second_decimal 10g Nano

[second_decimal]

After an 8 year hiatus, I decided that diving back into reefing would be the kind of zen exercise that I needed in my life. Instead of going huge however, as was my goal previously, I wanted to test out the nano world and see if I could find the same satisfaction there. Starting with a bunch of dry, leftover parts and pieces including an old profilux controller, dosing pump, a controllable power strip and some old  mini pumps. 

 

Before I got down to business however I decided the water supply issue had to be addressed. I have a spectrapure unit I have been using as a household water supply as well as super coffee water. This set up consists of 

 

1 micron preflilter

.5 micron carbon block

.5 micron carbon block

90gpd osmosis membrane

 

Then things get interesting. After the membrane. I have an auto shut off valve. that valve connects a drinking water tank a mineral infusion block, another straight carbon block, before the water hits the top mounted faucet. It basically cleans the water and then adds minerals for a specific flavor profile. It makes super coffee. But I needed DI 0 TDS water so I was able to plumb in a straight T valve between the osmosis out and the auto valve. This allows me to manually switch flow direction prior to the mineral block and direct flow into a two block DI systems with in / out monitors to provide good, clean 0 TDS reef water. This allows me to draw reef water whenever I need it through a simple shut off valve.

 

 

 

 

[second_decimal]

I then added 

 

10g IM Fusion tank

I choose this tank because i like the suitable desktop size and all in one design. I also liked the controllable DC Mighty Jet recirculating pump that came with the package as well as the media baskets and filter sock. 
 

[second_decimal]

Reefbreeder RM Powerhead
Next was a Reefbreeder RM pump for circulation. This was suggested to me and I liked this pump for variety of reasons. One, it is a controllable unit that follow the design of the more expensive MPXX pumps but has “wet” backside. This allows for mounting the entire unit on the backside of the AIO tank. Another neat feature is that it came with a USB cable that can conveniently be connected to a battery pack to run it if the power ever goes out.  Furthermore, the impeller is incorporated into the front grill and provides a super low profile. 
 

 

On this particular item I would like to note that I am in the hunt for a Tunze 6055 nano pump to replace the reefbreeder. The manufacturer has a warning that the reefbreeder pump may make some noise initially until it is broken in. This noise had not gone away however and since I am running it all the way on the lowest setting, I doubt I am going to be able to break it in with my little nano tank. The 6055 is not only fully controllable with my Profilux but also seems better suited for the nano environment. I will compared once I have the tunze in action.

 

edit dec 09 

The Tunze 6055 pump is probably too strong for my little 10g so my focus has been diverted to the 6040 model which appears more suitable. 
 

In regards to the Reefbreeder pump, I don’t run it. It is simply too strong even on the lowest setting. I tried pulse mode and that cool but honestly, the user experience has been less than spectacular. The controller is finicky and slow to register button pushes. I sent an email asking a few questions (one being if/when they expect a nano sized pump in the design and functionality of the RP-M to become available) but never heard back. I guess when you hook up several pumps, set master and slave units and can adjust flow patterns in unison from a master controller, can run the pumps higher than the minimum speed to properly “break them in” and eliminate the noise it becomes a contender again but for my current purposes it leaves to be desired. 

[second_decimal]

Profilux Mini WiFi

The Profilux unit I had was a Profilux II+. This unit needed to be upgraded with a pretty expensive and at this point almost obsolete, hard to find, expansion card as well as a separate WiFi card. Apart From those it also needed a new temp probe and PH probe. The cost was paramount to just getting a basic Mini WiFi unit. This is the the latest and greatest and included a new temp probe. It provides for basis parameter monitoring and control via controllable outlets. Some drawbacks are that it is supposed to act like a hotspot to connect to your phone and the GHL app. That means no online monitoring and adjustments. For that you will need to get the actual full Profilux head unit that comes with a cloud server and online access capabilities.  I will add a few more picture later tomorrow. 
 

 

[second_decimal]

Profilux Dosing Pump

This slave unit also needed to be updated as it used to be a dual motor setup that was now sadly reduced to 1 working motor head In desperate need of new rubber tubing. I found a 3 head SA unit that came with nib rubber hoses. Either I can use the SA unit as a slave or I can move the heads to the original slave unit to make it a 4 head doser.

 

 

Profilux power bar

The power bar offers me controllable outlets so naturally,  Even though I currently have nothing control, I wanted to build on that.. I am still unclear if I have to plug things like the dosing pump into controllable outlets as well as the PAB connection (telephone looking plug connection). 
 

Even though I was pretty excited about firing up my profilux and connecting all my things again. I was informed that one of the major differences between the Mini Wifi and the full head unit is the ability to communicate via PAB wich apparently stands for Profilux Aquatic Bus and allows for device communication. My Powerbar is only able to controlled by the full head unit. Took an L on that. 

 

 

 

red lights = no bueno !

 

12/13/19 Update

i wound up just ordering an additional powerstrip so i can have 4 controllable outlets. let see how that goes.. 

[second_decimal]

Nanobox mini tide M

I saw this light around on some forums and was really impressed with the colors

It produced. I found a good deal on a used one and even though the fella who shipped it was not too careful with the packaging resulting in a few nicks and the body color being the least favorite of the many options, it works pretty well and has some cool lighting options via the bluefish app. The light comes with pre loaded lighting cycles for different parts off the world, includes a multitude of lighting customization options but sadly lacks a simple, one click, on off feature which is a little annoying. 
 

 

(Yes, that is a Danny Devito Halloween mask under that package) 

 

That’s all I have for now. I will add a few more pics tomorrow sometime. 

[Elizabeth94]

Welcome back to the hobby! 
 

I never heard of a unit that added minerals to water for a particular flavor profile. That is really neat. Im guessing the coffee you drink is much better than what I live off of haha!

 

the Nuvo 10 is a great little tank. Its a nice size too, you shouldn’t have much issue keeping up on maintenance and dosing. Looking forward to see what you come up with!

[billygoat]

Hello and welcome! 

 

Certainly seems like you're off to a great start. I like your detailed posts; you do a great job of breaking down your reasoning for each equipment choice. Make sure to keep us updated! I'll be following along. 😁

[second_decimal]

I did a little more preparation and finally received my Tunze 3152 nano ATO. 

 

Pretty complete and easy to install. I bought some storage containers from Costco and drilled the holes for RO bulk heads and the float valves. I only messed up 2 containers due to impatience and just like when you drill glass, I used too much pressure trying to hurry the drill through. The plastic cracked and I was forced to start over with a new container. I finally managed to get it all done and now I should be able to run my RO line once a week or so to refill the ATO (and make fresh SW too).

 

holes had to be cleaned up in order for bulkheads to make a good seal.

 

 

 

I have to add that I immediately broke the cage tabs for the ATO and had to glue it back onto the magnet. I wonder if I can just buy the little brown plastic cage as a replacement part 🙄

don’t worry.. I am just a little fanatic about cables. That mess will not remain for long. First get everything set up and running, then the cables get routed. 

[mitten_reef]

Look forward to this build coming together after our conversation on @teenyreef thread. 

[second_decimal]

And finally, while I’m waiting on my dosing pump and for everything to continue to cycle, I rescaped a little with some more Branchy pieces.. 

 

 

 

[second_decimal]

Added a nano sized probe holder. There really is very little room in that back chamber. Kinda cool, it has little holders on the ends to hold 1/4 tubing as well

[teenyreef]

Great start! It's interesting to see the combination of old and new equipment. 

[second_decimal]

I finally broke down and after 4 weeks of cycling this Nano, the first tenant has arrived. Crossing my thumbs that everything has been baking long enough and he likes his new digs... 

 

 

and somebody is very not impressed 

 

 

PH seems to run steady at around 7.98 and temp sitting at 80.1 alk tested at 11. 

[teenyreef]

He's cute! 

[second_decimal]

lol the kids dubbed him "Sheldon" hes been in hiding since he got here, came out for a minute or 2 when i dropped way too much frozen mysis shrimp in. it has been a long time. I am realizing its going to take me a minute to remember everything and get a feel for reefing once more. 

[second_decimal]

tenant #1... meet tenant #2

 

[second_decimal]

The Fire shrimp has been assigned the name “Howard” ( I see a trend here) !! Sheldon has become much more active and despite not showing any interest in the frozen mysis shrimp I tried to feed him yesterday, he has been diving into the copepods.
 

I had been running the reefbreeder pump at around 260 gph but I turned it off as it was just moving too much water imho. I was thinking about the tunze 6055 but I it will be too much as well. I am looking for an alternative. 

[second_decimal]

i guess i should point out how nice the people on this forum appear to be since no one jumped on me for doing such a dumb thing as to introduce a pretty sensitive fish that has no business in a nano tank. "Sheldon" did not make it very far and i must admit that it was entirely my fault for not researching (like i do for everything else) a little more and thinking i knew what i was doing. even the best laid plans are subject to reality and so it is for me. 

 

I find myself constantly wrestling with the fact i should have bought a 25 lagoon instead of the 10g simply because i cant set up a skimmer since the nanobox light is attached to the back of the tank and is prevents the skimmer from fitting into the perfectly sized compartment. This brings a host of other issues i am grappling with such as where to keep the probes, the heater and ATO float. the first two compartments are steady level and the third is subject to level fluctuations, that would mean Ideally, don't put the heater and probes there and you must put the ATO float there. i will also need to mount 2 if not 4 dosing lines in there somehow. Sigh.. I will get it worked out. 

 

finally, i added a purple firefish that seems to be doing pretty well. 

 

[second_decimal]

A few days ago I can across an old can of this..

 

 

my PH had been swinging from 7.7 to 7.9 and I thought, well maybe this will help keep my PH at 8 or higher. The way I read the instructions was that it is supposed to raise the PH until it hits 8.3 and beyond that it will just affect dhk. I never claimed to be too smart, but I started adding the concentrate 10ml at a time and watched my PH. It did go up a little but never hit 8. So kept adding 10ml until I had added 40ml total and decided that maybe it just needed some time to settle. It is noteworthy that is added a small frag of zoas a few days ago just to see how they would do. 
 

The zoas didn’t look too happy and i decided to check my dhk since I had added all that concentrate. Lo and behold, I think I counted 26 or more drops from my API test 😳.. something about that kit, the instructions say to fill the tube to the line (5ml) but oddly, 5ml measured out is decidedly above the measurement line meaning there is an error somewhere on their part. 

I assumed the instructions are where the errors occurred and followed the line on the tube.

 

Three immediate 2.5g waterchanges later the reading was back to normal around 12dhk and PH even went up a little to 8.1 let’s see how the zoas will react.

 

update 12/12/19

I emailed API with my concerns and asked what the correct guideline is and which measurement i should follow. the response i received was  follow the line on the tube but.. it doesn't really matter. To me, that seems like an answer from somebody who flipped a coin to determine what the right answer is. so i did reply with a follow up question of how can it not matter? it changes the solution ratio so 10 drops of solution in 4ml is the same as 10 drops of solution in 5ml or 6ml? that would mean there is a rather lager margin of error.  no response to that. i guess better try nyos or salifert? 

 

[Matteo]

Your water system is so cool! I love Nanos with lots of moving parts. They're just so fun! 

 

Nice build! Going to have a lot of potential 

[second_decimal]

Only have to wait a few years with no major failures for everything to grow in and maybe, just maybe, look as nice as some of the amazing tanks found here.

[second_decimal]

Then this morning I woke up to what looked like a dead shrimp. I thought “damn, not only can I successfully kill fish, I can kill shrimp too” 🥴... however it was a false alarm. the shrimp had shed its shell 😅

 

 

 

[Matteo]

7 minutes ago, second_decimal said:

Then this morning I woke up to what looked like a dead shrimp. I thought “damn” not only can I successfully kill fish, I can kill shrimp too 🥴... however it was a false alarm. the shrimp had shed its shell 😅

 

 

 

I find my sheddings in my powerhead which of course is a total panic at first haha

[Matteo]

31 minutes ago, second_decimal said:

Only have to wait a few years with no major failures for everything to grow in and maybe, just maybe, look as nice as some of the amazing tanks found here.

You'd be surprised as it can happen quicker than that...but true. Most TOTM seem to have a couple years going