sammy33 Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 The Idea Having a refugium on a reef tank is something I have done many times in my aquarium hobby journey. One thing I have not done is kept a macroalgae display tank. Another thing I have not tried is a peninsula stlyle aquarium with 3 sides visible. So here is my visual plan for a 10g Florida Peninsula Macro Nano Reef. I have really liked the results of painting my tank backs black for a background. So I started off by painting this stock 10g tanks side black to make it the background. To take advantage of the peninsula style I picked a spot on my desk where I can view it from both sides. Here is the view from the couch side. I only have the tank, display light and wave maker so far. The rest of the stuff is ordered with most on the way. Desk side view. I started a 6g nano reef last month and used only dry rock and sand from Petco (Caribsea). I planned on adding some gulf live rock and wild live sand to that tank for some biodiversity and ordered from one of the aquaculture farms in Florida. I decided to shift gears and leave my 6g nano as is with the dry rock/sand and use the live rock and wild sand I ordered in this 10g instead. Here is a pic from their website. Let the waiting begin! Wait for the rest of the equipment to come in. Wait for the live rock to arrive. Wait for the tank to cycle. Aquariums are truly a rewarding test of patience. 🦀 2 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Oh this looks awesome, I've always loved the look of 'planted reefs' - are you in the planted reef - saltwater macroalgae discussion group on Facebook? It's well worth joining, there are some seriously inspirational scapes. 🙂 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 13 minutes ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said: Oh this looks awesome, I've always loved the look of 'planted reefs' - are you in the planted reef - saltwater macroalgae discussion group on Facebook? It's well worth joining, there are some seriously inspirational scapes. 🙂 I have seen some of the cool stuff on insta like Tigahboys amazing aquariums. Also Everyday Aquarist on YouTube has been an inspiration with the planted reefs. Will check out the Facebook group too. Thanks! 😎👍 1 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted January 12 Author Share Posted January 12 Most of the stuff has arrived. My desk is in chaos! My live rock/sand order from US Live Rock will not be here until middle of next week so I have some time to play around with all these new reef toys. Playing around with where to place the Hygger Wave Maker. Not sure if the outside magnet is water proof but... this placement on the bottom of the refugium outflow extension is interesting. 🧐 2 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted January 13 Author Share Posted January 13 I had an old piece of acrylic that I was able to cut down to make a top. The stock glass lid did not work with this configuration but I was able to customize the plastic peice to fit around the refugium. I like the apparent light levels from this little Nicrew LED fixture. Brighter than I expected and looks like it will grow some chaeto. Fits really well on the refugium. View from the front. Patiently wating for my live sand/rock order to ship... in the meantime I think I am going to build a panel to mount all the controllers on the wall. 2 Quote Link to comment
Staticmoves Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 1 hour ago, CD_Scapes said: This is sexy Agreed. And it’s nice not having all the other components at once, which allows us to now focus more on the details slowly along the way while we wait. looking good…..👍 1 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted January 13 Author Share Posted January 13 Using a piece of heavy cardboard as a template, I tried laying out the various controllers to make a control panel of sorts. I am wanting to mount this on the wall next to the tank. Most of this stuff came with velcro so gonna try to mount everthing with that. This is 8x10 inch so I will cut the wood panel to like 8x12 for a bit more breathing room between each controller. Off to dig through the garage for a peice of plywood and a can of black spray paint. 😎👍 2 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 Finished up the control panel for my 10g macro nano. The final size ended up 10x12 and I rotated it so it is vertical. I used a piece of 1/4" sanded plywod and gave it a couple shots of flat black enamel. I positioned the panel left of the tank so everything is in quick reach. I have everthing velcro'd in place for now. I also installed a power strip behind the desk to power this setup. Still more to do but having a blast with it so far. 🐠 3 Quote Link to comment
ml86743 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Panel looks great!!! Excited to see how the scape ends up. Following along 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 1/16/24 is the official wet day for this tank. I filled the tank with saltwater and got everything running. I really like the flexbility offered by having all DC pumps. The feed timers will likely come in handy. I added some Florida crushed coral to the back of the tank to raise up the scape a bit. I still have some cable management to do. Also going to get a different power strip as the DC converters take up two outlets of space. I think I have seen power strips with the outlets rotated so the power bricks don't take as much space. Still waiting on live rock...but soon™️. 2 Quote Link to comment
Staticmoves Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 41 minutes ago, sammy33 said: 1/16/24 is the official wet day for this tank. I filled the tank with saltwater and got everything running. I really like the flexbility offered by having all DC pumps. The feed timers will likely come in handy. I added some Florida crushed coral to the back of the tank to raise up the scape a bit. I still have some cable management to do. Also going to get a different power strip as the DC converters take up two outlets of space. I think I have seen power strips with the outlets rotated so the power bricks don't take as much space. Still waiting on live rock...but soon™️. If your tank husbandry is anything as methodical as the setup, this will be a beauty. 1 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 My live rock order was a bit of a dissapointment. I took some three weeks to ship and the box with the rock in it was lost in the mail for about 5 extra days. I didn't expect much but added the wild sand 1-22 and rock to the tank on 1-27. It took about a week to clear up as the sand is very fine (like oolite) mixed with some bigger chunks (like crushed coral). I have seen a few feather dusters and some bits of coraline algae of various colors but virtually no other hitchhikers. The equipment on the tank is all performing really well. The Hygger mini wave maker is the boss! Awesome flow throughout the the whole tank. Next step is to get some macro algae. I think my LFS has at least some chaeto and caulerpa? I will probably need to order the good stuff online somewhere like Algae Barn. Any recommendations on a good macro vendor? 🐌 2 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Hitchhikers! Finding some live stuff as the tank clears up. Any ID help would be appreciated. Here are my best guesses: Caulerpa racemosa? Caulerpa mexicana? Ghost Crab? Fiddler? I found this guy cruising the tank after lights out. crab.mp4 2 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 More Hitchhikers! Nudibranch? Sea Slug? This little dude is tiny...like a grain of rice. Feather Duster...bunch of these in the rock. feather.mp4 A lot more life survived on the live rock than first appeared. I also see some bits of Halimeda that is not doing well and some branching coraline that is trying to hang in there. Life will find a way. 🦀 3 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 I picked up a ball of Chaeto for the refugium. I also had a few extra pieces of live rock that I had added to the fuge. The little Nicrew clip on light is great so far with a full spectrum and timer built in. I have it running on a reverse daylight schedule so it's on at night when the display light is off. Hoping this helps keep things more stable. The Fiji Cube HOB fuge is really nice. I have used many in the past like the CPR Aquafuge and even the tried a true Aquaclear DIY fuge and this Fiji Cube HOB fuge is the best imho. The DC pump is controllable making it very easy to adjust water flow. The controller also has a feed mode cutting the pump for ten minutes. It's also got probe ports, dosing ports, some optional flow attachments...pretty much loaded. The only major negative is the price. It's a splurge! 🤑 3 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 I did some re-scaping with the live rock. I actually ended taking one of the larger peices out to separate the reef into two structures. I put the larger peice in the fuge for now. I ended up with some other extra peices of live rock...probably enough to set up another nano reef...😉 I added some clean up critters with 5 Astrea snails and 5 Blue Leg hermit crabs. I also picked up a couple sprigs of Caulerpa prolifera to start my macro collection. The Caulerpa and Chaeto are the only macros any of LFS's around here have in stock so I am looking around online again. Any suggestions for online macro algae shops? 1 Quote Link to comment
Bluelobstor Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 5 hours ago, sammy33 said: I did some re-scaping with the live rock. I actually ended taking one of the larger peices out to separate the reef into two structures. I put the larger peice in the fuge for now. I ended up with some other extra peices of live rock...probably enough to set up another nano reef...😉 I added some clean up critters with 5 Astrea snails and 5 Blue Leg hermit crabs. I also picked up a couple sprigs of Caulerpa prolifera to start my macro collection. The Caulerpa and Chaeto are the only macros any of LFS's around here have in stock so I am looking around online again. Any suggestions for online macro algae shops? Following along. I love the idea of a macro tank and am planning to do a display Refugium some day. I also love the idea of the peninsula tank you created. I have quite a few tanks laying around that I may try this with. One question what is the purpose of the chaeto in this tank? Surprised to see a refugium on a macro tank. For an online vendor check out Gulf Coast Ecosystems. I have not personally used them but I will when I'm ready for macros. Heard nothing but great things and for me they are local. You will need to check periodically as a lot of the macros around there are seasonal. 1 Quote Link to comment
Bluelobstor Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On 1/7/2024 at 3:25 PM, InAtTheDeepEnd said: Oh this looks awesome, I've always loved the look of 'planted reefs' - are you in the planted reef - saltwater macroalgae discussion group on Facebook? It's well worth joining, there are some seriously inspirational scapes. 🙂 "planted reef - saltwater macroalgae discussion group" Is this the name of the group? Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 22 minutes ago, Bluelobstor said: One question what is the purpose of the chaeto in this tank? Surprised to see a refugium on a macro tank. The fuge keeps the pH stable 24 hours with photosynthesis always happening somewhere in the tank. I plan on a fish or two with this setup so it's also a pod supply for the fish to snack on. I just placed an order earlier for live pods and some phyto to juice up all my tanks. 😎👍 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 On 2/13/2024 at 4:32 PM, sammy33 said: Hitchhikers! Finding some live stuff as the tank clears up. Any ID help would be appreciated. Here are my best guesses: Caulerpa racemosa? Caulerpa mexicana? Ghost Crab? Fiddler? I found this guy cruising the tank after lights out. crab.mp4 16.27 MB · 0 downloads 2nd Caulerpa is C. verticillata and the crab is a box crab of some kind. Very disappointing on the LR and LS, who was it from again? 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 On 2/20/2024 at 8:44 PM, Bluelobstor said: Following along. I love the idea of a macro tank and am planning to do a display Refugium some day. I also love the idea of the peninsula tank you created. I have quite a few tanks laying around that I may try this with. One question what is the purpose of the chaeto in this tank? Surprised to see a refugium on a macro tank. For an online vendor check out Gulf Coast Ecosystems. I have not personally used them but I will when I'm ready for macros. Heard nothing but great things and for me they are local. You will need to check periodically as a lot of the macros around there are seasonal. I also strongly urge Gulf Coast Ecosystems (live-plants.com) for all your macro needs. Great portions and prices for what you get! Quote Link to comment
Bluelobstor Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 @sammy33Do you still like the wave maker you got? Does it make waves in the bowl? Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 On 3/5/2024 at 9:56 PM, Bluelobstor said: @sammy33Do you still like the wave maker you got? Does it make waves in the bowl? Yes! It is impressive for how small it is. Nano bowl is still rockin'. 😎👍 1 Quote Link to comment
sammy33 Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 I got in a great order from Gulf Coast Ecosystems. Excellent suggestion for a macroalgae source! I also got a couple of gorgonians and a red finger sponge with their seasonal red/green macro pack. Everything has been in the tank for a few days and is looking pretty good. I have also been feeding all my reef tanks with phyto and pods from Florida Reef labs. This really helped to kickstart the fuge on this tank. Lotsa pods now! 3 Quote Link to comment
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