johnrbek Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Hi guys, Here's a link to a few photo's I took this evening: http://www.pbase.com/johnrbek/nano_reef I used to have a reef tank back in the early 90's and just got back into it... I've learned whole bunch from everyone here and really enjoy cruising nano-reef from time to time to see what's going on... Special thanks to Lunchbucket & Playfair for specific input... Well... here's my rig as it sits today... About 2 months old... All water params are great and in the last 3 weeks I've noticed growth in both SPS & the softies... Here's the run down: 7G AGA Mini Bow, PFO 150HQI w/ Radium Bulb, about 10lb's Fiji live rock on about 3-4" of aragonite... Coral frages include: Pink Pocillopora, Orange & Green Digitata, Acropora Secole, 2 types of Green Star Polyps, Pulsing Xenia... I've also got a True Perc in there as well as numerous clean up crew.. The cool thing I've noticed is the multiplication of my clean up critters... I've got a bunch of pods and little brittle stars in there... Lot's of activity at night... As mentioned above all water param's perfect... Love those Salifert test kits... Radium is kept on for about 10 hours a day and the Iceprobe keeps the temp below 81 degree's... Low is about 78 at night... The Radium is about 3-4" inches from the water... I had a piece of glass cut to fit the top of the Mini-Bow to cut down on evaporation (works awesome... I only have to top off about once or twice a week)... Well.. thats about it... My brother in law owns a saltwater shop, so I'll probably move up to a 20G or something at some point, but for now I'm enjoying the Mini Bow... It's still a young tank, but takes minimal maintenance (weekly 1G water changes, Nightly feeding, Weekly water testing)... Good stuff... Would appreciate feedback, comments, and suggestions... Thanks again to everyone here at Nano-Reef.com... Oh yeah.. Can anyone ID that macro algae??? JB Link to comment
glazer Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Very cool John! Nice setup. I was really glad to find this post... I am setting up almost an identical one as yours. I have a 150 watt light as well but am using a 20,000K Ushio bulb. I am making a DIY pendant to mount on tank and bulb is going to be about 4 inches above water. I knew heat was going to be an issue so I bought an IceProbe as well.... what I was glad to see is that you have your tank covered. Did you run the light without the IceProbe for any time? Was wondering what tank got to temp wise. I had my tank drilled with an overflow and return and using a ten gal for a sump/fuge... baffled off for skimmer area and heater/return pump area. I figured this would help with cooling as well, getting the water into another area without a cooker on it,hehe. I'm trying to decide if I want to mount the IceProbe in a HOB and put it on the tank or drill it into the sump, any thoughts on that? Link to comment
johnrbek Posted November 15, 2002 Author Share Posted November 15, 2002 Being down in Miami, heat was a concern for me from day 1 and I invested in the Iceprobe up front... I'm not an expert, but I don't really like the fan/evaporation method of cooling... it requires more water top off and thus more chances for introduction of nutrients... The glass top cost $7 to have cut at a glass shop... I was quoted much higher prices, but found a place to do it cheap... If you can, I'd ask to have the glass tempered... They wouldn't do it for me for such a small piece, but that doesn't mean it can't be done and would reduce the risk of the glass cracking due to heat... Did you drill a Mini Bow? If not, what size is your tank?? I figure that when I upgrade, I'll definitely being going with a drilled overflow... I figure I'll save a few beans and practice at growing some corals in the mean time though... IMO, one of the major benefits of having a sump is the ability to put all the gear down in it away from view... With that in mind, I'd say the Iceprobe should definitely go down in the sump... I wouldn't even mess with an HOB filter if I had a sump... One thing I did notice is that the tank did run much hotter with a 10K bulb than with a 20K... (Originally had a 10K Ushio on there...) I've read alot about about the Radium topic and I'm pleased to say that all the corals seem to be responding very well to the Radium... The 150 is small enough that you can keep the light down low on the tank, which keeps the intensity up... I've seen a bunch of your posts Glazer and you're pix as well. All good stuff.. Thanks for the reply and good luck with the tank... JB Link to comment
glazer Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 thanks john for the kind words... Yeah, I had my 7 minibow drilled... found a great glass shop only blocks from my house...asked them about drilling it and they said sure no prob... 5 bucks a hole. I felt bad when I picked up the tank, I had prepaid for the holes but turned out they couldn't put a drill on it due to the bowed front and keeping the tank stable so some dude sat in a chair with it in his lap and did the holes with a router... took him like an hour, an hour for ten bucks! I already asked them about cutting me a top for it AND it being tempered and they said sure, 15 dollars... I didn't do it though cuz thought about trapping all that heat in, but now that I saw you are doing it... well calling them tommorrow!, hehehe Gonna have the top cut then and have them drill the ten for the IceProbe. Good luck with your tank john, it looks great and keep us posted with pics. Link to comment
Physh1 Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Wow.....looks like I need to go hang my HQI now... Tank looks really nice and clean. I like the ice probe mounting too....nice and clean. Cameron Link to comment
lizbeth Posted November 17, 2002 Share Posted November 17, 2002 Your tank reminds me how much I love those minibows! The lighting is fabulous! Where did you get your Iceprobe? I think I mght have to invest in one before next summer. What kind of controller are you using? Link to comment
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