i think someone on RC is attempting it. we'll see how it turns out.

My opinion is why would they drill the tank when you better off just custom make your own tank. But hey more power to the person that take that chance to drill it.

I agree... but think how much deeper the tank would be! i wonder if anyone makes a rimless glass cube of similar dimensions.

Agreed... DIY is king when you factor in quality assurance & control but time is a factor as is everything else (I'm in the middle of a whole house remodel regrettably). I had looked at Glasscages.com but was turned off be some mixed reviews and their prices seem a bit high tbh.

Once I factor in my time and cost for materials is kinda cheaper and easier to just buy a proven tank and mod it (the 34g Sol is a damn steal in my opinion).... got to admit I love modding stuff . I'll build the acrylic sump myself as not many people make a cube sump/fuge with the features I want. I'll be sure to youtube a video for the tank drill, seems to be little examples on drilling the Solanas.

Medred- thanks for the RC heads-up. Just trolled through a bunch of nano threads there. Some good Solana info to be sure.

no problem. I think E.intheC is the guy who is about to drill his tank. There's a ginormous owners thread there.

Hmm, I really need to find out a good way to put a top on this. Does the glass with the clamps not work well? I may want to try and build something else for the top.

maybe i should move over there but then again nano-reef is cooler!

RC is too big. this is a way better community.

Yeah it is merged MED! the thread is back, please everyone post your fts here and info. thanks!

Ok, I think it is time for me to join this thread too. My solana has been running pretty bare for a month and a half.
This thread should be fun to follow.

How much live rock do you guys carry in your solana's? I noticed a lot of solanas on here dont have a lot of live rock, or at least less than a pound per gallon and I am wondering if water levels are still easy to balance without that extra filtration?

I think I am going to remove some of my rock to make a better aquascape if I can get away with it.

LESS IS MORE!!!

i try to open up my surrounding to get alot of flow movements and its going great for me so far.
i think i have about 15lbs. of live rocks in my tank plus i used zipties to zip my rocks to make a zen look!

haha I am all about less is more too, but isnt the live rock good for the habitat? No problems with water levels?

I really love your tank though man! I just ordered a leopard wrasse and porcelain crab to join my ywm goby and clown pair!

Would a protein skimmer help? I just know more rocks help balance the Ph, but I could be wrong?

Make a thread and post us some of your hard work and pictures please! then we can go from there on!

haha I am working on it... I just need to get this aquascape first before I take some pictures. But seriously. I might take out some rock right now if you can give me some good advice with how to keep levels good with less rock!

i have no sand, less rocks, no rock rubbles, and still maintain good growth.

i use B-Ionic 2 parts each day. and my green and orange monti is growing like weed! you should be fine if you take out some to make room for certain corals to be placed in your tanks. i am thinking about adding sand to my bare bottom but not quite sure yet!

I definitely need a sand bed, but I think I do need to take out a little bit of rock!

you can wrap the rocks that you're taking out in damp newspaper and send some out over to me. I guess I need some more in my tank. Thanks!

haha I would... except I ended up not taking anything out and just rearranging it


Ps: I made a top for the solana today. I took a metal/lead gardening type fence, cut it out and used plexiglass as a frame with some clamps and adhesive to put it all together. Cost me 20 bucks and looks a little cheesy but gets the job done.

My girlfriends dad is a pretty big handyman, so I am going to ask him to make one that fits on the tank a little bit better.

add me 2 the list guys. i bought it as a ecocube but its clearly a solana. the box said so

picture pictures pictures is worth a thousand word. No worries at least you made some progress and get the job done. Post it up bro.

this sound like a good idea. i will make a section for SOLANA 25G Ecocube. how about that LOL. we can all join the solana family.

any solana users using the 250w sunpod on there tank with the legs?

if so, are you having heat issues?

i wanna upgraded to the 400w MH

overkill!

i saw one of the LFS in New Orleans was bragging about their custom lighting of 400w MH with nothing but xenias taking over their tanks. it was so sick but also produced alot of heat.

so i was only kidding about upgrading to 400w MH, i am happy with my custom build i made but now its about time to upgraded my bulbs pretty soon. 20k or 14k? and what brand?

I'm not going any bluer than 14k. The title of my solana is The King and his Kingdom... not The Smurf Village. I do love my phoenix bulb

It has been a little busy around here the Reef Bug has bitten I no loner have 1 Solana I have 2... they are on either side of my entertainment center... I find myself watching the tanks more than the television I hate it

I have done some updates to my webpage ... primarily updated the livestock page with all new pictures

here are some teasers


My original Solana Zoa Garden


Solana #2 Still haven't decided a theme trying to get the hair algae under control as tank was neglected before I got it


Clownfish Trio and their GBTAs

Electric Blue Clam

Fire and Ice Zoas

Peek-a-Boo Clown

Here is my Solana 34 gal that had been up since Nov '08. Mods I have made include:

Tunze Osmolater ATO
Vortech MP10
Sapphire Skimmer (new style with mesh wheel)
Sapphire Media Reator w/ GFO
Neptune AquaController Jr w/ Temp & pH
Sunpod 150w - waiting on delivery of Evil Dual Acintic LED
Replace stock pump with Quiet One 1200
Azoo Dual Fan for cooling
New top - aluminum frame w/ bird netting (see picture)

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Wow, thats is very nice milkman! how did you made that netting? show us a demo. i need to make one real soon! thanks

There is already a good write-up in the DIY forum by jimsflies.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=85584

I have seen this on a least a couple of boards and its real simple. All the materials run about $15. I prefer the bird netting that Lowe's sell over HD. It is Dupont brand is a little more durable and keeps its shape. Here is a close up of the corner, but all it takes is one 10 ft section of channel (comes in three colors), plastic corners, bird netting, and the ribbing to hold the netting in the channel groves.

Use the plastic clips that came with the Solana to hold the screen in place on top the tank.

Click to view attachment

Looks beautiful.

Milkman- How many anenomes do you have in your tank? I want to put one in, but I am a little concerned about what it will do to my other corals.

I am going to make that similar top (hopefully) this week! Question for you though... what are the dimensions of your top? I know that the tank is 20x20 but obviously you have it a bit smaller? 19x19? or 19.5x19.5? What do you recommend?

Also, I am still trying to get my flow in the tank right. I have one Koralia 2 in the back, pointing towards the front of the tank, but I don't think there is much flow going. My sandbed does not move at all, and I was told my frogspawn may not be doing as well as it could be because it needs more flow. Right now it moves very little, should I add another koralia on the side pointing across to get a little more flow in there, or would that be too much flow for other things (like my clam and ricordia)?

Just one Rose Bubble Tip in the center left of the tank. That's a duncan to the left and front of the RBTA, a torch down and to the right, and a frogspawn on the sand in the front right. I have two black onyx clownfish that host in the RBTA. The RBTA worked out great when I added it to the tank about three months back as it went to its current location and stayed. I then just moved the other corals around to adjust. It is growing very quickly however and I will probably have to make some more adjustments. I did not add the RBTA until the tank was six months old and the parameters were stable. I can tell you from experience that it gets easier to keep things stable after you cross the six month mark. I struggled with pH and Alk during those early months.

The screen is 19 1/4" wide by 18" deep. I kept the depth a little short of the full tank dimension to allow room for the various wires and items in the back chambers. You could make it 18 1/2" and still be fine. It just makes it easier to get in the back chambers if you don't go all the way back. The 19 1/4" dimension fits in the pastic clips that came with the tank.

Before I bought the MP10, I had two K2's in the back upper side wall with both pointing to the same point on the front glass, about midway down the front. Each K-2 is 600 gph for a total of 1200 gph or about 40x turnover per hour, which is a good amount of flow. The MP10 goes to 1575 gph and I have mine turned down to about 60% on reef crest mode and night mode starting at 11pm.

The easiest change for you would be to add a second K2. I went to the MP10 to get the two K-2's out of the tank and reduce the heat from the K-2's and give me the flexibility of the different modes and variable speed. My temp has dropped about 1-2 degrees since I made the change to the MP10.

Thanks for the quick response! I think I may go ahead and pick up another Koralia 2 if it won't be too much flow. Appreciate the advice!

My next investment will be a protein skimmer :/ Any advice on good protein skimmers around the $150 range and aren't too much maintenance? That and then an ATO and I am done with my upgrades (for now).

Anybody have any upgrades that they feel were great investments for their solana's?

I have the Sapphire and think it does a good job.
http://www.wix.com/sapphireaquatics/SapphireAquatics

The Euroreef Nano is another one with some positive feedback.
http://www.nanoreefsystems.com/nano-protei...ana-34g-hob.asp

The Sapphire is a drop in replacement that fits flush with the top. I think the Euroreef exteends above the top. If you go with the Sapphire, call Kyle and ask him when the new needlewheel impellers are going to be ready and wait to order. I have the mesh wheel impeller, which is good, but requires cleaning more often.

There are a ton of threads on ATO and probably less consensus than any other item. I have the Tunze Osmolator because of the precision that it adds the water using the optical sensor. It is by no means the cheapest.

I will definitely check out the sapphire, thanks a lot!

I love my sapphire aquatics skimmer for the solana. It took out alot of gunk when there was only live rock and water. Lol

Here is mine guys, I need to put some more effort in my thread but I haven't had the time for it. This are my last FTS right before I removed the rocks with GSP.

Front


Right


Left


I have to borrow a better Camera cause it looks too blue and I cant get my colors right.

Hi All,

I'm a newbie (to this forum and also SW), but I just purchased the Solana setup from my LFS. Everything is being picked up tomorrow, but I'm torn on the lighting options. My wife likes the "disco ball" light and is not to keen on the T5 option as the Solana is going in our diningroom. I was going to purchase the disco ball, but my LFS suggested that the T5 option is a better choice and is steering me in that direction. I guess they had a client that had a quality control issue with the disco ball and it was sparking. Anybody else experiencing this problem? Also, they suggested that a chiller was needed because of the heat that is thrown off by it... I live in SoCal and keep my house between 72-76 degrees. Any suggestions or experience with QC issues?

I appreciate everyone's feedback in advance as this is going to be a new learning experience for me. I will post some pics once I get everything up and running.

Thanks again!

lachapr

Hi lachapr I would suggest you either go with the Sunpod 150w/250w or the T5 fixture from current. I have never own the disco ball light, but from what I have seem in my friends Solanas is that it is too much of an one point type of light meaning that the reflector only points at the center of the tank so it causes alot of shadow to the sides, and your coral placements is restricted. Now remember that your light selection depends a lot on your coral and inverts selection as well.

I Started with a sunpod 150w and my tank stayed at 80F when my house was running at 72F, but I do have alot of pumps in my tank that add heat.

Then I decided to risk my way into a Sunpod 250W, but I bought a dual Azoo Cooling Fan. I turn my fan 2hrs before the lights and it goes off 2 hrs after the light and I'm able to keep my tank at 79F-80F (house is at 72F)

The sunpod 250w would be my recommendation since I don't have any info about how good are those T5 units for a 20" tank.

Here is a link to the Azoo fans:

http://www.marinedepot.com/Azoo_Cooling_Fa...ILTACAF-vi.html

Kozo - your setup looks sweet! Thanks for the feedback and info on the fans.

lachapr

Add to me to the list!! Link in my sig

I have the disco ball and never had a problem with heating issues. I just keep my heater set on 77 and my light adds another 3 degrees to keep it at 80 during the day, and when the light goes off, it drops to 78, so it works out perfectly.

If I was to do it all over, I would probably get a light that sits on the side though, just because it is a little bit more sturdy, but so far I like my disco ball as well. Maybe a sunpod or coralife.

Just added about 10 new frags to my tank to give it some color finally...I think now I need more live rock or more fish...or both, and then more frags!

For those of you without ATO systems, when you add tap off water, do you notice a back up of it in the sump of the tank? Whenever I pour the tap off water in, the back always gets to pretty high levels... and it makes me nervous.

thought i would post some pics of my solana in this thread..its about 7 1/2 months old

FTS (9-2-09)


3 acros( far left is a green/blue acro, center-front is a purple acro with yellow polyps and right is a blue tort)



my FS (orange FS wasn't happy)



more FS (sorry its kind of blurry but i cant really reach down there to razor that off)



more SPS



pink birdsnest and crocea clam



wall FS on left, xenia in the center, and torch behind it



and last but not least..my maxima clam



here's a video of my MP10



i have since added a sun coral and a red sea fan

TriggerHappyDude be careful with that Green Start Polyp on your rock, most people add it to their tank when they are newbies but you will end up hating it since it will start to take over your tank in about 5 months and you may end up losing some corals. I initially added it to my tank just like you, and then it end up killing my Oregon tort and almost killing my Montiporra Digitata, it grows to fast and will grown on your corals. Unless you trim it down like cutting some weed. If you really like it place it off the rock and maybe on place it on the sand or glue it to the back walls and keep an eye on it.

AtlWeb I used to go without an ATO system and what I used to do was to top off directly on the back chambers and I had a specific water level mark that needed to be reach. Not sure why you would top off in the main tank.

Ok thanks for the advice, I will move it down lower to the bottom some where away from the other stuff.
I got these frags from a local club member and he gave me what he thought were good newbie starter frags, as thats what I had asked him for. The heartier stuff.