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tpallas' 33g SPS Coral Dropoff Nano

tpallas

By tpallas,
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tpallas

tpallas

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Introduction

 

Some of you may know me from my other thread on this forum, my 11.4 gallon Mr. Aqua SPS tank. I've been keeping fish since I was 6, and saltwater fish since I was 12. My first job was at my LFS, Marine Care Specialists. Needless to say, I've been hooked ever since.

 

First and foremost, I am 100% keeping the 11.4 gallon tank, and am very excited to see it grow out into a full-blown SPS nano forest. Since I am moving into a 1 bedroom apartment, however, I now have the opportunity to consider one more tank - a nano, at that. Although I love the challenge and look of SPS, I also love the vibrant colors and ease of soft corals and polyps. The types of tanks that have large, waving neon Neptheas, kaleidoscope clove polyps, a matt of green star polyps, and all sorts of other cool, but easy, corals. Therefore, I resolved to set up a second tank to house these corals.

 

But instead of the normal rectangular tank, I am jumping on the dropoff bandwagon. There are some great dropoff tanks starting on RC, so I thought I'd throw in my hat as well. So hopefully my build will be interesting and entertaining, and give me the results I'm looking for.

 

Design Concept

 

Here's a Sketchup of my concept:

 

DropoffNano.jpg

 

The idea is to have the tank and stand match my 11.4 gallon tank as a piece of furniture in my living room, and a semi-room divider. This sketchup is very preliminary; I intend to lay out the exact setup in detail before I make my first purchase.

 

Equipment List

 

Lighting: AquaIlluminations Sol Super Blue. At some point, I intend to replace the Sol on my 11.4g with a Radion unit. When that occurs, I will be ready to move the Sol to this tank.

 

Skimmer: Probably, the Tunze 9002 Nano. I've been using the SWC-120 on my 11.4g, which is a fantastic skimmer even on such a small tank, but unnecessary on a soft tank (and my wallet).

 

Sump: I plan on building a glass, or potentially acrylic, sump, which will be approximately 6-8 gallons in total capacity.

 

ATO: Tunze Osmolator.

 

Controller: The hope is that I will use an extension box for the Profilux 3 and run a control cable to my tank from the 11.4g stand. This way, I will be able to control both tanks through one controller.

 

Return Pump: Eheim 1250.

 

Plumbing: Very similar to my 11.4g - a Glass Holes Super Nano con Dientes with black tube or PVC plumbing.

 

Flow: Maybe, when time permits, an MP10. In the meantime I may settle on some Tunze nanos.

 

Way Ahead

 

There's a lot to figure out here as this isn't a readily available setup. First, I don't know if a single piece of glass can be cut in that L-shaped pattern, or cheaply at that. If not, I may be looking at a 2-piece side. One option for the tank is to have it built, a second is to have the pieces cut and do the silicone job myself.

 

The stand will obviously have to be built as well, and I intend on using the furniture builder who built the stand for my 11.4g. Same mahogany stain with a white painted interior, with matching furniture.

 

Finally, I'll need to lay out the sump. Since I have far less equipment here than in my 11.4g, the design will be much simpler. The only complicator is that the drain from the overflow and the return will be right next to each other, on the back side of the tank.

 

That sums up my current challenge set in getting the basics of this tank together. I'm not even moving until mid-March, so I'll be in the planning phase until then at a minimum. After the basic layout is together, I'll need to look at the specifics of the controller and rockwork, which will be less filling than it is in my 11.4g.

 

Q&A

 

Q: This post format looks a lot like Tron's, did you steal his idea?

 

A: Yes, yes I did.

 

Q: That's an amazing Sketchup of the tank, are you the guy that invented Sketchup?

 

A: No. In fact, I downloaded Sketchup this afternoon, watched one instructional video, and made that drawing. Believe me, if I can do it, ANYONE can.

 

Alright - so that's it for now.

 

Cheers!

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  • 4 months later...
tpallas

tpallas

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Alright....long time, no post. I've made a lot of progress here and some big updates.

 

First, I increased the size to 33 gallons in the display tank - 18" wide, 12" high on the top step, and 24" high on the bottom step. Stand height is 40". Tank is currently being built by a local builder (http://www.artfullyacrylic.com) out of 1" cell cast acrylic to keep it rimless. Coast to coast overflow on back wall with bean animal pipe system. Two returns with loc-line for directional control. The builder is also installing three curved acrylic rods so I can mount the rock to it, keeping it stable and off the sand in a dropoff rock setup. The top step will have a 1" lip to keep sand on top. The tank should be completed in August.

 

For the sump, I've asked Jeff at Lifereef to put something together for me. I'm on his build list for October.I want it to include room for all equipment, plus a small fuge and a "floating" frag tank for which I will use a Sol Nano.

 

For the protein skimmer I went with a Bubble King Mini 160. I would like to get the self-cleaning head on this to make it as effective as possible. I'm real excited to see how this thing performs.

 

Flow will be 2 x Tunze 6055s controlled by the Profilux. I can't use MP10s as the walls are 1" thick acrylic, so the 6055s will be mounted against the overflow wall. The return pump is a Tunze Silence which can also be controlled by the Profilux.

 

On the controller, I will simply network in a Profliux expansion box which will enable me to control both my 11.4g and this tank from one controller. Eventually I'd like to add in a Profilux Touch so I can see the status of both tanks and control from one convenient spot. At a minimum I'll need controls for lights, the pumps, pH, and temperature. We'll look at salinity and ORP in the future.

 

For lighting, I've been leaning really hard towards T5s. I'm using LEDs on my 11.4g so I'd like to see how T5s perform in comparison. I had thought about T5/MH combo, but between the energy consumption and heat, I think pure T5s will be sufficient. With that in mind I'm looking at the Sfiligoi Mini Stealth 6 bulb 24" unit. This can be dimmable via Profilux control - and dimmability is my main appeal towards LEDs.

 

On rock I'll use a combination of Pukani rock and Tonga shelf for a series of shelves from the bottom (largest shelves) to the top (smallest shelves) on which will be the corals. I would like to use a mixture of live rock and dry rock to get good biodiversity and cost effectiveness.

 

I think that sums up my plans for now. I'm still in the collecting equipment stages. I think based on tank and sump builds, it will be November before I get this thing wet. In the meantime, below are some shots of my recent acquisitions:

 

DSC_0242.jpg

 

DSC_0243.jpg

 

DSC_0244.jpg

 

DSC_0248-1.jpg

 

DSC_0250.jpg

 

DSC_0252.jpg

 

DSC_0253.jpg

 

DSC_0254.jpg

 

DSC_0247.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Tom

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tpallas

tpallas

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Thanks all!

 

Unfortunately the glass was a Nuovo 4 gallon tank so I could take down my really ugly 5.5g.

 

The tank should be done in August.....the builder let me know the 1" acrylic came in....should be sweet!

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  • 3 months later...
tpallas

tpallas

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Alright tank build is in progress and coming along! Should be done shortly. Metal frame for stand against which the ply sides are mounted by magnets:

 

med_gallery_2633222_1121_78852.jpg

 

a1.jpg

 

a4.jpg

 

a3.jpg

 

a6.jpg

 

a2.jpg

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