Solana tank owner thread.

Solana 34g water surface film?

Solana 34g water surface film?

I've been running my 34g for about a year now. In the last few months I've had on and off issues with the surface of my water developing a film. The problem seems to be especially bad on in the top off water chamber where the water has such build up it almost looks like broken cloudy glass when i look in from the top. The main tank water also develops a layer on top but never to the point of the back chamber. The main tank layer also seems to come and go while the back chamber film is somewhat consistent.

I have a theory that the return pump located in the top off water chamber is not performing efficiently. I've taken it down and cleaned the impellers and it seems better for a few days before the water develops the surface gunk again. Is it possible that I just need to replace the return pump? If so, is this a special pump or will any tank pump work? I am open to suggestions.

I am running a aqua gadget medium skimmer on the tank and it seems to be skimming well.
 
I'm curious if anyone has a 400 watt halide over their solana. I'm going to trade my radion for a halide setup but not sure if 400 watts will just be way too much. Thanks guys.
 
Does anyone have an extra collection cup lid for the stock skimmer? I (or someone in my house) somehow misplaced mine :-(

Since the stock skimmer works fine for my purposes, I'm not looking to change to a different skimmer as there would be too much work to fit or will not fit under the stock, wood-trimmed lid. So if anyone isn't using their stock skimmer, I would be happy to take it off your hands!
 
Let us know how you like the AI hydra. Have an old solana in my basement begging to be set up after a move. Want to learn from mistakes of past and want to give LED's a shot. Was just looking at them.
 
I was wondering if anyone has a Solana with a closed hood that I can see? Thing is I want a Solana but I don't want light leakage. (It sucks to watch a movie with a pendant fixture lighting up the room)
 
I have not been through this entire thread, so I am not sure if someone has done this before..... But the idea came to me a month or so ago and I finally implemented it. The read out is for the temp regulator and then obviously two MP10 controllers. I used velcro to suspend the controllers from the shelf. The bottom is just a power strip I made and the power supplies for the thermal regulator and MP10s





This is the thermal regulator on the side of the stand. The filter sump is similar to the BRS reactors but of my own brew. I run carbon in it with a layer of GFO on top. I use a Mag 2 pump to drive the regulator and reactor flow. The ball valve regulates reactor flow.

 
Please come back when you have read all pages!

Kidding... you have a nice high tech system going. I might copy a few details. Drilling the back to reorganize the stand this week
 
Kweli said:
Please come back when you have read all pages!

Kidding... you have a nice high tech system going. I might copy a few details. Drilling the back to reorganize the stand this week
Click to expand...

I drilled the holes in the third chamber. Only regret is I drilled too close to the sides of the chambers which made it hard for me to install elbow fittings, because they were threaded. I could turn the bulkhead to installed, but once install the fittings, but you can't do much once the tank is running.

I went with the bulkheads up high because I thought I could just add pipe to my elbow if I wanted a lower pickup height.

I've created an ATO switch setup that only lets the tank top off between two switches and has a third switch to kill the pump if overfill happens. The reason for this is the darn snails.... A turbo snail sitting on the overflow grate drops the back and the ATO runs and then the salinity drops. With my setup it will drop the back water level, but with the lowest switch cutting off the pump the ATO won't run again until the water level returns to 'normal'. If the snail sat there long enough for the tank to evaporate enough water, sure the ATO wouldn't come on until the tank was manually topped off. I haven't seen a snail sit there long enough for that to be a problem. I did see the level drop low enough that the Mag2's intake got air and cavitated, so I am planning to add a couple inches of pipe to it's elbow intake. I wish I had room to install a elbow on the return bulkhead. This way I could have a forceful flow of water that doesn't let detritus build up in the back area..... Hmmmm Maybe I will drain the back a bit so I can loosen up those bulkheads to install a elbow.......

Drilling:


Tank running. Special ATO not hooked up yet, so water is a bit high. I run the back level so that the water is just below the filter pad grate.

 
Summer, which model Solana do you have? Is it the original? I think the next version with the reduced height back is all tempered.
 
Just downsized from a 40 Breeder to a Nuvo 16. While I love it and it does look good - I'm quickly realizing the space in the 16 is very tight. I'm a huge SPS fan and I just bought quite a few acros tonight with very little space in the tank.

Question is - I may be sending my Nuvo 16 back if possible, and purchasing a friends Solana 34 with minor scratches (and old style) for $200. Over it would be a Radion XR30w. Would it all be worth it? The 16 size is already killing me..
 
Hi all I am a newb at this stuff i just purchased this setup 34 gallon Solana cube aquarium with a Solana stand and this led light D120 custom layout with a mix of white, blue, royal, violet, red, green, and UV lights and the rim add on pack with a black wood rim and glass lid. Can anyone tell me what its worth is it a good buy or can i do better with diffrant set up I have no idea PLEASE HELP Thank You Salt Water 7919
 
Last edited:
Hentz said:
Just downsized from a 40 Breeder to a Nuvo 16. While I love it and it does look good - I'm quickly realizing the space in the 16 is very tight. I'm a huge SPS fan and I just bought quite a few acros tonight with very little space in the tank.

Question is - I may be sending my Nuvo 16 back if possible, and purchasing a friends Solana 34 with minor scratches (and old style) for $200. Over it would be a Radion XR30w. Would it all be worth it? The 16 size is already killing me..
Click to expand...

Is it coming with the stand, skimmer and all the bits? If so, $200 isn't toooooo bad. I've seen them go for less on the classifieds, but the person might be whoring it out just to get rid of it. I overpaid for mine ($350), I know that now. Wish I had known that back then. It now makes sense why the guy was so eager to drop it off and run LOL. I only felt 'ripped off' when I went to the LFS and saw a brand new stand, tank and canopy 60g cube from visio for the same price. Sure, the Visio would need a sump and skimmer and what not, but I am handy and have equipment laying around that I could have made it work.

So is $200 a good deal? heck yeah if the Radion is coming with it. And yes even without the light, as long as all of the other equipment comes with it and is in working order. It's really only a bad deal if there is something better out there for you that is the same price, IMO.
 
summoner12 said:
Is it coming with the stand, skimmer and all the bits? If so, $200 isn't toooooo bad. I've seen them go for less on the classifieds, but the person might be whoring it out just to get rid of it. I overpaid for mine ($350), I know that now. Wish I had known that back then. It now makes sense why the guy was so eager to drop it off and run LOL. I only felt 'ripped off' when I went to the LFS and saw a brand new stand, tank and canopy 60g cube from visio for the same price. Sure, the Visio would need a sump and skimmer and what not, but I am handy and have equipment laying around that I could have made it work.

So is $200 a good deal? heck yeah if the Radion is coming with it. And yes even without the light, as long as all of the other equipment comes with it and is in working order. It's really only a bad deal if there is something better out there for you that is the same price, IMO.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's true. Well another buddy is selling his Solana buy scratch free and comes with all the goodies and I believe it's the starfire one for only $300 ($100 more) so I think I might do that one.

The $300 comes with the metal halide disco ball. Though the radion is line and currently hanging over my nuvo 16
 
A new Solana starfire owner here. The tank has only been up about a week, I had some larger tanks way back in the day.
 

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