Gromit's 29 gallon BC Tank

[Gromit1710]

I've outgrown my little 8gal system... so with everything I've learned over the last 3 years or so, I'm putting into my 29 gal system!

 

System Specs:

 

Nano customs 5.6 Edison Opto LED retro fit kit ( 30 LED's total )

In Tank media and fuge basket - ( Cheato, Poly filter, Chemi-pure elite ) in chamber 2

Hydor pico Evolution 1200 pump

Hydor Koralia 750

Blue line ATO unit -Installed but doesn't work worth a crap!

Target LED clip on desk lamp for fuge ( 14 white LED's... perfect for a fuge light shining in the back window )

Aquaticlife 115 Skimmer - Installed Chamber 1

R2 Moonlight

 

Livestock:

Yellow Watchman's Goby

Red Scooter Blenny

 

 

Corals:

Pink Pocillopora

Purple Maze Brain

Brown Mushroom

Green Ricordea

Green Acropora

Red Acropora

Pulsing Xenia

Green Star Polyps

Some kind of Red and Green Zoas

Toadstool Leather

Red Acans Lord

 

FTS shot from 1/2/11 and New Acro shot below. The Big GSP colony closed because of me rooting around in the tank.

[Sunstar]

I've finally done it and spent the big bucks this weekend.

 

My 29g BC is starting to come together!

 

I've outgrown my little 8gal system... so with everything I've learned over the last 3 years or so, I'm putting into my 29 gal system before it's even filled!

 

So far I've got all this:

 

BC 29gal - purchased and at home

BC29 gal stand - Purchased and at home

Nano customs 4X6 Cree LED dim able lighting retro fit kit ( 24 LED's total ) - Purchased and waiting (mail)

In Tank media and fuge basket - Purchased and waiting (mail) Chamber 2

Hydor pico Evolution 1200 pump - purchased and waiting (mail)

Hydor Koralia 750 - purchased and waiting (mail)

Blue line ATO unit - purchased and waiting (mail)

Target LED clip on desk lamp ( 14 white LED's... perfect for a fuge light shining in the back window ) - Gotta find it...

Aquaticlife 115 Skimmer - Chamber 1

 

 

 

I'm so excited to start building this tank!!

 

I am going to watch your post, so please continue to follow up. I am planning on more or less what you are showing here. I want the nano customs retrofit and basically all the kit and carboodle. I am new here too. Been ruing a 10 gallon tank, not any sort of all in one setup. But I would like an all in one. I'm jazzed too, but at the moment it's a far off goal, but a goal nevertheless.

[jaysunk]

I've finally done it and spent the big bucks this weekend.

 

My 29g BC is starting to come together!

 

I've outgrown my little 8gal system... so with everything I've learned over the last 3 years or so, I'm putting into my 29 gal system before it's even filled!

 

So far I've got all this:

 

BC 29gal - purchased and at home

BC29 gal stand - Purchased and at home

Nano customs 4X6 Cree LED dim able lighting retro fit kit ( 24 LED's total ) - Purchased and waiting (mail)

In Tank media and fuge basket - Purchased and waiting (mail) Chamber 2

Hydor pico Evolution 1200 pump - purchased and waiting (mail)

Hydor Koralia 750 - purchased and waiting (mail)

Blue line ATO unit - purchased and waiting (mail)

Target LED clip on desk lamp ( 14 white LED's... perfect for a fuge light shining in the back window ) - Gotta find it...

Aquaticlife 115 Skimmer - Chamber 1

 

 

 

I'm so excited to start building this tank!!

 

 

Looking forward to your updates.

[fishiegirl]

I'm just now setting up a BC 29 too, so I'm looking forward to seeing how you set yours up. You seem like you are very organized and on top of things! Do you know what you are putting in your media rack? I am building my own right now but I don't really know what to put in it, other than filter floss. Any advice would be really helpful! Thanks.

[Gromit1710]

Alright,

 

So I've gotten a few things in the mail, Installed a bunch of stuff and filled the tank with water and Live Rock!

 

 

BC 29gal - purchased and at home

BC29 gal stand - Purchased and at home

Nano customs 4X6 Cree LED dim able lighting retro fit kit ( 24 LED's total ) - Purchased and waiting (mail)

In Tank media and fuge basket - Installed

Hydor pico Evolution 1200 pump - Installed

Hydor Koralia 750 - Installed

Blue line ATO unit - Installed

Target LED clip on desk lamp - Recieved and ready

Aquaticlife 115 Skimmer - Chamber 1 - Installed.

150 Heater - Installed

 

 

TANK IS FILLED AND LIVE ROCK IS IN!! YAYZ!!

 

Right off the bat, The first thing I did was cut the tab between Chamber 1 and Chamber 2. There are plenty of tutorials online about this. Basically what this does is increase your flow between the display and your filtering area.

 

I've installed StevieT's media and fuge rack into chamber 2. This eats up the whole chamber but it's worth it IMO. I plan on doing this:

 

Media Rack

Top - Filter Floss

Middle - Chemi-Pure Elite full unit

Bottom - Purigen

 

Fuge Rack : Cheato with a light shining though the back. Oceanic finally got kinda smart and left the paint off of the back in this area... although Murphy's Law wins again. It's offset from where StevieT's racks place the Cheato.. but oh well.. a razor blade fixed that. I purchased an LED clip-on Table Lamp from Target online for the Fuge light. it's a 5X4 configuration of white LED's that are bright as heck in a flat faced half circle head. Awesome for sealing up against a glass surface. I've used it on my 8 gal for a couple months now and my Cheato is growing beyond control every week!!

I plan on setting this light on a timer opposite my light schedule just as I've done on my 8 Gal system.

 

I installed the Skimmer into chamber 1 using the method described here by Evoknvl in the Biocube resource guide: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=237995

Installation went flawless. It's in there but not doing much yet.. in fact.. I have it turned off while the tank seasons.

 

Pump upgrade is good. I added some LineLok adapters to extend and aim my inflow from the pump instead of the hydror spinning defector thingy... I don't know why, Just had enough of digging it out of my coral bed in my 8 gal system..

 

The ATO unit : This proved interesting. The idea is great. But making it work is a different story. First of all, I found an old 1 gal Tupperware container with an opening large enough to accept an old Mini-Jet 404. It just pumped water halfway up the tube from the RODI reservoir up to the tank because it didn't have enough " Umph". Lucky, I had the stock pump that comes with the BC29 so after changing reservoirs, I got water to move all the way up with no problems. That brought to light another issue.... Siphoning.

 

It's a no-brainer once you think about it.., but you can't have the end of your ATO unit's tube below the water level in your tank once it's done filling... Otherwise your ATO pump and Mr Gravity play Ping-Pong with about a 1/2 gallon of fluid all night long! I ended up wedging my ATO's tube between the media rack and the back wall to hold it just right.

 

It's a tight fit in my Chamber 3 right now. I've got the ATO sensor, the 150w heater and the pump all going in there. I did have to cut the heck out of the back of my hood to accommodate all these cables and cords. Especially on the Chamber 3 side. There is a slot there already, but I had to open it by easily twice the size it is stock.

I found the best way to do it with the tools available to me was to take a Drill and perforate the area I wanted to remove and the break it out.

 

After all this, it was time to fill it.

 

I purchased 30lbs of Aragonite, combined this with the 5lbs of white oolite and 5 lbs of " Live sand " from the LFS. I also got 4 great pieces of Live Rock totaling 23lbs. 2 of those pieces are from a company called " Real Reef". The pieces look amazing with interesting features. The other was Fiji rock. The whole lot has been cured for 4 month already. A picture is below. The pink one and the one in the middle are the Real Reef rocks. The pink is Coraline.. insane Coraline.

 

The LED light system hasn't arrived yet. I'm going to let the tank cure until after I'm confidant that either the cycle is complete or there isn't going to be one. I still have no Ammonia or Nitrite readings... but it's only been 4 days since the filling.

 

While shopping at the LFS, I came across a pump timer powerstrip. You can adjust the on and off time to the outlets on the end of the power strip.. Picked that up and installed it with my Koralia 750 for an instant wave maker!

 

 

More to come!

[Gromit1710]

Went away for 3 days, came back to Diatoms on the sand and Algae blooms on glass.. WOOT! CUC going in tomorrow.

[Gromit1710]

CUC is in!

 

10 Small Caribbean Blue Legs

10 Astrea Snails

5 Dwarf Cerith Snails

5 Nerite Snails

 

once the tank is aged a bit, I plan on adding a Sand Sifter star and an Emerald Crab.

 

I'm going to hold off on getting any corals until my LED kit arrives and is installed. I might get the Goby I have my eye on, tho

[Gromit1710]

Here's an updated photo of my tank. It's been up 13 days. No sign of Ammonia, or Nitrates. Diatoms have dusted my sand and I've had a HUGE 'pod explosion. Looks like everything is on track. CUC is starting to mow down the algae that has grown on the rocks. I also added a couple more pieces of LR yesterday to tweak the 'scape a bit.

 

Almost time for a fish...

[Gromit1710]

Updated hardware list.

 

Current FTS in ^ post.

[Gromit1710]

Well,

 

My Nanotuners 5.6 LED kit finally arrived and is installed.

 

The dimmable meanwell drivers were no longer available so I ended up getting a non dimmable system.

 

2 strips of white

2 strips of blue

1 strip 3 blue, 3 white

 

It's a bit more intense on the blue spectrum than my other system, not sure if thats a problem or not.

 

I've broken down my 8 gal after moving everything over. One of the cool features of my old system was the carpet of GSP that was growing on the back wall. After draining the tank and moving everything, I remembered that I had about 5 or 6 small pieces of dry rubble and a tube of IC-Gel laying around... CaChing! Frag-gle rock! With a razor and some patience, I removed the whole back wall carpet in one piece. You can see in the picture of the new tank all the new frags in the foreground. I'll let them hang out for a couple weeks then hit up the LFS for some credits towards new corals for the tank!

 

 

The picture is taken after the whites were off, thats why the color is off a bit. I'll take a better one on the next update.

 

Also, I'm going to be selling my 8gal system. It's a great little system. If you're interested, look for it in the For Sale section.

[Gromit1710]

8 gal sale thread Here

[rO.oster]

+1 LED's, I'm a wee bit jealous

[Gromit1710]

If only that damn ATO would work. .

 

It just keeps on filling and won't shut off. Disabled it this morning again.

[rO.oster]

eeek dangerous situation, is the float switch malfunctioning? I dont really have an issue with evaporation in my BC29, I just keep the lids closed, and add a little top off 1x a week.

[Gromit1710]

I'm hoping the 29 will run a bit cooler in the summer than the 8 did. I had to keep the lid cracked open and it didn't help with evap.

 

Are you running the stock lights?

[msujeff]

I'm planning on getting the 5.6 as well but still deciding on the number of white vs blue LEDs. How do you like yours?

[Gromit1710]

I'm planning on getting the 5.6 as well but still deciding on the number of white vs blue LEDs. How do you like yours?

 

So far so good. I've got even amounts of Blue and White running at the same voltage. It's a bit more intense on the blue side than I'm used to.

 

When I was building my system, I originally wanted the same dimable set up that I had on my 8 gallon. But unfortunately Nanotuners has changed the drivers and no longer had dimable meanwells.

 

I asked if they could get one last one put together with the meanwells as he wasn't sure if there were any left in stock. After waiting for over a month, i decided to go with the non dimable in order to get my tank finished.

 

The blue does make all the reds, blues and greens pop in the tank, but pinks and browns are a little washed out right now. That also might be from the stress on these particular corals from moving tanks and being relocated.

 

The fans that came with the new lighting system are pretty loud too. Alot louder than the stock BC fans. It might be worth it to spend the extra $$ and get the quieter ones they offer as an upgrade.

[msujeff]

Thanks for the reply. I'm either going to go with what you did or 3 whites and 2 blues. I'm going to call nanotuners tomorrow and ask them some questions. I'm planning on keeping the stock fans. Mine are pretty quiet right now and if need be I will change them out later.

 

How has your growth been with the different corals? I'm more concerned about the colors and being able to keep any type of lps and move into some sps later on than the growth. Being a small tank and not knowing of any other reefers in my area, trading frags and whatnot is not really an option.

[Gromit1710]

Thanks for the reply. I'm either going to go with what you did or 3 whites and 2 blues. I'm going to call nanotuners tomorrow and ask them some questions. I'm planning on keeping the stock fans. Mine are pretty quiet right now and if need be I will change them out later.

 

How has your growth been with the different corals? I'm more concerned about the colors and being able to keep any type of lps and move into some sps later on than the growth. Being a small tank and not knowing of any other reefers in my area, trading frags and whatnot is not really an option.

Everything appears to be quite happy

 

A few days ago I picked up a frag of Zeus's Eye zoas. They are have been open and full looking since I dropped them in there along with my other colony of red and green zoas. Both my SPS's look unchanged and open up every day. Xenia is contently waving at me. Maze coral looks like it always does... Green Star Polyps.. Nothing kills those.

[Gromit1710]

Well, The tank has been fully stocked for over a week now and everything is looking great.

 

Here's some pictures of what all is making a home in there.

 

Green Ricordea and the new Zeus's Eye colony. In the background is a piece of rubble I found for free at the LFS that has a mushroom and a few random Zoa polyps on it. ( along with a stubborn Aptaisa stalk )

 

 

 

 

The Purple Maze , My other Zoa colony along with some GSP frags from the 8 gallon tank tear down.

 

 

 

The Mothership GSP colony that I've had since I started reefing. You can see my thumbprint that killed the polyps under it when I pried it out of the 8 gallon. The purple mat had attached to the back wall and was a PITA to get out. In the background is the Green Acro

 

 

 

The Pink Pocillopora.. upstaged by the Royal Gramma

 

 

 

The old dog "Blenny" ( yeah, I know.. creative name isn't it? ) He's finally gotten over me man handling him from the old tank to this one. He spends a lot of time now out in the open checking things out. I've had him for almost 3 years now. He's hanging out with " The Weed " ( Xenia colony )

 

 

..and the young pup. A Red Scooter Blenny. Probably the most curious and outgoing fish I've ever had. Isn't scared of much.. not even my hand.

 

 

I couldn't find my yellow watchmen goby.. he's a reclusive one.

[Gromit1710]

And the new FTS shot.

[Gromit1710]

Installed the R2 Moonlight today.

 

It has 5 blue LED lights in it. Unfortunately, only 3 of the 5 work Oh well.

[msujeff]

How does the r2 look?

 

I ordered the same to go with the 5.6, patiently waiting a shipping confirmation from nanotuners. Hopefully this week.

[rO.oster]

I'm hoping the 29 will run a bit cooler in the summer than the 8 did. I had to keep the lid cracked open and it didn't help with evap.

 

Are you running the stock lights?

 

i actually upgraded by adding 1 more PC light, and it definitely added heat. In the summer i had to crack the back lid and probably will have to do so again this summer. Vantech makes some some duel ball bearing fans that run very quiet and are rated for long life / heat environment, check em out. The tank mates are settling in nicely, I hope that they adjust well since you do not have dimmers.

 

Installed the R2 Moonlight today.

 

It has 5 blue LED lights in it. Unfortunately, only 3 of the 5 work Oh well.

 

Send it back send it back! In this economy, we can't afford half arse products! Have em replace it with free shipping IMO.

[Gromit1710]

How does the r2 look?

 

I ordered the same to go with the 5.6, patiently waiting a shipping confirmation from nanotuners. Hopefully this week.

The problem I found was where to mount the damn thing. Once you get the hood stripped and reloaded with the LED hardware, there isn't a good place to stick the damn thing. I ended up mounting it on the left side of the tank, pointing in to the middle. It looks ok but probably would be better if all 5 of the damn LED's worked!

 

 

i actually upgraded by adding 1 more PC light, and it definitely added heat. In the summer i had to crack the back lid and probably will have to do so again this summer. Vantech makes some some duel ball bearing fans that run very quiet and are rated for long life / heat environment, check em out. The tank mates are settling in nicely, I hope that they adjust well since you do not have dimmers.

 

 

 

Send it back send it back! In this economy, we can't afford half arse products! Have em replace it with free shipping IMO.

Too.. Damn... Lazy. Now that the LED kit is in there, the lack of hinges on the BC29 in addition to no way to completely free the tank from any leash of cables is going to make it a real PITA if I ever need to separate the hood and tank. Ive got the wires running out of the hood and down into the cabinet underneath through the wire hole. There's no way to move the hood further than about 2 feet from the tank without disconnecting the wires either inside the ballast box, or inside the hood. Either way is a chore. Most of the corals should be alright. The bulk of them were in the BC8 and got blasted already from the upgrade I did there. The Acro and Pink P. weren't closed up for more than a couple hrs after I got them stuck to the rock!