cherubfish pair
New member
Brief Introduction
First I'll say a little about my aquarium keeping experience. I had my first freshwater tank at seven years old. Marine life has been a passion for me all my life and I've been keeping reef tanks since 1999. Reef Central has been a big part of my reef tank journey. This website has been such a learning experience for me and I like this one because it is such a diverse community.
All my tanks have been nanos and due to some moves I have taken some nice ones down. This system here is my most serious setup, has been in the planning stages for two years, and has only been up and running since November 13, 2009.
This is a very unique tank as it's a four foot long nano. It took me over a year to finally decide what dimensions I wanted in my tank. They are 48"x12"x12" and at only 12 inches tall, gas exchange on the surface of the water is greatly increased by the width to height ratio.
Display Tank
- glasscages.com custom built all acrylic construction
- seamless vertical panels with a custom 5"x5" internal overflow
- upper and lower black frames with cross-braces and top covers
- I painted the back flat black and bottom gloss white
- a "nem guard", a closed-loop inlet with a saftey feature
- modified stockman standpipe through the overflow
- the sump return line is bulkheaded through the display tank
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=4274
Lighting is very simple right now. Just a 48" T5HO x2 by AquaticLife.
The stand is Aquatic Fundamentals. 18"x48" for a 75 gallon tank. The extra width gives me MUCH more room for equipment. I don't have the doors on because I put the thing together backwards and now they won't go on the front. So I have printed fabric material to cover it with velcro fasteners. Also on the stand is the Chauvet PC8 power panel that comes in very handy.
Note: I'm running barebottom and will not be using aragonite material because it dissolves into mud. So I will use some sort of dolomite gravel when the time comes.
Skimmer
- ASM G3 (All Seas Marine) with 3500 Sedra pump (350 gph)
- 3500 downgrade from 5000 Sedra Pump to fit sump
- 25 inches tall, 6-1/2 inch wide reaction chamber
- recirculation, gate valve and gravity feed modifications
- all overflow water drains into skimmer, 100% bypass of sump
- all skimmer output drains directly onto refugium driptray
- collection cup fixture for auto-waste container
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=4287
Temperature control
The chiller is a JBJ Mini-Arctica 1/15 HP. Capacity is up to 40 gallons and flow rate for operation is 160-110 gph. I bought this particular unit a few years ago while they were still temperature controlled by a dial (analog). Now these chillers of the same capacity are adjusted by a microprocessor (digital). The original units can be upgraded to digital via a $99 retrofit. (Maybe down the road I'll get one for my chiller, but I don't see a reason right now.)
Heater is a Hydor ETH 200 watt In-line. This is an external heater and operates on the same flow-through principle as in-line chillers. I figure this is more efficient that in-sump heaters that use passive circulation flowing around in a sump. It has a feature of turning off the heat when no water is flowing through it. In-sump heaters can stay on when there is no flow through the sump possibly causing a dangerous situation.
Circulation.
Only one powerhead provides circulation (the other circulation is the sump return). It's an MP10 vortech and It's a godsend to my tank. I've got a wave dialed in on short pulse which is automatically powered down by 50% for night mode. It also creates quite an undertow.
Sump return is an external Iwaki 15RLT magnetic drive. This pump is strictly external. I've got its intake coming from the refugium and the output goes through the chiller then heater and flow meter. Its pumps with a lot of head pressure so it handles the chiller coil quite well.
More specifications to come later....
UPDATES!! 4/1/10
I now have a K750 on a wave timer and it's making some difference in the far corner. Here's a short list of livestock: a hitchhiker hermit, GSP, skunk cleaner shrimp and tons of bristleworms. Going to order some macro and pods.
Updates!! 8/20/10
Just now added a rock covered with green button polyps and laced with grape caulerpa. It did quite well through its brief acclimation after a trip from two states away to it's new home. kevinpo at aquatic dreams (near Spokane, WA) has some awesome stuff tucked away at his shop in northern Idaho.
Now injecting ozone into my skimmer and controlled by my ReefKeeper Lite. Added chaeto powered by fuge lighting ten days ago. Too soon to tell what it's going to do for me. Also using RKL for temp control. Upgraded to T5 link lights. And that's about all that comes into my mind about now.
Updates!! 12/09/10
Switched the Koralia to a Tunze 6015 nanostream to supplement the vortech's flow. Added an ATO to my RKL. Acquired a Heraldi angel, and bunch of neon green frilly mushrooms from Aquatic Dreams.
