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


teenyreef

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Well, there's been progress, of a sort. Things are starting to show up on the front porch. I got the blue PVC from Aquarium Specialty. They shipped quickly and the packing was great. Total cost for four five-foot length pipes was $35. It would have been a little cheaper from BRS but they were out of stock.

 

20200523_165156.jpg

 

And the new light is here! I may go ahead and work on figuring out the mounting system now, and just put it over the IM10. I probably will have to set it to about 10 or 15% to avoid blasting the corals though.

 

20200523_171342.jpg

 

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Cannedfish
10 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

Well, there's been progress, of a sort. Things are starting to show up on the front porch. I got the blue PVC from Aquarium Specialty. They shipped quickly and the packing was great. Total cost for four five-foot length pipes was $35. It would have been a little cheaper from BRS but they were out of stock.

 

20200523_165156.jpg

 

And the new light is here! I may go ahead and work on figuring out the mounting system now, and just put it over the IM10. I probably will have to set it to about 10 or 15% to avoid blasting the corals though.

 

20200523_171342.jpg

 

Honestly, I’d say just set it at 80%, you should be good... acro say thanks... everything else melts... 😂

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On 5/23/2020 at 7:39 PM, Cannedfish said:

Honestly, I’d say just set it at 80%, you should be good... acro say thanks... everything else melts... 😂

Ha ha, I should have guessed you'd be the one with this great idea 😂

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19 hours ago, dropped said:

Ohh G5 Blue... why not the pro 🙂 

 

I approve, great lights.

Thanks and good question! The Blue is designed to create the Radion AB+ spectrum program by simply setting every channel to 100%. This is a very popular setting for the original Radions and It's pretty much what I'm looking for in this tank. If you prefer less blue, then the Pro may be better.

 

BRS gives a good explanation near the beginning of this video: 

 

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I think I have the light hanging system figure out finally. Back when I was planning for the non-peninsula setup, I bought a couple of UNS hanging bars with the idea that they'd mount on the back glass. This is a picture of the setup from their website:

 

Ultum-Nature-Systems-UNS-Light-Hanging-Bar-Detail.jpg

 

Of course I wasn't going to hang the light that high...

 

But in a peninsula setup, it would look weird to put the hanging brackets on one side of the tank. So I've been trying to figure out how to get one long bracket going down the center of the tank...maybe by mounting something to the wall.

 

After looking at the UNS brackets, I think I can hack them up to work. I can use a long piece from each of the two kits and have a bracket that's long enough. I just need to cut a new slot for the cord on the bottom of the horizontal tube. Then all I need to do is figure out a clean and attractive way to mount it on the wall. It has to be offset a tiny bit away from the wall to allow for the bracket that goes on the top of the vertical tube, so standard conduit clamps won't work. Plus they would be ugly. 👎

 

I must have spent three hours searching online for something that would work...I found plumbing products, closet rail systems, hand rail systems, but the best I could find was a really ugly galvanized steel mount which would look terrible with the nice finished aluminum of the UNS tube.

 

Finally, I found the right search term for what I had pictured in my head - "linear shaft support". I don't know why I didn't search for that to begin with. :huh:

https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/power_transmission_(mechanical)/linear_shaft_supports/low_profile_shaft_supports/tmssl-12

I'll use two of these to hold the tube vertically on the wall. As long as I mount them securely it should hold the light very well.

l_tmssl12.jpg

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Wow, for any maker geeks out there, I have to give automationdirect.com major praise! I placed the order late Sunday night. Monday was a holiday. This morning I got a note from them telling me they upgraded the shipping to overnight at no charge :whoa:, so the supports will arrive on Wednesday. 

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So glad you found the right lighting solution! What other bits and pieces do you still need to track down or are you almost ready to get the tank built?? The anticipation is killing me! omgomgomg

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2 hours ago, mipster said:

So glad you found the right lighting solution! What other bits and pieces do you still need to track down or are you almost ready to get the tank built?? The anticipation is killing me! omgomgomg

I think I have almost everything now. But I won't know for sure until I start to dry fit the plumbing.

 

I do need to get some spray paint for the bottom and back of the tank (sand color and frosted finish). And I need to decide and order either dry rock, or some nice new uncured live rock from the gulf.

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12 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I think I have almost everything now. But I won't know for sure until I start to dry fit the plumbing.

 

I do need to get some spray paint for the bottom and back of the tank (sand color and frosted finish). And I need to decide and order either dry rock, or some nice new uncured live rock from the gulf.

Go the live route 

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ginoandres

Hey Teenyreef, slightly off topic but what kind of fish is that in your profile pic?

 

Edit:  Never mind, it looks like a Green Banded Goby if I'm not mistaken...

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On 5/27/2020 at 12:11 PM, William said:

Go the live route 

I did that in the 10g and in the 40g. The results were great overall. It was difficult to do the scape in a nano, though, because most of the rocks were too big and needed to be broken up. Then I had to figure out how they all fit together and what the scape would look like. And it all had to be done quickly so that the rock wasn't out of the water and getting dry for too long.

 

With dry rock in the 30g, I could take days or weeks to break up the pieces, try different arrangements, and get it all firmly put together with Emarco cement. But then of course it took forever for the tank to mature.

 

I'm leaning towards live rock, but we'll see...

On 5/28/2020 at 4:53 AM, dropped said:

Ahh Teeny, you are a bad influence... now im looking to buy the G5 Blue.. 

Nice choice! At least I assume it is, I haven't tried mine out yet :lol:

On 5/28/2020 at 9:16 AM, ginoandres said:

Hey Teenyreef, slightly off topic but what kind of fish is that in your profile pic?

 

Edit:  Never mind, it looks like a Green Banded Goby if I'm not mistaken...

You are correct. One of the best all-around nano fish, especially for smaller tanks.

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Some construction pics of the light hanging system. 

 

I started by mounting the vertical tube in the shaft supports. The tube is about 7/8", and the shaft supports only come in 3/4" and 1" sizes, so I went with 3/4". They don't close completely but it works fine.

20200527_214421.jpg

 

I combined the long pieces from each kit so I could have a longer arm over the tank. In this picture, the part on the bench will mount vertically on the wall behind the tank.

20200527_214855.jpg

 

Here's the light with the mounting kit installed. Once I mount the hanging bar, the ends of the wires go into the mount points on the horizontal bar just above the light.

20200528_211154.jpg

 

Plan for Saturday, mount the bar on the wall and hook up the light over the 10g tank. Then it's all ready for when I set up the new tank in place of the 10g.

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Ok, I now have the most ridiculously overpowered light ever hanging over my IM10 tank. 

 

First I drained most of the water from the IM10 so I could slide it away from the wall. Then I drilled holes and used toggle bolts to mount the bar:

20200530_211711.jpg

 

Then I ran the wire for the light through the vertical bar, and attached the horizontal bar. 

20200530_214011.jpg

 

Finally, I hooked up the wires nice and short. I left the excess hanging out for now until I'm sure I like the height. After playing around with the Mobius app for a while, I found that setting the light to about 9% intensity gives about the same PAR I had before. :eek: :coolguy:

Here's a quick cell-phone shot with the lights set to the classic AB+ setting.

20200530_235110.jpg

 

I set up a seven-day acclimation program to go from 7% to 9%. I'll see how everything does day-by-day and make any adjustments needed.

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On 5/31/2020 at 1:13 AM, Gramophone said:

I think the light needs to be a tad bit bigger, ha. But on a serious note, it looks really nice. Super sleek.

Haha, I know, right? But I agree, I love the look of the light. It's the most compact I've seen short of a Nanobox.

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In other news, I saw today the @Marine Depot had the Coralvue Klir filter rollers on a huge sale, so I picked up the 4" one. At $150 instead of $250, I'm willing to take a chance and see how it works. Most of the reviews I read seemed to indicate that the initial problems were fixed in the latest version. I've always loved the idea of having a continuously renewed filter sock but have never been willing to swallow the high cost.

 

Also, in the theme of trying new stuff with this tank. I decided to go with Two Little Fishies Stax rocks for this tank. I've tried uncured rock, I've tried cured rock, and I've tried dry rock from Reefcleaners. But after seeing the amazing scape using Stax rocks in @xiaoxiy's new build, I decided to give them a try to see what I can do with them. 

 

I also ordered Brightwell's MicroBacter Dry Rock Bacteria Starter Kit. I've always been a Brightwell fan, so I'm trying this new thing too!

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second_decimal

i used stax but ultimately decided to mix in some more random natural forms. so i have rock that i literally sawed to get a smooth fit against the back tank panel and also to integrate with the stax flats. i really like the concept because it allows you to get away from the whole "pile of rocks" thing that happens so easily in reef tanks. awesome choice and cant wait to see what you come up with. 

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44 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

In other news, I saw today the @Marine Depot had the Coralvue Klir filter rollers on a huge sale, so I picked up the 4" one. At $150 instead of $250, I'm willing to take a chance and see how it works. Most of the reviews I read seemed to indicate that the initial problems were fixed in the latest version. I've always loved the idea of having a continuously renewed filter sock but have never been willing to swallow the high cost.

 

Also, in the theme of trying new stuff with this tank. I decided to go with Two Little Fishies Stax rocks for this tank. I've tried uncured rock, I've tried cured rock, and I've tried dry rock from Reefcleaners. But after seeing the amazing scape using Stax rocks in @xiaoxiy's new build, I decided to give them a try to see what I can do with them. 

 

I also ordered Brightwell's MicroBacter Dry Rock Bacteria Starter Kit. I've always been a Brightwell fan, so I'm trying this new thing too!

Stax rocks is amazing. I'll probably use it in every single one of my builds because it is so versatile and easy to scape with! If you have a coral band saw, it gets even sweeter, cause you can cut the stax rocks into any shape you want. 

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13 minutes ago, xiaoxiy said:

Stax rocks is amazing. I'll probably use it in every single one of my builds because it is so versatile and easy to scape with! If you have a coral band saw, it gets even sweeter, cause you can cut the stax rocks into any shape you want. 

Good tip! A coral band saw is on my bucket list. But I do have a wet tile saw with the thin kerf blade which should do the trick just as well. 

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16 minutes ago, second_decimal said:

i used stax but ultimately decided to mix in some more random natural forms. so i have rock that i literally sawed to get a smooth fit against the back tank panel and also to integrate with the stax flats. i really like the concept because it allows you to get away from the whole "pile of rocks" thing that happens so easily in reef tanks. awesome choice and cant wait to see what you come up with. 

I do have some "regular" dry rock that I took out of the 30g frag tank and bleached. Depending on how things go I might mix some of those in too. Great idea 🙂

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