Jadette's 7g ADA Cube

[jadette]

Inspired by the ADA 30C tank that my husband set up in our boys' room, I decided to venture into the world of nano reefs by setting up my own ADA cube on my computer desk.

The planted tank in our lil' boys' room:

Like all ADA fans, I wanted to go with a clean look so I decided to use glass intake and outflow lily pipes to be used with a Eheim 2213 for filtration and flow. I know many people feel that cannister filters are just nitrate traps, but I really want to have crystal clear water for my nano. I believe proper maintenance of the filter should avoid any potential nitrate issues.
Oh..and that's a 12x12 Boos butcher block that I'm using as a tank stand.

I went with a AquaMedic 70W MH pendant for lighting and decided on mounting it right on the top shelf of my Ikea computer desk.

Went to my LFS and picked up 7 pounds of Tonga Huni live rock. This stuff was twice as expensive as premium fiji, but it's so worth it. So many little caves!

A random pic of my intake.

Everything was going smoothly...except I ran into trouble with the clear tubing that I purchased to replace the stock Eheim tubing. Couldn't get metric tubing here, so I went with the closest 1/2" tubing (vs. 12 mm for the green Eheim tubing). After setting up with the clear tubing, the tubing on the outflow slipped out.:mad2: Decided to play it safe and use the green Eheim tubing for now. So much for the clean look!

So now that my tank is cycling away, I'm starting to think about stocking options. I want to go with a goby/pistol shrimp combo... but that means a deeper sandbed.. Ended up throwing in another 1.5 inches to the sandbed.

Will be picking up a cleaning crew soon... Though with the filter, there's not much left to clean in my tank!

 

[JAHGYDI]

NICE TANK DID YOU BUY THOSE TANKS LOCALLY? I WOULD LOVE TO PICK ONE OF THOSE UP

 

[kindafun]

Very sweet. I like the look and it is clean. I've had too many bad experiences with "jumpers" though that scares me away from this kind of thing. Of course if there is nothing that jumps then no problem.

 

[InLimbo87]

Very clean little setup! Love the ADA cubes

 

[nattarbox]

This is a great setup. I had been toying with the idea of doing an ADA cube on my desk as well, with the lilly pipes and canister filter, but decided on going with a larger tank instead. Seeing these photos makes me wish I had thought twice!

I will be really interested to see how yours turns out. Also that butcher block is a great idea, I would have assumed it was custom made just for the tank if you hadn't said anything.

 

[jadette]

Got the cube at www.adgshop.com .

They're wonderful there. Will usually throw in a freebie (like a $12 ADA planted tank book) with your order.

I know what you mean about jumpers. Going to stock the tank with mainly corals so I hope I won't run into any troubles with the one fish I do plan on putting in the tank!

 

[jadette]

Nattarbox - Never too late to start another little tank.

We have a tank in practically every room in our house!

-Shirley

 

[EWC88]

Love the tank alot! I have a question though, were did you get that stand and those lily pipes? Also what canister you running with what in it?

Beautiful tank though, can't wait to see it with fish and corals

 

[748S911]

niice!!! any heat issues with the 70 watt mh??? I have the same 30c. Look foward to keeping up with the progress on your reef.

 

[jadette]

EWC88 - I got the butcher block from Cooking.com. It's a John Boos 12"x12"x1.5" block.
The canister filter is an Eheim Classic 2213. If I had to do it over again, I would go with the next size up, since I'm concerned that the 2213 might not be enough flow for some of the corals I want to keep.
The lily pipes I got from ebay for $50 (about 1/4 of the cost of the original ADA ones). Just do a search for Flo lily pipe.

748S911 - We keep the temperature in our house at 72-76 degrees year round. I placed the fixture 6 inches above the water and it has only bumped up the temp about 6 degrees. My ambient temperature is 72F right now, and my water temp is measuring 78F. So no problems so far!

 

[nattarbox]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11877177#post11877177 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jadette
Nattarbox - Never too late to start another little tank.

We have a tank in practically every room in our house!

-Shirley

Haha, I wish my girlfriend thought the same way! Maybe I could put one on my desk at work where she wouldn't know about it.

 

[danoreef]

very nice, great looking tank, and a really clean look.

 

[EWC88]

jadette I have another question that deal with your childrens tank...What light is that and what size is the tank? Are you running Co2 in it? whats your filter? I'm planing on doing one and was just wonder some info.

 

[trackhazard]

Hi, this is the husband (FW guy).

Tank is the same size: ADA 30C.

Light is a Current Satellite 1x18w w/ Dual Daylight bulbs. Filtration is a ZooMed 501 reptile tank filter. No CO2. Fourish Excel every other day and iron & potassium once a week after water changes.

Currently housing 3 african dwarf frogs and a bunch of cherry shrimp. They seem to get along together.

-Charlie

 

[mtome]

Sweet tank.....can't wait to see more!

 

[EWC88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11892520#post11892520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by trackhazard
Hi, this is the husband (FW guy).

Tank is the same size: ADA 30C.

Light is a Current Satellite 1x18w w/ Dual Daylight bulbs. Filtration is a ZooMed 501 reptile tank filter. No CO2. Fourish Excel every other day and iron & potassium once a week after water changes.

Currently housing 3 african dwarf frogs and a bunch of cherry shrimp. They seem to get along together.

-Charlie

Thanks for the info...I love the clean look in the tanks, and I've been wanting to try a planted FW tank, didn't know if I should go with a bigger or not but I like how yours look so I might have to do that size tank..What plants are those/ also what do you recommend?

 

[trackhazard]

Hi. I don't want to derail the thread so please feel free to PM me w/ any other questions.

You might also want to check out plantedtank.net and aquaticplantcentral.com for more info.

Plants in the tank are anubias nana "petite" and anubias nana "coffefolia" along with a couple stems of microsorum pteropteris "narrow leaf"

-Charlie

 

[keegoaz]

more pics this is a preatty sweet looking nano. what are you useing for filtration?

 

[jadette]

Not much progress on the tank except...

I finally have algae on my rocks! So I threw in a half a dozen trochus snails (they're my favorite since they can virtually flip themselves out of any situation), and a couple of nassarius snails (always liked these guys in my 55g reef tank).

The trochus snails started grazing away...

I also went ahead and picked up a 3"x3" rock of green clove polyps b/c they looked so healthy. Here's a pic of them just a couple of hours after I placed them in the tank. They haven't fully opened, but they're doing great so far. Haven't found a permanent place for them yet. Just plopped them down in front for now.

One thing really cool about the lily pipes is the little vortex they create on the surface of the water.

This effectively creates some surface skimming action, and I've managed to keep the surface of the tank protein slick-free.

So far, no major problems with the tank. I am very happy with it.

Oh..and for those of you that asked, I am just using the filter pads and substrate that came with the Eheim 2213. Once I clean out the filter in about a week, I'll be replacing the substrate with live rock rubble and throwing in a bag of purigen as well.

Can't wait to stock the tank! Any suggestions? I would like to see a lot of red in the tank...

 

[pompeyjohn]

have you found that keeping the lily pipes clean much of an issue?