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DNR88 31 gallon OptiWhite, first (attempt on) macro-shots..!


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Latest FTS 2019-11-05

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FTS 2019-10-25:

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Dear co-Reefers,

 

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Harmen, I am from the Netherlands, living in a historical city called Zwolle and I have been lurking here for quite some time.

I am really inspired and baffled with the things you come up with and what you guys and girls create! Hopefully I can add some quality nano reefing here as well.

 

Since I was young I've been fascinated with all the small creatures living on this planet, from the small poisonous frogs and insects living in the jungles, to the nano fishes and other inverts living in and around the great (and small) reef banks in the world. Since I visited the aquariums in the zoo of Berlin in 2016, with some great smaller reef tanks, it was my definitve confirmation I wanted to be part of this world. Luckily there was a LFS only a few miles away from my home, so it was not hard for me to get over the threshold and start something for my own. 

 

Because I am fascinated by the small animals living in the sea and my appartement providing me space for only a small tank, I decided to give it a go. In december 2016 I started of with my first reef tank, a Blue Marine 125 (liters) and simply enjoyed the small things that came from the live rock and the animals that fed from it, especially my little fellow blue legged hermit crab and different kind of dwarf angelfish. Since then, I ran all kind of tanks, last now a Superfish 80, which I converted to a saltwater tank with an 4x24w t5 ATI Sunpower and Real Reef Rock.

 

But for me the RRR doesn't feel like the real deal and I miss the 'hunt' for all the small treasures hiding in some good pieces of live rock plus the lack of biological filtration giving me a hard time to gain a stable enviroment for the fishes and especially the corals to thrive. So, I hope with the experience I gained over the last few years and with the lessons learned, I can start a new tank from scratch, with all the good parts I like. This is going to be a slow and (hopefully) quality build of a natural nano reef tank, because the one thing I learned from the last years is to be patience and work with quality elements and let nature does 'her' thing.

 

For now, I only can show you the Aqua Medic Blenny, which I purchased yesterday without any of the technical equipment. I didn't realise the black acrylic partition was also not included, so I need to figure out if I can reorder one from my LFS. 😅 Next friday (March 9) I hope to get the stand for the tank, which I need to reinforce cause the original stand can't keep with more than 90 pounds.

 

The actual Aqua Medic Blenny:

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And the stand I hope to get next friday:

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That's it for now folks. I will keep you updated and hope to get it wet before the end of this month! 😉

 

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That is a cool little tank! Strange it didn't come with the partition though. I like how it appears removable....that would make for easy cleaning of the back chambers.

 

My husband is from the Netherlands and next time we visit his family I am going to look around for odd little tanks like this that we can't get in the US. Would be fun to set one up and mod it.

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I hope you are supplied with the partition when you talk to your lfs.  It's a cute tank and I can see it being a lot of fun with small creatures.

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54 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

That is a cool little tank! Strange it didn't come with the partition though. I like how it appears removable....that would make for easy cleaning of the back chambers.

 

My husband is from the Netherlands and next time we visit his family I am going to look around for odd little tanks like this that we can't get in the US. Would be fun to set one up and mod it.

I asked my LFS to only order the tank itself and well, that's  what I got! 😄

 

There are some producers from "odd little tanks", mostly from Germany and France, but I think you have much more choice back in the USA. But nontheless, there are quite a lot of stores providing stuff for saltwater tanks for a small country like the Netherlands.

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3 minutes ago, vlangel said:

I hope you are supplied with the partition when you talk to your lfs.  It's a cute tank and I can see it being a lot of fun with small creatures.

I hope so too, otherwise I have to make something myself, which shouldn't be too hard as well.

 

My favorite (small) fish is the Wetmorella or possum wrasse, such a nice little guy. But because I have already four fishes in my other tank, which are doing great, I am not sure yet what I'm going to do with them.

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One of the most exciting things in reefing, getting live rock for the tank and this was the day!

I know it's a lot of rock for a 21 gallon tank, but I have something special in mind for the aquascape.

 

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to built and reinforce the cabinet and get things started.

 

I also made a VERY awkward unboxing video! 😆😂

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Building and reinforcing the cabinet went really well today and in the early afternoon I was ready to fill the tank with water! 

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After that, I was (of course) thrilled to fill the tank with the live rock and the aquascaping went really smooth.

Although it is a lot of rock, I am really pleased with the result.  The red 'cone-thing' is gone already.

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The cabinet is also finished. Because of the wooden frame inside the cabinet, I had to place the doors the other way around, which looks a bit funny. But it does work and that's most important to me.

 

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And a sideview picture:

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I did a second 25 percent waterchange (in 10 days) yesterday and couldn't help to put some small easy frags in the tank, as well as my blue legged hermitcrab.. 😊 

And I believe that we've reached the brown-algea phase:

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I still really like the reefscape, so that's going to survive I think. I'm running a very easy setup right now, with only a Hydor Slim Skimmer, return pump and a heater. Hopefully I can add a Aqua Medic Refill System Pro within a few days.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Small update on the tank. Did a little rescape yesterday and I'm happy with it. Some might think it's just a 'pile of rocks', but for me it's a well balanced one and with a lot of hidingplaces for the fishes, which I hope to add in a few weeks.

 

The Aqua Medic ATO Refill System works fine after some modifications to fit in this tank. Also a new FTS, the corals still need to adjust to the new scape and the fiddling around.IMGP7204.thumb.JPG.53aab252a14bba1c452012a333614676.JPG

 

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Things are doing well, the corals do fit in nicely and seem to be happy with the tank. Not too much algae and the rock is coloring up nicely:

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It has been a while. In the end, I was not happy with the way things looked. Since I always loved the 'bommie-reef' style, I felt the need to change it quite radical.

 

So this is what I was aiming for:

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This is what I made from it:

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I am really happy with how it looks right now. I hope I can keep my hands off from changing things and hope it all settles in nicely.

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So, things were going well for a few days.. Yesterday evening I decided to mess in the tank a bit and ended up with a total collapse of the 'structure'. 😣 Of course I was angry and started to rebuilt it, but it was al getting worse. 'For the time being' I put the rocks together so they won't touch the glass, it was about midnight by then.

 

This morning I looked in the tank and I realised it didn't look that bat, actually it looks fairly nice. So I will hope to keep it this way for the next time, so the corals get the change to grow in. The fish seems pretty satisfied with the new scape. 👍

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  • 2 months later...

Today I decided it was time to buy another tank..! 😅

 

I thought the dimensions of the old tank just weren't right for what I wanted tot do with the aquascape.

 

So now I have this 31 gallon OptiWhite tank and I think it's gorgeous! 😎

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  • Like 3
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14 hours ago, kimdawg said:

Great tank upgrade looking forward to see what you fill it with.

Thanks, this is what I made from it so far. What do you guys think?

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  • Like 5
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How does it look making a "U" shape with the rock? For what it's worth the first (yesterdays) is more preferable for me. I'd widen the chasm between them by bringing the one on the left forwards and move the other back. Without obstructing cleaning of course

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53 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

How does it look making a "U" shape with the rock? For what it's worth the first (yesterdays) is more preferable for me. I'd widen the chasm between them by bringing the one on the left forwards and move the other back. Without obstructing cleaning of course

Second this idea!

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Thank you both @Ratvan and @Opotterfor your feedback! 🙂Yesterday I ended up with this, pretty standard, bit also quite solid. IMG_20191015_165144432.thumb.jpg.272c090e9f9eec6ad3f9b5389174f1ee.jpg

 

Today I hope to end up with something more creative and alsof hopefully a bit more preservable. 😅

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In the end I decided that with this tank, I should end up with a two-island reefscape. I got some really good inspiration from my new favorite search on Google, 'bonsai penjing':

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So I changed it (again) and for now I hope this will last for the next weeks/months/years..? 😅

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  • Like 4
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The last scape was already fine, but I thought it could be even better. A bit more pointed and higher, based on the penjing (bonsai) style:

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I think this is my best scape in years and I don't say that very often. All the rocks fit in to each other very well and it feels very balanced. It makes me calm and that's a good sign! Fingers crossed I can leave it like this. 😅

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