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Coral Vue Hydros

Ken's Eheim 9 Gallon Nano


Ken0

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Welcome to the party! It's just the two of us as far as I can tell... B)

 

I love the dimensions of this tank, i'll be following along to see how yours progresses.

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Welcome to the party! It's just the two of us as far as I can tell... B)

 

I love the dimensions of this tank, i'll be following along to see how yours progresses.

 

Your tank looks nice. I will go and check out your journal.

Here's the info about my setup.

 

Tank: Ahem Aquastyle 9 Gallon Nano.

HOB Fuge: CPR Aquafuge2 - I swapped out the Rio 200 pump that comes with it for a Rio 600. Much better flow. Plus the Rio 200 seemed underpowered and would hum when connected to the pipe that flows into the huge. Not crazy about how the pump looks hanging in the main tank. May need to try to hide it with some rocks or something else. Any ideas that people might have on how to hide it would be helpful. Not sure if I can drop it lower in the tank.

 

Flow: Sicce Nano pump. In addition the return from the Aquafuge2 with the Rio 600 pump provides some additional flow.

 

Lighting: DIY LED light using CREE LEDs; 6 Blue, 3 Royal Blue and 4 White.

 

Media: Marine Pure BioMedia - I cut a 4"x4"x4" block from a 8"x8"x4" block. I have the block soaking in my 45 gallon SW reef to load it up with bacteria.

 

Filter: I may use the original filter unit that came with the tank. I can put carbon or a PO4 media in it if needed. I fits perfectly in the Aquafuge2 compartment.

 

Sand: Tropic Eden mini flakes - 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep. Really like this sand. Very clean so little rinsing required and tends to stay in place better than other sands I've used.

 

Rocks: I am using dry base rock from Reef Cleaners. I did make an arch and used NYOS reef cement to hold the shape. Right now I have the rocks and a few loose ones in a bucket of SW with a pump, and a bunch of Phosguard in a mesh bag. I want to pull any PO4 that might be in the rocks. I am using waste water from my 45 gallon in the bucket to see if I can get some bacteria colonies to colonize the rock.

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Here are some additional images showing the MarinePure block I am using as my main filter element. It is sitting in my CPR Aquafuge2. Prior to adding it to this tank I had it soaking in my 45 gallon for about 3 weeks.

 

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Here is some images of the Aquafuge2 when I was testing it.

 

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Video of the Aquafuge2 while I was testing it. Very quiet, yes the sound is on.

 


I got my rocks from Reef Cleaners. I wanted to make an arch. I used a product called NYOS reef cement to hold the rocks together. I made my cement mix more wet like creamy peanut butter. I worked great. I also soaked my rocks for about 3 weeks in a bucket of SW, with a pump and a mesh bag filled with Phosguard to suck out as much PO4 as I could. I had some other rocks in the bucket so I could finish the rockscape once it was in the tank.

 

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Ammonia is still running .25-.5ppm as of today.

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The pump for the hang on fuge, hangs in the tank vs being in the fuge. I did see some mods where people moved the pump to the fuge. My concern with moving the pump is when it needs to be cleaned. There is not a lot of room to get my hands into the fuge to remove the pump. So I needed to come up with another solution. I started looking at add on in tank overflow boxes. I found a couple that would work, but I still wasn't happy with the sizes I was finding. I had an extra overflow box and tried it in the tank, it was a bit big, but my concern was with the water flow into the box. The water needed to come in from the top, so I could still see the pipe and wire for the pump. I could put a hole in the bottom of the box, but I didn't want to mod the box I had.

 

I noticed that CPR, the company that makes the fuge, makes a bubble trap box that would connect to the slide where the water flows back into the tank. The size of the box seemed to be a good size, plus it is open at the bottom. With it being open at the bottom, I could push the box up to be level with the tank top. This would hide the wire and pipe for the pump. So I ordered one. I installed the bubble trap box today using a magclip to hold it in place.

 

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You can see the pump on the right side back.

 

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This is looking from the right side into tank.

 

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In order to make the box fit and also to be able to remove it in the future to get to the pump, I had to turn the rock structure clockwise, which was fine, I was wanting to turn the rock scape anyway.

 

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Wow tank looks nice.

I've never seen that Marinpure Block before, it looks like a nice cut piece of pummus. should work perfect for your fuge.

Keep us updated!

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Wow tank looks nice.

I've never seen that Marinpure Block before, it looks like a nice cut piece of pummus. should work perfect for your fuge.

Keep us updated!

 

Thanks....

The MarinePure block has been around for years. As what is typical in this hobby some swear by it, others not so thrilled. I noticed BRS is using it their latest build series on YouTube. Because of the high surface area it should host a large bacterial population. Will see.

Nice tank KenO. I will be following.

Thanks.....

Are you a Pens fan? I'm originally from the East Coast. Good game last night Rangers vs Pens. We have good friends that are big Pens fans.

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Thanks....

The MarinePure block has been around for years. As what is typical in this hobby some swear by it, others not so thrilled. I noticed BRS is using it their latest build series on YouTube. Because of the high surface area it should host a large bacterial population. Will see.

Thanks.....

Are you a Pens fan? I'm originally from the East Coast. Good game last night Rangers vs Pens. We have good friends that are big Pens fans.

As a matter a fact I am a Pens fan. We went to a game about 3 weeks ago and are going to another in about 2 weeks.
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As a matter a fact I am a Pens fan. We went to a game about 3 weeks ago and are going to another in about 2 weeks.

 

 

I am trying to become a Coyotes fan. Not quite there yet lol.

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I doubt I could ever switch allegiances at this point. I have lived in the north hills of Pittsburgh my whole life and that is more than 5 decades so the Pens, Pirates and Steelers are kind of a part of me.

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I like going to watch the games. Rangers only come to town once or twice a year. I'm still a Rangers fan, but if I want to watch them on tv I need to get the NHL package. Live is so much better than tv.

Back to my tank. Looks like my nitrites might be starting.

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Ammonia and Nitrites are now zero. Nitrates stayed at zero. I want to see if the marine pure block is denitrifying, so I dosed enough KNO3 to raise my NO3 to 2ppm. Tomorrow I will measure my NO3 levels.

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First, the block I used had been sitting in my 45 gallon sump for around 3 weeks before I put in in the hang on fuge on my nano tank. Tank cycled in one week with only dry rock in the tank. Ammonia went up to 0.5ppm and Nitrites went over 1ppm. Nitrates stayed at 0. After one week Ammonia and Nitrites went to 0. So as per my previous post I dosed KNO3 to raise my NO3 to around 2ppm. I tested after adding KNO3 to validate I had a color change on test kit. Today when I measured NO3 it was at 0. I know trying to measure an exact amount is difficult at best with these test kits. The point is the color went back to 0. So today I dosed 2x to raise the NO3 to 4ppm. Tomorrow I will test again to see where the NO3 level is at.

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So I found a LR at a LFS that had some nice coralline color on it. It was too big for my tank so I broke it up and used one of the pieces as my top rock and I put another piece in my hang on fuge. Time to bring on the coralline. I raised my alk, cal and mg levels and adjusted my lights to give me lots of blue.

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This tank will be mostly a zoa tank. Last count I have 18 different zoas that will find their way into this tank. I did pick up a hammer and Duncan coral that are sitting in my 45 gallon tank.

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Checked NO3 levels this morning. NO3 was back at zero after dosing KNO3 yesterday to raise it to 4ppm. This marine pure block looks like it is working.

 

Moved my Yellow Clown Goby from my 45 gallon to the nano.

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Not much happening, I was giving the tank a little time before I start loading it up with corals. Added some snails. Yellow Clown Goby is eating well. Been doing 1 gallon a week water changes. Noticed Alk levels going down. Started a 3ml/day 2 part Alk and Calcium supplement.

 

Couple of pictures.

 

Front view

 

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Right side

 

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