Ahh it feels so good to be back in the game! I recently did a relocation from Michigan to California and have already purchased a tank within 3 months.

I've always enjoyed shallow rimless tanks and cube tanks because of the aquascaping opportunities. I definitely didn't want a plumbed tanked so my choices were the 34 Solana, 30 Gallon Finnex, 22 Cadlights, and 20 Gallon Finnex. However, when looking up prices I found a 25 Solana, and purchased the set-up from a local California reefer (Thanks macimage!).

25 Gallon Solana (18" x 18" x 18")
Vortech MP10
20" Nova Extreme (6 x 18 watt)
Stock Skimmer, Stand
ReefKeeper Lite
20# of LR
20# of Arag-alive Special Grade Reef Floor

Future Purchases:
Refugium Light
Additional RKM-PK4
Tunze 9002
Either JBJ topoff or Tunze Osmolator

The Goods:


The Tank:


All Set-up:


I had one 20# piece of Live Rock that I broke apart with a chisel, drilled holes in, and zip-tied together. I wanted enough room on all sides to keep the glass and back wall clean. Also, I didn't want the rock to go too high so there was room to grow for the corals (SPS specifically). After two weeks and what I thought was the end of the cycle, I purchased an oscellaris. My roommates inspired this purchase.



Here's 'Tiger' or 'Alfred' depending on who you ask. I'm still awaiting the right name:


Since I had figured my tank was through it's cycle, I bought the first batch of corals from a generous So Cal reefer (thanks Stryker!).


The tank had a diatom bloom shortly after this, which has subsided to some algae on the rocks. I bought 2 Astreas and 3 hermit crabs who are doing great work. I will update more when the tank is clean again.

Nice Tank! I love the Current Solana!

Looks good. I have a 34 gal Solana and they are awesome tanks. Cant wait to see your progress.

Thanks!



I am excited for the progress as well. Can you post a picture of your Solana?

nice tank you got going their ....that ato is going to come in handy...

Welcome to the club. I like how your rock work sit. simple and clean. good start btw! you can check out more solana tank its on the bottom of my sig. so i will add you soon..

Thanks, it's the JBJ ATO. I'm just waiting on some supplies before I get it set-up (airline tubing and pre-filter).
I'm going to have a small 3 gallon reservoir I dose with Kalk.



Thanks, I wanted the rock work to be in the center with lots of room for ease of cleaning. I hope to be able to keep all walls including the back one spotless. I also didn't want it too tall because I plan on having a lot of SPS on top and I wanted room for growth. Thanks for adding me to the Solana thread!

A little update to my 25 gallon. First, the latest FTS:


ATO reservoir, 2.5 gallon with a tablespoon of Kalk. I am looking for a tank that is better suited as a reservoir, possible just an AGA 2.5 gallon.


The controllers (the new JBJ ATO)


All the wiring, I'm trying to manage it with ties but I'd like to figure our a more 'clean' solution.

Here is the Tom's Aqualifter I'm using to re-fill the top-off evaporation.


It doesn't fill fast enough, which causes the JBJ to automatically turn it off. I'm thinking of buy a proper return pump to do the job. Something like this:

Then having the tubing go to this:


Here are the current float valves in the return chamber:


1st chamber (Skimmer, Heater):


2nd chamber (Filter pad, chemi-pure, and an area that will be eventually be a refugium):


Everything:

Very nice setup.

Thanks, I'm finally starting to see some progress. I'll get some new pics up soon.

How do you like your T5 Fixture so far? I'm considering either getting the T5 setup or the Metal Halide fixture.

Great setup! i love the aquascape

So far I really like it. 6 bulbs is nice and the multiple switches and fans make the setup convenient. However, I still think Metal Halides are a lot more powerful. My SPS are doing fine, but the colors have browned out a bit. This could also be my water quality not being perfect yet.



Thanks! The two biggest reasons I made the aquascape the way I did - cleaning and growth. For example, I bought a 1/4" gravel vacuum, which is the perfect size for the my Seafloor grade argonite. I was able to vacuum all the sand surrounding the rock structure and the water I took out was a nice brown color. All the diatoms that settled during the cycle were sucked up perfectly!

Does Chemi-pure have carbon inside it? I'm just wondering because I've been running both carbon and Chemi-pure and I'm not sure if they're both necessary.

that's cool. I'm still deciding whether to get the Solana with the T5s or the Metal Halides

If you get the T5s, go with the Current 6-bulb, TEK 4x24", or ATI's T5 fixture. I didn't like the heat Metal Halides threw off (I'm in CA) and I like running my actinics in the morning and at night. My personal vote is the T5s but to each his own.

Update:

Ok where to start. First things first, I bought the Seachem Basic Test Kit (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Alkalinity)
I had a build-up of hair algae but I don't over feed at all. So I figured I'd run the results and see what's going on inside the tank:
pH - 8.1
Alkalinity - 2.5 meq/L
Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate - 0

So I ordered a phosphate kit on MarineDepot

I also added a lawnmower blenny to help 'mow' down some of the algae. Haven't had one in years and forgot how awesome their personality is.

So here is the new equipment for the tank. 2.5 ATO Tank on the left, 2.5 Saltwater change Tank on the right:


ATO Tank pump is controller by the JBJ ATO Unit:


Both return tubes go through the back port and go to a U-Tube return pipe. The saltwater return has a ball valve plumbed in so I can stop the flow when the level is correct in the tank and walk over and turn off the pump (instead of the frantic run and unplug):


Return tubes:


Tank level view of all equipment going in/out of the tank:


FTS with actinics:


I added 5 Nassarius snails and 5 blue-legged hermits. I also got a couple of frags which I'll post better pictures of when the algae is better in control.

So I need help with my algae. I've ran every test now (Nitrate, Phosphate, Nitrite, Ammonia, pH, kH) and everything is 0 (pH 8.1, Alkalinity 2.5 meq/L). This leaves only my water quality. I used some tap water when I first set-up the tank....rookie mistake. Other than water changes, is there anything else I can do?

Trying to be proactive with my battle from hair algae, which stemmed from using tap water on my initial tank fill, I've been upping my Magnesium to ~1400 and it's been working great! HA is on downfall in the tank and things are looking great. I've also been doing 10% water change twice a week by using a small gravel siphoning kit to grab everything settling in the sand bed. The tank will be moving 10 miles away in a month so I've been playing with the idea of removing the sand bed entirely and putting down something like this to run BB - Link for BB bottom HPDE

I bought a Tunze 9002 Skimmer a while back and was having trouble making the brackets work in the back of my Solana:



So I took my aquamend epoxy and the magnets off my Koralina 1 and did this:





It now sits nicely in my tank and produces a fair amount of skimmate:


The skimmer is still very noisy though. I'm going to wait another week to see if the 'slime' period eliminates some noise, if not I'll most likely just buy the newest model because most people I talk to say their 9002 are very quiet.

At the bequest of my roommates who wanted a 'klaus', I added this guy who is doing well and eating flakes already:


I also added a Bi-Color Blenny because I love their personalities:


So far so good with the Blenny, he doesn't touch my SPS but he did tear up an Echino pretty good which was right next to his cave. I moved the Echino far away from his where I hope it can heal a bit.

Nice blenny, i have one in my tank too but its a tailspot blenny! they are so fun to watch!

Unfortunately, I came home last night to see the Bi-Color has shredded almost all the tissue off one my Echinos and destroyed my Green Slimer and another SPS. Had to tear the entire rock work and corals apart to get him. 3 hours later and a lot of frustration, I returned the Bi-Color to the LFS and did a 20% water change to suck up everything that has been stirred.