Sctn4Elk Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 OK, I put the original pics back in here but the original thread text is gone....anyway, this is day one... Link to comment
usfpaul82 Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 looks good! How did you get the overflows for the tank set up? Link to comment
SaltWaterNewb Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Host your pictures someplace like photobucket. It is free and easy and it gives you a link at the bottom of each picture that you just copy and then paste in your thread and the picture shows up. Tanks looks good. For some reason I think it is funny to see such a small tank with all the big tank plumbing...lol But very cool. Once my 10g is running strong I want to try my hand at a pico. The 5g bowfront looks like a really good candidate. What are your stocking plans? Link to comment
dtfleming Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Looks good, but I would get rid of those bioballs or be prepared to clean them often. this would make a kick ass 5gal sps tank Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 looks good! How did you get the overflows for the tank set up? Well, that's a funny story...I purchased a diamond 1 3/4 hole saw from www.glazzholes.com (replace the z with s) and proceeded to drill away. Everything looked good right up until the very end....then crack. My saw bound up at the last second and cracked the back. I was going to scrap it, but then decided to replace the back with 1/4 lexan, which I did. I also replaced the bottom with 1/4 lexan as I cracked that getting the back out. So all in all, the front three panels are glass and the back and bottom are lexan....Drilling the holes in the lexan was easy compared to glass so after 10 minutes or so I was good to go. The overflows are 1 inch bulkheads from www.petsolutions.com and I mounted them slightly offset so one could act as a surface skimmer while the other was submerged. I set the submerged one up so that if the pump stopped it would only drain as low as my sump could support. Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Host your pictures someplace like photobucket. It is free and easy and it gives you a link at the bottom of each picture that you just copy and then paste in your thread and the picture shows up. ... What are your stocking plans? I have them hosted on my Google Picasa Albums, next time I will try using the 'Insert Image' button which I did not do last time... Initially, I plan on some soft corals, still undecided, but probably sarco, frog, zoos, because as they grow I can cut them and transfer to my other two larger reef tanks. I then might try some of the easier hard corals. This is my first nano and I heard they were a little more difficult than the larger ones due to the small capacities. Looks good, but I would get rid of those bioballs or be prepared to clean them often. this would make a kick ass 5gal sps tank Yea, I wasn't sure about those...I have always used them in my larger tanks with great success...I know some people find them hard to deal with, but I figured the extra bio capacity might help the tank stabilize. It could be, as you say, that I may eventually get rid of them because of the extra maintenance. Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 DAY 7 The GARF (www.garf.org) Grunge arrived today and I added it to my tank. Clouded it up something fierce, but I know people who swear by this (and since we are originally from Idaho) I was game to try it too. Leroy, at GARF, said this would cycle my tank in about 8 days. EDIT - put space between pics Link to comment
CarterNichols Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 i don't know if you fixed it, but the tank was off center, and it kills me, consider moving it for the sake of my ocd Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 i don't know if you fixed it, but the tank was off center, and it kills me, consider moving it for the sake of my ocd Hmmmmm....I checked it and dang you must have some good eyes One side was at 6.5 the other at 6 so it was off by 1/4 inch....how did you see that???? Unless you are seeing the optical illusion of the pics being so close together? Link to comment
InTr4nceWeTrust Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 lol, hurray for OCDS! nice tank. just for fun, i wanted to do the same thing with a small tank and large sump. you beat me to it Link to comment
OceanNano Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 I like your setup Where did you learn to plumb all that? And how much did your Viper K2 10K 70W MH cost? Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 OK, couple of days later and the cloudy water has cleared up from adding the Grunge so I added the LR. Now I wait on cycling...any opinions on water changes throughout the cycling...weekly, bi-weekly? Link to comment
OceanNano Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 What kind of dry white rock did you start with? Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 I like your setup Where did you learn to plumb all that? And how much did your Viper K2 10K 70W MH cost? Experience from two other tanks, lot's of web searching, but mostly trial and error until I got it right. This is what I was using first, but in the end, drilling the tank turned out to be best. Had to tweak the sizing of the returns to match the return pump and build the sump so it could handle the extra water if the pump stopped. The return is also configured so it can't push too much water up to the tank if for some reason the overflows get plugged. The K2 was 149.00 from www.petsolutions.com. Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 What kind of dry white rock did you start with? The rock you see in the tank I made myself by following the directions at the GARF web site. It is made from Portland cement, plastic shavings, sand and crushed coral. Pretty easy to make if you don't over work your pieces. It does need to cure for about 8 weeks before you can use it, but it saves the reef when you can use your own and just seed it with something like Grunge. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 This will be the first time I've seen a tank set up the GARF way and I'm really curious to see how it turns out. It looks like it has a lot of potential. Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 This will be the first time I've seen a tank set up the GARF way and I'm really curious to see how it turns out. It looks like it has a lot of potential. I hope so too...and while I have seen tanks in the old club back in Boise set up this way...it will be my first. Link to comment
OceanNano Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 The rock you see in the tank I made myself by following the directions at the GARF web site. It is made from Portland cement, plastic shavings, sand and crushed coral. Pretty easy to make if you don't over work your pieces. It does need to cure for about 8 weeks before you can use it, but it saves the reef when you can use your own and just seed it with something like Grunge. I would like to add some GARF GRUNGE PLUS to my tank, But I can't find any info about the Price/amount & shipping $$ on the GARF web site? whats the deal? Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 I would like to add some GARF GRUNGE PLUS to my tank But I can't find much (Price/amount/shipping) on the GARF web site? whats the deal? Just call Leroy...he originally quoted me for 5 lbs of Grunge and 2 lbs of plus (he would throw in for free)...with shipping that was going to be $26. I eventually ordered 20 lbs of grunge (I have a 35 gal hex also) along with 2 lbs of the plus for free. Had I to do it over again I would have ordered 10 and 10 because the plus was so much nicer than the regular. Link to comment
CarterNichols Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Hmmmmm....I checked it and dang you must have some good eyes One side was at 6.5 the other at 6 so it was off by 1/4 inch....how did you see that???? Unless you are seeing the optical illusion of the pics being so close together? Ha, it is a curse this OCD! Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 Ha, it is a curse this OCD! Too bad I can't move the tank....I tried....it won't budge...maybe at my first water change... Link to comment
Matty1124 Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 i have a few questions on your plumbing... first what was the reason for going with two one inch drains? and why didnt you make them have stand pipes? arent they noisy the way you have them? all in all looks like its going to be a kick ass little tank though... i love your rock and i agree with who ever said this would be a really nice sps tank Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 i have a few questions on your plumbing... first what was the reason for going with two one inch drains? and why didnt you make them have stand pipes? arent they noisy the way you have them? all in all looks like its going to be a kick ass little tank though... i love your rock and i agree with who ever said this would be a really nice sps tank Bigger is better?? But seriously, my testing revealed that two 1/2 drains were not enough and 3/4's were just barely capable. One 1 inch would probably have sufficed for return flow, but I wanted one to act as a surface skimmer. As for noise...well, there isn't any. I tested with Durso's and without and the noise level was too low to notice. And you are right...I did not take into account my sqwid, elbows and height from my MAG 350...thanks for settling that. Link to comment
Sctn4Elk Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Finally some action in the tank...brown algae bloom and the cycle has begun. Water parameters: sg - 1.025 temp - 82 PH - 8.1 ( a little low?) Ammonia - 3 ppm NO2 - 1 ppm NO3 - < 20 ppm Algae bloom in the Main tank Sump Link to comment
Todesengel Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Oh my! *Gasp* Bio-balls! Link to comment
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