scolley's Big Little Nano – yet another build thread

[scolley]

Two and a half years ago I first put saltwater in a tank, setting up a little 29g as a learning experience. I called it my “Training Wheels Tank”. My intention was to apply what I learned to upgrading my drilled 180g to a reef. But the little lady loves that 180 as the large f/w planted tank that it is now, and has put her foot down – wants it to stay planted.

That left me in a quandary… my little 29g was developing nicely. I was proud of it as a first effort. But if it was going to be my only reef tank, there’s so much that I want to be different! You learn a lot your first couple of years in this hobby, and I wanted to improve many things about it. But I could not bear to tear that tank down.

Then not long ago I had a terrible experience with some palys that wiped out about about half of my tank, virtually all the hard coral. You can read about that here. That little tragedy was just what I needed to push me into action! So new tank plans are in full swing now.

I’m calling my new reef my Big Little Nano, because the DT is just about as big as Reef Central will allow to be called a nano. It’s a Mr. Aqua 33.6 gallon, on a Mr. Aqua stand. Finishing the stand was a PITA. You can read about that here. And I also call it a “Big” little nano, because it will have everything you expect in a bigger tank: controller, sump, in-sump skimmer, ATO, dosing pumps, chiller, even auto water changes and an ATS.


Here’s the tank and stand.

And here’s the sump I had made. Fits great in the stand.

Other than acquiring a chiller and a 2^nd Vortech MP10, I’m cannibalizing almost everything from my 29g. Which creates a logistical problem. I’m not going to have new tank setup, ready to transfer stuff into. So I’m going to need to setup a temporary “transfer tank”. The plan is to use a Rubbermaid trash can. I’ll move stuff into the trash can, disassemble my 29g and stand, assemble the new 34g, and then transfer the livestock and rock out of the trashcan and into the new tank. I’m figuring everything will have to live in that trash can for up to a week.

Sounds easy, right? Well if you are one of my many wonderful friends that I’ve made in the aquarium hobby over the years, you know I have a hard time doing anything without a plan. So I’ve got that too.

This is going to be fun!

 

[ange062]

Wow, a project file for a build, nice!!! Now you have to make sure your milestones and have enough slack built in for the inevitable delays, LOL.

Tank and sump look sweet! The dividers on the sump seem very close to the top though, no worries about flooding?

 

[scolley]

Wow, a project file for a build, nice!!! Now you have to make sure your milestones and have enough slack built in for the inevitable delays, LOL.

I might live to regret posting that, as it's really not a real schedule. There's LOTS that's wrong with it. Does not matter though because I does what I needed, which was to help me wrap my head around the sequence of event. There's a LOT that has to happen, and I didn't want any "Oops!" moments in the build.

Tank and sump look sweet! The dividers on the sump seem very close to the top though, no worries about flooding?

Thanks! But it does look high, doesn't it? Actually it's not nearly as bad as it looks. The overflow (two of them) have roof gutter screen in them, and there's a little box running the length of the panel that the screen sit in. So I suspect you are seeing the top of those boxes. The level of overflow (through the screen) is actually more than an inch lower than the top of the panels, which gives me about 2" head room in the sump.

Even then, that's not a lot. But it having to have a siphon break high on my return loc-line was a sacrifice I was happy to make to get a little more water in my sump. But it WILL require careful attention.

 

[ange062]

Ohhh yeah, I see what you are saying now! Like you said, still doesn't leave much room for error, so just be careful!

What kind of overflow are you planning, a beananimal?

 

[RTMA]

Can't wait to see this up and running, I've known scolley for a few years now and if there is one thing to know about him, he is a stickler for fine details. I have no doubt that this will be one of the very best nanos ever.

I love the clean look of this tank and with his DIY led fixture, it's gonna be awesome. His 29 is very impressive as it is, this is gonna be super nice.

I think he is going to use the glass holes nano overflow. But not 100% on that.

 

[scolley]

Joe - you flatter me, but thanks! You know I'm going to give it my best shot.

A Beananimal overflow? Wow, is there an echo in here? That is one seriously recurring question. And the short answer, no. No plans for that. Why?

I have massive respect and admiration for Silent-and-Failsafe overflows. Before my wife put the K-bash on my plans for reefing my 280, I was designing a derivation of those that I thought was going to be somewhat novel. But I have no plans for one on my Big Little nano.

Beananimal's have 2 major, and one minor, benefits to my understanding; reliability, silence, and low visibility, respectively.

I'm planning on a Glass-holes drilled overflow, which is very, very reliable. 100%? I'm sure not. But I'm OK with their likely 99.99% success rate.

As for silence, I've got their nano version on my nano now, and its pretty quiet. I'm planning on using a similar model on this 33g, but it has teeth. My current is teethless. If it's noisy, I'll just swap them out. Also, this little tank is in the same room as my relatively quiet 180g. So a little trickle noise from the nano will not be heard over the noise of the 180g.

Finally there is the low visibility benefit. Beananimals have low visibility when viewed front on, and accompanied by a something like a side-to-side califow. But my tank is rimless, and much of the viewing will be from above. In that situation a small Glass-holes overflow is less intrusive than a califlow. Plus I plan to attach coral to the front of the small overflow so that it will be totally obscured.

IMO when evaluated in whole, these are not complelling reasons to use a Glass-holes overflow instead of a Mechanical in my particular circumstances. Instead they point to the possibility that in my situation the extra hardware, effort, complexity, and increased visual signature may not be worth the marginal benefits.

 

[nakama]

Hi Steve

Hi Steve

Love the pillows on the hearth!:fun2:

Neil

 

[scolley]

Love the pillows on the hearth!:fun2:

Neil

LOL! Too bad that's not where this thing's really going.

 

[scolley]

I'll be posting both plans for the stand interior, and pics of the stand once built out. In the interim I thought it might make sense to post a diagram of the water flow. Since that stand WILL be crowded, too much so for a picture to make sense.

Flow would be straight forward except for a few factors. First, the Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS) which runs off the return pump. Likewise the chiller is also off the return. And finally by a SCWD to mix up the water flow in the DT.

To do all that I'm running an Eheim 1260, much more pump than a 34 needs. But almost 1/2 of that gets diverted back to the ATS. And some of it gets chewed up by the SCWD. What's left over is about perfect for the chiller, and gives about 10x / hr turnover in the DT. I'll have a couple of MP10's in the DT, so I'm not looking for the return to create much in-tank circulation.

And you'll note that the SCWD is in the stand. I've got one now, located behind the stand and it is impossible to maintain there. If I ever had to replace it (I gather that happens alot, but not to mine yet) getting to it would mean moving everything. So moving the SCWD in-stand will crowd things a bit. But it's a trade off I'm willing to make for maintainability.

 

[scolley]

Like many stands, mine has a wet section below, and an electronics shelf above. My plan is to seal off the electronics shelf so no air moves from the wet section into the electronics section. Further, I'm planning on a fan to pull fresh air in to both keep the shelf cool, and help ensure that if there are any air leaks exist between the two sections, it will be the fresh electronics air blowing into the wet section, and not the other way around.

There will be a fan in the wet section too. So that requires the fan in this wet section to be creating a bit more pressure in this section. Should be easy.

The door of the stand swings out. My plan is to have all my controllers mounted on that door for easy access. Due to the large numbers of wires going from the electronics shelf to units on the door, good cable/wire management will be required.

And you may note in back, something labeled as a "cord grommet". That's just a round bit of rubber with triangular flaps that allows cords to be run though it, but closes up around them a bit. Since it's far from air tight, I've located by where I want the air to vent out anyway. So air flow should come in by the fan (pulling), around the big stacked Vortech battery backups, and out the vent on the other side, and/or out the cord grommet.

 

[scolley]

And finally a diagram of the layout of things in the stand itself. Or at least a plan of the front on view.

My driving reason for creating this diagram is to have a clear view of where the plumbing was going to attach. I could have cut a big hole in the back of the stand and just snake everything in and out through it. But that creates three problems that I'm trying to address:

1. Plumbing and cords are not well supported and have to be suspended from above, or attached to the inside sides of the stand.
2. Air flow is difficult to manage in an open stand.
3. Light leakage is bad. As I mentioned before, this has an ATS, and the LED that drives it is BRIGHT. So I'm sealing the stand off to combat that.

Like the electronics shelf, the wet compartment below has a fan blowing fresh air in, and a vent to let it out. And like the electronics shelf, that air might also leak out the sealing grommet that the electrical cords run through. But this fan is different in that it blows into some duct work that will deliver the air to the front of the stand, which should give good air movement from the front right, exiting out the back left.

The ovals off to the left are just labels for the five John Guest type bulkheads. Those will bring in dosing fluids along with ATO water, and the salt water for my automated water changes. The other circles on diagram are all bulkheads for taking water in or out.

Hope it makes sense. It's what I needed to work through to see how it would all fit.

 

[ange062]

Looks like a solid and well thought out plan. Looking forward to progress!

 

[scolley]

Thanks Ange! Now lets see if there is any correlation between detail plans and end product.

 

[ange062]

After seeing your last tank, there is no doubt this build is going to be awesome!!

 

[scolley]

Thank you Ange, that it very kind!

I seem to be doing OK learning the technical side of reef keeping. But the artistic side confounds me. And to my mind, that's the most important part. And it is the whole reason why I'm doing this upgrade. I wanted to hit the "reset" button on my aquascape, plus I felt too constrained by the lack of open sand on my current tank. A standard 29's 12 inch front to back depth gets chewed up pretty fast. This new tank - with a footprint of 25" x 18" - should give me a good bit more sand to play with, if I don't use any more rock. And more sand means more open space.

Like with so much ancient Asian art and Bonsai, it's really about "negative space"... the art of what's not there being as important as what is. Not that I'm any good at that. But more sand, more open space, will give me a better canvas to at least try to paint something nice.

 

[tpallas]

So far, so good. You're giving me flashbacks to studying for the PMP.

I used the glass holes nano overflow with teeth, the only noise I get is of water swirling (no gurgling or the typical overflow noises). Very quiet. In fact with an Eheim return and SWC 120 skimmer, the noise is absolutely minimal. With my new sump, I'll place foam rubber underneath and I'll expect the noise to be non-existent. This tank is in my bedroom.

I hear you on the artistic side....I learn by trial and error!

Postscript - my setup is a Mr Aqua 11.4 gallons.

 

[scolley]

So far, so good. You're giving me flashbacks to studying for the PMP.

Wow! There's a place I did not want to go. But well understood!

I used the glass holes nano overflow with teeth, the only noise I get is of water swirling (no gurgling or the typical overflow noises). Very quiet. In fact with an Eheim return and SWC 120 skimmer, the noise is absolutely minimal. With my new sump, I'll place foam rubber underneath and I'll expect the noise to be non-existent. This tank is in my bedroom.

Yes, thanks for the feedback. I've been following your thread with great interest for a while.

I hear you on the artistic side....I learn by trial and error!

Don't we all... In principle? But I've got no good excuse other than possiblybjust being mediocre in artistic ability.

Goodness knows I've thrown stupid amounts of time into aquatic artistry. I started in the freshwater planted arena. Pls take a look at www.wetplantlogic.com for evidence of such. Before that I spent close to a decade in private bonsai pursuits. And do you know what the result of all these artistic efforts are? OK.

Yup. That's the fruit of my labor. OK.

Technically my tanks are top notch. But I'm still working HARD to create a beautiful aquatic product.

For years I've believed that reef tanks are the top of the hobby in terms of technical skill to be successful. Cool! What better medium to try to create a true object of beauty?

IMO to achieve that is to achieve a significant thing.

 

[creefer01]

I'll be following this for sure scolley. This appears to be very well thought out and planned. I look forward to seeing you realize your artistic goals.

 

[tpallas]

Good luck, I'll be following along. Looks like a challenging size to aquascape. What's the equipment list?

 

[scolley]

Thanks Chris. The technical goals I'm not worried about, but the artistic goals are giving me fit. So please don't expect too much.

Tpallas - I'm working on an electrical diagram now. And since everything is electricity powered (except the RO/DI), it will pretty a comprehensive list of equipment. That plus help me confirm that I'll have enough plugs and such. It's a lot of stuff for such a littl tank. Which reminds me, there's something I want to get out there early in this process...