My custom 12g nano

[Melbourne]

Updated pics of my custom 12g nano. I tried to update my original thread here but search appears to be broken.

Its 20" long / 14.25" wide / 10.5" high. Trimless top, made of 3/8 glass with a low iron front pane.

Here are some original setup specs and pics from over a year ago

Tank pics after it was a few months old

 

[Melbourne]

Tank FTS taken Jan 2006

Got tired of all the softies so I removed as much as I could and replaced with SPS frags from my other tanks.

Upgraded the skimmer on the tank from the Remora Pro to a Deltec MCE600.
New fish added - yellow damsel and a royal gramma.

Upgraded the 70 watt pendant to a 150 watt Aquaspacelight (bulb on the Aquaspacelight needs to be replaced soon though).

FTS from today

Different M.Digitata & Hammer

M.Danae and Frogspawn

Purple M.Digitata

Torch - I have 2 in this tank, clown hosts in the one on the left.

Yellow Damsel

Tomato Clown

Royal Gramma

 

[Mikeeal]

I LOVE open top/trimless tanks. Lookin good. Cool dimensions too, who built it?

 

[aural]

looks great... i really like the SPS in it now. very cool tank

 

[Melbourne]

Thanks - glasscages made the tank for me cost was $100. I need to replace the bulb on the MH pendant - the colors are a bit off, if everything grows out well - I'll start replacing some of the monti's with different acros. Right now the tank is mostly various monti's with only 4 different acro's.

 

[tgcreef]

looks like someone loves digi

 

[supermarvin76]

SWEET!! What kind of filtration do you have for it? What about maintenance? Water changes? You must have auto top off witha 150 MH over that.

What do you dose? Anything?

 

[juice me man]

very nice tank.

but what does "trimless tank" mean?

 

[tgcreef]

that means there is no lip over the top of the tank

 

[Melbourne]

Thanks - I'm running a Deltec MCE600 skimmer and I have a autotop off using 2 float switches for redundancy. If one gets stuck the other one will shut off the pump. I'm actually replacing it with a Tunze Osmolator since it has a smaller footprint and is more reliable. I dose reef complete to maintain my Ca - I haven't changed the water since the tank was setup over a year ago but since I added fish I plan on starting monthly 10 % changes.

In the US most tanks come with IMO ugly plastic trim around the top.

I plan on redoing the rockwork and getting a new bulb - I'll post up new pics when I do.

 

[abernaka]

That tank looks great! What is that plant that is coming out of the right rear corner? also I saw the other system next to it is it closed or connected to other tanks?

Very nice looking!

 

[AngelReefer]

nice tank

 

[Melbourne]

Thanks, tank next to it is a 2.5g reef - no fish. Search for 2.5g reefwall and thats the tank. Both tanks are standalone and sumpless. The plant is a mangrove basically another mechanism to export nutrients although with just one in this tank its not doing a whole lot.

 

[Newreeflady]

Nice tank. Only thing about not having the black trim is that you have to be dilligent about the salt funk that inevitably builds up above the water line. I like the look, though, it seems worth the trouble.

Why didn't the 70w pendant work out? What pendant did you have? I'm currently looking at retroing a cube's hood or ditching and going with pendant. Not sure yet, but looking like a hood mod at this point.

-A

 

[Melbourne]

Hi,

The 70 watt HQI pendant was not enough light when I shifted to a primarily SPS tank. I replaced it with a Aquaspacelight Mini Pendant 150 watt HQI. I'll post some newer pictures up but the colors/growth have improved dramatically.

 

[Newreeflady]

I'd love to see the new pics. I definitely like it after you took out the xenia and anthelia. Those are nice softies, but definitely too fast of growers for a nano, especially the anthelia!

So, i'm curious, which species didn't seem to be liking the 70w light. What kelvin bulb were you using for the 70w and what are you using in the 150?

-A

 

[Melbourne]

Thanks - updated tank pics. Basically under 70w 20k bulb the colors were weak on all the SPS, I could get better coloration under a 10k bulb but then everything would be too yellow for my taste. Since I had a spare 150w pendant I just swapped it out and with good results. The only bad thing with going to a 150w on the 12g is that most of my mushrooms have relocated to darker regions of the tank where before they were out in the open.

Tank changes:
Really old 10k AB bulb replaced with a slightly newer Iwasaki 50k bulb. Give it a few more months and the colors will be much better.

Setup dual float switch for auto-top off to prevent top-off overflow. Added bleached acro in middle of tank as a water break from the Deltec outflow - which generates too much flow and was digging out the sand in the front of the tank - so more rocks and a M.Nodosa were added to help break up the flow. Changed the Red Sea wavemaker pro to turbulent cycle to improve water circulation from the 3 Tunze minipumps.

FTS 3-20-06

Light purple M.Digitata

Various M.Digitata & Hammer

Orange M.Digitata

Green M.Nodosa

A.Nana

Blue A.Millepora

Left bottom

Right bottom

Center bottom

 

[Melbourne]

Updated tank pics

New frags

 

[Melbourne]

More pics

 

[shouldabenacowboy]

One word.....actually six words "AMAZING!!!"