Nightstand NANO build

[Lula_Mae]

The African tank looks beautiful! You know, around here we welcome people sharing pics of other tanks and pets.  

[Jeff Hood]

2 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

The African tank looks beautiful! You know, around here we welcome people sharing pics of other tanks and pets.  

Well @Lula_Mae, I’ll have to get my red tail boa out and show him off.  He’s now 7+ feet long. I’ll also give a quick rundown of my African tank and the living room Reef my wife is gonna let me build once the house is payed for in the next couple years.  I had a small reef in that corner when I built the house so it already has two 15 amp circuits in that corner.  It will be a large corner pentagon tank.  Back two sides will be 60” and approx 350 gallons. 

 

[Lula_Mae]

9 minutes ago, Jeff Hood said:

Well @Lula_Mae, I’ll have to get my red tail boa out and show him off.  He’s now 7+ feet long. I’ll also give a quick rundown of my African tank and the living room Reef my wife is gonna let me build once the house is payed for in the next couple years.  I had a small reef in that corner when I built the house so it already has two 15 amp circuits in that corner.  It will be a large corner pentagon tank.  Back two sides will be 60” and approx 350 gallons. 

 

 Do it! I show off my hedgie sometimes. No snakes for me as hubby says no! 

[Jeff Hood]

Mine lives in a pet room outside the house. Basically my pet room is in a room I built in a 3rd garage stall and only access to it is from the patio.  That said, my wife loves him.  He could live in the house but in reality it’s better for him out there as I keep that room at 84 degrees year round and it has slightly elevated humidity from 800 gallons of water in there.  

     Now, my mother in law would not come in the house if there was a snake in there.  

    Feel free to show off your hedgehog here.  My daughter would love to see it.  She keeps rabbits in her room.  We are animal people.  

    My list includes

1. 2 dogs
2. african tank
3. boa
4. rabbits
5. garden pond with gold fish
6. a chicken.  Was 4 now down to one at the moment. ?‍♂️

 

[Jeff Hood]

Almost done.  Everything up and running except my dosing pumps and my auto water change setup.  That will come on line when the cycle is done.  

 

Yes, I know it overkill but it’s fun.  

 

Things left to do

• finish latching mechanism for the panel door
• install new LED room lighting. Orange behind and warm white in front
• install a motion sensor so all lights come on when the door is open.  
• Run 1/4” plumbing for the dose pumps. 
• Install a dose container rack on the back wall. 

 

 

[Jeff Hood]

Ok, tonight I fixed a problem with my Algae reactor powerhead. It was very noisy and ratteling.  Read lots of solutions and decided to try gluing the impeller blade to the magnetic rotor.  It worked perfectly.  So much quieter.  Seems to pump the same. 

    I pulled out the impeller assembly on my Cobalt powerhead.  Used gel super glue and let it cure for 30 minutes. Not sure why they make them the way they do. 

 

[alexandre]

On 10/7/2018 at 4:13 AM, Jeff Hood said:

 

I had the same problem with the return pump of the RSMN. Ended up to do the same, glue the impeller to the rotor. 

Really neat bluid by the way. 

 

 

[Jeff Hood]

9 hours ago, alexandre said:

I had the same problem with the return pump of the RSMN. Ended up to do the same, glue the impeller to the rotor. 

Really neat bluid by the way. 

 

 

So far my main return pump is very quiet. Same for the skimmer.     Now that I’ve fixed that cobalt power head I feel I know how to deal with that issue.  

[Jeff Hood]

Update on the initial cycle.  My ammonia finally read zero and Nitrite fell from way darker than 1.0 to less than 0.2.   Nitrates were around 10-12.  So almost there.  I added another dose of ammonia last night and will see how long it takes to drop back down.   I should be ordering some Chaetomorphia soon.  Anybody recommend a source for this?   I’ve looked at Algae Barn but there is a waiting list.  

[LogicalReefs]

1 hour ago, Jeff Hood said:

Update on the initial cycle.  My ammonia finally read zero and Nitrite fell from way darker than 1.0 to less than 0.2.   Nitrates were around 10-12.  So almost there.  I added another dose of ammonia last night and will see how long it takes to drop back down.   I should be ordering some Chaetomorphia soon.  Anybody recommend a source for this?   I’ve looked at Algae Barn but there is a waiting list.  

Do you have a LFS that might have some in stock?

[specore]

1 hour ago, Jeff Hood said:

Update on the initial cycle.  My ammonia finally read zero and Nitrite fell from way darker than 1.0 to less than 0.2.   Nitrates were around 10-12.  So almost there.  I added another dose of ammonia last night and will see how long it takes to drop back down.   I should be ordering some Chaetomorphia soon.  Anybody recommend a source for this?   I’ve looked at Algae Barn but there is a waiting list.  

If you have a local reef club I would ask there.  Usually someone is ready to cut theirs back for you.  

[Jeff Hood]

I live in a small town in Oklahoma.  We are starting a local reef club so likely me and my buddy with his 800 gallon reef will be the local source.  I will try a local store up in a neighboring town and see if they are growing it.  

     I’m guessing the Chaetomorphia is the best choice.  That’s about all I see mentioned on the forum.  

 

Anyway, finished up my closet lighting tonight and hooked it up to a motion sensor to turn on when I open the door.  I left the old lighting which is much brighter for maintenance. It’s still on a standard switch. 

    All my lighting is orange behind the panel, white in front of the panel.  All my wires are now covered in orange wire sheath.  I think it turned out pretty good. 

     

The doseing reservoir is yet to be made.  I plan on using some water bottles and some 1/4” bulkheads. A buddy at work has a 3d printer so we will make something to hold the bottles and display to match what I’ve done so far. 

    I’ve also got some tube organizers to give some organization to my 1/4” tubing.  

     Should be running those this week after I calibrate all my pumps. 

 

 

[Christopher Marks]

On 10/7/2018 at 11:59 AM, Jeff Hood said:

What a beautiful cichlid tank, wow!

 

I love watching your build progress, your attention to detail is amazing. So good for my OCD 😍

[Jeff Hood]

10 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

What a beautiful cichlid tank, wow!

 

I love watching your build progress, your attention to detail is amazing. So good for my OCD 😍

Yes ha ha.  Me too. I’ve got to channel it somewhere.  I’m planning on going to a LFS today if time permits.  It’s an hour drive each way.  Gonna scope out what kind of resource it will be for me. 

    Once this system is operational and doing well I will begin planning my 350 gallon pentagon corner tank for my living room.  Wife said no until house is payed off so will be a couple years.  Will take that long for me to be happy with my plan anyway.  Plus two years to scope out deals on equipment. 

 

Tank update...

 

everything is is running super quiet.  Remember, this is one foot from my head while sleeping.  

 

Ammonia was around 0.4 and Nitrite was 0.3 yesterday 24 hours after an ammonia dose.  I’ll re dose today and likely consider it cycled.  Hopefully I can pick up some Chaetomorphia for my algae reactor and get it up and running.  Once I see Nitrates falling close to zero with no water change I’ll add some real bioload to the tank next week. We are getting there.  

[Lula_Mae]

On 10/8/2018 at 8:24 AM, Jeff Hood said:

Mine lives in a pet room outside the house. Basically my pet room is in a room I built in a 3rd garage stall and only access to it is from the patio.  That said, my wife loves him.  He could live in the house but in reality it’s better for him out there as I keep that room at 84 degrees year round and it has slightly elevated humidity from 800 gallons of water in there.  

     Now, my mother in law would not come in the house if there was a snake in there.  

    Feel free to show off your hedgehog here.  My daughter would love to see it.  She keeps rabbits in her room.  We are animal people.  

    My list includes

1. 2 dogs
2. african tank
3. boa
4. rabbits
5. garden pond with gold fish
6. a chicken.  Was 4 now down to one at the moment. ?‍♂️

 

I'll see if I can dig a couple pics of her up, then.  I know I've posted some on my threads but where, I couldn't say haha.  I do have some on my much-neglected instagram, mostly the same pics I've posted around here. https://www.instagram.com/lula_maeslittleloves/

[Jeff Hood]

4 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I'll see if I can dig a couple pics of her up, then.  I know I've posted some on my threads but where, I couldn't say haha.  I do have some on my much-neglected instagram, mostly the same pics I've posted around here. https://www.instagram.com/lula_maeslittleloves/

Very cute.   Never owned one.  I’ve heard my daughter talk about them.   Can those spines poke into you?   How careful do you need to be when handeling them?

 

as for my little NANO goes, the cycle is complete now.  I’m on call so much these last two weeks I just can’t get out of town to go visit my closest LFS which is 1:20 away.  Even if I fly it takes an hour to get there just because of the logistics of it all.  Hopefully soon.  I read on line that they carry Chaetomorphia so I plan to get some and also buy some rubble off their live rock pile to seed the tank with coralline algae.  Once my algae begins to grow and nirtates begin to drop I’ll add my first fish.  

[Jeff Hood]

Since the new NANO is in limbo I figure I’d post a coupe African pics.  My prettiest fish are camera shy. 

 

[Lula_Mae]

On 10/11/2018 at 7:23 AM, Jeff Hood said:

Very cute.   Never owned one.  I’ve heard my daughter talk about them.   Can those spines poke into you?   How careful do you need to be when handeling them?

 

as for my little NANO goes, the cycle is complete now.  I’m on call so much these last two weeks I just can’t get out of town to go visit my closest LFS which is 1:20 away.  Even if I fly it takes an hour to get there just because of the logistics of it all.  Hopefully soon.  I read on line that they carry Chaetomorphia so I plan to get some and also buy some rubble off their live rock pile to seed the tank with coralline algae.  Once my algae begins to grow and nirtates begin to drop I’ll add my first fish.  

The quills are pretty sharp, like needles, but they've never broken my skin. As long as she's not balled up (which she'll do when she's scared), handling is no problem because the quills lay flat. It feels like petting a hairbrush lol. When she's upset and curls into a ball, I try to reach under her stomach before she finishes balling up and pick her up that way. If she's too fast for me, I just carefully scoop her up with both hands. I'll get poked but it's really not that bad.

 

The people I got her from were using a pooper scooper to pick her up...they also followed the breeder's recommendation to trim her quills, which is a big no no due to risk of infection. She still has some of those chopped off quills, too. They're hollow inside. 

[Jeff Hood]

Ok, made another modification today.  I was not happy with the performance of my stock skimmer.  To me it was too low in the tank.  Water gait was all the way open and it was overskimming bad.  Could hardly turn the air valve on at all.  No adjustability in the low end. 

   So I raised it several inches using PVC I had laying around.  Now the water level in the skimmer is where I want it and I can raise it further using the stock gait.  If I ever need it lower I can adjust the height of my PVC stand or remove it.  Seriously doubt I’ll ever need to remove it.  

    We will see if it helped as much as it has seemed to at the moment. 

 

 

[Jeff Hood]

Ok.  May have spoke too soon. Raising it may not have put as much back pressure on the pump as I hoped.  We will see where it settles out.  May have to put the air valve back on.  I’m sure once the tank gets fed regularly it will change for the better.  Man I’m ready for this thing to finish its cycle and get something in here. 

    Ammonia 0.2

    Nitrite.      0.2

    Phos.        0-1 PPB. 

    Alk             7.7

    Ph.             8.2/7.9.  Red Sea kit/ APEX probe

 

Edit, the skimmer definitely has calmed down with it raised.  Air valve is removed.   Micro bubbles are minimal but still present.  

 

 

[Subsea]

On 10/11/2018 at 7:21 PM, Jeff Hood said:

Since the new NANO is in limbo I figure I’d post a coupe African pics.  My prettiest fish are camera shy. 

 

Gorgeous fish.  The teckie equipment supporting this tank is impressive.  As an instrument technician, I am glad I did not have to run it.  

[Jeff Hood]

5 hours ago, Subsea said:

Gorgeous fish.  The teckie equipment supporting this tank is impressive.  As an instrument technician, I am glad I did not have to run it.  

@Subsea  we will see how impressive it is once it’s alive and stable.  So far it’s just a box of money.  I’ve been successful in the past but not with a NANO.   I’ve got a lot to learn.  I’ve read several of your posts and like the way you think. The NANO with no sump presents some challenges and I’m hoping some of the automation will make it easier.  It very well could be the opposite. 

[Subsea]

Nanos are best served by ATO using kalk and partial water changes.  KISS works best for me.

 

I don’t much keep up with the technology of the reef hobby.  I am very much interested in the science and the art of reefkeeping.  With my focus on hardy softies, natural filtration was a “no brainer”.  Less technology/ more biology is my mainstay.  Then after 25 years with Jaubert Plenum, I found I could keep more delicate filter feeders like Sea Apples and flame scallops.  One year ago, I replaced 30G  macro refugium with cryptic sponge refugium.  After 47 years in this hobby, I now rely on algae, bacteria and sponges as a complete biofiltration platform to keep difficult filter feeders like NPS.   

 

Good fortune on your journey with nanos.

[Jeff Hood]

I finally placed an order for some starter Chaetomorphia and some pods to populate my sand.  I also got one tiny piece of live rock to seed coralline algae.  

     Will be curious to see what it takes to grow this stuff.  Hopefully this little reactor works well. 

 

On another note, here are a couple pics of my buddies office tank.  No it’s not a nano.  😂

 

dimentions are 84x48x48. 

 

We we are working out the plumbing and refugiums as we speak.  The biggest hurtle is the size of his equipment room.  We are going to have to be a little creative with it.  

[Jeff Hood]

Algae barn order came in.  I added a nice wad of Chaetomorphia to my reactor, a jar of pods and some phytoplankton.   I also added some bacteria to my quarantine tank.  

    Hopefully it will be cycled in a couple weeks and I can put my first fish in there for a month or so.  

 

As as far as fish, I’m not completely sure on my stocking plan. Any suggestions?   

 

Options in my mind

• mandarin if the pods reproduce.  Tank may be too small to keep up
• clown pair
• gobies
• royal gramma

i plan on only 3-4 very small fish and that’s it. 

 

 

I’ll start doing my regular water changes soon.  Also I’ll start dosing my two part as soon as we finish my dosing containers and holders.  Curious how long before I start to see some coralline algae?   I’ve seeded a very small rock with coralline and placed it into a high flow area with my power head blasting that rock.

     Can’t wait to show my dosing containers off. A friend at work is making them for me on his 3d printer. We took the design from a on line file and modified it to look better and work with led back lighting. Should be cool.