a nano is born (pictures)

[Xjinn]

quick specs:

15g aga tank
2.75x12x24" sump/refugium
9x12x24" (~11g) display

250w pfo minipendant, AB20k bulb, PFO HQI ballast
eheim 265gph powerhead for return
eheim 265gph for circulation (in tank)
CPR skimmer (built into tank, purchased cup) w/ 211gph RIO 800RVT
350w won pro titanium heater

to answer a few q's:
the mandarin eats like a pig
if not shown in the pictures, the tank is BRIGHT
light is ~3" off the surface, all light falls in tank
a desk fan blows at the tank/light keeping temps 77-80f
the pumps are both at ~1/2 power for the mandarin's sake (may be boosted later for sps sake)

other inhabitants not shown:
turbo snail
queen conch
white porcelain crab
emerald crab
scarlet hermit
electric blue/black hermit

SPS soon to come! (and possibly a mandarin mate)

more pics at http://www.rit.edu/~srp6740/

[Duff]

Looks good, I like the look and interesting with the built in fuge!
How long has the tank been up and running? A bit surprised by the mandarin, is he good with packaged food?

Did you do the fuge your self? I'd love to know more about it. How did you build in the CRP?

Keep up the great work, I look forward to more updates!

Duff

[cb747]

If your mandarin doesnt eat frozen food bring him back to the LFS. Your tank doesnt have a pod population established. He will slowly starve to death......... do not get a mate for the mandarin! Read and research on them.

[Xjinn]

Originally posted by Xjinn

to answer a few q's:
the mandarin eats like a pig

thanks for the tip cb747, i understand your good intentions, but please spare me the prejudice and dont jump to conclusions

i know that stereotypes are typically founded in reality, and that mandarins are very hard to keep. i can assure you however that this mandarin ate cyclopeeze at the store, eats copius amounts of live brine in my tank, and that i would not have gotten him if this was not the case

even though this is my first tank, i have 2 yrs reef experience and consider myself quite knowledgable about reefs in general (hate to brag, but its unavoidable when you spend so many countless hours on reef central)

i also feel there is a bit of misconception about how difficult these mandarins actually are to keep, i gathered this from reading extensively on reef central
it would appear that generally any healthy mandarin from a store (even one that doesnt eat the store's food) can be trained through various methods to eat prepared food

i know brine is not considered the most nutritious marine food, but i find it extremely hard to beleive that a mandarin that eats dozens upon dozens a day (more if i felt the need) could starve

also i am confident that i will be able to get the mandarin to eat several other foods given his (relatively) agressive brine feeding

now that that is out of the way (and i hope people read it)...

Duff: yes i did the sump/refugium myself, with plumbers goop

i could describe it in detail, but i would much rather post a full-view picture from the back. as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words

the tank can actually be moved when full (carefully) so i should be able to get that picture up shortly

[Xjinn]

here is me sliding the tank over, lift with your legs!


heres that 1000 word picture


closup of refugium, about 3" sand, 4" pod pile foam, 5" cheato
murphy's law was not out i force the day i built this, about the only things that went wrong are that the heater didnt quite fit, and i had to tilt the return pump down so it wouldnt suck air


and here is the waterworks
the picture doesnt show it, but even though the skimmer is pretty much a replica of the backpack, there is a significant micro bubble problem. i only run the skimmer when not viewing or sleeping

[weimluv1]

really awesome!


funny i found your thread.....when i decide to upgrade to a larger tank than a nano i was planning on building a refugium/sump setup pretty much like yours, all nice and clean and safe in the back inside of tank.


just haven't seen a lot of glass aquariums w/ it.

where did you buy the black piece that separates your tank from the 'fuge?

[Xjinn]

www.mcmaster.com ..... hobbyist's wet dream
part number 8505K943

[Razing Kane]

nice work, totally dig the mods

[trmiv]

LOL, are you sure you're just "sliding the tank over" in that pic? Looks like someone loves their tank just a bit too much!

j/k, nice light!

[despot101]

Question about the foam filter in the fuge. Won't that become a nitrate factory? Or do you plan on cleaning it often?

[Bu32]

O V E R K I L L


All of my Nano reefs have maintained flawless water quality with no skimming, no refugium and 2-4 gallons of H20 changed per week. Use of Kalkwasser and Supps as well. Case in Point: 16 gallon cube= 2 yrs operation I have 1 piece of Acropora Florida about the size of a large Cantalope grown from the size of a tennis ball with a brilliant green /purple coloration. Also have a forest of True Neon-green star polyps that literally cover everything else including the entire back wall of the cube. Fish in my cube a a school of 6 green chromis. It is Stunning.

There is sanctuary in SIMPLICITY (and a much fatter wallet to boot !)


the Z Man

[despot101]

Thats bold of you.

If you preach SIMPLICITY, why do you add other suppliments aside from kalk? They probably aren't needed.

[Duff]

Wow, one guys great DYI and a few people interested in what he did and his thought process behind it and look what comes his way.


Xjinn - Looks great, thank you for taking the time to show us a back shot. I am looking at doing the same/similar but with the oceanic cube. I'd like to have an "all-in-one" as opposed to a sump. Looks like with the over flow you - you made flow through... is that a slit, cut at about water level? Why that instrad of the vertical slots? Did you do a mod' inside the pvc pipe to get the bubbles or an air stone? How often are you changing the sponge? Do you think that with the macro and the skimmer you need the sponge too?

Thanks for the "looksie" behiind the tank. Keep up the good Job, i'd like to see it on a montly basis if you have time!

Duff

[Xjinn]

duff: the overflow is about half of the tank length, 12.25" i beleive

it is in fact the slit/overflow that determines my display water height, and i set it to be slightly above the black seal on the tank, about 11.5" or so

also there is an "overflow" at the output of my skimmer which determines skimmer water height (as high as i could make it and rest the skimmer cup in the tank's corner)

the water height in the refugium and pump compartment is the only variable place, and the refugium tends to lead in water height by up to 1/2" at full pump power

i have 11x 7/16" holes in the refugium/pump-area divider in a 4-3-4 stack

as i said it creates a slight head height, so the water moves through pretty fast, and any pod unlucky enough to venture near them will be sucked through and become mandarin food

as for having no vertical overflow grating.... i did it for aesthetic reasons, and i am very happy with it

i tried to show off how it looks from inside the tank in one of those pictures, but i dont think it does it much justice, it is a very cool little waterfall

its true snails can easily go over it, but i only have one and he's not terribly difficult to pluck out of the refugium, if i dont just let him find his own way back

what i didnt expect is that at night my bastard little porcelain crab scales the walls, and jumped the overflow the first 3 nights i had him, if you didnt catch my tone he is a little more "resistant" than a turbo snail when it is time to go back to the display

i've seen the mandarin swim up there to check it out, she even allowed herself to be pressed against the wall slightly by the flow, and didnt go over, so no worries there

[opihi]

sweet setup. it looks very clean, i like the idea of using a foam filter. it'll help you grow large amounts of copepods fast.

i'd like to see more pictures when you've got it fully stocked. keep us updated!

[Hwarang]

Wow, pretty sweet. Once your copepod sponge takes off I'd like to see pix.

[despot101]

Sorry to post the same question again but I was worried it got missed.
Won't the foam filter in the fuge become a nitrate factory? Or do you plan on cleaning it often?

[Hwarang]

Oh and what about a lid for that sucker? You should put a pane of glass in between the light source and the reef. You know those two glass slats that are bound with a plastic hinge? It's like the most common basic 10g lid ever. One thing you could do is cut the hinge off the middle. Just leave a 1" strip of hinge at each end, that way no light is blocked. I did this for a 5.5g that I'm fabricating now.

[Xjinn]

Originally posted by despot101
Sorry to post the same question again but I was worried it got missed.
Won't the foam filter in the fuge become a nitrate factory? Or do you plan on cleaning it often?

i'm sorry, i beleive i did miss it

i dont plan on changing it and i'm not worried about it becoming a nitrate factory

frankly, i just dont buy into it, if this sponge were to become a nitrate factory than so would my rocks, and thats just not happening. they are both biofilters

as far as deep sand beds causing problems... i beleive that has less to do with nitrates and more to do with toxic metal and sulfer compound concentrations


i imagine it will be tricky to get a macro shot of all the pods crawling around the filter, but if it can be done i'll do it once it happens. i'm eagerly awaiting it, i'm hoping it will be pod central

i got this sponge in the misc section of premium aquatics, it was 18x3x4" and i think the porosity is perfect for pods

[jmiah]

Your tank looks awesome. I've always wanted to keep a mandarin and everyone tells me I can't because of having to small a tank (10 gallon nano). How do you keep your mandarin in so small a tank? Any tips would be awesome because I think mandarins are like teh coolest fishes ever.

[freeman.matt]

So heres something I've been wondering for a while...

Where do pods come from? I cant imagine they just spontaneously generate from water and plastic...

Can you buy a starter kit for them or do they hitchike in on LR or what?

Thanks in advance.

[Chino]

Very nice Xjinn, I really like the mods especially the skimmer part. Though you are having micro bubble problems, it still looks awesome. Maybe you can stuff some polyfiber floss in between the baffles to try blocking the bubbles? Or maybe the pod sponge could be used. Since you dont care about the whole nitrate factory deal, Id say give it a shot. Btw, is that sponge orginally for a Aquaclear 500 filter? I ask because Im using an AC 500 as a HOB fuge and that sponge you have looks like the huge sponge that came with the AC 500 when I purchased it.

freeman, Yes you can buy pods, and yes they do hitchike on LR. For sometime now Ive only notice copepods in my tank a very few amphipods. Ever since a local reefer donated me some of his awesome Chaetomorpha macro algae for my refugium, my amphipod population has exploded. Pods love to live and reproduce in Chaeto so try to get a chunk from a local reefer or you can purchase it practically anywhere online including ebay.

[a.fool.for.fish.]

wow nice job love your tank

[Reefvet]

Originally posted by Xjinn


i dont plan on changing it and i'm not worried about it becoming a nitrate factory

frankly, i just dont buy into it, if this sponge were to become a nitrate factory than so would my rocks, and thats just not happening. they are both biofilters

Well it will become a nitrate source, that's guaranteed. Just keep testing the water and you'll see it happen. On a tank that size you can just change out a gallon or two a week to correct for it.

[ikinne1]

I'm with the Nano Reefer on that one- so what. Fenner and his crew preach to the choir about nitrate factories, but it seems they're only nitrate factories when slo-mos lazily don't do water changes like they should.
I like the preemptive strike about the mandarin. That was choice. This thread is 'A Nano is born' Don't try to abort it because you're jealous of a guy that didn't spend 900 at MarineDepot.