New 37-Gallon Special Order Nano-Reef Upgrade Project

[OscarBeast]

Well here is my new "not so nano" nano-reef. I had been seeking a tank that would be perfectly lit by a single [acronym:002e7474ee="Metal halide light"]MH[/acronym:002e7474ee] bulb as an upgrade for my current 10-gallon nano. The 37-gallon Oceanic Show fit the bill. It is 24½ x 18½ x 21 ½. This makes it very similar to an AGA 25-gallon tank except it is wider. So it holds more water than your typical nano, but takes up about the same space. So really it holds too much water to be considered an actual nano-reef.

This is a standard Oceanic tank, but I wanted cherry trim, so it had to be special ordered and I had to freaking wait for it to be made and shipped from Oceanic (there weren't any at the distributor’s warehouse). I guess not too many people have this tank made with a cherry finish, but I wanted mine to look like the cherry finished 30-gallon cubes.

To save money and retain my Oceanic warrantee, I also ordered an Oceanic unfinished pine stand. I stained it to be a close match to the cherry trim on the tank, and then I varnished it with a marine spar varnish. It isn't oak, but it still turned out pretty nice.

Here is the tank and stand when I first got it:


It will be lit with a 250 watt [acronym:002e7474ee="Metal halide light"]MH[/acronym:002e7474ee] system and I am going to use my existing [acronym:002e7474ee="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:002e7474ee] setup for actinic supplementation. It was bought used for $75. I am however now thinking I want just a 175 watt [acronym:002e7474ee="Metal halide light"]MH[/acronym:002e7474ee] though. I don't really think I need to burn the extra power.


I have 65Lbs of [acronym:002e7474ee="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:002e7474ee] and a 5" [acronym:002e7474ee="Deep Sand Bed"]DSB[/acronym:002e7474ee] using the all holy SD sand and just a little bit of [acronym:002e7474ee="Crushed Coral (if substrate) or Corvuscorax (if referring to person) or Counter Current (if referring to a Protien skimmer) or cubic centimeter (if referring to a measure of volume)."]CC[/acronym:002e7474ee] since a little was still in my 10-gallon. The [acronym:002e7474ee="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:002e7474ee] was cured for about 4 months in my 75-gallon tank. The Southdown was the YardRight packaging.



Well, here it is on the 24th of July with the finished stand. I still lack a canopy though:


Here is a picture of it on the 25th with the 5" [acronym:002e7474ee="Deep Sand Bed"]DSB[/acronym:002e7474ee] installed and the [acronym:002e7474ee="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:002e7474ee] added. The lighting is still my old PCs that were over my 10-gallon that have been "rigged" to sit on top of the tank.


And here it is on the 31 all nice and clear with some of the livestock spread around. I still need to move some around as a lot of it is till bunched up or hidden. It took me a while to aquascape. I wanted to get it just how I wanted it. My 10-gallon really wasn't aquascaped that great and I felt I had to make up for it by creating two nice pillars and an arch across the middle of the tank. The middle is designed in hopes of holding a nice big Rose Anemone with a couple of Black Clowns.

[reefrunner69]

to AquariumAdvice.com!!

I give it a 9.5, great tank and I absolutely love the rock work!! Excellent job!!

[OscarBeast]

[acronym:b0447636f3="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:b0447636f3]! Thx and Thx for the welcome! I didn't realize this was my first post. I have actually been a member since last year. hehe

[gooyferret]

Oscar looks great! Wow that just makes me wanna another tank, oh wait i already plan on getting one! Awesome rock work. Good luck with the tank.

[d9hp]

Hey, saw this one over at Nano-reef a while back and posted a few questions. Great tank...hmmm should i go cube instead of 20L

[BillyZ]

Hey Oscar, so this was a move from an existing tank to a new one?

I may be doing a similar project soon. What steps did you take to move the live stock? Reading your post all the [acronym:953a90c527="Live sand"]LS[/acronym:953a90c527] and [acronym:953a90c527="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:953a90c527] were new for this tank? none from your old tank?

Very informative post!

[acronym:953a90c527="By the way"]btw[/acronym:953a90c527], the tank looks incredible!

[Salt4Us]

I'm jealous! I love the cherry finish! Beautiful tank!!

[OscarBeast]

Thanks everyone!

Moving everything over was easy because I had a spare 75-gallon tank in the other room that I had cured my new rock in. Since it was full of water, I used it to juggle my livestock between the three tanks. Very easy.

The [acronym:1c0674d2f5="Deep Sand Bed"]DSB[/acronym:1c0674d2f5] was mostly new, but I had about an inch of sand and a little [acronym:1c0674d2f5="Crushed Coral (if substrate) or Corvuscorax (if referring to person) or Counter Current (if referring to a Protien skimmer) or cubic centimeter (if referring to a measure of volume)."]CC[/acronym:1c0674d2f5] in my 10-gallon tank that I put on top of the new sand bed. 20Lbs of [acronym:1c0674d2f5="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:1c0674d2f5] was from my old tank, 45Lbs was new.