 

Next, there was a local frag swap yesterday so I was holding off until that to get stuff. I got stuff. 2-head Neon green Duncan, Some acan lords and a fuzzy green birds nest. All of these are in QT for the moment. I also fragged a bit of GSP and some more zoas that are bound for our RSM. We got more acan lords and 2 polyps of dendros for the RSM too, so there should be more to report on all tanks soon.

 

BTW, I misspoke on the monti - it's not a sunset, it's a morningstar. (But I think these may actually be the same coral with different names.) I have moved it off the bottom and set it on the rock where I think it shall remain.

 

thanks,

hank