Samppson's 17g Nano Reef!

[Samppson]

Hi Everyone.

 

I am getting back into the hobby after a couple year break. I started back in 2010 or so with a 55g, upgraded to a 125g shallow tank, and then most recently had a 28g biocube.

 

I have always love the rimless look, and when I sold my biocube a couple years back, I said if I am ever going to get another tank, I am getting a rimless. I wanted something on the smaller side, less than 20 gallons. I know it will be a bit harder in terms of water chemistry and swings, but I also enjoyed having to change less water and overall scale when going from my 125g with a 40g sump to the 28g.

 

I found a solid deal on Craigslist for this basically new ADA 60P 17G tank. I plan on putting it on my desk in my office/TV room. I have the dry rock from BRS coming in, as well as a 100W heater.

 

 

 

Goal and Plans!

My main goal with this build (at least to start) is to be as minimalist as possible with equipment, I plan on running a HOB filter with filter floss, and ideally putting my heater in there as well. I could use some recommendations for powerheads that take up as little space as possible. I have used Koralias in the past, but they seem to stick out quite a bit and the flow seems too condensed, at least my experience. I'm sure I will eventually add more equipment like a skimmer or maybe even a sump eventually, but not in the early stages I hope.

 

 

Coral:

I'm trying to focus more on corals this time around. In the past I had some corals but never got a chance to get too many. I want to start with some easier soft corals, and LPS. I generally enjoy the more brightly colored corals, so I am open to some suggestions of ones that may be good to start with

 

Livestock:

As far as live stock go, I want to go fairly light. I will eventually get a clown fish pair as I usually do. Also, I will get a goby and pistol shrimp as well.

 

I have to run now, but will add more soon and update this as things happen! Thanks for checking it out!

 

Update! 12/6/19

I ordered a Tunze Nanostream 6015. Seems like a solid choice to start at least. Down the road I may upgrade to the MP10 since it is so low profile, but this should do for now.

 

I should have all the dry rock and stuff in by early next week, so I can being the process of cycling. Super pumped!

 

Update! 12/8/19

 

Yesterday, I went to the LFS and picked up 20lbs of the aragonite sand. Going to go with a slightly larger grain size than I have used in the past. I was always fighting sediment being kicked up by circulation! I painted the back of the tank black, and am currently giving it one last good soak with white vinegar and water. The dry rock should be coming in tomorrow, so hopefully I can aquascape and get it filled tomorrow night to get cycling!

 

 

Update 12/11/19

 

My dry rock finally came in! I had mixed up 17g of saltwater on Monday when it was supposed to arrive, but due to the snow it was delayed. I got right to it with aquascaping. My goal was to have the rock work slope upwards right to left with some space open on the right side. I think it came out pretty well, I'm happy with it.  I added the water,  heater and my tunze nano powerhead, and threw some fish food in to start the cycle! Hopefully by tomorrow it will clear up a bit. Also tomorrow I have my Viparspectra 165W LED coming in, so once I get that all mounted and hung I'll give some updates!

 

 

Update 12/12/19 AM!

 

The tank is clearing up nicely, hopefully by tonight it will be totally clear. I am super excited for the LEDs that are coming in tonight!

 

 

Update 12/12/19 PM

 

Vipar Spectra 165W LED is set up. I took two L-Shaped brackets to hang it, it came out pretty well! I may be getting some small coral this weekend while I wait for it to cycle. I have the timer set for blues from 10am-10pm, and whites from Noon to 8pm. Does anyone have any recommendations for their light cycles? If I got coral, it would be some soft/lps so I'm trying to gear it towards that. For now, we wait a few weeks lol.

 

Whites + Blues

 

 

 

Blues Only

 

 

 

Update 12/16/19

 

Sorry, its been a busy weekend, so I haven't gotten a chance to post recently! I found this awesome LFS about 30 minutes from my house. They have one full floor dedicated to saltwater, with thousands of frags all at different price points. They also have an additional space across the street where they farm the coral. I was able to pick up 3 frags to start off while I wait for the tank to cycle. One Acan, One Zoa and a Blue Mushroom. They took very well to the tank and seem to be happy. I fed them with the free sample of food from the LFS on Saturday night! Also, does anyone have recommendations for taking pictures of corals with a phone? I found an app that let me set the white color higher, so it helped with the pictures not coming out super blue, but it also really dulls the color of the coral? 

 

I also picked up the Reef Breeders ATO from them as well and bought a utility cabinet, where I can store my supplies/food and my ATO water bucket. I fed the lines through the back of the cabinet, and we should be good to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Update 12/23/19!

 

So, the planned course has changed a lot recently. I stumbled upon someone in the area breaking down his tank, and getting rid of all his coral and live rock. Much of the coral was on the rock, so I decided to swap my dry rock out for his live rock. I was able to get all of the rock and coral for $65! Huge haul as the coral in my areas, even small frags are not cheap. I've been testing the water and I have some nitrates, no ammonia, so it looks like I can avoid having to do a full cycle, as it looks like the live rock made the move fine. 

 

I also purchased a Tidal 55 HOB filter. I am currently running filter floss. Any recommendations on how often to change that? Is it just a visual thing?

 

 

 

 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Welcome back @Samppson! 👋

 

It will be fun to build out a new style of tank, rimless is a nice look. I wish I could find ADA tanks on Craigslist around here 😄 

 

Ricordea mushrooms are always a great colorful coral to start with, along with zoanthids. Acanthastrea and blastomussas are great LPS corals to start with as well. I think it's a good move to focus on coral and inverts first, and fish later once the tank is well established. It's easier to meet the needs of coral frags, especially when a tank is young and the ecosystem is developing.

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

I’ve got two of these tanks up and running, and they both have MP10’s on them. They do a great job on these ADA tanks - both are also running Aquaclear HOB 70 filters.
 

The tank with a lighter bioload uses polyfill only, but my rock flower tank (I’m guessing there’s 50-60 in there) does run polyfill, chemipure blue mixed with carbon and purigen. I also have a small Mame Skimmer on this tank, that compliments the look of the rimless ADA tanks. 

 

The tank keeper does religious 2 gallon water changes weekly. 
 

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to reach out. 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

Welcome back @Samppson! 👋

 

It will be fun to build out a new style of tank, rimless is a nice look. I wish I could find ADA tanks on Craigslist around here 😄 

 

Ricordea mushrooms are always a great colorful coral to start with, along with zoanthids. Acanthastrea and blastomussas are great LPS corals to start with as well. I think it's a good move to focus on coral and inverts first, and fish later once the tank is well established. It's easier to meet the needs of coral frags, especially when a tank is young and the ecosystem is developing.

I’ve got an extra ADA 60P that I’d happily trade you for some of that sweet, sweet  NanoReef swag! 

[Christopher Marks]

14 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

I’ve got an extra ADA 60P that I’d happily trade you for some of that sweet, sweet  NanoReef swag! 

Don't temp me! 🤐😅

[Samppson]

7 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

I’ve got two of these tanks up and running, and they both have MP10’s on them. They do a great job on these ADA tanks - both are also running Aquaclear HOB 70 filters.
 

The tank with a lighter bioload uses polyfill only, but my rock flower tank (I’m guessing there’s 50-60 in there) does run polyfill, chemipure blue mixed with carbon and purigen. I also have a small Mame Skimmer on this tank, that compliments the look of the rimless ADA tanks. 

 

The tank keeper does religious 2 gallon water changes weekly. 
 

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to reach out. 

I love the MP-10s but unfortunately cant spend the money on them right now. I may go with the Koralias as a stop-gap and maybe a bit down the road I can find a good deal on a used MP-10. What size Koralia would you recommend for this? Two Koralia 240s? Any other options? I heard decent things about the WP-10s. Would one suffice?

 

Also, what about the Tunze Nanostream 6015? Seems smaller and generally Tunze is solid. Would I need 1 or two?

[Samppson]

14 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Welcome back @Samppson! 👋

 

It will be fun to build out a new style of tank, rimless is a nice look. I wish I could find ADA tanks on Craigslist around here 😄 

 

Ricordea mushrooms are always a great colorful coral to start with, along with zoanthids. Acanthastrea and blastomussas are great LPS corals to start with as well. I think it's a good move to focus on coral and inverts first, and fish later once the tank is well established. It's easier to meet the needs of coral frags, especially when a tank is young and the ecosystem is developing.

Awesome, thanks for the coral suggestions, those all look great. Do you have any recommendations for a clean-up crew?

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

9 hours ago, Samppson said:

I love the MP-10s but unfortunately cant spend the money on them right now. I may go with the Koralias as a stop-gap and maybe a bit down the road I can find a good deal on a used MP-10. What size Koralia would you recommend for this? Two Koralia 240s? Any other options? I heard decent things about the WP-10s. Would one suffice?

 

Also, what about the Tunze Nanostream 6015? Seems smaller and generally Tunze is solid. Would I need 1 or two?

I haven't used either one - but they seem to be well reviewed. If it were me, I'd probably start with one, and see how it goes. You can always add another if the flow isn't enough. 

15 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Don't temp me! 🤐😅

Consider yourself temped - just down the road in Mesa! 

[Samppson]

I also ordered the Tunze Nanostream 6015. That will be arriving Tuesday!

[Samppson]

I was supposed to set it up tonight, mixed all the saltwater while waiting for the Dry rock to arrive, but it seems the delivery date was off, and its not actually "Out for Delivery". I received the heater I had in the same order, which is strange!

 

Tomorrow night (hopefully) I will aquascape, and set it all up to get the cycle going! I will put some pictures up when its going!

[Samppson]

I added some updates! Also, my LED is coming in tomorrow, I'll definitely put up some pictures once I get it all set up!

[dp32713]

I also love rimless tanks. Glad to see you avoided the koralia pumps. I've had about 4 or 5 of them of different sizes when I was first starting out because they were cheap. In my opinion they were horrible pumps, I only have 2 left that are still functioning and I only use them to mix salt. Wish I never spent money on them but its a lesson learned! I don't know why people aren't talking about the jebao pumps, they are honestly really great for the price. I have had 2 of the ow-10s and 2 ow-25s for well over a year now and they are still running strong. I clean mine pretty frequently though so I can get the most out of them. Great budget pump and I honestly don't think you can beat them for the price!

[Samppson]

6 hours ago, dp32713 said:

I also love rimless tanks. Glad to see you avoided the koralia pumps. I've had about 4 or 5 of them of different sizes when I was first starting out because they were cheap. In my opinion they were horrible pumps, I only have 2 left that are still functioning and I only use them to mix salt. Wish I never spent money on them but its a lesson learned! I don't know why people aren't talking about the jebao pumps, they are honestly really great for the price. I have had 2 of the ow-10s and 2 ow-25s for well over a year now and they are still running strong. I clean mine pretty frequently though so I can get the most out of them. Great budget pump and I honestly don't think you can beat them for the price!

Good to know, I have heard some good things about the Jebao pumps though. But yeah, theres something I just love about the rimless look, its just so clean and simple looking.

[Samppson]

LED is set-up!! 🙂

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

13 hours ago, Samppson said:

LED is set-up!! 🙂

Very nice! With that light that close to water line, you won't have to have it turned up very high at all. 

[Samppson]

Some new updates! Its been a busy weekend, but I got three frags to start while I wait for it to cycle 🕛

[Samppson]

Big update! Got a bunch of coral/live rock from someone in the area for a great deal as he was moving soon.