My 3rd Reef Tank - Build Thread - Long Nano w/pics

[mathias999us]

OK, so first premium aquatics apologized last week that they were behind because of the holidays, and they wouldn't be able to ship my order until yesterday. Then, yesterday, they said they didn't want to ship because the temps there had dropped below 20F, and they don't like to ship livestock when it's that cold, including rock. They wanted to ship next monday, but it's still supposed to be cold in MN for me next week, so I don't think delaying solves the problem. I cancelled my order (which they were really cool about), and went to a good LFS that's about 45 miles from my house (Ocean Devotion in Burnsville, MN), and the owner helped me pick out some LR. It's "Indo/Tonga", with some decent colors, but not the most colorful I've ever seen. But there was a great variety of colors (pinks, purples, oranges, reds, and greens) and other life on the rocks, and I'm sure it'll really color up more in short time. The guy at the LFS (Ed I think?) was very helpful, and cherry picked most of the best nano-sized pieces he had in stock, and he also gave me a price break because I was specifically looking for smaller-sized pieces. I got my preliminary aquascaping done last night, and just letting things settle a bit now. I'll post pics tonight.

[MinibowMatt]

AWESOME!
Calvin is a great guy, I have spoke with him about acrylic work too.

Your tank is nice, and I like your woodworking! Im slightly concerned that the insulation wrapped around your pump may cause it to overheat and die.. something to think about...

Very good build thread!

[mathias999us]

MinibowMatt -
Yeah, I was concerned about that too. I've been keeping my eye on it, and stick my hand inside to feel the pump occasionally, and it runs pretty cool. I think eheim makes a great pump. I agree with you though, it's definitely something to be monitored. Thanks for the compliments!

[mathias999us]

OK, here's my initial aquascaping. This is the point where I admit that, I don't feel like I'm a very good aquascaper, and somehow I can never seem to get to an arrangement I am satisfied with. That being said, I had a few goals in mind with this arrangement:[list=1][*]Easy maintenance, room to clean front and sides of display on the inside[*]Plenty of good spots to place corals[*]Stable structure that is not falling down every time I bump it with the back of my hand[*]Conceal the return jets[*]Open structure to promote good flow[/list=1]

This rock has a decent amount of color on it, but it does need some more time to color up. For some reason, the lights or my camera make it look really white in the pics (I'm a point and shoot photographer, nothing more), it definitely has more color in person.

In total, I squeezed 20.5 lbs of LR into this 10.5g display! Anyway, here's a bunch of pics:






Right end shot:


Left end shot:


Hard to get a shot of this, but there is space along the length behind the structure for flow. Here's an attempt:

[jwhyne]

Looks awesome!

[mathias999us]

And, my lame attempt to make a multi-image panorama. I didn't even bother to stitch it together...:

[mathias999us]

jwhyne -
Thanks! Glad ya like it.

[calvin415]

Mathias I love it bro!!!! Coraline will grow in time, but you probably want to limit the light cycle for now to try to control the diatom bloom that will come in the next week. I cooked my rock for months in a trash can in my basement and then cycled the tank with no lights and never had an outbreak.

[mathias999us]

If anyone has any comments or suggestions to improve my aquascaping, I'd certainly be interested.

Now I've come to a sad realization. My build phase of this tank is essentially complete. Everyone has their favorite aspect to this hobby, and mine is definitely the equipment and the build process.

This will probably be my last update for a while. I'm gonna let this thing just chill out for about a month now, and fully cycle. I'll probably add a CUC in early February. I'll post some more pics then. I'll try to take some photos along the way to hopefully achieve a bit of a time-lapse sequence of the rocks coloring up over the next month.

Thanks everyone for your interest and encouragement!!! I'll post updates after the cycle.

[mathias999us]

Calvin -
Thanks man! I'm certainly glad to have your approval on this one. I aspire to have a tank almost as nice as what you had. Yeah, I think I'll keep my eye out for diatom, and probably cut the lights back a bit good idea. I've been running the whites for 10 hours per day, and the actinics for 12 hours per day, with an hour overhang in the morning and at night for sunrise/set.

[saltyshoe_nano]

hey lookin good mathias! I like the aquascaping keepup the good work....oh and did ya get any hitchhikers on the rocks well that you can see at least

[mathias999us]

Hey saltyshoe - thanks. All I've seen for hitchikers so far is some copods. I'm keeping my eye out though.

[ThunderousTalon]

I'm in awe.... Calvin i'll be contacting you really soon! Decide on a fish or any yet?
You do one fish, i say go w/ a six-line, canary wrasse or cherub pygmy. i know its a 10gallon, but theres imo enough length or maybe i'm just nuts. Any of the 3 would show off the lenght and be very interactive the whole way down and show it off.

[johno4]

The tank is sweet looking! I think since you are going to let the rock color up before adding anything you have time to "play" with the aquascape a bit more. I think it would be nice if you had more caves/tunnels in your aquascape, although its got to be tough given the depth you have to work with.

[mathias999us]

ThunderousTalon -
Wow, thanks! Glad you like it. I think I'd like to put 2 fish in this tank. One that is active and swimming, and one that likes to lurk a bit more. I love your idea of getting a fish whose behavior will emphasize the length of the tank. I bet you're right too, I could probably put a fish that you usually wouldn't put in a 10g because the dimensions of this tank provide a LOT of ground surface area and length for swimming compared to a cube or normal glass 10g tank. I'm liking the six line wrasse idea, and maybe some type of goby to go along with it, like a green clown goby or a rainfordi. Thanks for the ideas!

johno4 -
Thanks a bunch! I tried playing around with the aquascaping a bit more, but making 3 different "island" piles, and also tried focusing on making more caves, but I can't find anything that works better than the original for me. There are so many constains between height, depth, stability, and also concealing the 6 return jets, while leaving openings for the flow to come out, it's a lot to contend to. I went back to the original layout for now. There are a fair number of caves and caverns though, it's hard to get a sense of depth from the pics probably. Thanks for the suggestions.

[mathias999us]

Quick update -
I've had the rock in for about 3 days now. Starting to get some diatom already, so I'll likely cut the light cycle back a bit soon. I've noticed that a lot of the original color that was on the rock has bleached quite a bit. Not sure if that's from the high intensity lighting, or whether it's just from the stress of moving the rock. Also, the saphhire skimmer has really kicked into gear now. It's finally producing skimmate, and the microbubble production has really died down. I think it will prove to be a very decent skimmer for this tank.

Fish question. Do you think it's OK for me to put a fish in this tank that you normally wouldn't find in a 10.5 gallon? I think ThunderousTalon has a good point here... I believe that usually the reason that you can't keep certain fish in a small tank has more to do with the available ground surface area for swimming, rather than the total volume of water. This tank has a LOT of ground area because of its dimensions... probably even more than a 30 gallon cube. Could I put a fish in here that you'd usually find only in a >= 30 gallon tank, like a 6 line wrasse? How about a wrasse and a goby?

Thanks for your input!

[alpine]

Hey Mathias
Looking good,your definately going to go thru a few variations on aquascapeing.Especially when you start buying corals,having to move things around to make room for corals that are on there own rocks.Also you should really cut back on the light,like everybody is advising you to.Personally I would just use the actinics until you get some corals in there and cut the actinics time down by about 4hrs.Coraline does bleach as well,so its definately not from being moved from the store to your house.

Also a small tip.I have always had great success growing coraline algae useing coral vital.As for the fish,well no comment on that one,as I've never had a wrasse before.

Moving along,the tank looks great,and I'm sure I speak for everybody whos following your build.When I say we look forward to seeing some corals and fish in there.

[mathias999us]

Thanks alpine. Are you saying you think that the coraline may have bleached because the light is too bright? Are you saying I should cut back on the lights just to avoid a diatom bloom?

Thanks for the input and support.

[mathias999us]

Thought I'd post an update of the skimmer. I think the collection cup fits a little on the loose side on this model of Sapphire skimmer. I put a rubber band around the bottom, and that has improved the seal quite a bit, although not perfect. I like to skim on the wet side, so I have it set to skim pretty wet. This is my first cup of good skimmate. It's really about 18 hours worth of skimmate, so I think this little thing is performing really well! It's a bit on the loud side, but I'm happy with it.


Like I said, I like to skim on the wet side, but I may raise the cup for some drier skimmate, especially since it seems to be performing so well, and with only LR in the tank too!

[mathias999us]

alpine and calvin -
I've cut the light back now like suggested. Aquablues are always off, and actinics will run 8 hours per day.

[alpine]

Yep coraline can bleach just like a coral does.

[mathias999us]

Well, this is a good preliminary indication that I'll need to be extra careful with photo aclimating corals in this tank I think... Thanks.

[eshook]

The tank looks great. I'm looking forward to seeing cucs or snails and eventually a fish or shrimp.

[mathias999us]

eshook -
Cool, thanks! Yeah me too.... now is the test of patience.

[workstoomuch]

Your tank turned out awesome, it was fun following your thread. Good, good job.