The reef bug bites yet again

[California Crow]

The last time I posted here on RC was around 5 years ago, when family and job commitments forced me to find another home for my Cadlights 39g reef. Since then, my sole aquarium activity has been running a small freshwater planted tank, when my young daughter convinced mom and dad that the family needed some fish.

Her interest has faded, I frankly don't really enjoy the freshwater side of things, and given the many technical advances over the past five years, I'm thinking that without too much additional equipment, I could rework this as a nice little nano-reef.

Here's what I have to work with, scavenging from the freshwater setup, plus other stuff I've kept around from the old days 'just in case':

Schuber-Wright 8.9g tank, currently used for freshwater. This little gem is a really nice tank. Rimless 8mm crystal clear glass, beveled edge, smooth seams, mat-cushioned base... just a quality product, sadly now out of production, I believe. I wish it was a little bigger, but I don't see anything on the market in the 10-20g range built to this standard.

Fluval G3 canister filter, new in box, originally intended for an upgrade of the freshwater tank that I no longer plan. (Too big for the tank size, really, but supposedly the output is controllable)

Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 75w heater. (Nice, unobtrusive design, since the heater must be in the display tank)

Cool-Works Ice-probe thermoelectric chiller (needed due to the extremely hot summers here in Sacramento... easily gives a 5F pull-down on the 8.9 tank)

Reefkeeper Lite-Net, w assorted modules (really glad I kept this around)

Major stuff I don't have:

Lights (Lots of nice LED choices these days, so I know I'll end up with something good. I've been very happy with the Current-USA LED freshwater fixtures, so I'm really curious about the new Orbit Marine Pro, supposedly coming on the market next month. No SPS planned for this tank, and its a shallow 12" so it's not like I need to go crazy with the lights.)

Protein Skimmer (This is the big question mark. My previous reef tanks were much bigger... 39, 40, 55, 70, 110, and a skimmer was pretty much a must-have. Real estate on/in this 8.9g is tight, though, and I just can't see sticking a nano-skimmer in. I'm leaning toward skipping the skimmer entirely)

Of course there's always small stuff... refractometer, test kits, etc.

So... I'd appreciate some thoughts on this, especially the two core components... the tank itself and the Fluval canister, since neither are exactly reef-ready items.

Thanks,

The Crow in Sacramento

 

[enchelycore808]

Always wanted to buy one of those tanks one day, shame their out of production.. Lot of people on here don't care for canisters on reef as they can be a detritus trap. As long as you keep it clean, there is no reason it won't perform just as well as other filters. I wouldn't even bother with a skimmer on that size tank. Just easier to do weekly WC to reset params. Currently in the nano department, running 1x 6 and 1x 15g with no skimmer. Simply just whip up a batch of fresh SW. Post pics when your done setup! Now I'm off to amazon to see if I can net me one of those schuber tanks...

 

[California Crow]

I bought the tank from Amazon roughly a year and a half ago, I think, and my user review is the most recent posted, so I may have bought the last one they ever sold. It's a mystery why they're no longer on the market, as it was just a little more money for a lot more quality.

CC

Update... I took another look at Amazon, and there are a couple of newer reviews, most recently from January this year. There's hope.

 

[California Crow]

Change in plans, as I slowly work through this. I think I'll drop the Fluval G3 filter idea. Instead, I'm going to hang a small Aguafuge2 on the back, and use it to hold the controller probes, heater, Ice-probe, and perhaps a small skimmer... something like the PicoSkim 2.0. That gets a lot of hardware out of the main tank, and has the added benefit of giving me at least 20% more water volume.

I'll need something in the main tank for water movement. Do I go MP10? I like Vortech... used them on my bigger tanks in the past, but on an 18" wide tank, I'm thinking I'd need to throttle the thing down to almost nothing. Makes you wish for an MP5.

Lighting is still undecided. Current USA says that the new Orbit Marine Pro I was curious about won't be available until 'late fall'. I'm now thinking maybe Kessil or Nano-box.

CC

 

[top shelf]

Sounds like it will be an awesome tank when it is done. I haven't personally used either but with a reef keeper you can buy an extra modual, a cable, and have 100% control over a kessil which is a bonus. Not to sure about a nano-box as I've never done any research on them.

 

[top shelf]

For water movement you could use 2 koralia nano 240's and place on opposite sides to get rid of dead spots and have good flow or use a single 425, might be a little trickier to remove dead spots but either way you should have plenty of flow and water movement.

 

[California Crow]

I've made the last major hardware decisions. I went with the MP10 (with a Pico shallow shield) for water movement, and a Nano Razor R420R for lighting. I should have water in the tank by mid week.

Then it's time to decide on sand/LR, and the most difficult decisions of all... stocking.

Biggest challenge thus far, in this whole freshwater to reef conversion... cleaning the snail eggs off of the tank glass.

CC

 

[California Crow]

It's been thirty years, at least, since I set up my first aquarium, so you'd think I'd know better by now. It took less than two hours to disprove my earlier statement that all the major hardware decisions had been decided.

The surprise came at my local supermarket, of all places. I'd blithely planned on simply purchasing small quantities of RODI or distilled water, thinking that was manageable for this size tank. When I actually checked the store out, though, every brand of RODI water came with 'minerals added'. Makes sense if you're drinking it... not exactly reef-friendly, though. Checking the distilled option worked out a little better, as it was actually available, but in one gallon quantities, at over $1 per gallon.

I could have looked around at other stores, but I do actually recognize reality when it slaps me in the face. A few on-line minutes later, and an order from Air Water Ice should be arriving soon. That was followed up with a quick run to Home Depot for a couple of Brute containers. (Wonder how many of those I've bought over the past couple of decades)

The water in tank date is probably pushed back a bit... perhaps next weekend.

CC

 

[California Crow]

...and, finally, water in tank. I'll spend today tweaking the hardware, controller programming, etc., and then it'll be stocking decision time.