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Teenyreef's IM40 Not-So-Teeny Tank - August FTS


teenyreef

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reefernanoman

hybrid FTW. ever since I switched to T5/LED I will never go back

+1 I also have seen how T5's help my SPS with color after a few months of experimenting. Funny, I just mentioned that to teeny.

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I agree you should consider the hybrid! Although my only concern with that would be the heat let off by the T5 bulbs. They do release more heat than the LEDs and with the shelving, this may present some problems since air flow off of the light fixture might be restricted to some degree.

 

My Hybrid puts off minimal heat , I would have no issue using it in that space.

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So, about lighting...

 

A T5 hybrid was my first thought, but there are two problems in this application. As Stella pointed out, keeping the light cool would be an issue since the light will be underneath a shelf. Also, the size of the T5 fixture would mean that almost the entire top of the tank would be covered by the light itself. So not only would it heat up the tank, but it would restrict ventilation of the tank itself. Plus, that means no top down shots, which is a show stopper, because we know the main point of having a reef tank is to post cool pictures, right? :D

 

I thought about using a Nanobox Duo. I know Kimberbee has been successful with the Duo over her IM40, but I'm concerned that there enough light down on the sand bed, especially on the edges of the tank. And the closer the light gets to the tank (to improve the intensity of the lighting), the more pronounced the shadowing becomes, which is a huge problem for growing acros.

 

Fortunately, there is a solution! Dave has been prototyping a new Nanobox form factor light, the Wide Quad. It has four lighting pucks just like the regular Quad, but they are arranged in a square instead of a long line. The wide quad is only 12" x 8", so it won't cover up the whole tank, but the pucks are spread out enough that there shouldn't be a problem with shadowing.

 

Fellow N-R member mpsti05 has posted a thread with first impressions of the wide quad here: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/373890-nanobox-wide-quad-first-impression/

 

It looks like a great solution for my particular situation. Order placed today! :happydance:


 

My Hybrid puts off minimal heat , I would have no issue using it in that space.

That's good to know!

 

I appreciate all the votes for hybrid. It's just to freakin' big for me, though :)


So cute!


The IM20 will be great.

Thanks! It's going to be an IM40, though. Twice as much goodness :D


Quad W, nuff said.

As a loyal nanobot, I have no free will. Done.

  • Like 7
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So, about lighting...

 

A T5 hybrid was my first thought, but there are two problems in this application. As Stella pointed out, keeping the light cool would be an issue since the light will be underneath a shelf. Also, the size of the T5 fixture would mean that almost the entire top of the tank would be covered by the light itself. So not only would it heat up the tank, but it would restrict ventilation of the tank itself. Plus, that means no top down shots, which is a show stopper, because we know the main point of having a reef tank is to post cool pictures, right? :D

 

I thought about using a Nanobox Duo. I know Kimberbee has been successful with the Duo over her IM40, but I'm concerned that there enough light down on the sand bed, especially on the edges of the tank. And the closer the light gets to the tank (to improve the intensity of the lighting), the more pronounced the shadowing becomes, which is a huge problem for growing acros.

 

Fortunately, there is a solution! Dave has been prototyping a new Nanobox form factor light, the Wide Quad. It has four lighting pucks just like the regular Quad, but they are arranged in a square instead of a long line. The wide quad is only 12" x 8", so it won't cover up the whole tank, but the pucks are spread out enough that there shouldn't be a problem with shadowing.

 

Fellow N-R member mpsti05 has posted a thread with first impressions of the wide quad here: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/373890-nanobox-wide-quad-first-impression/

 

It looks like a great solution for my particular situation. Order placed today! :happydance:

That's good to know!

 

I appreciate all the votes for hybrid. It's just to freakin' big for me, though :)

Thanks! It's going to be an IM40, though. Twice as much goodness :D

As a loyal nanobot, I have no free will. Done.

 

:happydance:

 

I'm even more excited now!

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omgomgomg I'M SO EXCITED!

 

 

These two posts made me LOL. The question of the day is: WHAT KIND of girl scout cookies, Teeny?

I'm all about the All Abouts! :haha:

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That's sad :(

He has a daughter. Things will change :)

 

What kind are those? i like the thin mints and the trefoils.

All Abouts: The LBB version of Thanks-A-Lot. Shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate with a message proclaiming values that Girl Scouts are "all about," such as Respect, Friendship, etc.

 

Unfortunately, they're discontinued :(

 

My favorite now is Savannah Smiles. Lemon wedge cookies dusted with powdered sugar. Did I mention sugar? :haha:

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He has a daughter. Things will change :)

All Abouts: The LBB version of Thanks-A-Lot. Shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate with a message proclaiming values that Girl Scouts are "all about," such as Respect, Friendship, etc.

 

Unfortunately, they're discontinued :(

 

My favorite now is Savannah Smiles. Lemon wedge cookies dusted with powdered sugar. Did I mention sugar? :haha:

 

OMG lemon anything is my downfall.

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HarryPotter

Seems like access will be restricted because of that shelf- can you remove that shelf and hang the light from the shelf above it? :o

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Good luck! 1 of my tanks is the IM40 (first tank - mixed reef) and I love it. Have had it now for about 2 years.

 

I run a WAV, but it is a tad too much for the tank. The MP10 I think will be perfect!

 

I have the ghost skimmer. I do not have another to compare to something which would fit into the AIO chamber, but have heard good things about the Tunze.

 

The chamber in the back is too small to grow chaeto so I run inTank's filter floss on each side and then chemi-pure blue in 1 of the slots.

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Seems like access will be restricted because of that shelf- can you remove that shelf and hang the light from the shelf above it? :o

That's a great point, Harry. The shelf's adjustable, so I plan to raise it as much as needed to get the light at the right height above the tank.

 

Also, the shelf may block getting the skimmer and media basket in and out of the back of the tank, so I'll either have to remove it for infrequent access, or (more likely) just leave it high enough in the first place.

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Good luck! 1 of my tanks is the IM40 (first tank - mixed reef) and I love it. Have had it now for about 2 years.

 

I run a WAV, but it is a tad too much for the tank. The MP10 I think will be perfect!

 

I have the ghost skimmer. I do not have another to compare to something which would fit into the AIO chamber, but have heard good things about the Tunze.

 

The chamber in the back is too small to grow chaeto so I run inTank's filter floss on each side and then chemi-pure blue in 1 of the slots.

Wow, I didn't find your thread when I searched for IM40 tanks, thanks!

 

I really like my MP10 in the 10g tank, so I think the MP40 should be just right. If I need to supplement, I'll add an MP10 (expensive!) or maybe just an RW-4.

 

I've got the ghost skimmer in the 10g tank, it's been just OK. Hard to dial in, and the only setting where it seems to work really well is fully open, which is noisy. But that might just be a problem with the smallest size ghost like I have in the 10g.

 

I like your approach to filtration - I was thinking something similar. Right now, I'm considering the media basket on one side with a floss pad, carbon, and GFO. Probably no reactor, I want to keep the GFO limited and only in there as needed. On the other side, I'm thinking about a larger basket (maybe the InTank refugium basket) filled with biomedia like the Fluval bio rings, to supplement the live rock. But I'll need some kind of mechanical prefilter like floss on that side before it hits the biomedia, otherwise it will get clogged up too quickly. So maybe I'll just put the biomedia in a reactor in the second chamber after the media basket.

 

I've never had a tank with two intakes sides, so I have to recalibrate my thinking ;)

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Wow, I didn't find your thread when I searched for IM40 tanks, thanks!

 

I really like my MP10 in the 10g tank, so I think the MP40 should be just right. If I need to supplement, I'll add an MP10 (expensive!) or maybe just an RW-4.

 

I've got the ghost skimmer in the 10g tank, it's been just OK. Hard to dial in, and the only setting where it seems to work really well is fully open, which is noisy. But that might just be a problem with the smallest size ghost like I have in the 10g.

 

I like your approach to filtration - I was thinking something similar. Right now, I'm considering the media basket on one side with a floss pad, carbon, and GFO. Probably no reactor, I want to keep the GFO limited and only in there as needed. On the other side, I'm thinking about a larger basket (maybe the InTank refugium basket) filled with biomedia like the Fluval bio rings, to supplement the live rock. But I'll need some kind of mechanical prefilter like floss on that side before it hits the biomedia, otherwise it will get clogged up too quickly. So maybe I'll just put the biomedia in a reactor in the second chamber after the media basket.

 

I've never had a tank with two intakes sides, so I have to recalibrate my thinking ;)

 

I have extra ceramic rings that I used for my FW tank. That is not a bad idea throwing them in a filter bag and putting in the back chamber! The filter floss would be on top and then the bag of rings below. I like it!

 

I misread that you got a MP10 not a MP40. The MP40 is very similar to the WAV I understand so you will have plenty of flow!

 

Have you tried closing the skimmer 100%, then push the cup down until it cannot go down anymore (about 1-2" sticks out). Once it is down the whole way slowly open the dial. It will tak 2-3 days to get it just right, but you can get pretty dry skim this way. I only started doing this 2 weeks ago. Up until then the cup was never pushed down and rather sat on the red ring that goes around the cup. Push it down!

 

Here is the video: https://www.facebook.com/info.innovativemarine/videos/1200570483287431/

 

I have extra ceramic rings that I used for my FW tank. That is not a bad idea throwing them in a filter bag and putting in the back chamber! The filter floss would be on top and then the bag of rings below. I like it!

 

I misread that you got a MP10 not a MP40. The MP40 is very similar to the WAV I understand so you will have plenty of flow! I have a MP10 in my 10g and it runs at 50%.

 

Have you tried closing the skimmer 100%, then push the cup down until it cannot go down anymore (about 1-2" sticks out). Once it is down the whole way slowly open the dial. It will tak 2-3 days to get it just right, but you can get pretty dry skim this way. I only started doing this 2 weeks ago. Up until then the cup was never pushed down and rather sat on the red ring that goes around the cup. Push it down!

 

Here is the video: https://www.facebook.com/info.innovativemarine/videos/1200570483287431/

`

  • Like 1
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I have extra ceramic rings that I used for my FW tank. That is not a bad idea throwing them in a filter bag and putting in the back chamber! The filter floss would be on top and then the bag of rings below. I like it!

 

I misread that you got a MP10 not a MP40. The MP40 is very similar to the WAV I understand so you will have plenty of flow!

 

Have you tried closing the skimmer 100%, then push the cup down until it cannot go down anymore (about 1-2" sticks out). Once it is down the whole way slowly open the dial. It will tak 2-3 days to get it just right, but you can get pretty dry skim this way. I only started doing this 2 weeks ago. Up until then the cup was never pushed down and rather sat on the red ring that goes around the cup. Push it down!

 

Here is the video: https://www.facebook.com/info.innovativemarine/videos/1200570483287431/

`

Yeah, I've tried everything with the skimmer, including that approach. I had it dialed in that way for a while, but it was a super dry skim - I could run for a month without filling the cup even half full. But every time I try to get a slightly wetter skim, I get microbubbles.

 

I'm keeping the Ghost in the 10g, so I'm going to keep trying, though! There's no other skimmer that fits in the back chamber in that tank.

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When I got the Coral Box D300 for my zoa garden sump it changed everything. That thing skims straight POOP. It smells SO BAD! :wacko::P

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When I got the Coral Box D300 for my zoa garden sump it changed everything. That thing skims straight POOP. It smells SO BAD! :wacko::P

Yeah, it's weird, but I'm soooo jealous of other reefers' stinky skimmate :lol:

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Thanks! No orgies here, but I did eat a whole box of Girl Scout cookies while I was working late tonight. I also couldn't find any hookers and blow on StevieT's site, so I'm afraid the standards here are really going to be quite low :P

 

Wow just saw this..........where the #### did you find girl scout cookies :lol: they stopped selling crack a few months ago around here.........

omgomgomg I'M SO EXCITED!

 

 

Doesn't take much :P

I don't think I've ever actually eaten a girl scout cookie. :closedeyes:

 

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

 

My favorite now is Savannah Smiles. Lemon wedge cookies dusted with powdered sugar. Did I mention sugar? :haha:

 

Now were talkin :lol: I even brought RTF a box when he brought me a fish.......

 

Oh those cookies.........I need a case.......

Need a picture on page 2! Here's what the wide quad looks like, from Dave's Flick pictures. Mine will be anodized black, it's one of Dave's prototype units.

 

27237530736_c5b3fd51f7_b.jpgquadwideblacknaturehang by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

 

 

That thing looks sweet! But I do agree a little bit of T5s are needed........

 

Those acans will appreciate it ;)

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Elizabeth94

One thing to think about- remember that the dry side for mp40's are quite big, so not only does the tank have to fit in that area, but the 4" or so of the mp40's dry side will need to be accounted for.

 

Unless the powerhead will not be sitting between those "walls" of the shelving unit.

 

This build is gonna be awesome, I am exicted to see this thing up and runing!

 

Edit- im not sure what the width of the IM40 is. I just remember seeing one in person and it was a decent size.

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One thing to think about- remember that the dry side for mp40's are quite big, so not only does the tank have to fit in that area, but the 4" or so of the mp40's dry side will need to be accounted for.

 

Unless the powerhead will not be sitting between those "walls" of the shelving unit.

 

This build is gonna be awesome, I am exicted to see this thing up and runing!

 

Edit- im not sure what the width of the IM40 is. I just remember seeing one in person and it was a decent size.

Thanks! That's a really good point about the dry side, and I hadn't really thought about it.

 

Ecotech's web site says the dry side sticks out by 2 1/4", which won't fit between the tank and the side of the bookshelf. There's a false front on the bookshelf, so it gets wider behind the front, but there's only about 1 1/4" of space back there.

 

So I see three options:

1. Don't use the MP40 and go with something that puts the impeller inside the tank, like most other pumps, or the Gyre.

2. Put the MP40 on the front half of the tank (there's 10 1/2" in front of the bookcase false front).

3. Since it won't really be visible, cut a hole in the side of the bookcase.

 

I'll think it over, but I really like the MP40 for circulation. I may see how it looks on the front half of the tank. That's how I have the MP10 set up on the 10g tank, and I don't mind it there.

 

If it doesn't look good like that, I'll try cutting the hole. It will be complicated, though, because the hole has to be big enough to maneuver the dry side in and out without moving the tank. Plus some arrangement for the power cord. Which means some kind of cover for the part of the hole that isn't covered by the MP40. I used to do a lot of woodworking and cabinetry, so I've definitely got the tools, and maybe the skill, to make it happen. :)

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