College Nano Plan

College nano plan!

College nano plan!

New tank question!

Currently the aquarium Im going to get was the IM fusion peninsula 14, but I'm considering the fusion nano 20. The fusion nano 20's display is 15 gallons, and the peninsula is 10g. In the fusion 20, I get twice the filtration capacity. The tanks are the same price.

My only concern is the size of the display. Can I get away with an extra 5 gallons of display space?


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Are you concerned about the limit of water volume in the dorm? If so just consider rock displacement in your total volume, since realistically you'll still lose another 4-5 gallons of water from the tanks to that. My 29g biocube holds just under 22 gallons of water, which rounds down to 20 gallons.

Whoever says something, won't know the difference between display volume, total volume, and actual water volume. If the limit is 10 gallons, and they ask how big the tank is, say 10 gallons, since that's how much water it's holding and ultimately what the liability could be that they're concerned about.

They're not going to measure, or google the tank (let alone know what tank it is), and nobody has any idea what the size of a gallon of water looks like anyway. If you said 5 gallons they probably wouldn't think twice about it (think about how big a 5 gallon gas can is, probably the same height and width of the aquarium, just half or a third as deep).
 
ReefWreak said:
Are you concerned about the limit of water volume in the dorm? If so just consider rock displacement in your total volume, since realistically you'll still lose another 4-5 gallons of water from the tanks to that. My 29g biocube holds just under 22 gallons of water, which rounds down to 20 gallons.

Whoever says something, won't know the difference between display volume, total volume, and actual water volume. If the limit is 10 gallons, and they ask how big the tank is, say 10 gallons, since that's how much water it's holding and ultimately what the liability could be that they're concerned about.

They're not going to measure, or google the tank (let alone know what tank it is), and nobody has any idea what the size of a gallon of water looks like anyway. If you said 5 gallons they probably wouldn't think twice about it (think about how big a 5 gallon gas can is, probably the same height and width of the aquarium, just half or a third as deep).
Click to expand...


Okay that is true, I've had like 3 people think my current 55g aquarium is 100+ gallons :) . I hadnt considered rock/sand displaying volume but it makes complete sense. I will be going with the Im fusion 20.


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College nano plan!

College nano plan!

Now onto the filtration.

e66829497ee203f456575f395bda95a0.png


As you can see there are two filter areas. I am trying to decide whether I should have two refugiums or have a refugium and a skimmer. What do you think?


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Good idea on the IM20!

I would go with a skimmer in one and refuge in the other. I have the IM ghost skimmer and love it. There are others that will fit in the back chamber if you decide to go another route.
 
LedZep fan2 said:
Good idea on the IM20!



I would go with a skimmer in one and refuge in the other. I have the IM ghost skimmer and love it. There are others that will fit in the back chamber if you decide to go another route.
Click to expand...


Nah I'll just stick with the ghost skimmer, even though it has mixed reviews. I can't imagine there is a better option than a skimmer made for the exact tank I will have.


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extendedmango said:
Nah I'll just stick with the ghost skimmer, even though it has mixed reviews. I can't imagine there is a better option than a skimmer made for the exact tank I will have.
Click to expand...

As the owner of a biocube, I assure you there are almost always better options than the skimmer made for the exact tank you have. The Biocube skimmer is terrible.

The Aquamaxx WS-1 I have is just over 3" wide, so it won't fit in the back of your tank, but I assure you it would perform dramatically better than the ghost skimmer. But the Ghost is definitely not a crappy skimmer, and you'll be happy with it.

As for the refugium part, I would keep it pretty simple. I would only grow algae back there, and would recommend either buying a Santa Monica HOG 1 or DIYing something similar yourself. If you're on a budget (as you're a student), you could do what I did, which was just buy a cheap 10w LED floodlamp from ebay ($12), put it behind the tank, and shine the light into that refugium section. Algae will grow on the back wall (or you could put some eggcrate or something in there for it to grow on that is easier to remove and clean), then when it's all grown in, you just scrape it off and siphon out the algae with water changes.
 
ReefWreak said:
As the owner of a biocube, I assure you there are almost always better options than the skimmer made for the exact tank you have. The Biocube skimmer is terrible.



The Aquamaxx WS-1 I have is just over 3" wide, so it won't fit in the back of your tank, but I assure you it would perform dramatically better than the ghost skimmer. But the Ghost is definitely not a crappy skimmer, and you'll be happy with it.



As for the refugium part, I would keep it pretty simple. I would only grow algae back there, and would recommend either buying a Santa Monica HOG 1 or DIYing something similar yourself. If you're on a budget (as you're a student), you could do what I did, which was just buy a cheap 10w LED floodlamp from ebay ($12), put it behind the tank, and shine the light into that refugium section. Algae will grow on the back wall (or you could put some eggcrate or something in there for it to grow on that is easier to remove and clean), then when it's all grown in, you just scrape it off and siphon out the algae with water changes.
Click to expand...


My plan was to use a small piece of live rock from my current tank with some chaeto from the LFS. For lighting was going to try to mount one of the two AI primes I have on the back or top. I think I'm going to make it like a hob light with a 3d printed mount. Should cost only 25 bucks.


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What is the intent of the refugium? Pod growth? Somewhere to store naughty crabs? Nutrient export?

I don't think you will have enough room to justify putting the Prime back there (better to put two over the main tank to reduce shadowing), and honestly I think that anything more advanced than a ball of chaeto will be more work than it's worth. You can't/shouldn't have a sandbed because it's too narrow to maintain it and it won't add anything except a place for detritus to settle, and you won't be able to see much back there unless you leave the back exposed to the room, which I doubt there's room to do and it kind of defeats the point of the sump (you'd be better off buying a 20L and making a partition in the middle or 1/3 of the way through the tank and having a big fuge area and then a moderate sized display on the other half).

We're all here to discuss ideas, sorry if I'm stepping on your ideas and/or toes with this, I'm just trying to help you figure out something useful for you longer term.
 
College nano plan!

College nano plan!

ReefWreak said:
What is the intent of the refugium? Pod growth? Somewhere to store naughty crabs? Nutrient export?

I don't think you will have enough room to justify putting the Prime back there (better to put two over the main tank to reduce shadowing), and honestly I think that anything more advanced than a ball of chaeto will be more work than it's worth. You can't/shouldn't have a sandbed because it's too narrow to maintain it and it won't add anything except a place for detritus to settle, and you won't be able to see much back there unless you leave the back exposed to the room, which I doubt there's room to do and it kind of defeats the point of the sump (you'd be better off buying a 20L and making a partition in the middle or 1/3 of the way through the tank and having a big fuge area and then a moderate sized display on the other half).

We're all here to discuss ideas, sorry if I'm stepping on your ideas and/or toes with this, I'm just trying to help you figure out something useful for you longer term.
Click to expand...



You are in no way stepping on my ideas! I have never set up a fuge so I don't really know what I'm doing :) .

I will use two AI primes on the tank if you think having one on the fuge is overkill. I'll probably get the Im fuge light, I'm buying all of my stuff through my LFS and he usually gives good deals. I got a fully stocked and set up reefer 250 for 2k dollars.

In the fuge... I was thinking a small live rock piece and a ball of chaeto, no SB or critters.


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Because of the increase in tank size, could I get an additional fish? I would really like to get a white spotted Pygmy filefish.


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It looks like from LiveAquaria that they would be fine for a 30g tank, but 20g might be too small. You might want to ask in the Reefcentral general fish forum area, where they'll know more about why the recommendation is 30 gallons. The existing threads on RC have people putting them in 75g tanks

Usually it's either that they need swimming room to be happy and healthy, or they eat a lot and pollute a lot. I'm not sure why for these guys, hopefully someone else over there can help.
 
ReefWreak said:
It looks like from LiveAquaria that they would be fine for a 30g tank, but 20g might be too small. You might want to ask in the Reefcentral general fish forum area, where they'll know more about why the recommendation is 30 gallons. The existing threads on RC have people putting them in 75g tanks

Usually it's either that they need swimming room to be happy and healthy, or they eat a lot and pollute a lot. I'm not sure why for these guys, hopefully someone else over there can help.
Click to expand...


The live aquaria recommendation confuses me b/c it ranks a 4" file the same as a 3" file on tank size. That and it never recommends 20 gallons


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Well I think my plan for this tank is about wrapped up. I'm going to be focused on college applications and what not so I won't be quite so active. I will update again when I begin to setup the tank.

Tank plan:
-IM Fusion Nuvo 20
-IM Nano Ghost Skimmer
-2 AI Primes
-Ato
-Refugim LED
-1 large dry pukani rock
-live sand

Stocking list:
-hi fin goby
-possum wrasse
-white spot pygmy filefish
-pistol shrimp
-two cleaner shrimp
-birdsnest coral and mixed LPs and softies

Thanks for the help so far!!!


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I'm back :)

Okay so I had a crazy idea. Could I buy an ats from brs and some how link it to a 22 long aquarium? I don't want it mounted above and a sump isn't an option. I'm going to post this in the diy forum eventually but I wanted to see what you all think.


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I realized the above idea was ridiculous so I did a little more searching and found the santimonica filtration drop1.4. So here is the current plan.

New Stuff
-DROP1.4
-Tunze nanostream 6040
-IM Ato and pump
-IM diy screen lid with clips
-Some sort of Aqua Maxx aquarium (see next post)

From Current Tank
-heater
-ai prime

You may be wondering why I would switch from my earlier IM nuvo 20 plan. The main reason is that I want more of the stuff to be useful when I decide to set up my red Sea Reefer again. The IM equipment, while high-quality, is just too specific to their aquariums.


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College nano plan!

College nano plan!

On to the aquamaxx aquarium.

What size is best for a dorm reef. There are so many sizes available from aquamaxx that I really need help narrowing them down. What size footprint is appropriate for a dorm desk? I'm leaning towards the 32.1 gallon tall cuboid but I'm worried it is too large.

I would greatly appreciate it if some of you looked at the aquamaxx options and told me which you would buy. Here's a link--> https://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx-Aquariums-MB1-FIAQ-ct.html

Thanks!

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College Nano Plan

Finally purchased the aquarium!!! I'll post pics on a new build thread once I receive it.


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