[louist]

Originally posted by richnbowl
Great tank. Two questions though.
How do you like the AquaMedic Oceanlight fixture you have?
and
What type of calcium reactor do you have running your system?

I like the AquaMedic Oceanlight. My main regret is the lack of actinic for aesthetic purposes I couldn't stand the buzzing sound from the magnetic ballast and changed it to an OSRAM electronic ballast.

That calcium reactor is made by Aquatica Australia, which is no longer in business. He sold all his stuff at a garage sell and I picked it up for AUD$40 (USD$33). It works OK, but the tuning is a lot more fiddly than my other DBReefTech CR-5C.

Originally posted by b_mattias
how long have you had it? maybe I missed it but I don't think the article said.

This tank has been setup almost 1.5 years. Keep in mind that small colonies look big in nano tanks. This is also one of the main advantages of a SPS-dominated nano tank; you get to enjoy the look of a "mature" tank in a much shorter time. In addition, in Australia, we get frags in trades, but we never really purchase frags. The reefing culture is a bit different from the US. We have cheap corals and really expensive clams! There are also very very limited aquaculturing.

Originally posted by kneepuck
I'm interested how you constructed & installed the, "external Durso standpipe." Can you elaborate?

I based this design on "Tigahboy's" (nano-reef.com) schematic drawings. He uses this same design on some of his tanks. Is basically a durso as we understand it, but sits outside the tank. Here are some photos that should clear things up. The green airtap on the top allows you to control the amount of airflow into the durso.





I always get asked if surface skimming is an issue with a setup like this. In the case of a nano tank, no. I switch the return pump off for feeding, and this drains all the surface water into the filter bag. However, this same design does not work on a large tank with a very large surface area. On my 4' tank, I made a skimming box that screws onto the bulkhead, and this allows for surface skimming . If anyone is interested in that, I'll post a photo of it.

Originally posted by Kelpie
I have an Aquaspacelight that is very similar looking to your AquaMedic Oceanlight. Please tell me where you found the legs for yours.

Kelpie, I got the legs from Chris of Nano-Tuners. The legs should work with most AquaMedic lights since it uses the same groove as the ones used by the flaps. So you will need to choose between one but not both unless you take the dremel to it. Shoot Chris an email, he's very good with inquiries.

The bubble-algae looking hitchhiking crab is actually a decorator crab that live in macro algae. He can change looks very quickly. One moment he is definitely a chaetomorphia-camo one, and the next moment he's holding Caulerpa instead. It's quite funny when he's hanging onto a mangrove, while holding Caulerpa