Sam's rimless 11.4 gallon LED nano

[L8 2 RISE]

Hi all, I'm new to NR, but not to reefing. I'm 17 and have been in the hobby for 4 years now. I've set up a 12 gallon FO, 225 gallon reef system (only a 75 display), and currently a 160 gallon display/ 250 gallon system at home. I've also set up a 200 gallon system (150 display) for oceanography at school, and a 60 gallon seahorse system in a Biology classroom.

 

Now, my 160 gallon tank is going to have to come down soon because I'll be leaving for college this year, however my mom wanted/was ok with a nano tank set up in an alcove of our house. This build is going to move fast because I have most of the coral/livestock already and I have a lot more money to spend on stuff since I'm breaking down my big tank.

 

This is what I had to start with (note the lego's to estimate tank size):

 

I wanted to use at least 2 par38's so picked up a fixture and with a weekend worth of Macgyvering, ended up with this:

 

 

The bulb I am using is the dimmable LEDwholesalers par38. It's a relatively new bulb with not much in the way of info out there yet, and it only uses 1 watt LED's, so I'm waiting on a PAR meter to check how well it works. Until then, I LOVE the functionality of these bulbs, they are controlled by a remote and I can dim the whole fixture, dim or turn off just the blue lights, or just the white lights, etc. Here are some pics:

 

both blue and white on full (note, crappy cell phone pics, no where near this blue):

 

Just blue:

 

Just white:

 

 

The tank is a Mr. Aqua, glass, rimless 11.4 gallon. I like the dimensions a lot, though wish it were taller for the application that we're using it in. Circulation will be provided by a vortech mp10.

 

New toys:

 

 

I got the rock and sand into the tank yesterday, and will hopefully get around to posting about that soon.

[d'Espresso]

oh man, looking great so far. so what are your plans in the tank?

[L8 2 RISE]

Oh yeah, should have added that, it's going to be a reef, most likely mainly with LPS, but just a mixed reef.

 

3-5 sexy shrimp that I hope to breed, I already have 2 females and a male

An african flameback angel

A goby/pistol pair

A yellow or blue assessor

and 2-3 each of one or two types of small gobies that I also hope to breed.

[gabe3eb]

Seems like you might be better served to find some PAR3x with much tighter optics. Will cut down the spillage and with the right optics, put on some really sick par. Love the concept here so far.

[L8 2 RISE]

I was thinking that once I got the par meter later next week, I'd see how the PAR on the tank was, and if it isn't sufficient, then I'll buy some tighter optics and see how that does. If it still doesn't work out then I will switch the bulb, but I LOVE the functionality of this bulb.

[_Mitch_]

Looks great so far. Awesome to see someone my age doing such a nice job! We need to rep ourselves well haha

[TMG]

Looking forward to seeing this tank develop. Looks promising so far

[L8 2 RISE]

Does anyone know if assessors are ok with shrimp? Mainly regarding my sexy shrimp? I'll have pics posted soon, but the tank has cleared and you can now see all of the LR/Sand.

[Boyder]

Does anyone know if assessors are ok with shrimp? Mainly regarding my sexy shrimp? I'll have pics posted soon, but the tank has cleared and you can now see all of the LR/Sand.

I believe Assessors are planktivores and will feed more on floating foods, and plankton. so i wouldn't see any issues with them and shrimp. the tank itself might be small for an active fish like the Assessor, but thats just my thought. oh and just to be a brat. WE NEED PICTURES! Personally I'd love to hear what you think of those bulbs. I've been thinking about going LED and am looking at all my options.

[L8 2 RISE]

Live Rock and sand has been in for about two weeks, I scrubbed the rock off before putting it in as it was very fresh, however my tests show it has already finished cycling. First piece of coral went in on Wednesday. Here's pics as of today. Note: I have plans to bring the wires through the back so you can't see them and I think I may put black backing on the tank.

 

 

 

 

[adinsxq]

nice

[L8 2 RISE]

Currently I have the following fish/inverts in my big system waiting to go into the nano:

Barnacle Blenny (I might get 1-2 more)

Tail Spot Blenny

2 female and 1 male sexy shrimp

 

I like the lights, however the quick par testing that I did earlier this week showed only about 150-200par at the top of the tank, which means that the par goes from 2000 right in front of the light to about 200 in 4 ft. So it has good par, but it dies off quick. I LOVE the functionality of these things though so I will definitely keep them, but maybe lower them down or something if need be. I'm going to go do some more thorough testing right after I post this and will put results in a new thread.

 

Also, while I'm at it, check out this new coral!

[L8 2 RISE]

Ok, here you go, par readings: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=273949

[twister23]

that monti looks sweet!

[Boyder]

Looks awesome. Can't wait to see were you take this. I really like your scape as well.

[a-t-m]

nice piece of rock.

[Zer0]

Damn.. I'm jelly.

[Kylebeano]

looks awesome, where did you get your rock? I want it

[L8 2 RISE]

Thanks guys! I got the rock from an LFS. It was 9 bucks a pound and I spent about $130 on it. I have a couple hundred pounds in my big system that I was planning on using, but this stuff is so nice that I couldn't pass on it. My rock work is one big piece with 3-4 little pieces epoxied to it.

[L8 2 RISE]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've added a bunch of coral, as well as fish. You'll also see that I've added extensions to the lights, I found those yesterday while wandering around home depot and thought they'd be perfect. So far I think I like the results, it gets a lot of light off of the glass and onto the rock. I'm battleing briopsis right now, so excuse the algae in the pics. I also haven't finished breaking down my tank downstairs, so haven't moved the dj strip up to organize the wires, but that will happen pretty soon. Other than that though, everything's going well. PLEASE let me know what you think!

 

I threw corals in randomly from my big tank downstairs and picked up a few from LFS's. I'm only adding small frags, even though I have large colonies of most of them downstairs because I'd like everything to grow with/onto the rockwork for a much more natural look. Here's fish/inverts added so far:

 

The barnacle blenny was the first one into the tank, however perished- I think it starved, however it could have been something else, it lasted about a week. I think I may try another one in the future as they are very cool fish.

 

The next fish in was an ORA yellow assessor that I got for about half of what I expected to pay from an LFS, so I bought and added it earlier than I would have liked. I didn't see a sign of it for three days and thought it died, but after that it appeared in the cave on the left side of the tank and has been hanging out there since.

 

I then picked up two green banded gobies and they're now in the tank, I couldn't get pictures of them as they're always hiding in the rock.

 

Most recently I added my tailspot blenny, my three sexy shrimp, my orange knobby star, and my serpent star.

 

The next addition will by a african flameback pygmy angel, followed by my ORA domino clown and probably another clown to pair with it.

 

Now for pictures:

FTS:

 

Tailspot blenny, sorry for the bad pic, it was the only one I could get as he's pretty shy still:

 

Yellow Assessor, again, sorry for the bad pics- he lives in the cave so there's not enough light to shoot and he moves a lot:

 

Sexy shrimp, first is the large female, then a pic of the smaller female and the male:

 

My new plate:

 

Awesome Wellso that my gf got me a while back (well, she provided the gift certificate ):

 

War coral frag (this is one of the ones that I had a large colony of downstairs- one of my favorites actually, but want a natural look)

 

Duncan, and yes, that's a pink discomusa mushroom! I still have most of my cool shrooms downstairs, but got this one from an LFS recently.

 

Blue Ochtodes macro algae. This will probably end up in the HOB filter when I convert it to a HOB refugium, however it's still a cool, pretty rare macro algae. I have more of this downstairs too.

 

 

Finally, shots with only the Blue LED's on. I couldn't figure out how to get very good shots with only the blue's on, but here's my best:

 

Again, PLEASE let me know what you think and any ideas/ suggestions!!!!! :biggrin:

[gabe3eb]

Turned out great man! That rock is pretty unique and fits the tank well. That plate is unreal looking.

 

Only criticism is the thermometer! Move that ish.

[longbeachstateofmind]

Very nice

[jgpico]

This tank is awesome. I really like how you ended up mounting the par bulbs it looks sweet. Good job here. Have you had any issues with your sexies picking at any of your corals?

[L8 2 RISE]

Thanks guys, yeah I have a wireless thermometer, but the thermometer part is broken and I just need to get a new one. I'll get rid of it soon! So far I've had no issues with the sexies, but I feed well and they haven't been in the tank that long.

[Featherduster]

The rock definitely looks great. Did you have to glue any of the corals to it in order to get them to stay? It looks like all your pieces are nicely placed.