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Pod Your Reef

34 Rimless Build


Mebeknob

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Always enjoyed watching nano builds when I was researching so I thought I'd start mine.

 

I was given a biocube 24 which I traded on cragslist for a solana 34.

 

I then cleaned out the solana with vinegar and ran RO water through it.

 

Then bought some reef saver rock.

 

All this cost me about 100$

 

I then worked with the reef saver rock to make it more then a pile of rocks.

 

And I got closer

 

Over hang didn't stay:/

 

I think I'll zip tie it so it'll stay up

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Added the sand and changed the rock work a little bit.

 

If anyone knows of any solana 34 modifications that are useful let me know! The stock skimmer is way too loud and I'd like to find a good replacement along with any good filter media advice for the back. I'm thinking filter floss, a bag of carbon and chemipure?

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Love the Solana, just got one up and runnng myself. Looks like your off to a good start. I'm still using the stock skimmer but have seen people talk about a Tunze9002 that will fit in the chamber. I've added an In Tank media rack in the center chamber (fits under the stock filter plate) and i use a bag of Phosban and a bag of carbon. On top of the filter plate i just cut a nice peice of Acurel Polyfiber pad cut to fit.

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Did you buy the rack new? I've seen those sand they're like 50 odd bucks yeah?

 

I'm thinking of just tying the bags filter bags to the bottom of the grate in the second chamber!

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I was lucky, the guy that i bought the tank from had an old In Tank rack that he threw in , it wasn't made for the solana but i just threw it on the table saw and cut it down so it would work. I've also seen people make racks using the standard egg crate use zip ties or glue it together.

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Yeah I got a slim skim nano and put it into chamber 2. I think I'll use the stock skimmer to make my own media basket in the first chamber. Right now I'm just finishing up the cycling with this little damsel.

 

Blue.

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Nice 'scape! I too have a recently setup Solana and also have the slim skim nano in chamber 2. I had a hard time dialing it in, but my best advise is the adjust the skimmer so the water enters in the middle of the front grate things if that makes sense.. I am now pulling some pretty wet skimmate but I am still trying to fine tune..

 

Also I have an inTank media basket that I use in chamber 1, right now I'm using for CPE but plan on converting to a fuge once I find a light..

 

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Yeah the slim skim is working but the second chamber water level changes so much without an auto top off! I'm going to cut out the water overflow channel so the skimmer will fit in the first chamber. Then do a media basket in the second.

 

I think I might have made a bit of a rookie mistake with the tank. I let the water cycle for about two weeks and added a blue damsel after a weekish. Then finished the two weeks with a green chromis. Once my water levels were on par I added a clown and small zoa. After a few days I bought a hammer, green star polyp, 2 serpulid and a baby blue hippo tang. Then the day after I added another clown, a superman mushroom and a zoa colony which were both on live rock. Basically I think I may have shocked my tank, added too much too fast. The day after adding the live rock pieces I started to get the brown film algae. The the corals are starting to open but not all the way yet.

 

Anyways here are a few pics. I also need to adjust the light height.

 

1

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Yeah the water parameters test normal as of two days ago. I'll test tomorrow to make sure they're that way.

 

Also the green chromis is gone, so it's just the two clowns, a hippo tang and a blue damsel. I plan on adding a royal gramma and watchman goby but maybe that's too much?

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I was able to cut out the water overflow channel. Then I cut, reshaped, and glued part of it to redirect the water to the far side of chamber one. This way the water doesn't fall on top of the skimmer. The slim skim nano will now have a constant water height. Also with the second chamber open I can add more filter floss and other filter media.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Purchased a new light. Thg AI sol nano. So far I love it. The controller makes it really easy to program.

 

Not sure how to take decent photos with the IPhone yet

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Equipment:

Solana 34 with stock return pump

Slim Skim nano

AI Nano led

Maxi jet 400

Koralia nano

 

Scape:

Reef saver rock

Aragonite sand bed

 

Live stock:

Ocillarous clown

Royal Gramma

Blue leg hermits

Variety of snails

 

Corals:

Hammer

Variety of zoas

Ricordia

Monti cap

Xenia

Neon Green star polyp

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Steensj2004

The lfs is going to work with me to trade in for baby hippo to keep them small. Kids wanted a Dori.

I have seen people get away with it....But at some point it will be to big for your tank. Also, with that many fish it could become an issue. Heck, I am no expert though :P . Great Buiild, love the tank and aquascape!

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Good luck trying to find an xl.

Yeah I'll most likely have to build my own!

 

I have seen people get away with it....But at some point it will be to big for your tank. Also, with that many fish it could become an issue. Heck, I am no expert though :P . Great Buiild, love the tank and aquascape!

yeah overstocking seems kinda vague to me. I can't tell if it is just peoples preference or there is an actual science to it? I figured 4 small fish in a 34 would be fine. ha if they're not... Ill just make fish food out of the damsel!

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Nice Solana, love the rock work! How are you liking the light over the Solana? Are you getting good coverage? Are you using the nano mounting bracket? I'm thinking about putting this light over my Solana, but have read not to use it on anything over 20x20.



I also wanted to ask, what did you use to cut out the overflow?

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I've only have the light for about a week. It has great coverage. I do get a few shadow spot that I figured due to my rock work. But I want to put nps corals there anyways so it's all good. The shimmer is awesome. I like it cause it's so tiny! I just bought a piece of aluminum from homedepot, bent it around a lightpoll to get the curve, drilled two holes and used double sticky tape to stick it to the back of the tank. Works great.

 

I took the overflow out with a window scraper blade from homedepot. It was wider the the over flow so I could put it where the glue is and just had a long flathead screwdriver and a hammer to tap it down. I recommend doing this with an empty tank... I did it when it was full!

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