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CalmSeasQuest's Desktop Nano and DIY CSQ Skimmer


CalmSeasQuest

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CalmSeasQuest

Greetings all, I was to create a build thread for this tank on Nano-Reef. I decided to rebuild the "PuzzleRock" tank that has resided on my desk for the past year...

 

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That tank was a lot of fun to build, and the method of creating and using slabbed live rock hadn't been done before. The downside was, the aquascaping was so dense, that when coupled with the small tank dimensions - I never felt it fair to add any fish. As a result, the first question from every visitor to my office was "where are the fish"?

 

And now for something completely different...

 

This next build goes in a new direction. This will be something of a minimalist mixed reef (I'll even add a couple nano fish to satisfy the visitors :))

 

Equipment List

  • Tank - Mr. Aqua 12 Long (36" X 8" X 9") ~12 gallons in dimension, (~8.5 gallons water) Fitted with an 8" overflow creating a 3"X3"x8" mini-sump area.
  • Lights - Catalina Solar Black 4 X 39W T5 (ATI Blue+, Blue+, AquaBlue, KZ Fiji Purple) + ReefBrite 36" LED 50%/50% Royal Blue / White
  • Return Pump - Eheim 600 Compact set at 160 GPH.
  • Controller - Apex Aquacontroller, lab grade pH, ORP, PM2 with salinity probe.
  • Skimmer - DIY CSQ 2X12 Luft-airstone driven skimmer with Hydor Pico Evolution pump, bubble plate and remote skimmate collection
  • Mechanical filtration - AquaClear 20 with custom InTANK media insert using Chemipure Elite and Purigen as needed.
  • Biological Filtration - Marine Pure Ceramic Biomedia Spheres (compensating for limited live rock) and Mangroves
  • ATO - Elos Osmocontroller feeding Kalk laden RO/DI
  • Dosing - BRS 2-Part via 2 BRS peristaltic dosing pumps controlled by the Apex
  • Water movement - 1X MP-10Wes running ReefCrest @ 10%
  • Live Rock - Zip, Zero, Nada
  • Substrate - Tropic Eden Reef Flakes
  • Heater - Hydor 100 Watt

I had decided to simply order a new tank, but at the time these MA 12 long tanks are sold out everywhere with no stock expected prior to the end of the month. I managed to get some help from Geoff at 7Ports (the US distributor for MA.) Geoff helped me track down 2 of these tanks - apparently just about the last 2 left Stateside at the time. The West coast retailer that has them doesn't normally ship, so they don't have the needed shipping containers. Geoff was kind enough to ship the retailer the proper container - and did so at no cost.

 

On the fabrication end, I have zero experience working with acrylic, so this will represent a significant learning curve. I did decide on the tank's inhabitants....A beautiful pair of Ta'ls Picassos....err Talcassos :)

 

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The larger two in the photo will be taking up residence on my desk. They will likely have this tank all to their own - and perhaps a RBTA later once the tank matures.

 

As I progressed through the acrylic learning curve, I found that my existing table saw is not fit for acrylic duty. I ordered a replacement with an 80 tooth, triple chip ground, PermaSheild Diablo blade. I was tired of having to spend more time cleaning up every cut then it took to make the cut.

 

As for coral, I stumbled on an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. A huge, mostly LE Monti collection - delivered for $190

 

Tyree Superman monti

Tyree Pokerstar Monti

Tyree Purple Haze

Tyree Sunset

Tyree Seasons Greetings

Copps Vesuvious

Tyree Palawensis

Tyree Undata

LA Lakers

Tyree Pink Sand Dollar

Tyree Setosa

Tyree Flower Petal Cap

Tyree aequituberculata

Leng Sy Cap

Tyree Idaho Grape

Confusa, spongotes

ATL Forest Fire Digi

Greg Hillers Teal digi

Orange Digi

 

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This was a timely find as this tank was is entered in a nano build contest on my local forum and is subject to a $400 spending limit. I also picked up some Rics...

 

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These were purchased through Colin at Coral Morphologic. That photo was taken during acclimation and really doesn't show the beautiful coloration. Most are multiple-mouths and now that they are happy, have since doubled in size. I also acquired some Mangrove Propagules that I'm hoping will be part of this build.

 

Tanks arrive...

 

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The challenge was how to hide most of the equipment. This tank will sit on my office desk, and as I travel a lot it has to be as self-sufficient as possible. This includes filtration that can go for a couple weeks without being touched, ATO, 2-part dosing and the Apex probes. As the location doesn't allow for a sump - it all has to be crammed into the tank with minimum detraction from what I hope will be a minimalistic look.

 

I created a bulkhead in hopes of hiding most of the equipment and gaining better surface skimming. It's a bit crude as I cut the teeth for the weir using a table saw as my router was DOA.

 

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It's amazing how some of the simplest things can take the most time and patience. I spent far too long creating this stone bridge...

 

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CalmSeasQuest

All of my prior builds have been "traditional" in that they utilized as much live rock as possible and DSBs when practical, thus no need for additional biomedia. This build is different and will need additional media to support biological filtration.

 

I ended up selecting Marine Pure as the BioMedia. What sold me on Marine Pure was the BRS video demonstrating the porosity by showing water running straight through it. The numbers were impressive - A cubic foot of Marinepure 1.5 inch spheres has 98,000 square feet of surface area which is around 600 times the surface area of bioballs. For reference, the interconnected porosity of a single teasoon of activated carbon has the surface area of an entire football field (57,600 square feet).

 

This tank quickly became home to a pair of TalCassos, I wanted to make sure I has sufficient biological filtration early on. I "seeded" the Marine Pure "seeding" in the sump of an existing tank for a couple weeks. I also decided try Dr.Tim’s Nitrifying Bacteria in an effort to support bacterial buildup.

 

The filtration challenge is I have only 8" X 3" X 8" in which to install a return pump and plumbing, heater, temp, ORP, Salinity and pH probes, Osmocontroller sensor and ATO, 2-part dosing, mechanical, chemical and biological filtration a few mangroves..AND...I decided this tank needs a skimmer

 

I looked at all the commercially available skimmers and none would fit in the available space, so my remaining option was to build one. Due to my very limited acrylic skills, it's not the prettiest, but it does fit in the allotted space (2"x2"X12") and for an airstone-driven skimmer, seems to function well. The reaction chamber is modeled after a Tunze 9006 fitted with a foam extraction unit so I can store the skimmate remotely and lessen the skimmer footprint.

 

The skimmer design is very simple, in fact there are multiple other's with very similar designs (Glazer, Mame...) I used a 12" length of 2" acrylic pipe as it was the largest that would fit in the area available and it's easy to clean using a long handled glass brush. It affixes to the side of the sump area using 3 plastic-encased magnets (K&J Magetics) that are attached to the body of the skimmer using Cyanocrylate (I couldn't get a strong enough seal with silicone.)

 

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The skimmate collection area is angled to direct the skimmate to a 1/2" drain (Tunze would call it a foam extraction unit.)

 

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It's driven by a Luft 7PSI pump with a single Limewood air stone...

 

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I tested multiple airstones, but the turbulence seemed to offset the additional air. I also ended up creating a bubble plate and adding a Hydor Evolution Pico pump (silly perhaps, but it's easy to get "sucked" into playing with skimmer designs.)

 

Based on just a little testing, it seems to work well. It will be placed so the bottom-opening is beside the AC20 intake which I hope will aid it water flow through the skimmer.

 

Most of the filtration components are now in place...

 

 

The filtration process includes an 8" bulkhead and weir feeding raw water to the skimmer, Mangroves (yet to be installed) and an AC20 filter fitted with an InTank insert. The AC20 will hold Chemipure Elite and Purigen as needed. The skimmer is raised to allow space for the Mangroves roots directly below the skimmer opening. Although difficult to see in the photos or video, the Marine Pure bio-balls are enclosed in a vertical acrylic tower which has a slot opening beside the return pump. Filtered water from the AC20 enters the top of the bio-tower and is drawn down through the bio-balls by the return pump just before being warmed and being returned to the tank.

 

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The intake for the AC20 is places immediately beside the skimmer intake in the hopes of increasing flow though both the skimmer and surrounding Mangrove roots. The Apex thermometer is also located in this area, far from the heater to avoid any erroneous measurements and heater cycling. A small bottle serves as a temporary skimmate locker until I come up with a more aesthetically pleasing design.

 

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I was pleasantly surprised at how well the air-stone works - It creates a full column of micro-fine bubble rivaling that of my other pump-driven skimmers, albeit on a much smaller scale.

 

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This photo was taken just minutes after adding saltwater to the tank and already the water column was filling with foam.

 

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The Osmolator still needs to be installed, and I'm waiting until I have some bio load and waste in the tank before adding the mangroves.

 

The substrate was been added. The cycle was started using Ammonia, Dr. Tims nitrifying bacteria and the Marine Pure which has been seeding in my home DT sump for the past few weeks.

 

Despite there being very little bio-load in the tank, the little skimmer continues to impress...

 

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The cycle continues - Dosed ammonia back to 3 PPM, strangely although the Ammonia is largely gone in 48 hours, I'm not able to measure any Nitrites. I'm hoping that is due to the pre-cycled Marine Pure. With any luck, I'll be able to retrieve the Picassos from Tal shortly.

 

Here are a couple quick shots of the display area, although they may generate more questions than answers...

 

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The little skimmer that could...

 

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I'm anxious to see what it does when it actually has waste (other than the ammonia being dosed) to deal with.

 

For the first coral installation, I took a section of cast acrylic pipe, cut it lengthwise then heated it and formed an angle toward the front of the tank. I then ground and polished a flat surface and painted the reverse side black using Krylon Fusion.

 

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I then used a diamond blade on a Dremel to shape 4 Acan Lord Frags to allow low-profile mounting. Although the photos don't do a good job of showing the Acans, I selected a purple, red with a bright tangerine star-burst center, pink and green/purple frags to provide contrast. I'll grab better macro and actinic shots once they recover from the carving, mounting and travel.

 

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The combination of the reverse painting and beveled, polished edges creates a really "neat" visual effect that is far more pronounced than the photos show.

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Over time they should merge together, encompassing the entire acrylic substrate.

 

The point of this build was - As long as environmental demands are accounted for, a reef doesn't have to fit into "conventional" molds. While I probably would not have this as my primary (only) tank, it's certainly been a fun ancillary tank project,

 

As I was thinking through the design possibilities for this tank, one tenet was to NOT think in terms of coral (aside from the obvious environmental needs.) Some of the designs were based on Topiary methods used in Horticulture and the concept of creating a submarine formal English garden. To that end, here's the the second installation...

 

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3/32" diameter acrylic rod was heated and wrapped around a wooden dowel to create the spiral. A small section of larger diameter acrylic tubing was affixed to the base to form an attachment point for the coral - in this case, a pink, photosynthetic Gorgonian...

 

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The Gorg looks pretty shabby at the moment this photo was taken as it had been placed in the tank minutes before and after just having been Fragged, affixed and transported to my office. It will look much better in a couple of days.

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I also placed a couple small Mangroves in the skimmer section of the sump. Also visible is the Diatom bloom I've been expecting.

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CalmSeasQuest

As I was feeding the few Acans in the tank and was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they are growing. These frags had 2 or 3 heads when purchased from Mr. Coral on Feb 7 - 2 months later I see as many as 8 new heads on some of the frags.

 

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Even the Gorgonian started to "puff up" a bit...

 

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The next piece, used a process I'll call Micro-Plane Fragging. It included multiple paper-thin sections of coral harvested with a scalpel and placed much in the way you would apply gold leaf...

 

This next piece is definitely the "ugly duckling" of the bunch. Had I not promised photos soon, I would have let this one grow out a few weeks to become a bit more presentable.

 

I've had a Tryee Toadstool in my tank for a couple of years...

 

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As of late it's begun dropping a couple baby's each month so I thought I might as well find a use for them. I let a Toadstool Frag grow on top of some rubble rock, then using a Dremel, cut-off all but a sliver of the rubble rock leaving a slightly concave attachment point. This was then attached to the top of an acrylic cabochon.

 

For the second coral on this peice, I affixed a small frag of GSP to a magnet frag and placed it on on a side wall of my tank. Over the next month or so, it covered the frag disc and began to cover the glass in a paper-thin purple film (no polyps were yet visible.) Using a scalpel, I lifted this film from the glass walls and affixed it to the cabochon using a tiny amount of Cyanocrylate around the edges.

 

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Over time, the GSP should completely cover the cabochon right up to the stalk of the Toadstool. As the cabachon is suspended a couple inches above the sand bed, it should be easy to prevent the GSP from spreading beyond this piece. I just have to ignore how "ugly" it looks at the moment.

 

It's amazing what a difference the smiling faces of a couple of Picassos can make...

 

 

For a splash of color...

 

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I selected 6 of the Ricordea Florida acquired from CorlaMorphologic and added them to the "Ric River". The photos don't do them justice as they are still angry from the move. I'll wait a few days to see how they look when fully expanded and perhaps add a couple more if space allows.

 

I'm really like the flexibility provided by the elevated footings including the ability to use black, polished glass gravel in small areas/amounts. It provides contrast and enhanced colors, without the challenges of having an entire black sand bed to keep clean.

 

Thus far I've been snapping photos with my Cell just to document the build process. Now that I've got livestock to shoot, I'll start using a DSLR and pay more attention to white balance to get a "truer" image of what the tank and it's inhabitants look like.

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CalmSeasQuest

The Rics have opened nicely but as the clowns spend much of their day playing under the bridge so it was a bit tough to get clean shots. I had to lure them away with food but as Tal has spoiled them with Rod's - they were unimpressed with my Spectrum pellets...

 

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Progress had been a little slow of late, I managed to drop and destroy one of the Monti pieces (structure only, not the corals) that I had hoped to install today. A couple of these still look really rough and haven't fully opened yet. The clowns in their excitement ran square into the Paly cube causing them to close up...silly clownfish, if I didn't know better I could have sworn they did it on purpose when they saw the camera.

 

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Although this "Paly Cube" looks horrible in this photo, I have high hopes for it. It's comprised of 2 polyps each, Palythoa Grandis, Cinnamin and Sunflower. These are among the largest Paly's I've ever seen and should quickly cover each facet of the cube.

 

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I've always liked Galaxia, but the sweepers can be a pain. I don't think it will hurt any of it's neighbors from this spot.

 

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Sympodium, a few Gonis and a Palm Clove to add some color and motion.

 

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The purple Photosynthetic Gorgonian Is finally starting to open up.

 

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The GSP have started laying down "film" and attaching to the cabochon.

 

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A FTS of the current inhabitants. Lots more yet to come. I'll be moving a few things around to make room for what's next. I mentioned the Galaxia sweepers - here's a short clip showing how they like to "reach out and touch" neighbors...

 

 

Added 4 more Montis and one Pectinia, but they're not ready for their close-ups yet. In the interim, here are a few cell-phone FTS pics...

 

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Progress will be slowed a bit as I'll be spending much of this weekend in Ann Arbor with Saturday at the Big House watching my son graduate from the University of MICHIGAN :D

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CalmSeasQuest

The best laid plans of mice and men...

 

I had planned on installing the two final pieces along with the remaining corals however, the final installation didn't survive transport (I pushed beyond the stress tolerance of 1/16" acrylic rod.) I will rebuilt the final piece and install it later this week. I did place all the corals in the tank, many of which are "hanging out" on the substrate until I have time to install the last piece and get them mounted.

 

Here's a few quick photos including what will be the Zoa build. You can also see a bunch of Monties and Zoas sitting on the substrate...

 

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While it appears rather drab and boring in this photo, this Pectinia is quite beautiful once it gets colored back up. It takes on a very deep translucent quality.

 

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This will hold a series of Zoanthids. The base will not be visible as it is hidden beneath the substrate.

 

More Air = Good :)

 

Initially, I used a whisper air pump to drive the Air-stone in the skimmer, I;ve since replaced it with a Luft and wow - what a huge improvement. While it's a bit louder than I had hoped, the airstone now cranks out so many fine bubbles that it has allowed me to raise the entire skimmer a few inches, improving the water flow. The Luft is powering a single airstone and is running at ~80% - Any higher output and it would overpower the skimmer, forcing wet froth down the drain line. :)

 

Before with the whisper (note the position of the top magnet compared to the after photo)

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Now with the Luft running at ~80%

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The next version of the bubble plate will include a lengthened airstone chamber which should allow the Luft to be run at 100%. I'm anxious to see what a difference it makes in skimmate production. It "appears" to be running so well, that I might not even bother adding a feed pump...Mames got nothing on this powerhouse of a Pico Foam Fractionation System :)

 

I installed the Zoa and Monti pieces today and mounted the corals. All that left is to get the Capricornis off the substrate and onto their new home which is nearly done and will be installed on Friday. Sorry for the cell cam photos - Hopefully all the Zoas will be open by then and ready for better photos and maybe a short video showing the Skimmer doing it's thing...

 

I added the final piece, which I think may end up being my favorite (floating Capricornis.) The updates to the skimmer (Luft air pump and addition of a Hydor Evolution Mini pump) are working very well. The additional air and lift provided by the Luft allowed me to raise the skimmer ~3". I think I'm about done tweaking the skimmer and now have room to replace the Mangroves.

 

I re-installed the MP-10, it will take a bit of tweaking. With all the motion I've designed into this build, I think this tank will look great with a small standing wave. Alk is being maintained at present with just the Kalk being added to the ATO, so I haven't started using the BRS dosing pumps. As demand increases, I'll add the 2-part.

 

Here are a few photos and a quick video to show the current status. I'll take more Macro shots as everything colors-up and recovers from the shock of Fragging, transport and install.

 

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This video turned out pretty well, especially since I have little idea what I'm doing :)

 

 

And that brings us current to today - I'm excited to see it grow out as well. Each piece was designed with the hope that it would largely disappear as each coral envelopes it. I used very thin (1/16") diameter acrylic rod to allow many of the corals to appear suspended mid in the water column and gently sway back and forth with the changing current, compliments of the MP-10...Well, that's the plan anyway, time will tell how it works out

 

Thanks for tagging along :)

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saltwatercoral

WOW, this is a very modern style looking tank! Very different. Why did you chose not to use live rockand go with the built up sand bed?

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CalmSeasQuest
WOW, this is a very modern style looking tank! Very different. Why did you chose not to use live rockand go with the built up sand bed?

Thank you :) I wanted this tank to be as open as possible, ideally without any live rock.

 

I had been researching ways in which to obtain enough biological filtration (nitrification and hopefully de-nitrification) without the use of live rock or a DSB. When I stumbled upon the Marine Pure ceramics, I theorized that if I created a column which water passed through very slowly, I might be able to achieve nitrification in aerobic areas (surface of ceramics) and de-nitrification in the adjacent anaerobic areas (centers of the ceramic media.) I constructed an acrylic tower to hold the ceramics and mounted it vertically in the overflow section of the tank which takes a small portion of the AC20 discharge water and trickles it through the ceramics. It's still way to early to know, but thus far - post cycle I haven't been able to detect any Nitrates (fingers crossed.)

 

The elevated sand beds were just my attempt to add another dimension to the tank and provide an area for a varied substrate treatment (i.e. the waves currently around the perimeter of the tank.)

 

WOW! this tank is gorgeous. Where do you come up with these ideas?? so damn creative i love all of it

Thank you Jesse-Ray. The idea was simply, just think the opposite of normal ;) Using a term stolen from the movie Young Frankenstein, I like to refer to this build as "AbbeyNormal".

 

This tank is still squarely in its "ugly" stage. Due to the spending limitations of the contest it's participating in, I had to use very small frags. Over time, they will grow, enveloping the acrylic which will largely disappear. The fine gauge (1/16") acrylic rod used to suspend many of the pieces will (when I increase the flow from the MP-10) allow some of the corals such as the Capricornis to gently sway back and worth in the water column. If all goes as planned, it should be fun to watch. :)

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CalmSeasQuest

Thank you very much for all the kind comments :)

 

Friday update...

 

I like the natural light the tank gets in the late afternoons...

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The Acans are loving life - now over 40+ heads

 

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Coralline is beginning to form on the bridge stones and acrylic edges

 

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Technically this is a lousy photo, but I like the coral silhouettes created by the setting sun.

 

Everything is doing well, starting to see corals growing onto the acrylic and the clowns act like they own the place. :)

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timothymarsh

Amazing tank. How do you get any work done with that thing sitting on your desk? lol I would be staring at it all day like a kid in a candy store. Very cool concept, I love it when hobbyists push the envelope.

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I think this is my new favorite tank! I absolutely love everything about it! And I need more info on the DIY skimmer! That looks like something I could do!

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CalmSeasQuest
Amazing tank. How do you get any work done with that thing sitting on your desk? lol I would be staring at it all day like a kid in a candy store. Very cool concept, I love it when hobbyists push the envelope.

Thanks - It can be a bit distracting at times, but I find I don't mind spending a bit longer in the office to compensate :)

 

I think this is my new favorite tank! I absolutely love everything about it! And I need more info on the DIY skimmer! That looks like something I could do!

Thanks banshee - The skimmer is surprisingly simple

 

This tank has really been an adventure and a series of pleasant surprises. I say surprises because I had no idea what to expect having had no experience working with acrylic, or much of any DIY background. What I found is that if you allow your self to "screw up" enough times without quitting, odds are that in the end, you'll come up with something good :). Here are my observations thus far...

 

Foam Fractionation

The skimmer turned out to be a real surprise - I hadn't initially planned on including a skimmer on this build, especially when I realized I would only have about 2" available in the overflow area. A quick look at all the commercially available nano-sized skimmers returned little of interest. I had seen very small skimmers made by Mame and a very talented DIY'r named Glazier, but decided they didn't fit the needs of this tank so... I ordered acrylic - lots of different sizes and shapes to start testing with. I'll be the first to admit that I'm surprised at how well this little skimmer performs. I think the key was using the largest possible diameter drain line thereby minimizing back pressure, allowing it to "breath" properly.

 

Bio-Filtration

As I thought about this build, the greatest initial challenge was how to handle bio-filtration without any live rock. The location where this tank resides doesn't allow for a sump, and I wanted the display area to be free of traditional aquascaping....hence the problem. I had used bio balls and other variants years ago during the inescapable plenum and wet/dry days and swore never to return, yet I had to find a way to make this work in a very tiny overflow area. As I researched bio-media, I came across the MarinePure ceramic spheres and was impressed by the porosity and surface area claims. I reasoned that if I could create an area that pre-filtered water passed through extremely slowly (I'm banning the word trickle), I could create an aerobic environment for processing Nitrites, and just perhaps an adjacent anaerobic area (center of the spheres) that might provide some level of denitrification. So I built a vertical tower using acrylic that holds staggered columns of MarinePure ceramics that is constantly fed a very small volume of skimmed and filtered water. It's still far too early to draw any conclusions, but so far so good. The filtration plan appears to be working with no measurable Nitrates or nuisance algaes.

 

Acylics

I used to think I spent a lot of time when aquascaping a tank, spending hours on end arranging and re-arranging rocks. That time sink pales in comparison to how much time can be spent working with acrylic. Between the various skimmer and bubble plate designs to the 20+ coral mounting pieces that were created (not including those that ended up being destroyed by dropping, being stepped on, sat on, melted or exploding under a saw, drill bit or Dremel.) And then there were those that failed stress tests, or succumbed to my OJT flame polishing methods....the do-overs were plentiful. Out of sheer embarrassment, I will never admit how many hours I spent on this project.

 

With all that said, I've had a blast with this built. I love the fact that I can tinker endlessly with it (although I've found it a major distraction at work.) Because each coral build is modular, it's easy to move things around, replace entire pieces or swap out individual corals with ease. While I'll never give up my "traditional" tanks, from a reefing perspective, It's forced me to think in the most non-traditional, "Abbynormal" terms. What I discovered was - It can be fun coloring outside the lines.

 

Thank you to everyone that has spent their time tagging along and for all the kind comments. :)

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