Tanque Verde Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 After nearly a year of scheming, compromising, and saving, I recently put this nano aquarium into operation. I call it the Atwater Kent Nano Aquarium because it sits upon a late 1920s or early 1930s radio cabinet. Inside the cabinet, behind sliding pocket doors, my sump fills the space where the radio use to be. The equipment: ADA 45p 70w Viper fitted with R2 Moonlight Lifereef Nano Prefilter Box Cadlights Nine-Gallon Sump Octopus 110 with modified Gate Valve Mod Eheim 3000+ Rena Smart Heater Autotopoff.com ATO with Double-Switch Controller, Aqualifter, and custom reservoir (approximately 2 x 12 x 15") Fuge light (scavenged from an old Aquapod 24 hood) Nimble Super Stock Wishlist: Various zoanthids and palys Hi-fin Red-Banded Goby and Red-Banded Pistol Shrimp Crocea, perhaps? Various macro algae Various snails, esp. the nefarious nassarius and his friend the ceremonious cerith And the pics: FTS w/cabinet doors closed A peak behind the cabinet Homemade fuge light, mounted in a Target-brand utility drawer divider From the front, with cabinet doors open FTS, with live rock First stock, under moonlights Palys, with cerith This aquarium would not have been possible without the collective wisdom of Nano-Reef.com and the generosity of the southern Arizona reefkeeping community. Link to comment
Ryan_H Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 ooooohh... you're making me wish i hadn't been too cheap to go for black sand instead of used aragonite for my cube any plans on upgrading the bulb? my stock viper bulb is just too white for me and i have no idea what i want to change it to. Link to comment
Tanque Verde Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Thanks for the kind words! ooooohh... you're making me wish i hadn't been too cheap to go for black sand instead of used aragonite for my cube any plans on upgrading the bulb? my stock viper bulb is just too white for me and i have no idea what i want to change it to. I'm leaning toward the Astralux 14k, if I can find one, or the Aqualine 20k Link to comment
Ryan_H Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Thanks for the kind words! I'm leaning toward the Astralux 14k, if I can find one, or the Aqualine 20k yeah i couldn't find any astralux. i actually ended up ordering a ushio 20k from hellolights. the aqualine costs about as much as i paid for my viper! Link to comment
Tanque Verde Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 yeah i couldn't find any astralux. i actually ended up ordering a ushio 20k from hellolights. the aqualine costs about as much as i paid for my viper! Are you happy with your ushio? I've read mixed things. The Aqualine is expensive, no doubt, but if the corals don't sparkle, all else will have been for naught. Link to comment
Ryan_H Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Are you happy with your ushio? I've read mixed things. The Aqualine is expensive, no doubt, but if the corals don't sparkle, all else will have been for naught. i don't have it yet, i ordered it about an hour after my first post lol. but i'll let you know when i get it later this week. Link to comment
Tanque Verde Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 lets get some updateS! A fair demand, but unfortunately, not much has changed since my last round of pix. Some miscellaneous items: On the whole, the system seems to be working very well, which is a little surprising as this is my first tank with an overflow and external sump. I would not have expected my planning to have met with such little disaster. My octopus skimmer is a quiet, dry-skimming machine. A nice change of pace from my loud, wet-skimming Remora. Tahitian moon sand is beautiful but highly magnetic. Many thanks to CJerome for hooking me up with white scrubby pads on my Nimble or else I wouldn't see the sand and I'd be scratching my glass badly. Because Tahitian Moon is dead sand, I bought a little cup of amphipods from a LFS. I regret this decision a bit as the pod population has exploded and I fear they are irritating my zoas. Ditto the flatworms that I imported from my frag tank. I don't wish to treat the latter chemically at this point. Hopefully my carnivorous goby (see below) will pursue them, but this may be wishful thinking. I've got nice purple coralline growth beginning to happen. Unfortunately, the live rock I purchased from the LFS appears to have some aptasia. I am considering getting bergia nudibranchs. Between my three tanks, I have just enough aptasia that I might be able to sustain the nudibranchs for a time, and then pass them along. I am experimenting with Coral Frenzy in all my tanks. The palys seem content, the zoas seem indifferent, and my neon clove polyps, which were on the brink of extinction, seem to love it and are making a come back. I am not entirely happy with my 70w Viper with Ushio. I want brighter and more flourescent. I am contemplating 1) supplementing with powerbright actinics, 2) upgrading the ballast, 3) replacing the bulb with an XM 20K (less bright, but more blue). I am also keeping a close eye on Evil's oven. I have a birthday coming up and I am hoping to use my birthday fundage to add a paired hi-fin red-banded goby and pistol shrimp. But I am also hoping that my birthday gifts might include a new frag tank, a new set of powerbright actinics, etc., and already I see that I am being greedy. In any event, I expect big changes, if not to this tank then to others in the house, later this month. Thanks for following along. Link to comment
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