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Jim's Nem tank

fullmonti

By fullmonti,
in Nano Reef Journals

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fullmonti

fullmonti

Posted
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Ever since I saw the first anemone with a clown fish or two rolling around in it like a dog on something stinky I have wanted one!!! Well I'm finally going to set a tank up just for a largish anemone (a Ritteri) & pair of clowns. Thinking it will also have a couple small gobies or a dwarf Golden Moray Eel. Gobies would probably be the smarter & cheaper choice but the eel would be more unusual & interesting.

 

Any way the tank is a 28" diameter acrylic cylinder tank 12" tall. If my math is right it will be about 25gal or so, with probably another 10gals in a sump. It has a lot more bottom & surface area than a normal tank with the same gallons.

 

testfit_zps6dde2035.jpg

 

 

This is it in place. Tank still has the protective plastic on the outside & paper on the bottom. The stand will be painted the same color as the enclosure on the discus tank, with laminate on the top. I have doors for the access openings in the stand, just didn't put them in for the photo.

 

nemtankinplace_zps80901b03.jpg

 

 

I didn't have a lot of room were I wanted to put it, hence the odd shaped stand. I started out thinking I would make a hex shaped stand/base, but that didn't leave enough space under there for a sump of any size.

 

nemrock_zps71c6a856.jpg

 

I glued several pieces of dry rock together to make a low island for the nem to perch on (more & better pix of rock work later). There will be a wall in the back for an overflow. There will not be any teeth on the overflow because I plan to glue more dry rock to the wall & let the water flow through the wholes in the rock. That way I'm thinking if the nem should decide to go for a walk & get close to the overflow, he would be less likely to get chewed up. That's my thinking any way.

 

That's about all I have for now. Still working on sump & plumbing plan & just started thinking about a light. Thinking a custom round LED light, hope that can happen.

 

More to come!

Jim

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Belac

Belac

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I really like this plan. I plan on eventually doing a low round tank myself I was thinking nems too. Going to try something really insane on mine and make it an edgless pond of sorts.

So how are you going to go about water circulation with the nems in there? Where is the sump going to be plummed in? I think that is enough questions for now. I just really am intrested in this very different tank you have going here.

Also your discus tank is sweet. :)

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fullmonti

fullmonti

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Sounds good. Btw, you will need a cover for the dwarf eel....I heard they'll try to sneak out from gaps to get out of the tank.

 

Yes the eel adds several issues to deal with. I always wanted to have one of them too though.

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fullmonti

fullmonti

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I really like this plan. I plan on eventually doing a low round tank myself I was thinking nems too. Going to try something really insane on mine and make it an edgless pond of sorts.

 

So how are you going to go about water circulation with the nems in there? Where is the sump going to be plummed in? I think that is enough questions for now. I just really am intrested in this very different tank you have going here.

 

Also your discus tank is sweet. :)

 

 

I had always planed to use a 2way Oceans Motions flow diverter for alternating flow. They will not be available for several months (unless I can find a used one). But that may not be a problem, as I was not going to get the nem for several months any way to let the tank stabilize good. Was planing on sending the water from the return pump through it & coming up through the bottom of the tank on two different sides, pointing at the center. I'm thinking of using one of the new DC variable pumps for the return. A 16x20 sump will fit in the stand. Just going to have a small skimmer & return pump in it. Any room left I though I'd fill with extra rock.

 

That's the plan at this point, but you know how plans some times change.

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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Yes the eel adds several issues to deal with. I always wanted to have one of them too though.

 

Yeah, same here....but I just hate covers.

Nice freshwater tank.

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fullmonti

fullmonti

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Ohh, I've seen your tank before on reefcentral.com. It was back in 08-09 ahah. What made you want to convert it to freshwater?

 

It had a 30gal NPS tank tied to the system & the extra feeding of that little tank let Bryopsis (hair algae) get started. Long Long story short, I couldn't get rid of it. Even after the NPS tank was gone & nutrient levels were lower than I had ever even heard of for months on end. That with the fact my wife really liked my planted tanks I had in the past & I had always wanted to deep discus. The turning point was when one guy said he had Bryopsis in his tank & he took all the rock out & put it in the sun in Arizona for a week or two. When he put the rock back in the take & the algae came right back. Right then I decided to make the change.

 

By the way, breaking down & cleaning up a tank like that is more work than setting it up!!! The only good part was I sold a ton of SPS & got most if not all the money I had spent on corals back. Unless I win the lottery, I will never have a large reef tank again. They are wonderful but too expensive & too many possible issues & too hard to deal with when they come.

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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Omg, that's exactly the reason why I stopped maintaining corals haha. I always felt like someday the tank was going to crash with uncertainty...so I sold all my corals, prized lps collection and now I just have nems.

Also. some reason, I realized corals just happen to look better in pictures. And since they lack of movements, why not just drool over some pictures and not have to take care of it.

 

Same here. Corals are like ehh... I think Nems, Nps, Macro/gorg or fowlr are the new things now.

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Spirofucci

Spirofucci

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Great idea................ nems, clowns and an eel in a round tank!

 

I seem to recall your old tank as well on RC, very nice. Looking forward to see what you do with this one!

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MGDMIRAGE

MGDMIRAGE

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On the flipside I had a Golden Dwarf Moray for almost 2 years and he was always in an open top tank and escaped one time and never again. He/she spent the first time stuck in a filter sock and never tried escape again.

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Deleted User 4

Deleted User 4

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On the flipside I had a Golden Dwarf Moray for almost 2 years and he was always in an open top tank and escaped one time and never again. He/she spent the first time stuck in a filter sock and never tried escape again.

 

Smart eel lol. Some aren't too smart sadly enough though.

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Belac

Belac

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I have sworn off fresh water eels after loseing two that were idiots. One got out of the tank twice and died the second time. The other one decided to crawl down the filter intake and die in the filter unit.



Smart eel lol. Some aren't too smart sadly enough though.

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fullmonti

fullmonti

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Thanks for all the interest. The jury is still out on the eel. I would really like to have one, but I like shrimps in my tanks too. There will be plenty of time to decide. Still have to come up with a good size pump, small skimmer, & build a sump & LED light.

 

Been drilling holes in the tank & stand for water in & water out. Got the laminate on the top & starting to paint. Found a used (good condition) Oceans Motions.

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