15 gallon nano (tall rectangle) project (NEW PICS 8/23)

[clearerphish]

Cut the top out for the light today. Took awhile but it looks great. I'm getting excited, but I need some advice:

I need to come up with some sort of plastic moisture guard for the two actinics. I was thinking something like acrylic with small holes drilled in it, so the clips that hold the CF bulbs to the reflectors can poke through and I can put those silicon rubber bands around them OVER the acrylic to hold it in place. Any ideas (run with that or suggest something entirely new)

[Devilishturtles]

Your idea sounds good to me. Some sort of acrylic over it would work well. Looking at my coralife fixture, having the clips pop through the acrylic wouldn't work too well, and would the acrylic being right against the bulbs have any negative affect on perhaps heat or damage to the bulb? I really have no idea, just speculating.

[clearerphish]

I think you're right about the heat. I thought I might be able to get away with thick acrylic since they're only 9 watts each, but I think I'm just going to take acrylic rectangles, drill a hole in each corner, pass a screw through, then use a ton of washers to keep the acrylic distanced from the hood. I'm sure that would work, but I hate to put any more holes in what's left of the top than I need to.....

[timbo2]

Question about the airstones... Forgetting about micro bubbles, that is going to create a heck of a lot of salt creep isn't it?

Another question. Why not create a hood for the tank instead of trying to mod the plastic one?

Just questions. I think what you've done so far is very cool... I like the idea of a tall tank.

[clearerphish]

Originally Posted by timbo2

Question about the airstones... Forgetting about micro bubbles, that is going to create a heck of a lot of salt creep isn't it?

Another question. Why not create a hood for the tank instead of trying to mod the plastic one?

Just questions. I think what you've done so far is very cool... I like the idea of a tall tank.

The airstones are out, the holes drilled into the HOB filter have been sealed. The main problem was the amount of moisture the bubbles threw upwards as they popped.

As far as the hood, with a tall tank, the issue was always going to be lighting. I wanted actinic, MH and LED moonlights, but there wasn't anything in a fixture that would really work on a tank with a 15" square top. A pendant was out, because I wanted MH, moonlights AND actinics . Even when I was considering this project, I knew it was going to present some unique challenges.....

The tank came with a flush fitting lid, so to mod the existing lid and keep it looking like it somewhat flowed with the tank's lines was important to me. In the end this tank will have 70w metal halide (just ordered it tonight), 18 w actinic, 2 blue LED, AND an open top for gas exchange. I am absolutely sure this is going to look incredible once I get everything finished. I'm getting a little geeked as it finishes it's cycle and I can look forward to stocking it (and easing some of the pressure from my work nano).

[timbo2]

Keep up the good work!

[clearerphish]

Light came yesterday, cycle is finished. I have a Chromis in there and he's doing fine, I snagged him from my work nano. No pics right now just because the last thing to do is the aquascape and it's so close to being done. The taller tank presented some obstacles but I have ended up using tonga branch as "legs" and building a midwater platform for a lot of corals. I've gone through 35 dollars of epoxy putty and I still need to go get more, but when it is all done it should look good, especially when there are corals and algae growing over the joins in the rock. Pics soon, it looks flipping sweet.

[Devilishturtles]

Sounds awesome. I've been anticipating seeing how you'll scape that tall tank. Can't wait for pictures.

[clearerphish]

Day 28

*bling*



Here is a close up of the hood area. You can see the two 9w actinics I have mounted on either side as well as the lunar module in the center. 70w MH is brighter than I expected!










Here is the aquascapung as it stands. You can see I made a u-shaped "pier" of live rock with tonga branch stilts and a large rock platform at the top. I had to consider access to the equipment before I bricked in my whole tank. LOL!











Here's a few tank shots with just the actinics:





and with just the lunars:





The Chromis isn't reeady to come out yet - he's shy:





My blue zoos don't feel the same way:



I'm sure there will be more to come later. Here's the stats:

300+ gph flow
70w metal halide
18w actinic
2 LED moonlight
25 lbs LR
25 lbs LS
1 three head frogspawn
1 blue ricordea
1 black zoa frag
1 small blue zoa colony
1 Blue-Green Reef Chromis
1 blue legged hermit crab
1 turbo snail

wewt.

[severum mama]

Nice! Good work. My 15 nano doesn't even have water yet, lol.

[Devilishturtles]

Looks great! I love the way you made the "pier" out of the branch rock and stuff. Are those frags you have sitting on the shelf, or just rocks?

Thanks for the update!

[clearerphish]

Originally Posted by Devilishturtles

Looks great! I love the way you made the "pier" out of the branch rock and stuff. Are those frags you have sitting on the shelf, or just rocks?

Thanks for the update!

They're frags. a single blue ric frag and a single black zoo. I also took some live rock that I had extra and put it in the office nano. It's looking sharp even after giving up some tankmates. I'll probably have an update on that thread in the next week. I don't have much time to sit and stare into the tank at work, but this one at home is going to be an absolute joy.

[clearerphish]

Sorry it's been so long, guys. I've done some more mods to the tank, it's pretty well where I want it now. Next I'll be adding some SPS......
DAY 103

New workings up top - had to modify the hood even further to accept this double fan fixture. I also had to take it apart and reassemble it in reverse because the fans pointed the wrong way, but nothing on this project has been easy.





Full tank shot:



FTS w/actinics:



My Royal Gramma would like to peep you at your current location:



I love my lettuce nudibranch:



Catalina goby and nudibranch in zoanthid garden:



Fire shrimp, clown, gramma:





The great thing about the rock pier is that it allows light and flow to penetrate to a sandy bottom with very few obstructions. Low flow/low light corals can blanket the bottom of the tank, higher flow/higher light corals can go on the mid to high layers.