Floridiot's 157 Nano build

So here it is unpacked:

13290skimmer2.JPG


And here it is running after about 2 minutes:

13290skimmer3.jpg


I just added the salt to the water this morning, so I better not be getting any skimmate yet. I plan on running the skimmer overnight just to make sure all is OK, but I'll be turning it off tomorrow and waiting until I add some fish.

After seeing Gasman's BK200 on his thread, and after reading much about them on the Proline forums and BK skimmers club forum, I decided I need to have one. The specs on these are unbelievable, and I must say that the build quality is amazing.

Unfortunately I'm now broke (actually in the hole a little) until either I get my money back from paypal, or a few weeks go by. It is safe to say that due to funding, this aquarium will not see too much happen over the next few weeks with the exception of me adding a few yellow tailed blue damsels and some coralline shavings.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13405220#post13405220 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drpo21
wow, nice skimmer, you added water already i can see. lets see a FTS. I really like the dimensions of the tank.
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I'll post a full tank shot tomorrow or Wednesday once the water clears up. I just added the salt this morning, so it may take a few days.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13405312#post13405312 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gasman059
Looks very very nice! This tank is plain beautiful

JOB well done- very nice- I want some water to test my BK but pending a couple of details plus plumming and other gadgets like a frag tank and my tank will be up and running.

One more thing make sure that the BK on the area of the sump has a constant water level since they are fine tune pieces of equipment and will not work properly with variable levels .

Again great tank and thought process!
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Thanks for the kind words. I did place the skimmer in the first chamber where the water is always 12.5" deep. I made a stand that is 3.25" tall, so the skimmer is sitting in 9.25" deep water.

I can't wait until I get some stuff in there to see how well this skimmer actually works.
 
one of the best looking tanks i have seen in a long while......thanks for sharing....definitely an inspiration in setting up my tank soon.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13410520#post13410520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquamanE
Any pics of the sump, and plumbing?
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I did take a few, but there's not much to look at.

13290sump1.JPG


13290sump2.JPG


On the first pic, you'll notice I'll be using a kent float valve to control the water on the left side of the sump. I love these simple ATO systems. They work great, and consume no electricity.

I also have two drains from the overflow box going into the sump. One has a gate valve which I use to control the water height in the overflow box. The second line is straight through. All the water flows through the drain line with the gate valve. The second line is located higher about even with the top of the overflow box, and will be used only if the water level gets that high (emergency situation.)

On the second pic, you can see that I have an emergency drain line mounted near the top of the sump. This line drains outside in the event the sump were to ever overflow for whatever reason.

In this pic you may also notice the BK is plugged into my kill-a-watt meter which is reading 43 watts. I must say that this is one impressive skimmer. When I fired it up last night, it was reading 44 watts, and now it is down to 43. It pulls a little more than it is rated at, but it is still extremely efficient when all things are considered.

Below is a picture of the skimmate I got after the first 18 hours of use. Please remember that the skimmer got this from a pretty much sterile tank. I just added the salt yesterday, and the rock and sand had been prewashed, and were in the tank full of freshwater which was then drained before I added the RO water and IO salt mix. I am shocked the skimmer was able to get anything from this brand new setup. I just added some more salt to increase the specific gravity, so that is why the skimmer shows no foam in the riser cup now. So far, I am extremely impressed with the BK.


13290skimmate.JPG
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13406780#post13406780 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gasman059
Hey lemme know - we can get some stuff in there, to get things going.
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The only thing I'm ready for now is some coralline scrapings. If you or anyone else can spare some, they'd be greatly appreciated.

I plan on firing up the Ca reactor later tonight or tomorrow, so hopefully I can start growing the purple stuff and eliminate the bright white rock look.
 
Nice job organizing the wires.

Is the return a submersible inside the eggrate box on the left?, i see a hose/or pipe back there but leading nowhere.

What will you put in that large area on the left
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13410880#post13410880 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquamanE
Nice job organizing the wires.

Is the return a submersible inside the eggrate box on the left?, i see a hose/or pipe back there but leading nowhere.

What will you put in that large area on the left
Click to expand...

The return pump is an Iwaki MD20rlxt which is located in an adjacent closet. The eggcrate in there will be covered with fiberglass screen. The screen over time will build a slime on it which blocks any micro-bubbles that make it through the sump. LarryV taught me this trick years ago.

I will use this area on the left for growing chaeto. The eggcrate/screen will also keep the chaeto away from the pump suction strainer.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13411373#post13411373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Floridiot
The return pump is an Iwaki MD20rlxt which is located in an adjacent closet. The eggcrate in there will be covered with fiberglass screen. The screen over time will build a slime on it which blocks any micro-bubbles that make it through the sump. LarryV taught me this trick years ago.

I will use this area on the left for growing chaeto. The eggcrate/screen will also keep the chaeto away from the pump suction strainer.
Click to expand...

Awesome idea.

How bout some mud?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13412410#post13412410 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquamanE
Awesome idea.

How bout some mud?
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For now I'm going to pass on the mud. I know many use it with great results, but I'm not completely sold on the idea. Chaeto makes sense, since it is capable of removing metals as well as phosphates and nitrates. Harvesting the algae removes it from the tank. I may change my mind about the mud in the future, but as for now I'm going to pass.
 
wow, i was pretty set on having a 60x30x27 for my next upgrade but now....i want a cube again.... hahaha
 
Time for an update.

I've had the reactor running for two days now, and it appears to be working flawlessly. I'm waiting for a friend of mine to loan me his ph probe so I can check my effluent and adjust my CO2, but the drip rate hasn't changed since I set it Thursday (60 drops/min). This I'm very happy about.

13290reactor3.JPG



I took a picture looking up from the front of the tank so you can see how much water movement I get from the two Tunzes even though they are mounted very low in the tank at the rear.

13290water_flow.JPG



With all this water flow, and having only a single source of light, I get major shimmer lines on the bottom of the tank. I took a picture of this, but the pic does it no justice.

13290glitter_lines.JPG



I must also say that at this point in time, I LOVE this IWASAKI 15K MH bulb. It has great color. I put in 4 blue/green chromis, and their color really pops under this light. I was a bit concerned about 'color pop' without any supplementation, but that fear is gone at least for now. This is a really crappy pic of one, but you can see the color and the shimmer lines that show up on their backs.


13290chromis.JPG
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13437793#post13437793 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjvanb
So what are you thinking for livestock for your system?

Anything specific you plan to incorporate?
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I plan on stocking it with inexpensive reef fish like a yellow tang, more chromis, a wrasse or two, and maybe some anthias. I have a self imposed $25 per fish limit when buying fish from a LFS. Once I get the tank cycled, I'll be looking for local tank teardowns to buy some fish from. This pretty much leaves my options very open, and I don't mind paying more for fish acquired this way, since they're generally less than LFS prices, and they're already adapted to captivity.

I'll be ordering about 20lbs of LR rubble from Premium Aquatics on Monday. I'll use this to seed the dead rock with pods, and the tank with coralline. I'll place the rubble in the four corners of the tank for a few weeks before moving it to the sump.

Corals will be purchased strictly from fellow reefers either by fragging or from tank teardowns. I'm pretty open to my coral selection too.
 
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