Robs ADA 45-F Reef

[Rob Francis]

Hi all,

I'm based in the UK but have joined due to the amount of small tank love here compared to our forums.

 thought I'd start my own thread to chart my progress and keep a diary of how this set up goes.

When space and new furniture allows, I plan on upgrading slightly to the 60-F but I only have space for this one at the moment, Its a shallow, optiwhite aquarium made by ADA and I'm really impressed with the quality. It arrived today, along with the 'garden mat' also made by ADA, basically a soft foam shock protection/levelling mat that goes under it.

The measurements are 45cm x 24cm x 16cm high so very small.

Kit bought in advance includes a Kessil A80, Schego 50w titanium heater with Simply Aquaria temperature controller (fan to be decided) Autoaqua smart micro ato and two Tunze 106s/5024 mini pumps for flow. The heater may prove to be too big in size being in the display so my change to a Newatt all black 50w instead.

Plans include keeping it bare bottom and just using the single piece of TMC eco rock for my scape. Im going to try and run it filterless, relying on regular water changes to keep parameters in check. I do have a home made mechanical filter (pump with a floss filled container that I can use if & when required if I feel the need.

I also have a bag of TMC eco sand in reserve which is made from sea-shells from UK beaches but ideally I wont be using it.

Anyway, first, dry pic attached.

Feel free to add comments and advice or criticisms, all welcome.

Rob

[Ratvan]

[debbeach13]

Welcome to NR. Is this your first tank. It looks great.

[Rob Francis]

3 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Welcome to NR. Is this your first tank. It looks great.

Thanks, Its not my first, I had an 18" cube about 6 years ago, then downsized to a pico which eventually turned into a zoa/frag tank before selling it off due to work commitments.

Im back working locally again now so have plenty of time to invest, just not much space!

Old pico below.

Rob

[debbeach13]

Cute

[mitten_reef]

Are you sticking with zoas again this time?  

 

Love the single-rock look!  If you're going filter-less, I'd recommend getting a few small (or tiny??) mature live rocks to help establishing biodiversity that is likely needed to run no-filter system.

 

I told you about @WV Reefer's tank the other day, here's another one without any filter (empty AIO chamber).  The tank is actually a two-time TOTM, 5 years apart. 

   

[prdoring]

Love the tank, shallows are so cool.

[Rob Francis]

4 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Are you sticking with zoas again this time?  

 

Love the single-rock look!  If you're going filter-less, I'd recommend getting a few small (or tiny??) mature live rocks to help establishing biodiversity that is likely needed to run no-filter system.

 

I told you about @WV Reefer's tank the other day, here's another one without any filter (empty AIO chamber).  The tank is actually a two-time TOTM, 5 years apart. 

   

I will have a look through that thread too, thank you.

The single rock really appealed to me when I saw it. I did start a Fluval Evo with some eco rock in that but it looked crowded in the space so a friend has taken it on.

I want to keep things as simple as possible this time and be very selective, not buying on impulse from the LFS, only purchase things that are a bit 'special' 

Its hopefully going to be a long term project, I dont want to rush and fill it in a couple of months as I wont have anything left to do then. Ideally I will buy single head Zoas and grow them on myself to create a garden, along with some nice Ricordeas which are probably my favourite coral!

Maybe a couple of small Torch/Hammers towards the back and maybe try a small SPS of some description too if the Kessil allows?

I have 3 Rics on hold at a LFS which are on a piece of live rock, the idea is to remove them and glue onto the eco rock, then use whats left to help seed the tank with different bacteria strains.

Im still not sure which way Im going to cycle it yet either, but theres no rush atm with whats going on in the world.

Rob

 

[mitten_reef]

4 minutes ago, Rob Francis said:

 

I have 3 Rics on hold at a LFS which are on a piece of live rock, the idea is to remove them and glue onto the eco rock, then use whats left to help seed the tank with different bacteria strains.

Rics are probably the first on what I'd recommend for such a shallow setup.  I'm also partial to them (just look me up). I think some of the substrate that those rics come on will definitely helps with adding diversity.  as for other corals that might work, other than zoas, I think a small clump of colorful goniopora (strategically in a corner somewhere) would help add movement without requiring height space.  

[Rob Francis]

3 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Rics are probably the first on what I'd recommend for such a shallow setup.  I'm also partial to them (just look me up). I think some of the substrate that those rics come on will definitely helps with adding diversity.  as for other corals that might work, other than zoas, I think a small clump of colorful goniopora (strategically in a corner somewhere) would help add movement without requiring height space.  

The Gonipora is definitely worth a thought, good idea.

I would also love a brightly coloured Rock Flower Anemone sitting right at the front where the shelf touches the bottom of the tank. I think you can get mini ones but am not sure if this tank is big enough? Would look good though with a porcelain crab hosting it though.

Rob

[EfrainChicagoDeepdish]

Purr.  I love ADA tanks.  I can't wait to see what you can do with it!  

[pmang6]

I'll let my profile pic speak for itself here.

[Rob Francis]

Well, its wet!

Im just tinkering around with it at the moment and trying things out.

The titanium heater was too large to be honest so have put a 50w Visitherm in for now but will try a Newa Pro tomorrow as being all black it should look a bit stealthier.

The D-D Temperature controller is working well though.

Flow seems ok with the two 300lph pumps but they are a bit louder than I expected, maybe they will 'run in' after a while. 

The only negative is the shimmering reflections on the ceiling from the Kessil which are quite distracting. I think its due to having no substrate but I really want to try without if I can as I think it will be easier to keep clean and I wont have much of a bioload (I think)

I'll update again when everything is in place and i start the cycle, I have to work out which way to go with that now...

Rob

 

[Rob Francis]

duplicate post

[Rob Francis]

Hi all,

can anyone offer any advice for flow in the tank.

I have the two Tunze mini pumps in there at the moment but it looks a bit crowded with them both and also, one of them is very noisy!

i originally wanted to avoid a power head due to the size of them but am now reconsidering, thinking one larger item, rather than two smaller ones.

What about a Koralia Nano? They look fairly small/compact.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Rob

 

[Ratvan]

On 5/6/2020 at 4:21 PM, Rob Francis said:

Hi all,

can anyone offer any advice for flow in the tank.

I have the two Tunze mini pumps in there at the moment but it looks a bit crowded with them both and also, one of them is very noisy!

i originally wanted to avoid a power head due to the size of them but am now reconsidering, thinking one larger item, rather than two smaller ones.

What about a Koralia Nano? They look fairly small/compact.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Rob

 

Are you looking for controllability or static flow? 

[SaltyGallon]

Take a look at the TMC Reeftide 4000s wavemaker mate... Got one in a 7 gal and it's nice and compact/fully controllable.

 

 

[Rob Francis]

Well,

This idea hasnt taken off and have decided to stop before investing any more time or money into it.

I think I want something a bit bigger in all dimensions (60x 30 x 25) with side chambers for equipment/filtration so will wait until our new furniture is built and then get something custom built.

Im still going to go bottomless and use the same piece of eco rock though!

However, Im picking up a 2 gallon jar tomorrow to start a little pico jar to keep my interest going.

Cheers,

Rob

[SaltyGallon]

On 6/6/2020 at 8:45 PM, Rob Francis said:

Well,

This idea hasnt taken off and have decided to stop before investing any more time or money into it.

I think I want something a bit bigger in all dimensions (60x 30 x 25) with side chambers for equipment/filtration so will wait until our new furniture is built and then get something custom built.

Im still going to go bottomless and use the same piece of eco rock though!

However, Im picking up a 2 gallon jar tomorrow to start a little pico jar to keep my interest going.

Cheers,

Rob

Have you got any pics of the jar Rob? I am intrigued haha 🙂

[Rob Francis]

16 minutes ago, SaltyGallon said:

Have you got any pics of the jar Rob? I am intrigued haha 🙂

Not a good one but gives an idea.

Im just tinkering with it at the moment, it looks much better under proper lighting too.

They seem quite popular on here but Im still getting my head round 100% water changes and air pumps for flow etc.

Cheers,

Rob

[SaltyGallon]

6 minutes ago, Rob Francis said:

Not a good one but gives an idea.

Im just tinkering with it at the moment, it looks much better under proper lighting too.

They seem quite popular on here but Im still getting my head round 100% water changes and air pumps for flow etc.

Cheers,

Rob

Looks legit enough to me mate! Very cool. Big waterchanges and blasting the sandbed/scape pre-water change 😎

[East1]

It is weird how little nano-reef love there is over here, it's always baffled me. I'm excited to watch this unfold

 

[Rob Francis]

Thats why I joined this one.

The uk forum I used in the old days seems to have changed, nowhere near as much advice offered and not so friendly either, maybe when things get too big they lose their personal touch?

The rules seem rigid over here to me too, you are expected to get the biggest tank you can, exactly 10% water change a week and multiple tests on Sunday mornings lol.

 I was reading a few posts on tap water earlier, made me think about the water machine at work.....

[Rob Francis]

For this maybe...

https://www.portonaquapet.co.uk/shop/Ciano-Cube-5-Aquarium-M71546

[SaltyGallon]

10 hours ago, East1 said:

It is weird how little nano-reef love there is over here, it's always baffled me. I'm excited to watch this unfold

 

 

10 hours ago, Rob Francis said:

Thats why I joined this one.

The uk forum I used in the old days seems to have changed, nowhere near as much advice offered and not so friendly either, maybe when things get too big they lose their personal touch?

The rules seem rigid over here to me too, you are expected to get the biggest tank you can, exactly 10% water change a week and multiple tests on Sunday mornings lol.

 I was reading a few posts on tap water earlier, made me think about the water machine at work.....

Yeah its weird how behind the curve we are here - I can think of two LFS' which are very good on salty stuff but they'd never recommend a nano unless it was e.g. the Fluval 13.5. Every person I've shown my 1G pico to here has been like 'how is this possible' or 'how do u run if without skimmer???'... When if they spent half an hour on here they'd see a tonne of amazing small tanks that don't break the bank.

 

The price of high-end/named corals irks me a bit over here, especially when everyone in the US seems to have them in abundance... But such is life lol. Ultimate Reef is a good UK forum for buying and selling, but I'd deffo come on here if I needed advice - UR seems a bit oldschool!