Hey Reefers,

I brought you the 72 gallon Oceanic bowfront evolution and it was a success and continues to evolve.

Now I bring you the 6 gallon Tru Vu and hope to make it just as successful as it's big brother.

Among mystery nanos this tank has been eluding many reefers on several boards; and I hope to bring the missing link back on the charts of nano evolution.

Enjoy what is yet to become a fantastic nano tank..

Mike G

Nice to see you back in the nano tanks again Mike.

Thanks Shao-lin,

I couldn't resist and you all remember that my passion for nanos was seen in my two 12 gallon JBJ cubes...

I just had to come back...

MG

MG,
I'll be watching this thread with interest as the jury is still out on what tank I'm going with.Thats some nice lookin LR you have there.Where did you get it?
Randal

Looking forward to the updates.

How are the rear chambers set up? Are they as big as the JBJ? How many chambers are there?

How about a pic of the tank

He's building up suspense.

MG,

I'm just starting up a 12g Nano Cube. Would be interested to know where you got such nice LR.

Thanks,
Doug

On goes the show...

Here are angle shots of the nano and the assembly of the light and skimmer... I also took a pic of the removable media...

MG

i am hoping its gonna look as good as your picos did

How about better than my Pico.... I'm going to go all out on this guy...



MG

I added my 50 watt heater, all black to match tank... I also placed in the coralife digital temp display... To power up this little toy, I went with the simple yet efficient Coralife digital power strip.

Then I added 10 lbs of live sand followed by 10 lbs of Bali Live Rock...

I toyed around with the pieces and finally got this, hope you guys and gals like it...

MG

Mike,
Looks like you are starting off once again with a great setup & aquarium. I read your thread on your bow-front and it turned out sweet, except of course your ich war. This is a bad @$$ aquarium, can't wait to see what you do with it.

Mike,

Looks great. Any chance you can let us in on where you got the Bali LR?

Doug

Oh course Doug,

I got my Bali live rock at, Aquarium Concepts in Hayward Ca... I happened to arrive on Friday when Ken the owner ordered three boxes of the stuff...

He personally went over with me and opened the boxes and we both hand picked what you see....

Apparently this distributor cures the Live rock better than the others, it smelled almost cured I kid you not, and there were no sponges all over my rock which is a good sign of cured rock....

I'm actually going to take back one piece that didn't fit into my tank, the display area is rather small, 8inch by 12 inch of play room.

At $6.99 per pound this rock is expensive but way worth it especially for nano tanks...

Mike G

Mike,

Thanks for the info. Since you had it shown in a Styrofoam shipper I thought you had it shipped to you. Must be nice to have a reliable LFS. I'm in Dallas, most of the LR doesn't look that great at the local stores.

I was leaning toward Premium Aquatics, until I did a search for Bali rock and found Phishy Business. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Doug

Attention all Reefers...

A small setback, I came home from dinner with my wife and went into my room and saw a small water puddle next to the tank.

I quickly scanned the entire top of the tank hoping that maybe it was the aircheck valve on the skimmer and it wasn't.

I moved the tank to the side and noticed more water seeping out , oh no.

So I grabbed a dry towel and cleaned up the tank on the bottom and waited a couple seconds and then found the drip on the very bottom right side, on the seam of the darn tank.

I was so ###ed off, but it could've been worse, it couldv'e drained all out and it was a super small leak.

This makes my luck with acrylic super bad, about 1 year ago I purchased the 6 gallon CPR nano and had the same disaster only this tank flushed out my water immediately as I filled it to the rim.

So I took out the live rock and live sand and cleaned the tank and repacked it to get a replacement from my LFS.

I never do a water test prior to beginning a reef and this happens to me again, I will make sure to do one as I get the new tank.

Hang in there reefers, I haven't begun to fight, at least not yet...

MG

Hey Mike! What are your stocking plans for this tank?

Sorry about the crack... I've never done water checks either. Every time I fill a tank, I feel like I'm playing "press your luck".

Big money big money, no whammies!

If its any consolation, I used that same "live" sand that you've got there. Same brand and everything. My cycle was almost non-existant. Less than a week and ammonia, NO2 & NO3 were all at zero. It's pretty good stuff.

You should be happy with it when you get your new tank set up.

Best of luck to you.

I just stumbled into this thread and am blown away the quality of your live rock! I live in San Francisco, and the rock selection here (some of which I purchased ) looks really, really subpar compared to what you got. I called Aquarium Concepts and the owner was extremely helpful and checked through his rock so I wouldn't show up and waste a trip on Bart to come home empty handed. Thanks for the heads up!



Nice tank by the way, good luck with it!

Let's try this again,

I got a replacement tank; what are the odds this one can leak? Well, I wasn't going to take a chance, I ran a water test first...

After the tank cleared the water test, I carefully added the live sand and live rock back into the tank...

I adjusted the skimmer and fitted the heater right to the side...

To clear out a lot of floating debris I added my HOT magnum filter. The water is getting polished pretty well as it's only 6 gallons being turned over...

I even got a picture of the skimmer in action...

Here are the pics...

MG

Looking good.

Hey Reefers,

I got the coralife 1 watt moonlight today and custom installed it on the side of my metal halide...

I also took a picture of the tank with the lights on for you reefers in a hurry to see it on...

The water is still very cloudy as it won't become crystal clear until the cycle is complete...

MG

Here are two pics with the moon light at night... Tank still needs to cycle, so water is not crystal clear...

MG

Hey Mike, that is a great lookin' nano tank!!! I remember posting about this TruVu tank many months ago, but got very little response . . . so I ended up getting a 12 G NC instead.

I cannot wait to see how it turns out!!!

Hey Reefers,

I wanted to share something with you all that I think might surprise you...

While at work I got a call from Scott Clark V.P. of Tru Vu aquariums. He let me know that Ken the owner at Aquarium Concepts in Hayward Ca, had led him to my thread...

He was very concerned regarding the leak, that I had experienced and any setbacks it might have caused. I was taken by that because he expressed much conern in his tone of voice...

Exactly one year ago I purchased the CPR Aquatics 6 gallon, with a major leak in the seam and worse than that, horrible customer service...

Much different with Tru Vu aquariums. He explained to me the process of creating an Acrylic tank and how an air molecule can cause a slow drip in the seam, without notice. He reassured me that a second tank with the same issue is non existent...

He was right, the second tank has been flawless in it's design and running great. I expressed to him that I have owned Tru Vu tanks in the early 90's of reefing and love the sleek design...

We spoke about how upgradeable this tank is; did you know that the return line has threaded grooves? did you know that the drip tray is removable for a reason?

Well I got the answers and was so surprised to learn, that they sell an add on to accomodate a locline onto your return line. And how about a true refugium that reefers can drop in for macro and DSB, we are talking about separate vertical chambers, not the cheap pressure glue on plastic we see on other cubes...

This was awesome news for me and I wanted to share it with all of you. For my problems with the tank, Scott is sending me out for free the add on locline...

In this hobby, customer service is something that is often overlooked by vendors. Not so with Tru Vu, they went out of there way to make sure my product was okay; that's excellent customer service to me...

Thanks Tru Vu, you guys are great!!!

Sincerely,

Mike Guerrero

How do you like your Berlin Airlift 60? I purchased the Fission Nano-skimmer and it really just doesn't work.

The Hound,

I wouldn't recommend the Fission nano-skimmer to anyone from all the negative post I've seen...

I also took a close look at the construction of one at a LFS, it was cheap and brittle; I'd stay clear from them...

However for $35 dollars the construction of the Berline Airlift 60 is incredible, I mean the plastic is really durable and easy to take apart and clean, and the collection cup is 20 times bigger than the fission skimmer...

Lets talk about the skimmate that it collects, it's a lot and very nasty yellow color to it...

Mine has been running since monday Aug 24th and continues to collect skum. The trick to run this guy is a powerful air pump, and I went with the best I could get, Coralife Luft Pump, which cost more than the skimmer...

I highly recommend this sturdy skimmer for any chamber in a open top tank, it's hidden from view and does it's job nicely, from what I've seen and read, it's the best NANO skimmer on the market money can buy; for those who want it in a chamber that is....

MG

Sweet, well I may have to pick one up in the future. Thanks.

hey mike, so for right now youre just running the return out the return hole towards the bottom of the tank? what are you gonna do with it? one think thats nice about the NC's is that you can use a hydro flow with them. i wonder if you can find a way here as well. what are you gonna keep in here?

CrazyAggie05,

Tru Vu is sending me out a locline connection for free to connect at the bottom.... Then I'll have control of water direction.... I also have a very small pump in there to move water, did you see it? Towards the surface left side....

MG

Reefers,

I've asked around about what type of filtration I should put in place of the bio balls...

After a lot of debate, I went with Chemipure at the bottom followed by PolyFilter on top, then Phosguard, then a few bioballs to distribute the flow of water and then small strip of DLS followed by two coatings of 50 micron filter...

I let the tank run one full day and I am really amazed how crystal clear the water has become, here are the photos to share...

MG

Nice Setup...

I was curious what this whole thing cost? Been thinking of one myself

JD

what are the plans for fish

thats some awesome looking live rock! Hope you have an auto topoff

wow that looks like a great setup mike.... i think i found my tank to downsize to... did you pick that light right off the bat, or did you look at some other setups?

Hey MG...it's Cameron. Glad we could take care of the TruVu tank swap for ya. The setup is looking really good.


Glad you liked the rock. I actually was the one you talked to. I'm a manager at AC...I'm glad we could get you all setup.

Cameron

Yes I also like your setup! I just ordered a 10 gallon standard acryclic tank from Tru Vu. I really like the sleek look of acrylic tanks.

Mike

It was a picture of your Nano-Cube that got me hooked on nano's a year and a half ago. I am presently in the process of upgrading to a larger tank, but after seeing this thread I think I might have to scrap the plans and start a Tru Vu.

Thanks man, you did it to me again.

-Stone

oh yeah, mike where did you order your tank from?

Mike,
The tank looks great! One thing you might want to consider though...
If I were you, I'd remove those resins during the cycle. Simply due to the fact that they'd be exhausted after the cycle is complete, thus needing some replacements. Just trying to save you some money.

BTW, the skimmer looks like it's pulling some nice skimmate considering you have Chemipure and Phosguard in there.

You guys,

I'm glad that I inspired some and want you to know others have inspired me...

I really love this Tru Vu for it's elegant design in filtration and more importantly the crisper cleaner look than the glass nanos...

I have had nothing but positive support since I started the tank and it all started at my LFS...

Cameron is extremely knowledgeable and very customer service orientated; in all aspects of reefing...

If anyone wants to order the 6 gallon Tru Vu and follow my lead, call Aquarium Concepts in Hayward, Ca. They have tons of tanks in stock and will likely fill your needs...

They also are the ones that helped me hand pick my Bali live rock in which a lot of you reefers are inquiring about...

Try to call on a Monday and speak to Cameron he mans the helm on that day and I'm sure he can check for stock items at your request...

Mike G

Great set up Mike! That fixture could be hot. I had one on my bookshelf nano the temp was always high. Anyways, can you take a few more pics of the filtration in the back. I'm still not too sure how the water is flowing and such. Thx! and great tank...cant wait to see it stocked!

Hey mike, strange question, how much flow does your skimmer generate with the luft pump working it? Any idea?

Thanks,
Chris

Froggie,

I'll try to take more pics of the back filtration for you; it has the option of drip rate or submerged filter....

Chris,
The skimmer is great, you can see all the skimmate it pulled out; courtesy of the luft pump...

I've noticed that since I dopped in the chemipure and all the other elements in the filtration back; my skimmer has stopped, their is nothing to pull out...

Amazing tank.....

MG

Ah, that's cool, but i didn't ask about the skimmate, i asked how much flow it induced into the water. Any idea on that one?
~Chris

Chris,

Not sure I understand your question? The Luft pump is very powerful I have that set on dial 6 out of 10...

There is a specific water level associated by a line that indicates correct placement...

Then you are suppose to dial the air pump until you get an adaquete amount of skimmate...

When you fire up the pump too much the water rushes up the tube, spilling into the collection cup to quickly...

From the side of the skimmer I can see a lot of turbulance via the air and water mixing...

I can take a small video clip 10-15 seconds for you to view, I saw a fission nanoskimmer video before so doing one should be easy...

MG

Hey Mike,

How loud is the air pump?

Well, in terms of, say, a powerhead, does it cause much water to move around?

Trl2112,

The luft pump is extremely quiet for being that powerful, I have it under my bed and I don't hear it...

Chris, in the chamber there is a lot of water movement I did do a video but it's a little dark; check it out...

Click here to watch Berline-Airlift60-Skimmer

MG