rocksmom Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 The basics:+The story:My husband's 12g nanocube is bursting at the seams (not literally, thankfully) and I've been wanting to get back into planted tanks so we've decided to consolidate our three reef tanks into one. My 5g will become a planted tank once this one is set up.The new tank will be a Deep Blue Professional 24x24x12 which we plan on turning into an AIO. I've already contacted Chris from Pico about making a kit for us, I just have to wait for the tank to get here to send him dimensions. The tank is ordered but won't arrive until the 20th.The light is a Solana pendant. Old school! He's been using it over his nanocube since he started back in July for the nano in 90 contest.Pretty much all the other hardware, livestock, etc will be coming from our current tanks. We just have to decide on what we are going to use vs sell, for example my husband's RKL or my Apex Jr.Updates, including a definitive hardware and livestock list, coming soon! FTS June 9 2015: DSC01181 by Stacy Lambert, on Flickr Link to comment
rocksmom Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Meet the donor tank. It was set up back in July and looked like this first starting out: First corals in place: And finally a video from yesterday. First part is mostly the yasha and pistol shrimp doing their thing, but it eventually pans around with a fts (and an appearance by the TSB) at the end: My husband has had the best luck with this tank. No fish or invert losses. Good growth. Little bit of nuisance algae, but not bad. Unfortnately there is some gelidium that came in on a frag and spread over the upper rocks, but the snails keep it at bay. All of the livestock will be going into the new tank, this includes: Firefish TSB Yasha/Pistol Fire Shrimp Porcelain Crab Snails, brittle stars, etc Lots of corals which you can see in the video. Some of my favorites are the rastas, fruit loops, those big pink palys with the green skirts, and the pink micro. Hopefully everything does just as well after the transition. Link to comment
kimberbee Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Awesome! Wish I could see the video though - it's blocked cause I'm at work... Link to comment
afyounie Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Looks real nice. Really liking that porcelain crab too. Makes me want to get one. Link to comment
gena Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 This is BIG news and so exciting . I can't wait to see it all together. I have always loved the looks of the Solana Pendant. I would totally use one if I could get my hands on one . Link to comment
rocksmom Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 This is BIG news and so exciting . I can't wait to see it all together. I have always loved the looks of the Solana Pendant. I would totally use one if I could get my hands on one . I've always liked them too. We had a Viper that we were going to use, but right when he was setting up his tank I found one for sale. I think it was on here actually. Link to comment
rocksmom Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Got a call today that the tank came in! That's a week earlier than expected! All boxed up: IMG_0113 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Topless: IMG_0116 by rocksmom9, on Flickr The corners all line up really well, but there is definitely some silicone cleanup that needs done: IMG_0114 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Still need to do a leak test as well. I got the dimensions sent to Chris at PicO to get a price on the AIO kit. Hopefully my husband (also a Chris) decides to go with that and not just the AC70 we have sitting in the closet. He is a bit of a cheapskate so it's anybody's guess at this point. I'm surprised he's even entertained the idea of using my mp10 instead of selling it in favor of a couple rio pumps. Link to comment
rocksmom Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Couple updates: 1) Heard back from Chris @ PicO. We're going ahead with the AIO kit from him. Not sure how long it will take, but looking forward to getting that installed. I successfully re-siliconed a small tank before, so hopefully installing the AIO kit won't be too bad. 2) We are working on getting a stand built. It's either going to be square metal tubing to match our loft railing or wood shelves with the metal brackets like the nanocube stand. Once we get a quote back from the guys who would be building the metal tubing one we'll know for sure. They've done work for us before and it was pretty quick, but it just depends on how busy they are. 3) My pom pom crab is a monster. I moved him from my 3g to the nanocube and since then the firefish and the tsb have both had injuries. I think he's stinging them! I knew he was aggressive because when I would use a toothbrush or turkey baster in the 3g he would go after it, but I didn't know the anemones could actually cause damage like that. The firefish has already recovered, but the blenny's is new. Hopefully he recovers as well. Needless to say the crab will not be making the transfer into the new tank. Link to comment
rocksmom Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 Things are moving along. Got quite a few things done since I posted last: Bought epoxy, glue, screen lid parts, sand (regular reefflakes) Started cycling some additional rock to try to prevent any sort of "mini-cycle" from the transfer Did the leak test Built the stand! We didn't hear back from the metal fabricator for awhile and in the meantime my husband got a little antsy and we ended up building the stand ourselves. We went a little outside the box and decided to make it look like a crate or pallet or... something. I don't have any pictures of in the inner structure, but it's just your standard build which I painted black. The decorative boards were stained with a homemade vinegar stain to age them and then I sealed the whole thing with polycrylic. It's been curing for about a week now. We made the one top board removable to make putting the tank in easier since it's sits down in to hide the lower rim. Here is a pic (missing board and all): DSC01103 by rocksmom9, on Flickr It's just sitting on those boards to prevent the curing poly from sticking to the floor. The one weird thing is that it doesn't open. I wanted to make one of the sides hinge open, but Chris decided it wasn't necessary. His argument was that since it's an AIO all it really has is the controller and skimmate bottle, so he's just mounting them behind the stand. Speaking of AIO, the kit from Chris at PicO is out for delivery today! We should get it installed tonight or tomorrow. And because everyone likes pictures, here are some shots from the nanocube: DSC01127 by rocksmom9, on Flickr DSC01118 by rocksmom9, on Flickr DSC01115 by rocksmom9, on Flickr DSC01105 by rocksmom9, on Flickr DSC01106 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Link to comment
rocksmom Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 The AIO is in! DSC01140 by rocksmom9, on Flickr It's too dark to really see what's going on back there, but here's a shot of the back: DSC01143 by rocksmom9, on Flickr The siliconing went really well. Here's one of the seams: DSC01142 by rocksmom9, on Flickr And the rest of the stuff in the package from Chris: DSC01144 by rocksmom9, on Flickr The lid and the return was a nice surprise, wasn't expecting either of those. Installation went smoothly. Only thing I would have done differently was use more adhesive on the dividers in the back. I was afraid of running out while doing the bead in the display area, but still have probably a third or more of the tube leftover. ETA: That light you see under the false back in the picture from the rear isn't actually coming through under the acrylic. That's showing through under the glass bottom of the tank since the rim raises it up. Link to comment
PicO Aquariums Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Great work on sealing that thing in! Love the look of the stand also. Link to comment
rocksmom Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Thanks Chris! Can't wait to get it running. Link to comment
Steensj2004 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 You are killing this build, GREAT job! Amazing seam job! The stand is sweet too!! Link to comment
vlangel Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I love your stand. That is a truly unique idea. Way to go! Link to comment
805reef Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Looking good! Will be following along and looking forward to the updates! Link to comment
gena Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I love your style . The stand and everything looks amazing! Too crazy about your pom pom crab . Link to comment
rocksmom Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Thanks for all the compliments on the stand! I got the idea from my end tables. I had bought one large and two small crates and turned them on their ends, stacking the two smaller ones, and then added casters. I love your style . The stand and everything looks amazing! Too crazy about your pom pom crab . Thanks gena. I know, I never would have thought the crab would injure the fish, but I knew the timing couldn't be a coincidence. The one in my 5g doesn't do much of anything so he/she might make it to the big tank. We'll see. Link to comment
rocksmom Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 The tank is wet! Sort of. Currently making batches of saltwater. DSC01154 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Spent the afternoon doing all the wiring and electronics mounting. We added two boards to the back of the stand to hold the electronics. One side has the RKL and the other has an additional powerstrip and the MP10 controller. The controller will go where the empty spot is in the second pic, it's just not mounted yet since all it takes is the velcro. DSC01157 by rocksmom9, on Flickr DSC01155 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Everything should be transferred tomorrow! Link to comment
rocksmom Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Ta-da! DSC01165 by rocksmom9, on Flickr DSC01168 by rocksmom9, on Flickr It took forever, but we got it finished between yesterday and today. Livestock was all transferred yesterday, but I wanted to give it a day because some of the corals were pretty grumpy. Everything looks pretty good today. The fish barely seemed to notice they are in a new tank. My little goby from my 5G is all over the place. He must like having all the space to hop around. Few more pics... Top down: DSC01172 by rocksmom9, on Flickr The lid: DSC01177 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Back chambers, fan, moonlight, etc: DSC01180 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Electronics set up and routed: DSC01178 by rocksmom9, on Flickr DSC01179 by rocksmom9, on Flickr Honestly I never thought an upgrade would be so much work. I've read posts where people think it will take them an afternoon and they end up finishing at like 4am. I just thought they were crazy. LOL! Super happy with how this turned out, so I think we're done for a long, long while. Of course, there will be a few new fish additions coming in the future, but that's another story... Link to comment
mclayj Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Congrats on the upgrade - it looks great! Link to comment
JR! Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 totally in love with this build. Link to comment
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