RehabReef Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Hey guys, My fiancee and I decided to start a small reef tank after a few weeks of following nano reefs on Instagram. My fiancee has never had a tank to herself and fell in love with my Mom's mixed reef. We were at our LFS picking up a few cherry shrimp for our dinky little kitchen planted tank when my fiancee saw a 24g AIO Aquatop tank and stand combo for next to nothing. She fell in love and asked if I could make it work. I had the itch to get back into the hobby so we went for it. A little backstory--while in undergrad I used to help run an aquaculture and breeding facility for marine enthusiasts. The people that ran the shop were marine biology grad students doing research for their thesis projects. It was fun working and learning from people who were more than just enthusiasts. Luckily for us the jump back into reefing was a pretty easy transition. Equipment so far: -24g Aquatop AIO tank and stand - Aquatop skimmer and return pump - AI Prime HD x1 (Will most likely add another later) - MP10wQD - ATO (autotopoff guy. I've had one of his ATOs on my parents reef for probably 6+ years and its never failed) - Old ass single switch power strip I've had for ages Modifications: - I raised the shelf in the stand a few inches to accommodate my 5g ATO and switch board. Thoughts so far: - Pros: I've never heard of Aquatop and after doing my research they seem to be a relatively cheap off brand for a rimless tank. I'm not the biggest fan of AIO tanks but you can make it work. This is also my fiancee's tank so it's easier to jump in with an AIO. The tank really seems like a high quality build. Seams are flawless and looks very well crafted. However, only because I'm super meticulous I did notice a single micro air bubble trapped in the front pane of glass. I've seen it before, no big deal really. Stand is very sturdy and looks more expensive than the price, always a plus. Smudges easy but nothing a good wipe down won't fix. - Cons: The provided equipment is garbage. The "LED" light was plugged in once and put in the garage. The skimmer is atrocious at best. It will be replaced with something when I can find something that will fit. Return pump is loud and feels super cheap. However, with all that said, I planned on upgrading all the internals before the first drop of water was poured. Really for the price of the stand and tank I have no complaints at all. The tank was started with a mixture of dry rock from BRS, garage rock from an old tank, a small piece of seeded cured rock, and 20lbs of Caribsea Fiji pink live sand. We cycled with Dr. Tim's ammonia and Bacter7. Took ~3 weeks to clear ammonia and nitrite spikes. I'm really excited about having a tank again. It's been too long. As of right now, we're going to go for a mixed reef but heavy on the SPS. So far we've added a few frags of coral which are doing great. First fish are a pair of Helmet Percs. Man, are there so many different variations of clowns now. It's ridiculous! Also! My Fiancee and I are both Physical Therapists, hence "Rehab" Reef! Current FTS: Clowns: Stand: Thanks guys! 5 Quote Link to comment
Chris's Fishes Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Looks nice! Love the clowns. This is my problem with most AIO's - most of the nice ones end up being incredibly expensive for what you get, and while it's convenient, I'd usually rather piece it together by myself and get exactly what I want. The ones that are priced a bit lower end up having lesser equipment, and most people end up replacing everything anyway - save money up-front, but pay for it over time. Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Welcome to the community @RehabReef! You've put a really nice nano reef system together, I was admiring this Aquatop AIO tank at a local store just last week. Those helmet percula clownfish are neat looking, I can't keep up with all the different variants anymore, that's a new one for me! 😄 Looking forward to your SPS dominant reef, keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 12 hours ago, Fisker said: Looks nice! Love the clowns. This is my problem with most AIO's - most of the nice ones end up being incredibly expensive for what you get, and while it's convenient, I'd usually rather piece it together by myself and get exactly what I want. The ones that are priced a bit lower end up having lesser equipment, and most people end up replacing everything anyway - save money up-front, but pay for it over time. Thank you for the reply! I completely agree. You can piece together nice looking system without paying up front for it. Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 11 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: Welcome to the community @RehabReef! You've put a really nice nano reef system together, I was admiring this Aquatop AIO tank at a local store just last week. Those helmet percula clownfish are neat looking, I can't keep up with all the different variants anymore, that's a new one for me! 😄 Looking forward to your SPS dominant reef, keep up the good work! Thanks! We appreciate the compliment. I'm definitely hoping to make this a very nice fully loaded reef with minimal equipment. When I did this back in the day I was kind of a minimalist and purist. Aquatop really did a good job at making an attractive looking tank for a great price. We thought they were neat and couldn't beat the price! Also they had been at the LFS for almost 4months and looked fat and happy. Win Win. 1 Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 Water changes are super easy on this tank! Simple 5g bucket with a small heater and power head. Made RODI and premixed our salt the night before. The Fiancee completed her first ever solo water change! The individual switch board made it super simple and fool proof. To top off I simply lifted the ATO switch out of the last chamber and put the ATO pump in the new salt bucket. It took about 10min to pump the fresh saltwater into the tank. My plan is to simple change 5G a week. We have our own RODI unit so water changes simple to prep and perform. I moved the orange monti cap up onto a lower shelf. I'm not familiar with the AI prime HD so I wasn't sure if I was going to fry anything. I currently have it set to AB+ at 60%. All corals had normal PE after about 5 min in the tank. I'll take it! ATO switch: Corals: Helpers: 2 Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 Also, does anyone have any tips for uploading photos. I'm taking my pictures with an Iphone X so the camera is really nice. It seems the photos I upload have a descaled resolution? Not 100% sure whats going on. Any tips would be great appreciated! Thanks guys Quote Link to comment
alpinestar Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Awesome setup! Welcome back to the hobby! 1 Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 1 minute ago, alpinestar said: Awesome setup! Welcome back to the hobby! Thanks! Its been too long. I've already had that bug in the back of my head and when my fiancee showed interest I capitalized on it! Quote Link to comment
alpinestar Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Just now, RehabReef said: Thanks! Its been too long. I've already had that bug in the back of my head and when my fiancee showed interest I capitalized on it! Yup! Got my wife into ours and it has turned into a couples project. Way funner that way plus she doesn't gripe about $$ if she gets to pick out corals and fish as well. 1 Quote Link to comment
falcooo Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Tank looks great!! I'm excited to follow along. I started out with the AI Prime on the AB+ settings too. Early in, I was seeing too much nuisance algae growth and cut it down to around 25% and slowly raised it via the acclimation mode over several months. It worked well for me, I just read how powerful the light was and played it safe. But your tank may be different since it's larger. Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 Slow on the updates: Tank has been up and cruising along very nicely. Water changes are a breeze and water parameters have been weirdly stable (almost too stable). Recent additions to date: - Yellow banded possum wrasse - Metallic reverse frogspawn - Eagle eye zoanthids - Birds nest - GSP (Fiance wanted something "Flow-ee"....🙃 Frags are on the sand bed getting accustomed to the light. Still not 100% how strong these things are. Only time will tell. GSP wont be touching anything on the main rock structure. 2 Quote Link to comment
Spliff Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Looks great I'm running the almost exact setup I have no complaints about the tank so far . I did glue the Gsp to the back of the tank see how it goes ! Quote Link to comment
Poodges Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Good looking tank. Nice job. Be careful with that gsp. I had some in my Biocube and it took over pretty quickly. Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 3 hours ago, Spliff said: Looks great I'm running the almost exact setup I have no complaints about the tank so far . I did glue the Gsp to the back of the tank see how it goes ! Thanks! We're really enjoying the tank so far. I bet the GSP will take over. I've seen several tanks with a nice green back wall. It can look really nice. Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 3 hours ago, Poodges said: Good looking tank. Nice job. Be careful with that gsp. I had some in my Biocube and it took over pretty quickly. Thanks! Yes, I almost consider GSP an invasive pest but the fiancee wanted it so here we are. It will definitely be segregated to the sand bed on its own little rock. Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted May 8, 2019 Author Share Posted May 8, 2019 It’s been a while since we’ve updated the tank! The tank is definitely still going through the “ugly” phase. I forgot how starting with bleached rock prolongs the maturation progress. Instead of heavy chemicals or messing with the tank I rather just let things run their course. Lots of additions! 1 Quote Link to comment
RehabReef Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 Just another update. We purchased a bunch of frags from aquariumdepot.com. I was a little hesitant at first but wow, the quality of the frags and for the price. I will with out a doubt be ordering from them again. Just a few quick shots from last week. Picked up a few turbos that are quickly doing a number on the persistent algae. Quote Link to comment
minreef Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 How is the mp10wqd? i just started the same tank but wondering if mp10 or nero 5 may be too much flow even at minimum settings (dont want sand flying around). Thanks Quote Link to comment
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