Teenyreef's 20g Study-kept Dustmite Biotope: IM10 Transfer

[teenyreef]

Regarding overflows: it's been quite a while since I made the choice and honestly I'm having trouble remembering everything I learned when I was researching. The Eclipse S was my first choice until I looked at the Fiji. I know one difference was that the Fiji has a cover. I think there were also some reports that the Eclipse was noisier because the outside box was lower than the inside box, causing a waterfall effect. Another difference was that the Fiji came with the diamond drill bit needed to drill the tank. Most Fiji owners said they loved the product and the hands-on support from the owner, with the only exception being people reporting it didn't fit as well for non-rimless tanks (not an issue for me). Finally, it was significantly cheaper ($125 vs $90).

 

I don't think I gave the Marine Depot one a fair shake. It has the same potential noise issues as the Eclipse, but otherwise checks most of the boxes the Fiji does (covered, comes with the drill bit, even less expensive). But I don't think it looks as nice, although in the long run that probably wouldn't matter as much.

 

Oh, just remembered one other thing - the inside box of the Fiji is removable for cleaning. If the other two boxes have that feature, I didn't see it advertised.

 

I also found a lot of people that like Synergy (but expensive) and Modular Marine (but apparently unavailable a lot of the time). I hope this helps! 

 

[teenyreef]

So, back on the lighting considerations...the dimensions of the Aquaticlife hybrid fixture are 24x18x1:15. Given that the tank is only 14" wide, that means a good two inches of the fixture would hang over the edges of the tank. So that definitely won't work for me.

 

The XR30 is 12x7, and the XR15 is 7x7. So either one would be nice and small over the tank.

 

Another hybrid option is the ATI Powermodule hybrid which is 22x14. Still pretty big and truly stupid expensive and ATI isn't known for their wonderful LEDs.

Or I could do a Nanobox retro hybrid using the ATI fixture. In theory, I could use the 4-T5 fixture, remove two of the T5's, and have a hybrid with Nanobox LEDs and two T5's. That fixture would be 23x9.5 which I could live with but still isn't ideal.

 

I think I'm talking myself into the XR30. I keep coming back to the goal of getting a super clean look. If the newer LED spectrum and diffusion lenses in the G5 Radion work as well as Ecotech wants, I'd like to see it work. There should still be some difference in PAR between the center of the tank and the edges on the left and right sides, so there's a chance I can keep lower-light corals there.

 

If it doesn't work well, I can always add some T5 strip lights like I did on the IM40. Or just sell the XR30 and try something else. Radions keep their resale value really well so I don't think I'd lose more than about $100 or so on the deal in the long run.

[neyes_ice]

1 hour ago, teenyreef said:

Regarding overflows: it's been quite a while since I made the choice and honestly I'm having trouble remembering everything I learned when I was researching. The Eclipse S was my first choice until I looked at the Fiji. I know one difference was that the Fiji has a cover. I think there were also some reports that the Eclipse was noisier because the outside box was lower than the inside box, causing a waterfall effect. Another difference was that the Fiji came with the diamond drill bit needed to drill the tank. Most Fiji owners said they loved the product and the hands-on support from the owner, with the only exception being people reporting it didn't fit as well for non-rimless tanks (not an issue for me). Finally, it was significantly cheaper ($125 vs $90).

 

I don't think I gave the Marine Depot one a fair shake. It has the same potential noise issues as the Eclipse, but otherwise checks most of the boxes the Fiji does (covered, comes with the drill bit, even less expensive). But I don't think it looks as nice, although in the long run that probably wouldn't matter as much.

 

Oh, just remembered one other thing - the inside box of the Fiji is removable for cleaning. If the other two boxes have that feature, I didn't see it advertised.

 

I also found a lot of people that like Synergy (but expensive) and Modular Marine (but apparently unavailable a lot of the time). I hope this helps! 

 

thanks for taking the time and i will go for the fiji overflow too all because of what you pointed out. marine depot overflow has the cheapest but it seems like 1:1 clone of the eshopps

[teenyreef]

1 hour ago, nano_nano_nano said:

thanks for taking the time and i will go for the fiji overflow too all because of what you pointed out. marine depot overflow has the cheapest but it seems like 1:1 clone of the eshopps

You're welcome! The Fiji Cube tanks and sumps seem to be getting good reviews too. Let me know when you start a build thread so I can watch. 🙂

[neyes_ice]

19 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

You're welcome! The Fiji Cube tanks and sumps seem to be getting good reviews too. Let me know when you start a build thread so I can watch. 🙂

deciding has been the hardest part 😄 in the last 18 months i had switched tanks twice. so hopefully 3rd time is the charm, i decided i wanted to have a sump and a proper refugium. i was looking into doing a build like that totm by justin 16.9 gallon. aquamaxx aquarium won't be available in months. fiji cube 22.4 ext is a little too big to move if we ever move apartments again, i wound up finding the UNS tanks. and when i was trying to find out if i can drill it i stumbled upon this thread. probably will do a journal this time around.

[Tigahboy]

Love the @UNS tanks!  Really looking forward to seeing this progress (I'm thinking about doing something similar myself). 

[teenyreef]

7 hours ago, Tigahboy said:

Love the @UNS tanks!  Really looking forward to seeing this progress (I'm thinking about doing something similar myself). 

Awesome! Your builds are always incredible so the feeling is mutual 🙂

[jbb]

So glad to finally see this happen, I was excited to see you win it . Can't wait to see what it becomes. 

[teenyreef]

4 minutes ago, jbb_00 said:

So glad to finally see this happen, I was excited to see you win it . Can't wait to see what it becomes. 

Thanks! It's been sooooo long...

[jbb]

3 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

Thanks! It's been sooooo long...

Will be totally worth it though . Have you considered the a360x for lighting? The ones I have seen in person are really nice . 

[teenyreef]

2 hours ago, jbb_00 said:

Will be totally worth it though . Have you considered the a360x for lighting? The ones I have seen in person are really nice . 

Thanks for the idea! I confess I hadn't really looked at it. I had one of the original 360's and Kessil's idea of enough light for 24x24 wasn't what I was looking for since I keep sps. The PAR just wasn't that high. I love the color and the shimmer, though.

 

I know the 360x has more power, but I'd definitely need two of them to avoid shadowing, so it really is similar to having two XR15x, with a different level of power and different color. But it is much smaller than an XR15 so it's a cleaner look. Hmmmm...

 

I guess another factor is that I can control the Ecotech lights with my Apex WXM module, which I already have for the MP10. 

[mipster]

Have you decided between peninsula or classic orientation yet? 

[teenyreef]

44 minutes ago, mipster said:

Have you decided between peninsula or classic orientation yet? 

No but I'm interested in opinions! I'm so glad I started this journal for planning. Otherwise I'd just procrastinate, think about for a minute, and never write down my thoughts. Then repeat again a week later for forever. But now that the journal is going, nice people like you show interest and ask questions, and I have to respond. 🙂

 

The tank will go where the IM10 is on the desk in the picture on the first page. In peninsula orientation, if I leave 3" between the back of the tank and the wall for the overflow, the front of the tank will be a little less than an inch from the front edge of the desk. So it will fit! But the side of the piano will block some of the tank from the view from the entrance to the study (not a big deal). It's about 3" wider than the IM10, so there's plenty of room left to right.

 

Peninsula advantages: looks cool, I'll have a better view of the tank from my chair, leaves more room on the desk to the side of the tank. Return and overflow plumbing is a straight shot down to the sump in the cabinet.

Peninsula disadvantages: has to be located tightly against the back of the wall (but not too bad), harder to see the full width of the tank because the piano and the computer monitor partially block the line of sight. My plan for mounting the light may have to be adjusted since I intended to use hanging brackets along the long wall of the tank on either side of the light, and that would just look weird in peninsula. The light will be located closer to the front of the desk, so any light spill will shine more brightly in my eyes while I'm sitting in the chair.

 

Classic advantages: classic look instead of cool look (😁), gives a better landscape view of the wider aspect of the tank, leaves more room in front of the tank to put tank stuff like a towel and food and tongs and everything else during tank maintenance. Leaves more room for maintenance behind the tank. The light mounting approach will look nice as planned and is further back so the glare from light spill isn't as bad.

Classic disadvantages: the computer monitor blocks my view of the left side of the tank, and the tank is further away from the front of the desk and from my chair, so I can't see stuff as closely and I have to reach across the desk more to get into the tank. If I do dual returns, the left return can't drop straight down to the sump. 

 

Any other ideas? 

[teenyreef]

I should explain what my plan is for mounting the light (assuming I go with the XR30). I've bought a pair of UNS light hanging bars which look really nice:

But this wouldn't work for the peninsular orientation because the light is turned sideways. I could probably rig some kind of harness to split the hanging wire into two mounting points. But it's really hard to get a light to hang level when it's suspended from a single wire. So I might have to use a different hanging bracket. That's not a show-stopper, it's just a bunch of research I haven't done into other options.

[mipster]

Personally looking at that early photo of your desk I would lean towards the peninsula since the main place you will be viewing the tank from will be your desk chair (I assume). It does mean having to come up with a new light hanging option which is a shame since those UNS brackets are very sleek. But then there is the light glare potential issue.

 

You might have to play with the light and tank in reef life to get a better feel. 

[teenyreef]

15 minutes ago, mipster said:

Personally looking at that early photo of your desk I would lean towards the peninsula since the main place you will be viewing the tank from will be your desk chair (I assume). It does mean having to come up with a new light hanging option which is a shame since those UNS brackets are very sleek. But then there is the light glare potential issue.

 

You might have to play with the light and tank in reef life to get a better feel. 

It's funny, I was leaning towards classic until I wrote up all the pros and cons. Now I'm leaning towards peninsula too.

[mipster]

3 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

It's funny, I was leaning towards classic until I wrote up all the pros and cons. Now I'm leaning towards peninsula too.

Never doubt the power of a goo pro/con list! I'm sure there is a sleek light mounting option that will work. Could you even hang the lights from the ceiling?

[teenyreef]

9 minutes ago, mipster said:

Never doubt the power of a goo pro/con list! I'm sure there is a sleek light mounting option that will work. Could you even hang the lights from the ceiling?

So true! Yes, ceiling could work, that's how I did the nanobox over the 30g tank. Or I could attach some kind of hanging bracket to the shelf above and run wires from that.

[mipster]

Well I think that means Peninsula wins! Now hurry up and get it wet! lol 😁Seems to me from your own admission, this has been sitting in your garage toooooo long!

[teenyreef]

Ok, I've decided on peninsula for sure, although I haven't done anything yet that would keep me from switching. 

 

I ordered the XR30 Blue light and hanging kit on Saturday, and ordered a couple of 3/4" Cepex true union ball valves for the drain and return lines. I still need to figure out the rest of the plumbing details, but I know I'll be going with blue PVC and schedule 80 gray fittings. I ordered the Cepex valves separately from the rest of the plumbing because BRS was out of stock, along with some of the other big reef supply places. I ended up ordering from Geo's Reef which had them in stock, at least according to their web site. They were reasonably priced, but I've never ordered from this site before. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do!

On 5/6/2020 at 11:12 PM, mipster said:

Well I think that means Peninsula wins! Now hurry up and get it wet! lol 😁Seems to me from your own admission, this has been sitting in your garage toooooo long!

Waaaaay toooo loooongggggg

[teenyreef]

I'm a couple hundred bucks poorer now, but all the plumbing has been ordered! Of course, by "all" I mean "all of the stuff I know I need which doesn't count the second, third, and fourth round of all the stuff I didn't know I needed." 

 

BRS was out of 3/4" blue pvc so I got that from Aquarium Specialty. 

 

And I also realized the Jebao DCA-3000 if freaking huuuuuuge. So I found a Jebao DCS-2000 on Amazon that will ship quickly. I really only need the DCS-1200 for this tank, but no one has it available. Apparently there's some kind of supply chain issue with China... 🙄 

The DCS-2000 will be OK on the second slowest, or maybe most slowest setting. And then I can just crank it higher as it gets clogged up and never clean it for the first couple years hopefully. 

[Merthynia]

18 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I'm a couple hundred bucks poorer now, but all the plumbing has been ordered! Of course, by "all" I mean "all of the stuff I know I need which doesn't count the second, third, and fourth round of all the stuff I didn't know I needed." 

 

BRS was out of 3/4" blue pvc so I got that from Aquarium Specialty. 

 

And I also realized the Jebao DCA-3000 if freaking huuuuuuge. So I found a Jebao DCS-2000 on Amazon that will ship quickly. I really only need the DCS-1200 for this tank, but no one has it available. Apparently there's some kind of supply chain issue with China... 🙄 

The DCS-2000 will be OK on the second slowest, or maybe most slowest setting. And then I can just crank it higher as it gets clogged up and never clean it for the first couple years hopefully. 

I like your planning for the jebao! My mp10 has never been higher than the lowest two settings in my tank. 

[William]

Looks like a great plan, I would do peninsula for sure 

[Gramophone]

Oh snap! Can't wait to see where this is going. 

[teenyreef]

On 5/19/2020 at 9:06 PM, William said:

Looks like a great plan, I would do peninsula for sure 

Thanks - yeah, I think peninsula is definitely the best choice.

22 hours ago, Gramophone said:

Oh snap! Can't wait to see where this is going. 

Thanks!