First off..Hello! And this is my intro with my 20g nano project.

[Miamireefer]

Hello everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself..I be Nick..and just simply wanted to share and get more involved on reefcentral...Definitely a wealth of knowledge here that has been very beneficial thus far.. Anyhow my experience is dating back 8 months and I have been hooked on this hobby and spending my @ss on it but feel I haven't been this happy since my days of modding the hell out of cars for racing(another $$$$ hobby). Just wanted to share my current project for a buildup of my infant sons 20g high nano tank which someday I want to be a sps dominated tank. I will share photos of how far I have come and also would like further pointers, tips, and general advice of essential items I need or may have missed through my research.

First start was a 20g high I painted with krylon using true blue along with what is to be my refugium hidden underneath

Here is a pretty common style sump/fuge design I made using glass for baffles...I got one last baffle to place in

Here is the furniture they will be housed in... I designed it with hiding the bottom and top black rims so you're only viewing the glass... i designed my old man(carpenter) built it.

Well that does it for pics..

List of equipment involved up until now:

20g high aga
10g tank for sump/fuge (will have couple pieces of LR, DSB, and chaeto in middle chamber).
Tank lighting:24" coralife aqualight pro 150w 10k hqi 2x65 pc actinics
Skimmer:coralife superskimmer 65 (needlewheel)
Return pump: mag drive3
supplamental movement via: 2 maxi jet 900's
Turnover should be roughly around 40x if I am not mistaken.
Refugium lighting provided by coralife 9" 2x9w pc's 6700k spectrum

In regards to my dt flowing to my refugium I have plans of drilling a bit off centered in the tank and building my own internal overflow with the overflow box being perfectly centerd in the tank
Dimensions I have for internal overflow are L-5" W-3.5" built out of blue translucent acrylic to match up my background at best. for overflow drain I built a durso pipe to keep things simple and save some $$ from buying a premade one.

My main concerns are the calcium needs for an sps tank, and evaporation. Although I will be able to adjust my height on light level from 4-12" it's still a concern. Any advice that can help make my life easier or what regiment can I practice once this tank has matured and I can begin to add sps wuld be GREATLY APPRECIATED! I hope you guys liked the intro and thanks in advance to those who offer kind words and/or advice!

Nick

 

[demeyer2]

Looks great, very interested to see how this turns out! Keep us posted!

 

[madnav87]

very nice... beautiful cabinet

 

[CamBarr]

looking good nice cabinet

 

[tulkas71]

Are you drilling the bottom of the 20 or the back? Its hard to tell if thats a bushing mounted in there or just laying in there.

I have the same tank that im going to start on and had reservations about drilling the bottom. Dont really have any idea if the bottom is hardened or not. So maybe that answers my question already.

Oh, are you going to put an ATO in there?

Love to see the pumbing pics and what size holw for drain and return you use.

 

[ek9vboi]

I would go against the DSB idea, reason being that it is too little of area to do much. Nice choice of lighting, wish I was smarter and went stright MH and PCs to suppliment actinics.

Some ways of controlling calcium would be a kalk reactor or calcium reactor. I know a guy in Miami Lakes who builds them for fun and could work on something fairly small for your tank. He has been wanting to build me one and so on but i tell him I don't need one... yet.

Another thing to becareful with is heat build up. Remember evaporation is the key to cooling down the tank, so either be prepared to buy as chiller for $$$ or have a few fans blowing over the lights and water. You can easily throw in a 6" fan or so in the sump in order to control that problem. Just remember to have holes on the side of the stand to push and pull the air in and out.

 

[Miamireefer]

Well currently I just have the fitting and everything else sitting in the tank.... or below... As far as drilling yes I am going to drill the bottom of the tank offset from the center and fit in the durso pipe i made so the overflow is centered in the tank.. I used a 1" bulkhead so I don't restrain any flow issues going back to the fuge. Hole size needed to be drilled is 1 3/4". In regards to your concern my aga 20 high does not have tempered glass on the bottom thus allowing it to be drilled. If you also have an aga here is the link to there technical aspect of their tanks and tells you pretty much what doesn't and does have a tempered bottom

http://www.all-glass.com/services/techinfo.shtml

basically biggest tank you can drill would be a 40 breeder.

As far as furniture it was made to an exact match of my sons current crib, dresser and changing table so it worked out great.

Again folks I am hardly an expert so any tips on extra equipment that would be beneficial in having please send opinions my way!! I am still learning ALOT as I go. I love this stuff!

:rollface:

 

[tulkas71]

Thanks for that link.
Mine will be very much like yours. probably the main difference is that Im going with a tall stand and have an additional 10gl as a stand alone fuge. I mean I have to make a stand from nothing and those 10gl are like $10

I'll use a 1" drain and 3/4" return.

I was looking around lowes the other day trying to get my head around it. What fittings actually make up the 'bulkhead"? There isnt an actual piece called that (think that simply refers to the wall of glass?). It basically looks like a 1" to 1" bushing siliconed in the hole with the threaded end down?

Sorry to be quizing you in your project thread :bum:
So for advice I would definately comtemplate an atuo-top off.
Im going to figure out something myself with a 5gl water cooler jug/maxijet and a floatswitch. Aparantly the key to a nano is stable salenity.

Heh, I think about what Im wanting to do and ponder if my 40gal of total volume still qualifies as a 'nano' :smokin:

 

[Billy1234]

I like the liquor dispenser in the first pic Oh, and the tank is very nice too

 

[Miamireefer]

Tulkas the only pieces that make up a bulkhead is a gromet fitted into the hole with a threaded or slipon connection and is held together via threaded washer on underside of tank. I would suggest you just scoop one up at your lfs. cost me 6 dollars.. and thanks for the auto top off...i definitely will see how i can impliment one considering my limited space....

I'll keep updates posted via this thread....thanks again for help.

Nick

 

[noschmo]

Amazing, I be Ali G, your main man!

 

[alien9168]

Awsome!

 

[alien9168]

Awsome!

 

[Miamireefer]

Update to my NANO

Update to my NANO

Well just wantted to show some goodies I got for the nano...
And I also finally got it drilled in the corner with a glass diagonally placed in the corner for my internal overflow build... will update with pics on that for tomrrow.

Ended up getting a coralife ss 65 and an aqualight pro w/150 10k hqi which i will be replacing with a 14k phoenix bulb and 2x65 actinics. the 2 led moonlights do a great job as well.. Well almost there on getting it going..