The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Hey there! Recently, I have reduced this hobby to just one tank in light of life changes and an intense schedule working at an observatory. Although never intending to set up another reef tank, this 9 to 5 contest twisted my arm into setting up this small reef tank 🙈 In all respects though, I think this is going to be my endgame reef and plan to have it running until in 30 years I finally get my 220 or get out of the hobby. Like the title says, my goal with this tank is to have it be a "jungle" of SPS corals, or rather, a dedicated SPS system (but only between the hours of 9 to 5... 😉) This tank will be plumbed into a sump and will have a display fuge if everything goes to plan. I still have to tack down a few items that are going to power this tank, but I look forward to creating a neat little tank to help me get through the work day. Join me on this small adventure for many moons to come! Me in the office waiting for things to arrive... Current Full Tank Shot: Contest Entry Picture: Equipment: Tank: UNS 45L Lighting: 2x Noopsyche K7 V3 75W LEDs Stand: Vasagle Lowell Cabinet Filtration: Penn Plax Cascade 700 Wave Maker: Hygger Mini Wave Maker Heater: Topfin 20w preset ATO: Auto Aqua Smart ATO Lite Livestock: Corals: So much SPS Fish: TBD Inverts: TBD 8 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 Reserved. 1 Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 Can’t wait to see what you make! 1 Quote Link to comment
blasterman Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 I've had thriving SPS tanks as small as 10gal. Tips: Stick to SPS. Small tanks invite too much biological warfare and fast growing competitors like GSP or xenia will invite problems. I strongly suggest German blue digitata for starters. Purple stylos or pocillopora are also good starters. I don't advise acropora until the tank is 6months old and starter SPS are growing fast and consistent. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 15, 2021 Author Share Posted October 15, 2021 On 10/13/2021 at 6:48 PM, NoOneLikesADryTang said: Can’t wait to see what you make! Thanks! I'm kind of going out of my comfort zone with this one so we'll see how it goes 😅 1 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted October 15, 2021 Share Posted October 15, 2021 Kudos to the custom Nano Reefin' logo. I love it! I might have to steal that idea of incorporating my theme into a custom logo. 3 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 15, 2021 Author Share Posted October 15, 2021 32 minutes ago, seabass said: Kudos to the custom Nano Reefin' logo. I love it! I might have to steal that idea of incorporating my theme into a custom logo. Thanks! My wife was asleep so I nabbed her ipad and did some doodling Do it! Would love to see what you come up with😄 1 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 15, 2021 Author Share Posted October 15, 2021 Fridays are good! Fridays with packages are even better! 😁 6 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 17, 2021 Author Share Posted October 17, 2021 Well the tank and stand came! I ended up getting a UNS 45L from Buceplant. It's a small 3.8 gallon rimless tank, but the dimentions (~7"x7"x18") make it pretty nice for what I have planned for it. Super excited! The stand is just a "shelf" from Amazon. It's decent quality and even matches my desk haha. I was waiting to get the stand built so I could take measurements for the sump. The sump will be around 2 gallons so that will bring my total water volume to legal limits for the contest. I still have to order all of the plumbing as well. Luckily I have a few days off next week so I'll have some time to build the sump and finalize my plan for plumbing the tank and such. I still am up in the air on what lights to get. I am kind of leaning towards the Noopsyche K7 V3, but I still don't know. So much to do so little time sigh. Haha 😥😂 8 Quote Link to comment
ef4life Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 Sounds like a good plan so far 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 Burned my day off making the sump. Not quite done but I don't think it's half bad. I guess it kind of gives away my sump/plumbing color theme: Green 😎 8 4 Quote Link to comment
A.m.P Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 That graphic came out fantastic, I have a strong suspicion you may "doodle" more frequently than you let on lol. Love these contests, going to be fun to watch, and also love that this setup is aimed for the long-term. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 1 hour ago, A.m.P said: That graphic came out fantastic, I have a strong suspicion you may "doodle" more frequently than you let on lol. Love these contests, going to be fun to watch, and also love that this setup is aimed for the long-term. Thank you! Haha my undergrad was in Landscape Architecture and drawing was a huge part of it. When I have time, I still like to mess around and pretend I'm Bob Ross with a marker. It was my first go with an ipad so it's not the best haha. I'm used to paper and overpriced markers and pens. Same. I like to see how other's set up their tanks and manage them. I get to enjoy their reef without having to take care of it 😜 4 Quote Link to comment
A.m.P Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Chowder's Reef said: Thank you! Haha my undergrad was in Landscape Architecture and drawing was a huge part of it. When I have time, I still like to mess around and pretend I'm Bob Ross with a marker. It was my first go with an ipad so it's not the best haha. I'm used to paper and overpriced markers and pens. Same. I like to see how other's set up their tanks and manage them. I get to enjoy their reef without having to take care of it 😜 Landscaping blueprints are probably some of the most involved and artistic bits of sketchwork I can think of off the top of my head. Love watching people's process.https://drawntogarden.com/garden-creation-how-to-draw-a-perspective-sketch/ 2 Quote Link to comment
aclman88 Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 13 hours ago, Chowder's Reef said: Burned my day off making the sump. Not quite done but I don't think it's half bad. I guess it kind of gives away my sump/plumbing color theme: Green 😎 Did you make this out of acrylic? Looks amazing! 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 3 hours ago, A.m.P said: Landscaping blueprints are probably some of the most involved and artistic bits of sketchwork I can think of off the top of my head. Love watching people's process.https://drawntogarden.com/garden-creation-how-to-draw-a-perspective-sketch/ Love this kind of stuff! Every now and then I'll do some sketches for neighbors when they want to spice up their yards and come to me with questions lol. 17 minutes ago, aclman88 said: Did you make this out of acrylic? Looks amazing! Acrylic! Thank you! I'm no pro, but I do my best haha. 2 Quote Link to comment
aclman88 Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 6 hours ago, Chowder's Reef said: Acrylic! Thank you! I'm no pro, but I do my best haha. How did you cut and assemble? I’ve never worked with acrylic and am considering creating a diy AIO overflow box Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 3 hours ago, aclman88 said: How did you cut and assemble? I’ve never worked with acrylic and am considering creating a diy AIO overflow box I have a small table saw for cutting the panels. For the other stuff, I use a laser cutter. Assembly was done with #3 weldon cement👍 The most important thing when working with acrylic is edge prep if you want clear, strong seams. It's honestly more of an art than anything else, but it's obviously doable! I have an overflow box on the list of things to make too. 3 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 It was a big day today. In so many ways. I got my lights in the mail today (hooray!). I ended up going with two Noopsyche K7 V3. I got the 75w versions as I wanted a little more flexibility to move the lights around as needed. I'm seriously impressed by the output of these lights though! The quality is nice and they're easy enough to program. I was interrupted when trying to hang the light fixtures by a call from our car mechanic. Our "new to us" car broke down the other day and apparently the engine is toast so we're in the process now of trying to find a new car. Ugh. To make things worse I dropped my pliers while crimping the cable used to hang the lights on the tank and chipped the glass. I may or may not have cried at that point haha. It was a rough day. But hey, I got my lights 👍 The budget for this build took a serious hit, so things might be happening a lot more slowly unfortunately, but we'll get it wet soon......hopefully 😅 Anyways, here's a late night shot of everything. Wire management is going to be a nightmare with this tank, but it will give me something to do as I'm still waiting for plumbing parts to come, whenever that will be. 1 5 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I envy your lights, but not your day. I like your attitude though. 5 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 14 hours ago, seabass said: I envy your lights, but not your day. I like your attitude though. Thanks. Nothing a little hammering out in the garage can't fix right? 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 A few more photos of the tank/scape/lights just for fun (including my little oopsie from last night 😢) 6 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I guess I've never seen those Noopsyche K7 V3 75w lights before. Pretty slick! Shame about the chip, but it isn't too terrible. 1 Quote Link to comment
The Rainy Day Aquarium Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 33 minutes ago, seabass said: I guess I've never seen those Noopsyche K7 V3 75w lights before. Pretty slick! Shame about the chip, but it isn't too terrible. Yeah I'm impressed by them! Especially because all of those photos where taken with them running at 1%, I'm going to have to be really careful not to cook my corals haha! The chip is on the right corner on the side of the tank, so it's kind of the best place for it if I had to choose, it really messed with my zen though haha. 1 Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Sorry about the chip in the glass. Thankfully it isn’t a chip that should impact the integrity of the tank at all. Also, and it may just be me… But I’d rethink that rock stack on the right. Looks a little *ahem* phallic to me. 4 Quote Link to comment
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