12 gallon AIO - like my aquascaping ideas? (with pictures)

[Tobias]

This is my first post on Nano-reef but not my first reef tank.

Brief history of my Reef tanks and I. Roughly 3 or 4 years ago I had a 120 gallon 4x2x2 set up with a 40br as a sump, had it growing with softies until some personal conflicts came up and forced me to sell. After that I set up a Aquapod 12 gallon with a couple Frogspawn heads and a BTA sold it when I went off to college. Now I'm looking to get back into the hobby with a Nano 12 gallon again.

 

WARNING: This will be a long build process my plans are to acquire all equipment over the next few months and start it up over the summer.

 

Tank plans:

 

Live sand

Live rock roughly 10-15lbs

Corals - Frogspawn, Duncans, Mushrooms, ZOOs (lots of zoos), GSP, the rest undecided

Working crew - Misc snails and hermits, must have an Electric blue hermit (ill name him Fred), and 1 Porcelain crab, 1 Cleaner shrimp

Fish - 1 or 2 clowns (can't decide yet) will be True Precula Clowns, either a royal gramma or a fire fish, and a goby of some sort

 

Filtration - still being worked on, Live rock and sand will take care of biological, I will also have a refuge with chaeto in the back and most likely put some kelp or red plant type in the display for looks and filtration. I will have a sponge in the first chamber to catch large debris goal is to change it once a week. not sure on chemical filtration yet still looking into methods for nano tanks.

 

 

Equipment-

- Tank 12 gallon AIO

- Maxijet 1200 for return

- small heater

- may add a small pump for extra flow

 

Lighting - ????? I know I will go LED for sure, currently looking at Ai prime, Kessil 160, or a nano box mini. Im very open to your opinions on any of my choices as well as your suggestions.

 

Let me know what you guys think, If you have any advice or concerns please voice them.

[Tobias]

Step 1 - Cleaning the tank! got a killer steal on this 12 gallon came out pretty nice after a few hours. I did notice the epoxy on the back wall between the filter dividers what pretty hard and gross looking so i pulled it all off removed the back wall (made it a lot easier to clean too will have to epoxy the wall back into place soon. currently doing a freshwater leak test and after night 1 it checks out!

 

trying to upload pics now.

[Tobias]

dirty tank.

 

cleaning tank

 

clean tank

 

water testing

 

after 3 days water test has been passed!

[Tobias]

Decided to go with the Ai Prime led, hoping to receive it next week sometime!

 

Sand bed - going for about 10 lbs. when deciding what type of sand to use is there a preferred brand or type, would it be better to get the sand that comes in a bag wet and claims to be "alive" or seed the sand myself with current live sand?

[Tobias]

found some 100% silicone so I decided to glue the back wall back into the tank, The last time I did something like this was when I built my sump in like 2012, I'm no pro but I'm happy with how it came out, thought I would run out of the clear so I used white behind the wall.

 

 

Going to let it sit for another day and then do a water test on it. Hoping to get the Ai Prime by the end of this week, I'm excited for it.

Also i decided I'm not going to do a refugium, read too much debate on them with nano tanks, so I decided a skimmer will be a better bet and easier. My space for it is roughly 5x3 so I will begin the search for a nano skimmer soon.

[Gramps13]

Great Job. Silicone work looks nice and clean.

[Tobias]

So iv been reading into adding a skimmer and been looking at different AIO tanks with skimmers and compiled this list of possible choices that will fit in my chamber. I only have 3x5 in to work with for a foot print.

 

Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9001

Innovative Marine AUQA Gadget Ghost Protein Skimmer - DeskTop

AquaticLife Internal Mini Protein Skimmer 115

Eshopps Nano Protein Skimmer

JBJ SK-45 Protein Skimmer

 

What do you guys think will be my best choice? I'm leaning towards the Ghost skimmer or the Aquaticlife Internal mini.

[RIP Sebastian]

I've never had a skimmer, so I can't help you there. However, go Nanobox!

[Nano sapiens]

While you can run a skimmer in a 12g, it's really not a necessity as regular water changes can suffice.

[Tobias]

While you can run a skimmer in a 12g, it's really not a necessity as regular water changes can suffice.

 

I have heard that a lot and just checked out your tank and thread and am convinced of this 100%, you have a great looking tank! while ill hold off on the skimmer for now I may neglect maintenance a bit more than you do so the added safety net may be worth it for me eventually. Going back to read thru your entire thread now!

[Nano sapiens]

 

I have heard that a lot and just checked out your tank and thread and am convinced of this 100%, you have a great looking tank! while ill hold off on the skimmer for now I may neglect maintenance a bit more than you do so the added safety net may be worth it for me eventually. Going back to read thru your entire thread now!

 

Thanks. Good luck getting through all the pages (it's nearly 8 years worth)

 

Without the two adult clownfish, maintenance is more relaxed these days. With this mature tank, I find that just 5% WC/wk is fine in addition to weekly detritus cleaning/vacuuming.

[Tobias]

boring update here, bought my return pump today went with a Maxijet 1200 and then did a leak test on my false back wall. Found a couple small leaks but they are in places that I don't think will matter and are not nearly big enough to make a difference.

 

No leaks under the wall or around the wall.

 

Hers a quick video of the tank running with freshwater, Is my tank water level too high or should I add little more water? also does it look like there will be enough flow in the tank for my corals? Im thinking about getting a mp10 but now after seeing the current flow I may not do that.

 

[Nano sapiens]

I believe that the MJ 1200 is rated at 295gph and it shows here with that large, noisy drop and too much flow (especially for LPS/Shrooms). The tank is probably designed for something more in the 200gph range based on the overflow slot width and number. I'd try adjusting the pump outflow to 25% or so less and see how that looks.

 

For reference, I use the smallest Tunze (210gph) with a Hydor rotating flow head (which decreases flow by 20-30%). Even this modest amount is enough for many SPS in such a confined space as long as there are no massive obstructions in the tank to slow the flow down.

[Tobias]

I believe that the MJ 1200 is rated at 295gph and it shows here with that large, noisy drop and too much flow (especially for LPS/Shrooms). The tank is probably designed for something more in the 200gph range based on the overflow slot width and number. I'd try adjusting the pump outflow to 25% or so less and see how that looks.

 

For reference, I use the smallest Tunze (210gph) with a Hydor rotating flow head (which decreases flow by 20-30%). Even this modest amount is enough for many SPS in such a confined space as long as there are no massive obstructions in the tank to slow the flow down.

I'm not quite sure how to adjust the outflow on the maxi jet, but I was thinking of getting some more loc line and making 3 outputs to disperse the flows more randomly throughout the tank. I feel like that would do the trick but am not positive of it. Other wise I will downsize to a Maxijet 900.

[Nano sapiens]

I don't think the 1200 has a way to adjust the flow rate. However, some people have trimmed off a bit of the impeller blades to reduce the output or even drilled a few holes so that outflow to the front is reduced. Considering that they aren't that expensive, the MJ 900 with 230gph should be a better fit for this size tank IMO (I have an old one as a backup for my Tunze), but I find the MJ a bit noisier than my Tunze.

[Tobias]

Little update here:

 

received my AI prime LED in the mail the other week and am super excited to get this thing hooked up over the tank and play with the light settings more. I was messing around with it the other day and i can already tell I'm going to love this thing!

 

Also, bought some dry rock from reef cleaners and got that yesterday. I told them it was for a 12 gallon and they shipped me some pieces that work well in the small foot print. I did a couple aquascapes but am still undecided on which one I like. Ill post the options below, but I'm also going to break up a couple of the larger rocks to be able to do even more options. My goal aquascape would be a half arch with a tiny island under the open end of the arch. but let me know what you guys think of these.

 

First option 1 big island 1 small

top view

 

2nd option mini arch way

Top view

3rd option 1 island

4th option single island as well

last option so far single island as well

 

 

let me know what you guys think of them or any suggestions to current ones.

[Tobias]

bump

[2 f15hy 4u]

Looking good so far! I'm diggin' that mini arch way.

[Tobias]

Holy Crap,

 

I haven't updated this in way too long. The Tank is so far along now.

 

Okay, so once school was over I finalized my rock work and filled the tank with water, sand, and the rock and got it cycling. I used Dr. Tims ammonia so it took a while to cycle, just over a month. Once cycled I wanted to wait and just add some easy coral until I move the tank back to school before I get my fish, But I couldn't wait and added a signal fin goby. It was pretty cool watching him dig out his little cave under the rock so I'm happy i added him.

 

A few weeks after that, I add 2 Clowns, GPS, ric shroom, and a frogspawn head. I had my Lights way too high and burnt the frogspawn and hurt the gap quite a bit.

 

 

 

since then I went to a couple local reefers house and picked up some softies and LPS and a couple hard coral frags to help full the tank.

Today I'm going to move the coral to their final location in the tank, Just gotta wait for the mail man so i can get my glue!

 

Im going to try to glue my GSP frag to the back wall and hope it grows out on the wall.

 

 

After i turned my lights down my shroom looked like this almost stretching upwards, does it want more light?

 

Will try to post an update once corals are finally placed.

[yoshii]

Nice little tank! I really like the scape, I'm glad you could give us an update

[Tobias]

Well guys its been a rough couple weeks with the tank. I can't fix the problem I'm seeming to have with my AI Prime. its just to strong for the corals, all my corals have been in a constant dormant state and well slowly dying. so iv made some adjustments to my tank work schedule and raised my light 3 feet off the tank and turned it up to 100% so we will see how the corals respond. Also i have taken the Goby out.

 

Currently wanting to get rid of my AI Prime and buy a Kessil 160 but budget is tight around this time of the year.

[jack1978]

Well guys its been a rough couple weeks with the tank. I can't fix the problem I'm seeming to have with my AI Prime. its just to strong for the corals, all my corals have been in a constant dormant state and well slowly dying. so iv made some adjustments to my tank work schedule and raised my light 3 feet off the tank and turned it up to 100% so we will see how the corals respond. Also i have taken the Goby out.

 

Currently wanting to get rid of my AI Prime and buy a Kessil 160 but budget is tight around this time of the year.

 

Post some pics.....I doubt it's your light.....isn't it controllable down to just about nothing? Why raise it 3' in the air and then crank it to 100%?

[Tobias]

Post some pics.....I doubt it's your light.....isn't it controllable down to just about nothing? Why raise it 3' in the air and then crank it to 100%?

 

 

Yes, I will get some pictures posted in a few days. It was not my light. I thought my tank had cycled but it wasn't fully done so I was experiencing problems with high nitrites and nitrates because of that which really took a toll on my corals. Water is testing good currently, i moved the tank into my house at school and have been busying with classes starting but once I get some more time ill post a full update.