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Trickling Rock 20L AIO


Lazers

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Hey guys, I am a long time observer of Nano-reef but just created an account yesterday. I have gained a wealth of information by looking at other member's threads and thought I should share my tank here as well. This tank has been setup for 8 months but I have finally gained the time over Christmas break to start this journal; as well as running into a few questions. I'm still in High school and broke as ever lol.

 

Prior planted tank:

post-82784-0-85409400-1388160562_thumb.jpg

 

FTS prior to new rock and skimmer:

post-82784-0-29114000-1388161184_thumb.jpg

 

FTS 27/12/13:

post-82784-0-56870400-1388161510_thumb.jpg

post-82784-0-60536900-1388161494_thumb.jpg

What do you think about the new piece of rock? I'm not sure. Does it just look like a random column in the middle of the tank or does it follow well? I was able to split the return pump into some airline tubing, which is keeping the rocks moist and creating a tidal pool like effect.

 

Equipment

 

Tank: 20 long with Badfish 20l aio conversion kit (not sure what happened to him but my kit arrived on time and is built with excellent quality)

 

Lighting: Fishneedit 24in 4 bulb t5 with stock bulbs

 

Return pump: mj 900

 

Skimmer: aqualife mini 115 with airline mod

 

Powerhead: Hydro korola 240

 

Heater: idk like 25w set to 78°F

 

Top: diy acrylic box

 

Biological filtration: 17lbs of pukani live rock and some random sand from the lfs

 

 

Fish (fully stocked-I realize)

 

2 x true percular clowns

 

1 x sixline wrasse

 

1 x black cap jawfish

 

Invertebrates

 

Skunk cleaner shrimp

 

~7 astrea snails

 

~ 5 blue legged hermit crabs

 

Corals (I have no idea on the specific name, feel free to tell me if you know)

 

Zoas

post-82784-0-27575900-1388161543_thumb.jpg

Frogspawn

 

Acan

post-82784-0-42508300-1388161522_thumb.jpg

 

What do you guys think about fiddler crabs and saltwater? I could not seem to find a general consensus. Also are there any plants that would fair well on the rock out of the water?

 

Thanks for looking every one!

 

Oh almost forgot. Tanks that have inspired me the most: giga's, rehype's, and konolua's.

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I'm not sure how it looks with the hood. A pendant setup would be ideal.

 

The structure itself looks cool though. Give it some plant/animal life and see how it goes.

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Interesting build. Check Rehype's thread, he has done something similar and has a fiddler crab.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/333743-hypes-edgeless-ridge-islet/

thanks, I've been checking out his build.

 

I'm not sure how it looks with the hood. A pendant setup would be ideal.

 

The structure itself looks cool though. Give it some plant/animal life and see how it goes.

I agree that a pedant would be the best setup. The hood stops the jawfish from carpet surfing and really cuts down on the evaporation though. I will probably reconsider it when i look into getting an ato. I defiantly just need to save up and get some more corals.

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You know you obsessed when the following conversation happens.

 

Friend: "dude what did you get for Xmas? I got a PS4!"

Me: "I got a rodi system for my tank"

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Ok so first major update. This morning I was able to hang the light from the ceiling. This makes it look less cluttered and will allow for improvement on the glass hood. Also I got some Reef Crystals and made my first batch of salt water. here are some pics.

 

mixing

P1000394_zps1df79610.jpg

 

how the tank looks in my room

P1000395_zpsb4e2ebd0.jpg

 

P1000398_zpsc9c4170b.jpg

 

The back chambers. Note how the return pump is split into airline tubing which is then feed over the rock P1000399_zps66a50de0.jpg

 

 

My shrimp and the massive amounts of micro bubbles produced by my skimmer - hopefully just breaking in

P1000402_zpsc6a267f6.jpg

 

This picture probably came out the best. Top down shot of the rock without the acrylic cover.

P1000404_zps2d861db9.jpg

 

P1000405_zps88af279f.jpg

 

 

 

As mention earlier I need to improve the hood. I did some drawings in SketchUp and came up with the following:

 

Overall finished look. The white box is my tank, not a stand

setup_zps23b0ec12.jpg

 

just the hood

glasstop_zpsd8eb011a.jpg

 

the dimensions

P1000406_zps9c27996c.jpg

 

 

I will probably take the dimensions to a glass shop and see what they can do. Please, if anyone has any experience in manufacturing aquariums could you give me a rough estimate. The dimension are included.

 

Finally I’m looking to get some more frags but all of the shops around here charge an arm and a leg. So if any of you are located near Toledo Ohio and are selling some frags let me know!

 

Thanks for looking!

 

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Hey man just a suggestion, you look pretty nifty at DIY. So what I would do is I would run that airline tubing parallel to the rim on your tank so you cannot visibly see it, you can do this with some tape or whatever you want to use. Then I would drill a small hole in your rock and insert the airline tubing into it, so it looks like a natural flow of water and not being able to see the airline tubing. Just my 2 cents.

 

P.S- I know the struggle of high school reefing, keep with it. unfortunately now that I'm off at college I have no tank. But I've been saving up, and I plan to attempt a dream set up when I come back for summer.

Edit: I don't know if you have a tide pool affect going on with your rock out of the water, but I've seen a build that had some zoas in a tide pool that was out of the water, now that was neat!

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Hey man just a suggestion, you look pretty nifty at DIY. So what I would do is I would run that airline tubing parallel to the rim on your tank so you cannot visibly see it, you can do this with some tape or whatever you want to use. Then I would drill a small hole in your rock and insert the airline tubing into it, so it looks like a natural flow of water and not being able to see the airline tubing. Just my 2 cents.

 

Thanks a lot. I was planning on doing that I just forgot to mention it lol. I am consider making the rock more of a "basin" with some epoxy - all in good time right. I think the tank you are referring to is konolua's which defiantly has some aspects I am trying to emulate. when my zoas grow a bit more I might place a small frag up there and see what happens.

 

Honestly college is going to be hard without a reef. You should get a pico, thats what ill most likely end up doing, and then transfer the stuff into your dream setup.

 

 

I also vacuumed the sand bed this afternoon and forgot to post a picture of the now white sand.

 

P1000401_zps31f4c4eb.jpg

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Well, to my demise my tank crashed a month before I left to college. So I took the remaining pieces of coral and gave them to my friend to hold on too for the time being. I'd love to have a pico up in college, however the nearest LFS from my college is 45 minutes away. So I'm going to design a tank that requires minimum maintance, and my mom agreed to look after it while I'm gone. I'm currently already coming home once a month or so, so that'll give me time to do water changes ect she'll just have to feed hopefully.

Also in my opinion, the acrylic is sort of an eye sore, but then again I'm a big proponent of thinking that your tank is more than just what is inside of it.

 

P.S the freshly vacuumed sand looks nice!

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Thanks Jace. For the return I first directed the flow into a 5/8 barbed t valve, one outlet was for the "main return" and the other outlet was for the airline. I then had to connect the 5/8 outlet to airline by using a 90° fitting- it was very tight fitting for the airline. I hope that makes sense. Here are the pieces:

 

T valve

31a6e7b6569cb5fbfcd81e343e03b49d_zps7935

 

Reducer

0fadb89ae0dce12c18772f0c5ecb9034_zpsce94

 

I can get a full picture tomorrow. I also agree about the acrylic top eye sore. I'll just have to keep brainstorming some ideas. Basically it needs to reduce evaporation extensively while also stoping my jawfish from jumping out. It definatly needs to be redone from the state it's in now though. If you or anyone else has any ideas please let me know.

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I'm really interested in your build, it's awesome to have someone my age that is in the hobby. Your build looks promising. I'll be following that's for sure.

 

Yeah its cool, most of my friends just do not understood reefing lol. I hope you get you big tank up soon.

 

 

Anyways, today I was able to hide the airline tubing in the rocks and and create a more basin shape with epoxy. Unfortunately there are gaps between the rocks and the epoxy so it does not completely fill with water. Here are some pictures:

 

the main basin

P1000410_zps17ef77c9.jpg

 

drying the epoxy

P1000411_zpsc7b99f5f.jpg

 

where it will go

P1000413_zps1d4e5488.jpg

 

what do you think about this side?

P1000418_zps15216c5e.jpg

 

 

for the next few picture i briefly took the top off - it looks way better - does anyone want a jawfish :rolleyes:

 

P1000422_zps0dc6e725.jpg

 

P1000420_zpsdfd41db4.jpg

 

If i was to get some fiddlers do you think the rock is too close to the side?

P1000421_zps7f66514a.jpg

 

P1000424_zps8e71c4c4.jpg

 

P1000425_zpsd9142f14.jpg

 

P1000415_zps1312b336.jpg

 

thanks as always.

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Your tank already looked good, but man this is a lot better!

 

You need to start shoveling driveways or cutting lawns asap to get some nice frags in there man!

Thanks, I wish it would snow here. I need to get a job.

 

 

Minor update today, nothing really major. Within the next week i plan to:

 

- better epoxy the top rock to the main structure and make the basin water tight

 

you can see the gap

http://s864.photobucket.com/user/lazerybee/media/P1000427_zps7ad3ae7b.jpg.html'>P1000427_zps7ad3ae7b.jpg

 

http://s864.photobucket.com/user/lazerybee/media/P1000428_zpsf52f832f.jpg.html'>P1000428_zpsf52f832f.jpg

- add 3-5 new frags

 

within the next month

 

- get some fiddler crabs

- sort the hood problem out

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Pretty cool build going on here.

 

Thanks man, you need to post a FTS on you thread- I like the coral choices

 

I was apprehensive at first, but man this is turning out really cool!

 

I'm glad you like it, I bet the hood was what made you apprehensive. Your tanks looking great and I like how your upgrading to a 29 haha.

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