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31g Acrylic AIO


coachfraley

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GreatBarry-a-Reefer

Your tank is stunning. What is your weekly maintenance routine, additives etc?

 

Im about to put my plans in for a 30g glass aio for a quote. Pretty much the same as this. But im wondering whats up with your bubble trap into chamber 2. With the flow going from under chamber 1, then over then under again.. if u get me, doesnt this prevent you from having any sand in ur fuge? also they is a risk of this getting blocked by rubble. Is there any reason why i couldnt eliminate the 3 barrier in that bubble trap, so its no longer a bubble trap but an over flow in fuge. or flip the bubble trap.

 

It would be a huge help if somehow you could post of photo of your sump setup as it is today? I'll be running chemi-pure and such. but if i cant find a good way of doing it ill jsut run it in cannister filter.

 

Thanks!

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coachfraley

Thanks for the compliment!

 

If I had it to do over again, I would set up the chambers differently. At the time, I added the last down baffle to make sure that there was water movement throughout the entire fuge portion of the sump. With two "up" baffles, I figured that the water would flow across the top of the fuge, and the bottom would be stagnant (I hope that made sense). I never planned on doing a DSB, so clogging wasn't an issue for me. In the end, none of that mattered because my chiller return is in my second chamber, so there is a ton of flow in there.

 

The main problem I have with my current design, it that there is no place for a media tray, and I would REALLY like to have one. I am a huge fan of using filter floss/carbon/purapad in nano's, and I don't have a good place to put them in my current setup. I haven't put much thought into what the ideal setup would be, I just know that mine could have been set up a little better. Maybe a media chamber-skimmer chamber-fuge-return chamber (this would just make the fuge pretty small).

 

Sorry, but I can't take a picture because it is up against a wall.

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GreatBarry-a-Reefer

Yep I get what you mean, i suppose thats often the game in nano's, compromise. Take a Finnex AIO, which only runs a media tray, no refugium area. I hadn't thought too much about the flow in chamber 2 very much. I may be able to kill 2 birds... by running a cannister filter (as a media filter, pita to clean media filter..) wholly in chamber 2 with the return down low.

I guess you've got the option of modding some eggcrates into chamber 1?

 

I've read a little bit about the dangers of a small DSB. Anyone else add 2 cents on whether an AIO DSB is more harm then good eventually.

 

Thanks for your reply!

(btw i started this build as an excuse to try out a 2ft LED setup, lumen-aqua LED Ocean. But im starting to wonder if my 70w mh would cover a 24" tank)

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coachfraley

The canister filter idea might do the job. I am not sure about the halide for a 24" width tank, hopefully someone else will chime in. I assume that the only issue would be some shading in the top sides of the tank.

 

I would love to put a home-made media tray in my 1st chamber, but the thing is packed all ready. My 9002 skimmer and my chiller feed pump are in that chamber. The big problem with not having media in chamber 1, is that all the crap from the tank ends up settling in the rear chambers, so I have to vacuum them out to keep them clean

 

I forgot to mention in my post that my maint. sched is as follows: 15% weekly WC's, dose 2little fishies 2 part every other day, change pura pad and carbon every 3 weeks, clean pumps and fuge about every 3-4 months.

 

Good luck with your tank! I look forward to seeing pics of the setup!

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coachfraley

Made some changes. My orange-backed wrasse decided he had enough of aquarium life and he wanted to see if things would be better on my carpet...So I picked up a longfin fairy wrasse to take his place. I also picked up an orange acan. I fragged up my largest zoa colony and I am going to sell about 2/3rds of it.

On the equipment side of things, the pump on my Tunze 9002 went out, so I bought the newer model 9002. Tunze is going to replace the pump on my "older" skimmer and I will sell that one. The new model of pump is noticeably better than the old one. I also purchased two of the "sunpod actinic led lights" from evil66. I should get them in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait to see how they effect the tank color.

Here are a couple of shots, I will put up a FTS on the weekend.

orangeacan.jpg

longfinfairy.jpg

wrasseinhiding.jpg

Zoa colony, pre-fragging. I kept the front portion, and split the back into to large frags.favzoas.jpg

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Urchinhead

Hey coach!

 

That zoa looks awfully familiar! ;) As usual stunning tank mate!

 

A word of advice regarding wrasse... Get a screen top. Go to HD and grab their window screen kit for $10ish and a roll of black keep the birds off your fruit tree's netting for another $5 then spend about 20-30 minutes making yourself a screen top. Light diffusion is not a problem and your fish will thank you for it.

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coachfraley
A word of advice regarding wrasse... Get a screen top. Go to HD and grab their window screen kit for $10ish and a roll of black keep the birds off your fruit tree's netting for another $5 then spend about 20-30 minutes making yourself a screen top. Light diffusion is not a problem and your fish will thank you for it.

 

Thanks UH!

 

I actually planned on doing a screen based on the one you made for your 56g tank. I just have to find the time to do it :huh:

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coachfraley

Picked up some more new stuff! New additions are some light orange zoas, and a metallic green brain.

I picked up the materials today, so I plan on building a fish screen this evening. I would like to keep my longfin wrasse in the tank if possible.

Here are some pics:

FTS
31gupdate27.jpg

Brain:
mgbrain.jpg

New Zoas:
neworangezoas.jpg

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coachfraley

So here is the jumper guard, using Urchinhead's instructions (Thank you!). Very easy to make, just a little time consuming.

 

jumperguard.jpg

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coachfraley

Stellar tank! Those SPS need to grow out but it's going to look incredibly when it does.

 

Thanks!

 

Here are some royal gramma shots I took. Thanks for looking in!

 

grammaportrait.jpg

 

grammaportrait2.jpg

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Urchinhead
The main problem I have with my current design, it that there is no place for a media tray, and I would REALLY like to have one. I am a huge fan of using filter floss/carbon/purapad in nano's, and I don't have a good place to put them in my current setup. I haven't put much thought into what the ideal setup would be, I just know that mine could have been set up a little better. Maybe a media chamber-skimmer chamber-fuge-return chamber (this would just make the fuge pretty small).

 

Sorry, but I can't take a picture because it is up against a wall.

 

Since we have similar tanks I thought I would chime in. Put the chemipure/polyfilter on top of your return pump.

 

You're welcome by the way. Glad the screen worked out. Where did you get that fairy?

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coachfraley
Wow, great tank and pictures. :D

 

Thanks Lalani!

 

I have my carbon on top of my pump right now, but I have decided to build a media tray at the top of that chamber because I really want to run floss and a pura pad there.

 

I picked up the fairy from Mark at Fish USA in Glendora. If you have never been there, you should check it out when you are out that way. He has a REALLY clean little shop and his livestock prices are decent.

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coachfraley
Nice colors! What bulbs are you using?

 

I am using:

10,000k-UVL

Fiji purple-KZ

Blue Plus-ATI (2)

 

Don't know if mentioned it on here, but I ordered a dual led fixture from evil66 to add some more blue to my tank, along with some shimmer. I am hoping the fixture will come in some time next week.

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coachfraley

Thanks guys!

 

The green acan might take a little while to bounce back. I "found" it in a local coral seller's frag tank. It was buried under a zoa colony, and looked terrible after we pulled it out. It looked so bad, that the guy gave it to me for $10. So if it rebounds, it will be a nice score.

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coachfraley

I just made this progression shot. I picked up this sunset montipora in February, so the elapsed time is 4 months.

sunsetmontigrowth.jpg

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