brian92 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Nice Background I think it really blends well with the rock Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Are you moving the contents of your nanocube over to this tank? Some of it for sure. I may move the 12G to my office or I might just put everything in this tank. Havent come to a final decision yet. Its likely I will take down the 12G.... two tanks....two locations....too much work. Mark Link to comment
divecj5 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Looks great Mark. It is amazing how nicely that rock blends with the foam/sand back wall. Really gives it a dynamic look for sure. Should really look stunning once it gets covered with some nice pink and purple coralline and a Monti Cap or two would really set it off. You might have said this before, but what are you planning on keeping in this tank? I know that your Nanocube is a zoa/paly paradise but didn't know what you were shooting for in this one. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted July 23, 2008 Author Share Posted July 23, 2008 Lots of zoa/paly/rics since I already have a head start. I'd like to mix in some LPS. No SPS, other than a monti or two, its not a great idea for me since I have no skimmer or sump and not a huge amount of flow. I am a big fan of the KISS method. I will just work with what I have. Link to comment
Nick's Reef Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Wow Mark, the scape and foam wall looks amazing! Also what are you're socking plans fish wise? Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted July 23, 2008 Author Share Posted July 23, 2008 My Tailspot Blenny will make the move, I am sure he will love the extra room. For the blennys tank mates, I havent made the final decision on fish but its looking like its going to be a goby tank. I like the way small gobys (evoita,trimma,etc) look in a nano, its a scale thing. Link to comment
divecj5 Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Anything new happening in the tank? Have you added a CUC yet or are you still holding out on things to cycle a little more? Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 Minor update…. I added my CUC two days ago, purchased from LiveAquaria. I am surprised everything made it with a 105 degree day. You can see in the pic I have a fair amount of algae, nothing too bad though. Things are going about how I expected so far. 4-Astraea 6–Nassarius 6- Nerite 2-Turban 4–Banded Trochus 1-Zebra Turbo 4–Scarlet Hermits I also have 6 Ceriths heading my way, they were back ordered. The Turbo will be given to my LFS before I add any corals, they are just to hard on everything to keep. I think I will wait about 30 days or so until I even think about transferring the corals/livestock from my existing tank. Well….thats it for now. Mark Link to comment
owned162 Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Standby...for update YAY! Update, ! lol... With that much rock do you find you've got any dead spots behind the rock work? Cheers, OwNeD Link to comment
justasfastasican Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Great tank! +++++ I would love some more info on your rock wall and the materials & process that you used. Rocks, water and sand added Friday - 7/17/08 The wait begins. 15 lbs of Fiji Pink Sand, I plan on sucking out some of it. Its a little deeper than I want. I like around 1 inch or less. 45lbs of Rock Total, of which: 20-25 lbs of rock from Premium Aquatics - Its the rocks on the bottom 1/2 of the pile. Not much life or coraline. Interesting shapes though. I think its mostly Fiji, not sure because I asked them for flat shapes and I did not care what kind it was. Some of it was so dense/heavy (around 25%), I decided not to use it and I traded it to my LFS for $2.00 per lb. 20 lbs of what my LFS called Sulawesi. Its the rock on the top 1/2 of the pile. Very nice, very light, coraline, nice shapes, some life. I would have used this for all my rock but this is all they had and they charge a fortune. The tank held a total of 23.5 gallons after the rock and sand. I made a foam over eggcrate wall and covered it with sand as a background. I really like an all black background like some people have, but I cant figure out how to keep coraline off of it. I am not crazy about a perfectly flat background covered in coraline, it looks one dimensional to me....so I made the foam/sand one to give it a more 3-D look. I hope it turns out when its gets covered with coraline and I think I may attach a couple of montipora capricornis to it. p.s. Need to adjust my white balance, its not this pink. Link to comment
EnjoiFish Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Lots of zoas/palys mixed with LPS...goby tank...amazing stand/canopy. You should relabel your thread EnjoiFish's Dream Tank. Looks absolutely amazing so far. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted August 8, 2008 Author Share Posted August 8, 2008 With that much rock do you find you've got any dead spots behind the rock work? I worry about that too. BUT..my 12G has even more rock and after over 2 years I have no problems (fingers crossed). One thing I do, is every water change I pour the new water behing the rock and it flushes out stuff pretty well....the floss catches it and I replace the floss right away. Sounds crude...works for me. Link to comment
owned162 Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Great tank! +++++ I would love some more info on your rock wall and the materials & process that you used. I second that! I would love some step by step photos, because I want to pull off that same look in my tank, but all the DIY's over on RC just use massive rocks and fill in-between with foam, instead of having the awesome look you've got. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted August 8, 2008 Author Share Posted August 8, 2008 I would love some more info on your rock wall and the materials & process that you used. I copied others that have done the same thing. Basically is Great Stuff Foam sprayed over egg crate and rock rubble. Paint the foam with epoxy and sprinkle sand while epoxy is wet. Best link I can find right now that shows how the real pros do it. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...mp;pagenumber=1 EDIT: I tried to explain how I did it in the next post....sorry didnt see your question Owned162 Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted August 8, 2008 Author Share Posted August 8, 2008 I second that! I would love some step by step photos, because I want to pull off that same look in my tank, but all the DIY's over on RC just use massive rocks and fill in-between with foam, instead of having the awesome look you've got. OK... Its really the same. I didnt take any photos..sorry. I just used very small rocks on the top half where I thought they would show above the liverock pile. The bottom half is just foam sprayed on the egg crate. I took a dremel and kind of carved it up some. Painted with epoxy and covered with sand. On the backside I used a hack saw blade and shaved the foam flush with the egg crate so it will sit tight up against the back wall. Its held down by fitting it under a lip on top of the false wall and the weight of the liverock pile pressing against it. The liverock pile is arranged like you would in any tank. The entire thing is less than 1 inch thick. (not counting a few rocks near the top that stick out a bit futher) Its not going anywhere. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Sweet Mark! Outstanding job on everything, nice work! Man that's a Sexy setup Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 That tank is beautiful, but my obsession is with the stand. The tank looks super clean sitting inside the molding and the hood. Beautiful job on that! Link to comment
owned162 Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 OK... Its really the same. I didnt take any photos..sorry. I just used very small rocks on the top half where I thought they would show above the liverock pile. The bottom half is just foam sprayed on the egg crate. I took a dremel and kind of carved it up some. Painted with epoxy and covered with sand. On the backside I used a hack saw blade and shaved the foam flush with the egg crate so it will sit tight up against the back wall. Its held down by fitting it under a lip on top of the false wall and the weight of the liverock pile pressing against it. The liverock pile is arranged like you would in any tank. The entire thing is less than 1 inch thick. (not counting a few rocks near the top that stick out a bit futher) Its not going anywhere. Kk, cheers Do you think you'll have any problems with it being a stagnant water trap behind there? Link to comment
gurnie Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 sorry i am jumping in late to say this, but i was under the impression polyeurathane was the best thing to use around saltwater fish. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Poly is always good to use. I just like using tung oil. Its just as durable, but takes many more coats to seal everything up as well. I have used it before in the past and never had a problem. Poly=2 or 3 coats. Tung Oil=6-10 coats, but is beautiful and does not have that foggy plastic look. Either works....just depends on what your feel most comfortable with and/or your time frame. Mark Link to comment
gurnie Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Ah, thank you jedimaster. I am a beginning woodworker but i made a 5 gallon set-up. if you're interested in how it's going, check it out http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=159256&hl= Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 This weekend I am moving the contents of my 12G Nanocube to the Finnex. It has gone through many stages and looks as the corals grew from tiny frags to an overgrown zoa jungle. I think it looked its overall best at this stage.... at about 16 months old. I feel sorta sad about breaking it down. Link to comment
erickrm Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 you sir, have inspired me to get a 30M tank again.... I was going to build a custom one out of acrylic but i figure wait with all that mess until i get my single fam home and setup the big one. I just dont feel like butchering my 2 fam house to accomodate a tank then have to patch it all up when i get the single fam lol. Thanks for the great pictures, I love the wall man just genius!! and the rock work is amazing. I will be watching closely.... Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted August 27, 2008 Author Share Posted August 27, 2008 Thanks ericrm, I just moved most everything over from my old tank. I gave 1/3 or more of my zoa's to a friend that was starting a tank. Boy does my Finnex look bare. Oh well.... guess I better find a money tree. Anyway, I am quiet happy with the Finnex tank. I do wish it was about an inch or two shorter, I am a fan of shallow tanks but this is as good as I could find that was close to the dimensions I wanted. I too thought about making my own tank and decided that it would me sooo much easier and most likely wiser to mod an existing one. If I were gong to do it all over, I would still buy the Finnex but would look very close at their new T-5 fixture (with different bulbs though). From http://www.oceanreeflections.com BRAND NEW! FINNEX 24O2H 4X24W T5 + Controllable LED 1WX9 23 3/4" X 10 5/8" X 3 7/8" Legs measure 3 1/4" 11.41lbs. 1 fan Features: •Fan cooled powder coating aluminum hood •A center strip of 9 pieces of 1 watt high intensity coral fluorescent blue LED with dual power setting o Intensive LED simulates a sunlight shimmering effect o Dimming LED simulates a moonlight effect •2 actinic blue and 2 daylight high output T5 fluorescent with individual reflector •3 Independent power controls for T5 and LED light •Saves energy and low heat build-up in the tank Link to comment
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