Nano owners, thoughts on a design?

[RokleM]

I've got a buddy who wants to get into the hobby in a very minor way and has an apartment. He wanted a custom tank, so I was thinking about whipping something up.

Any of you nano owners have any input? "back" wall and overflow will be black. Size is about 11x11x16. To explain the overflow, the round hole is a "backup", with the square hole at the size being directly over a vertical sponge. I'm thinking about compartmentalizing the back section, but haven't decided yet. The two return holes will likely be Tunze mini's that do about 50-100 GPH (not nano-stream).

Google Sketch-up is COOL once you figure out how to use it

[LPFSTheFett]

I think it looks good. I think it would look better being wider then long though. Just my .02 cents

I have two 14 Gallon bio cubes in my kids rooms and I can tell you they are a pita to take care of. I took some cheeto(sp) and put them in the tanks and the water quality did a 180. Night and day difference. Stuff doesn't look 'that' bad, doesn't spread uncontrolably, but has really made a major difference.

[jdircksen]

Cool idea, here's a few things I thought of...
Do you really want the teeth in the overflow? it reduces the amount of water skimmed by 1/2.
Is there room for a skimmer?
Could he attach one of those clamp on HQI lights anywhere or will he need to hang something from the ceiling?

[zzak]

I agree that a fuge makes a big difference on a nano (after only 2 months of testing).

I'd use the back section for that with a slot for a pass-thru charcoal filter, that can be added as needed.

[RokleM]

Yeah, I'll likely do chaeto in the back section. I've got an old 12" 2x18 PC lights he's going to use for now until he decides what all he's interested in. I figure a couple really small easy fish and a few simple frags to start with. I've also thought about what you mentioned about going wide (long back wall channel) instead of deep. He just moved to a new apartment over the weekend, and I see why he wanted it deep. However, there were no plugs in the location he wanted to place it, so there's a second spot that a wide tank might look better.

[prance1520]

I put a false back in a 40g breeder before, and it worked out really well. The one problem i had was a lot of collection of detritus in the back chamber. Make sure the flow through is high enough, or put a small powerhead in the back chamber.