Custom 20g Zoa Garden

[NYfishies]

Bump! Thanks!

[CatfishSoupFTW]

I added some Dry rock recently to my system as I was short a few pounds. all I did was rinse it casually to remove any small particles i.e. rock dust, but thats about it. Its been in the tank for a few weeks. No ill effects to the params. Added about 10 pounds to an already existing 15 pounds or so of LR. and about 10 pounds? of aragonite substrate.

 

Some people like to take their time, others just chuck er in. up to you.

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

So I am torn between which Nanobox light to get: the Tide or the Duo.

 

I will add the Moonlight LED to either one and I will add the Storm controller to the Tide if I were to get that one since it doesn't come with it like the Duo does.

 

I will be going with a white light casing with red accents and a white painted goose-neck.

 

My idea with this tank is to be coral heavy and for the landscape to be spread out. The focus will not be the center of the tank where the Tide would reside. I believe the Tide will be able to have enough coverage to hit all 4 corners of the tank and I am certain the Duo will. For another $150 the Duo could totally be worth it to ensure that the entire tank is fully lit. What I do not want to have happen is that it becomes overkill and/or the light spills outside of the tank down to the floor making it looks messy. Do you guys think the Tide will be enough or should I just go with the Duo? Again, in this case the money doesn't matter to me.

 

Thanks!

[CatfishSoupFTW]

The tide covers a 14 inch long tank, the duo claims 24 cube. So the Tide you could say would be too short, and the other a bit too wide. But, if you are mounting the light on the tank, which is only 8 high, plus give or take a bit more hight because of the light, I think the duo would be your best bet. Especially with your corals off to the side, the 14 inch range would already be keeping it tight. you would have to raise the light even higher than normal to get enough spread (weakening the light) The duo up close shortens the spread but keeps the intensity, and you could always dim er down if its too much.

 

Thats just the way I see it from their coverage point of view.

[Cove]

Isn't there the mono?

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Isn't there the mono?

 

 

lol there is.... and for 16-18 inch tanks.

[NYfishies]

Catfish,

 

Thanks - I am going to go with the Duo!

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Catfish,

 

Thanks - I am going to go with the Duo!

the other user noted the mono , and it maxes out on your tank length. which could be a good thing? but it may be weaker on the sides.

 

if not, im sure the duo would be amazing.

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

Just to update the tank thread.

 

We are eagerly awaiting our Nanobox Duo w/ the Moonlight and Storm Controller. Hopefully we will see that in a week or 2!

 

Today I ordered most the remaining equipment for the tank. Picked up 10 lbs of Bahamas Oolite Arag-Alive! Reef Sand and another 4 lbs of Fiji dry live rock. We will have a total of 7 lbs of Fiji and 3 lbs of Reef Saver to work with. Also, I picked up a Tunze Osmolator Nano.

 

I will be picking up some Krylon Fusion spray paint this week to touch up some of the PVC as well as paint some new PVC that I will add to the drain in order to have the drain extend into the water rather than a waterfall effect. Trying to cut some noise there.

 

Bought from BRS their tank lid kit. Will be building the custom lid this week as well and painting it red with the Krylon Fusion paint.

 

This weekend we hope to aquascape and start to cycle the tank on Sunday. Planning to start with freshly made saltwater, the live sand and the live rock. Any suggestions of how to speed up the cycle would be appreciated. I am not really in a rush though as we also have another tank (only 6 months old) which takes up a lot of my time already!

 

While no rush, I think I will go with a Yard Master Floodlight Holder and a 15 Watt Cool White 6000k LED for the Refugium Light. Still no clue what to get for the Frag Tank, but that can wait months.

 

Once cycled over the first few months we will add some corals and then 1 Helfrichi Fire Fish and 1 Green Clown Goby. We also want to add a Pom Pom Crab or 2 and a group of Sexy Shrimp. Once the tank matures a bit we will build up the coral population, but keep the fish and inverts relatively the same (cleanup crew as well).

 

Thanks for followings and any comments are welcome!

[NYfishies]

Just heard from Dave @ Nanobox. Below is the link to our Duo (the goose neck still needs painted white). Can't wait to get it!

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nanoboxreef/16142510660/

[NYfishies]

Guys,

 

Maxspect Gyre XF130 in this tank??

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Guys,

 

Maxspect Gyre XF130 in this tank??

do you already own a powerhead? I have seen promising things about the Gyre. not sure about controllers, or modes on it. But it does seem to be "revolutionary" depends how the tank is built. With my return, plus my wp10, the power is intense in my tank. Even at the lowest settings, I find it tough to find dead spots in the tank, or low flow areas for other corals.

[Dryland]

I can't wait to see this system in action! I really dig the tri-tank layout.

[NYfishies]

do you already own a powerhead? I have seen promising things about the Gyre. not sure about controllers, or modes on it. But it does seem to be "revolutionary" depends how the tank is built. With my return, plus my wp10, the power is intense in my tank. Even at the lowest settings, I find it tough to find dead spots in the tank, or low flow areas for other corals.

 

Not for this tank. I want something I can control with the Apex. Since I am using very fine sand I want to be able to control the flow intensity easily. Perhaps I should wait to invest in the wavemaker until I show everybody how the scape will look.

 

On my Fusion 40 I use a Jebao RW-4 and have it connected using a DIY cable from a fellow reefer to hook up directly to my Apex. From there I have custom wave profiles to control it. Thinking about getting a 2nd, but will likely wait for the Neptune Systems WAV to come out in the Spring.

 

Just ordered some Krylon Fusion paint (red and white) and once that comes in I plan to touch up all of the piping with the red, paint the filter sock holder red, the lid white and the Fuge light holder white or red. Hope to have all of this completed by the end of next weekend and the tank filled with water by the 12th (my birthday!). Hopefully the Nanobox Duo will be in by then too!

 

Not sure if this is an odd question or not, but does anybody use Blue LED lighting for their Fuge?

 

Thanks again for following!

[Marc.The.Shark]

You know, I think with your open glass setup, you may be able to use the red/blue LED grow bulbs for your fuge, might look kinda cool with the glass doors. I've never used them tho, maybe someone else can chime in on how that combination works or maybe just red, that's what the algae scrubbers use. But they make the ones that I referred you to with diff color led's & I've seen the red/blue combo or just red on eBay. Couple bucks more, but less than 10 bucks a bulb for the 15w

[NYfishies]

Red would look cool I think. I am concerned that the White will be too bright and draw too much attention to that portion of the tank.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Cant provide you a link this time, gonna have to dig it up yourself! lol

[NYfishies]

Cant provide you a link this time, gonna have to dig it up yourself! lol

 

 

I found some cheap Red/Blue LEDs on Ebay, but I like this one that I found on Amazon best at this point.

 

http://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics%C2%AE-TT-GL20-Lights-Plants-Greenhouse/dp/B00GNWK2XO/ref=pd_sbs_hi_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1AVEV1390KJEG0HJPBQD

 

Do you think that will be too much? There is also this one which comes in 5W.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Flowering-Hydroponics-Vegetables-Spotlight-Downlight/dp/B00LEC4U0E/ref=pd_sim_hi_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1VBFMWCC604W1D3D37CS

 

The 5W is much smaller and might look better with my setup as long as it puts off enough light to grow the Chaeto. Looks like it would? It also looks like it would fit in this fixture which would lower the bulb closes to the water level.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Yard-Master-0621-Landscape-Floodlight/dp/B00I9VQF74/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422751370&sr=8-1&keywords=yard+master+floodlight+holder

 

I plan to go to Home Depot this week to find the same Light Bulb fixture you have. Any idea what it was called?

[Marc.The.Shark]

IDK if the 5W will be enuf unless its pretty close. The 15W I have seems like its just right & the light penetrates all the way to the bottom of the Fuge, It's about 6" off the top of the fuge & prob 10" from the waterline.

 

Don't know what the fixture is called, they had ceramic & plastic ones, less than $2. You shouldn't have a problem finding it. Was around the area that the T-5 Flouresent bulbs were. I just used an old extension cord & cut off the end to wire it up.

 

I've never used the red/blue bulbs so maybe someone else can chime in on how well they work, what wattage would be good.

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

All of our rock is in so I started to play around with the scape. Since this reef is only 8" deep it is sort of difficult to get the right perspective via the pictures. That depth also makes it a new challenge for me to scape.

In the below photo I circled the formations which I glued together outside of the tank prior to putting in. Each is made up with 3 or 4 pieces of smaller rock. The goal was to make 2 stand-alone island cave formations. The formation which is not circled is not glued yet. I am not sure whether I want to clutter the formations or create 3 minimalist style islands.

I would say that there is a good 8-8.5 lbs of rock in the tank as shown in the pictures above. I will be adding 10 lbs of sand as well.

Since we will be growing a number of corals I am trying to keep the rock formations shallow enough to allow for taller corals while still providing ample caves and hiding spots for the 2 fish. I am also concerned about the future wave-maker and not blocking the flow.

Would appreciate any feedback and advice. This scape is a total work in progress and as you all know will likely change many times over.

Thanks!

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

We began the cycle on Tuesday, February 10 and so far so good.

 

Added 10 lbs of Bahamas Oolite Arag-Alive! Reef Sand and another few lbs of BRS Fiji dry rock. All in all I would say that there is 10 lbs of dry rock when we started the cycle. We did not add anything else besides the live sand to cycle the tank.

 

Running in the sump is just the filter sock at the moment and heater. I still need to paint and replace the pipe which directs the water into the filter sick holder. I cut a piece of PolyCarb sheet and drilled a hole so that the PVC fits perfectly and eliminates any splashing in the sump. I do need to alter the size of the sheet because bubbles do creep out of the sides (even though the top of the sheet remains dry) and when the bubbles burst salt splashes against the glass door. If I extend the sheet closer to the front of the sump I think it will eliminate the splash entirely which is my goal.

 

The mini reactor is not running yet, but it is ready to go. The pump is at the bottom of the left chamber in the sump. fits perfectly. I will add another cut off valve on the tube coming back into the sump so that when I need to clean or change the media in the reactor I can close both valves and there should be no leakage on the way to the sink.

 

I received from Dave my Nanobox Duo w/ Storm controller and let me tell you it is amazing. There were some issues with shipping and the light was potentially damaged (loose screws, a scratch, odd behavior of 1 specific LED). Dave, of course, offered to replace immediately (should have by the 27th). He will also send a different mount which is made for my tank. His customer service is second to none in this hobby. The light is beautiful and fits perfectly with the style of the tank. I believe I will have him build me a custom LED for the FT.

 

I bought the BRS Screen Top Netting kit and I am in the process of cutting it to shape. I will have it fit around the overflow. I plan to paint it red (the netting is white/clear).

 

I plan to put some sort of a flood light holder to use as the sump light. I have one in mind, but have not purchased yet.

 

The Apex is up and running although I still need to calibrate the Salinity probe. At the moment it is 1.025. The pH has been pretty high (8.19-8.3). Temp has been consistent at 78. ORP probe is still breaking in.

 

Tonight I will run Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates. I ran the other day and everything was still at zero. I presume the cycles is going to take a good amount of time, but I do not want to add any buffer nor use any rock from my other tank.

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

[ProtectDa2nd]

This build is simply awesome! A+

[NYfishies]

This build is simply awesome! A+

 

Thanks!

 

Still waiting for the cycle to get going. Should I add some snails at some point to help with the cycle?

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

Yesterday (day 19 of the cycle) was the first day we detected Ammonia (0.8 ppm). Today Ammonia is @ ~0.2 ppm, Nitrites @ >1 ppm and Nitrates at ~7 ppm. Used Red Sea for all 3. Seems like the cycle is going along well just with the 10 lbs of live sand which I am happy with.

 

We will continue to test each day until we start to see zeros. Wouldn't be surprised to see that happen in the next week! At that point we will add a coral or 2 and some inverts and then see how it goes from there before adding the Green Clown Goby and eventually the Helfrichi Firefish.

 

Does anybody have experience with Sexy Shrimp? We want to get a group, but not sure about the quantity?

 

Also, should we only get 1 Pom Pom Crab or can we get 2-3?

 

Dave @ Nanobox is sending tomorrow the replacement LED. Once received I will determine how the lid needs to be cut to fit the gooseneck mount and then paint the lid red. At that point the only thing left will be the FT LED and the light fixture for the Fuge. No rush on either since we will not be utilizing either for a few weeks minimum.

 

Thanks!

[CatfishSoupFTW]

is he just sending you a single LED or a whole fixture for replacement/exchange ?

 

im excited seeing your build progress. lol as for your inverts etc, i have no idea. my dotty back messes with shrimp so i cant have any