ccapasso Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Looking forward to seeing what you collect! I know I'll be calling you guys again to work out details to order soon. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Well, I'll surely be following this- It's gorgeous and for some reason I never thought abt CW, temperate tanks but duh, there's alot of cold ocean out there. Just more to learn about- the hobby that you can take in so many directions. Way cool. Link to comment
fullmonti Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 WCs is one big reason I decided to do a 3gal tank. I had a 30gal tropical NPS tank with filter feeders that needed to be fed a lot. It was tied to a 180 SPS system with every kind & oversized filter system you could have & did a 10-15% WC once a week. Long story short that was not enough. I later found out all the filter feeder tank people did 30-100% WCs a week. From what I have heard the temperate NPS tanks may need less WCs. My little tank has not be running a long time yet but I have noticed everything looks happier after a WC, so I have gone to doing a 1gal WC two times a week. I do feed the tank quite a bit though. Yes more to learn in deed. That is part of the fun though isn't it? Jim Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 This is an incredible build, the design of the aquarium, chilling system, and lights is brilliant. I look forward to seeing this one grow. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 What, how do I miss all the great tanks? Amazing! And congrats on the RB feature Christine Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Thanks all! The tiny tank is dong great. I started having water quality issues. Did several 2gal WC & stopped feeding Phyto & Osterfeast. Everything seems to be much happier & the water is staying much better. I am about to start building a stand for the tiny tank, it's going to stay in the living room. Am ready for some new critters when Coldwater Marine gets a order in from the UK. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Congratulations on being featured on Reef Builders! I think Nano News needs to feature this tank as well! Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Let me know what kind of nano stuff you want out of the UK and we can probably get an order together just on presales of a few people who want some other stuff as well. Link to comment
GothBoy Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I live near(ish) the northeast coast of the UK and would love a tank like this, our rock pools are amazing! You're a real inspiration! Link to comment
Dipg Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 beautiful tank...and congrats on being featured on RB. i had stopped coming to NR but now i have very good reason to start coming here . Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 I live near(ish) the northeast coast of the UK and would love a tank like this, our rock pools are amazing! You're a real inspiration! It would be so nice to be able to collect your own livestock. Go for it!!!! beautiful tank...and congrats on being featured on RB. i had stopped coming to NR but now i have very good reason to start coming here . There's something special about nano tanks. They are more intimate & manageable. I had a 180 sps tank & the extra room for more kinds of critters was nice, but unless I win the lottery I'll never have another big tank. AND Thanks for the kind words everyone!!! It's good to know others are enjoying my tiny tank too. Jim Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 Congratulations on being featured on Reef Builders! I think Nano News needs to feature this tank as well! Don't know how I missed your post! I just stumbled across the write-up yesterday. Thanks, even if I am late with it. Jim Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 I thought I had the care & WC system figured out for this tank. I had done a 2gal WC every day for a few days to get things straightened out. When I went to two WC a week everything looked good, for a while. It is amazing how much gunk & poop anemones produce. I was concerned about the tiny fish waist, but that is absolutely nothing compared to anemone waist. The syphoning got most of the gunk but not all, so I got a tiny power filter & put the intake near the bottom. Just before a WC I turn the main pump off & blow the rocks & bottom off to stir everything up. Then syphon out the 2gals which gets a good bit of gunk. When I replace the water I run the little power filter for awhile & that gets everything else out. Will have to wait & see how long that keeps the water cleared up? The couple micro brittle stars that were in the display area disintegrated. Will have to check to see if the ones in the back did too. Pods & shrimp are OK & white baby Plumose nems are popping up all over the tank, will have to keep them from taking over the whole tank some how. That's it for now Jim Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 if those plumose get to be a problem I know which nudibranchs out here are their natural predators and I'll be keeping some for food for my navanx Let me know if you need one for thinning them out Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 Good to know, thanks. Have you ever noticed your brittle stars disintegrating? Regular start in my tropical tank would do that after several month to a year or so, but I had a large brittle star for about five years no problem. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 I've noticed it on the little ones if the ammonia or nitrites spike even slightly. Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 I'm not sure that the live rock alone is going to be good enough for the only filtration. Anemones are messy! I have never checked the ammonia & nitrites just nitrates, it is usually in the 5-10 rang but I guess there could have been a spike along the way. I've been thinking how I might add some form of filtration. The problem is I wouldn't want it to run all the time, I'd like to turn it off for a half hour or so when feeding so it didn't trap a bunch of food. Then the problem would be keeping the temp in the filter. Adding the tiny power filter works just fine but a royal pain & ugly & uninsulated. I really really wanted to keep this an AIO, but haven't thought of a way to do that yet. The back chamber has almost no more room in it once you put a small pump & the probe part of two iceprobes in it. Going to take some head scratching for a tank this small. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 maybe a small canister filter tapped into the rear chamber like they use on nano plants tanks or terrariums? Or just purigen maybe? Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 20, 2013 Author Share Posted April 20, 2013 I looked for a small canister filter before buying the tiny power filter. All the ones at the normal reef stores were too big, but I think that is probable the best bet solution. I think maybe I can make one heavily insulated so it wouldn't lose temp while off. Do you know of a source for thick wet suit type material I could wrap one in? Or any flexible water proof foam I guess. Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 20, 2013 Author Share Posted April 20, 2013 OK MY BAD I have been squirting water in the back chamber & gunk did get pumped out & I syphoned it out of the tank (thought that was good). I just did a WC & took the pump & extra rock out of the back to see if the other little brittle stars were still with me. No stars but more gunk/smegma back there than I have ever seen!!!!! I thought over 100gph going through a 1/2gal chamber would keep flushed out, Wrong! I feel like a twit for not doing that sooner, should have known better. Guess that will be part of the new WC & care system from now on. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 I just got done using a bunch for foam tape for wrapping pipes with on the back of my 12 gallon tank. Its in a big roll and is adhesive on one side, I'm sure you could double wrap it if it needs more than one go around. Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 Well I did some tiny filter searches, I shaw the small internal filters made for small tanks with shrimp & the likes. Thought if one of those in the back chamber would fit that might work. That way I could turn it off while feeding & since it would be in tank water the temp would hold. The problem was none of them were the right size (too big or too small). So I made one. Would have made it out of clear acrylic but all I had was black & didn't want to drive across town to get some clear so just used the black. Pretty simple, water comes in on one end overflows into media area & out the bottom. I put a sponge in the very bottom, couple table spoons of carbon & topped off with floss. Bucket test. The box goes on one side of the back chamber & the pump goes on the other side (probes from iceprobes in the middle). The back chamber now has two iceprobe probes a temp probe a filter & two pumps, no room for extra rock any more. Just been running a couple days, hoping this will make doing one or two WC a week be enough to keep every thing in order. Link to comment
fullmonti Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Very happy to report that after running for 4-5 days with the new filter the water was clearer just before I did a WC than is has been after a WC in the past. It works better than I had hoped! I have been unplugging the new filter at feeding time, then plugging it back in in a few minutes. Because the directions for the RKL are so lame, or I am one or the other. I didn't see any place where it said how to use the standby feature for feeding time delay, I only saw how to set the time duration. If some one could get me pointed in the right direction it would be appreciated. Thanks Jim Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 That is a super slick filter setup Any new photos of the tank? Link to comment
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