Kaykay's DIY-approach nano setup. 2'x1.5'x1.5'.

[kaykay]

I have had a 3-footer (2+years), and a 6-footer (3years), both basically a FOWLR setup.

As i got both the tanks wholesale, the setups were pretty much up and running within 2 days.

I confess that i have never done a proper cycling in my life before.

Pretty soon, boredom sets in. I was also too lazy to revamp the systems.

While seeing the movers move the latter 6fter which I gave away, I kinda felt a sense of loss.

It really was a funny feeling. While the tank was sitting idle after selling the equipment and livestock, I found it a big eyesore in the living room. But while it was being wheeled away, I suddenly missed it very much.

It think it's an "Ah Q Mentality". A hoarders' mentality basically.

So....

A good way to cure the insanity? Start another tank!! Lol...

But this time, I'm taking things s.s.s.l.l.o.w.w.w.l.l.y.y.y.y... And challenge the lower limits of a budget to setup a fish w softies w LPS nano tank.

The few ways to setup a tank economically is as follow:

1. Buying used equipment.

I think there is a science to doing this.

a. Troll the forum every waking minute (I mean it!!). Well, having a mobile device with data plan certainly helps! Haha.

b. Have a clear idea what equipment you would like to have.

c. Patience has to be in great supply.

I also think that there is an art to it.

a. Look for rarely used, or lightly used equipment.

b. since buying used, just go for reputable reliable brands.

2. For items I cannot find on the pasar malam, buy non-European brands.

Nonetheless, I limit these to non essential equipment like fan, ermm.. what else ha?

Or get those positively-reviewed China /Taiwan brand equipment.

3. D.I.Y.

It's challenging. It's rewarding. The sense of achievement is addictive. The sense of ownership goes up several notches.

The cost savings is healthy to my pockets.

In addition, doing small DIY projects keeps the interest on-going on a regular basis.

I will share my small DIY projects along the way.

4. Avoid mistakes!! How? by asking, asking, and asking!

Reefers here are just too helpful. No horse run. Thank you to many reefers here!

Even if I have made a mistake, or encountered problems, it usually gets answered here promptly.

I have listed my principles here for the setting up. Stocking-up principles will be defined also based on selectivity and within the confines of the tank.

More coming up.. Pics and projects will be posted..

[law1210]

Looking forward to your updates...

[kaykay]

True to the principles of patience, my tank has been cycling for 27 days already. NO3 is sky high.

Yet I'm only planning to do 30% water change this weekend. My patience has never been this good. Haha.

This is the tank when I first collected it.

2'x1.5'x1.5'. Front crystal glass. IOS of 6" at the back, makes a display tank of only 2'x1'x1.5'H.

The tank has never touched water, yet selling at a big discount compared to if I were to custom make it at the cheapest glass cutter.

However, the search started a few weeks back, when i saw a cabinet at a factory when I went to sell an iPad!! Haha. Turns out that the buyer is a reefer too. Now he's still helping me alot in my DIY projects.

The reefer even helped me to spruce up the cabinet, added a 12" plinth, and added a hood. All using some of the best material I've ever seen.

Thanks Marcuss!

Pls don't ask me the price. Let's just say that I'm the daylight robber as the buyer.

So the search started for a tank to fit the cabinet. A perfect fit indeed.

[kaykay]

With the hood on, the aquarium looks like this.

[wspiritz]

Nice! Camping here for updates

[kaykay]

Looking forward to your updates...

Sure bro. But updates will be slow too, just like the speed of my tank progress.

Btw how's the baby orange ric doing?

[kaykay]

Nice! Camping here for updates

Thanks bro.

[law1210]

Sure bro. But updates will be slow too, just like the speed of my tank progress.

Btw how's the baby orange ric doing?

Slow and steady

Unfortunately the baby ric was nowhere to be found by the time I return from biz trip.

[kaykay]

Unfortunately the baby ric was nowhere to be found by the time I return from biz trip.

Could it have been ric-napped by a colleague in your absence? Lol..

Or who knows, maybe you'll be surprised by a ric growth in a corner of your tank in a month or 2..

[xaine]

Having heard so much, now I finally get to see it....yeah.

Looking forward to see your rockscape.

[law1210]

Could it have been ric-napped by a colleague in your absence? Lol..

Or who knows, maybe you'll be surprised by a ric growth in a corner of your tank in a month or 2..

yes possibly a ric-napped case...most likely by an inhabitant of the tank. lol...

[kaykay]

Having heard so much, now I finally get to see it....yeah.

Looking forward to see your rockscape.

Ermm it really is a very humble setup.

Need reefers' opinions here too on my scaping..

Is 12kg of liverocks too overwhelming for a display tank of 72L?

60cm x 30cm x 40cm water height.

Total volume is about 90L.

Do note that the light from the warm white LED (for the internal ats) shining from the left, hence lighting up the skimmer in the ios compartment, has been blocked by a black piece of acrylic already. So the skimmer does not show up anymore.

Opinions welcome please.

[kaykay]

DIY Project 1

The tank came with an underflow as well as the normal surface skimmer.

I know from the start that I'm not doing bare bottom. I want a thin layer of sand, around 1" deep. I always knew I will eventually keep some gobies and pistol shrimps to observe symbiotic relationships at work.

This is what I did to keep sand from clogging up the underflow. 2 pcs of acrylic cost me $2. Some simple silicon work and I'm done.

But I guess I need to improve on my workmanship though. Haha.

[kaykay]

My equipment list.

Circulation.

1. Eheim 1250 return pump. Within an ios, the head loss is negligible. So the actual return should be a true 1,200L/hr.

2. A Tunze6015 adds another 1,600L/hr of circulation.

Filtration.

1. BM NAC 3+ protein skimmer.

2. A DIY upflow algae scrubber (UAS) lit by a custom made warm white LED set.

3. 300gm of red Biohome in a filter bag.

4. Activated carbon in a filter bag.

Lighting.

Still using a cheap Beamswork 2' LED. Now awaiting admin approval to start a bulk order for a 30W Cree LED set.

Cooling.

Dymax Windy W-8 fan.

Controllers, Monitors and Misc.

1. Snail pH meter.

2. A DIY auto water top off unit. 2L square-ish water bottle from Daiso $2. Air tubes and a good regulator $5.

3. A DIY water DI unit.

More on these DIY stuffs later.

I'm taking this cycling period to fine tune the nitty gritties. 1 example is the auto top off. Took a few days of monitoring and adjustings to get the drip rate similarly close to evaporation rate. Of course the weather will wreak havoc with the evaporation rates, but at least I don't think I'll be off by so much in a 24-hr period. Water level has been quite constant in the last few days.

Any suggestions what other equipment I need to have?

Cheers.

[Marcuss]

Very nice tank journal,waiting to see more update

[zico]

A DIY upflow algae scrubber (UAS) lit by a custom made warm white LED set.

Nice ... awaiting your further updates on this!

[kaykay]

Very nice tank journal,waiting to see more update

Thanks, my DIY sifu..

[kaykay]

Cable management.

Some very primitive way to tidy up the wiring.

From this

To this

And from this

To this

[law1210]

Hi bro, will u be able to give a picture of your diy auto top-up? Sounds like something I can learn from. Thanks

[kaykay]

DIY Project 2.

"Auto Top-up"

Due to the use of a fan, evaporation will be a major part of fluctuating parameters, especially salinity, in a small tank.

The evaporation rate is almost 2L per day during the hot days last 2 weeks! 2L out of 90L is more than 2% swings.

I got a square-ish bottle from daiso.

Punched a hole 1" above the base. This is for precipitation to settle as I'll be mixing some "Brightwell Elemental Reef Builder" powder to DI water in this bottle.

Drilled another small hole on the cap for air intake.

Insert one end of an air regulator with air tube into the hole. You may silicon to prevent leakage, but the hole fits perfectly.

Then tune the regulator to drip every 5-10seconds.

Then monitor the water level after a few hours and make adjustments appropriately.

A video of my drip rate.

http://m.youtube.com/my_videos#/watch?v=GAe8-98pnlY

The setup looks like this. Top view.

I secured the bottle to a spare pc of acrylic I have lying around with cable tie, and inserted it between a baffle plate to hold the bottle in position.

Unfortunately I punched the hole too near the return up pipe. So I had to do an extension of the regulator to access it easily.

Cheers.

[kaykay]

Nice ... awaiting your further updates on this!

Yup will collate more photos of this before I post.

Perhaps a teaser first..

[xaine]

Yup will collate more photos of this before I post.

Perhaps a teaser first..

hope to see the turf already started to have more algae on it.

[kaykay]

DIY Project 3.

Getting pure, clean water.

I was contemplating buying cartons of distilled water for top ups and for salt mix. Maybe even a delivery system.

Looking at my needs of 14L for top up and 10L for weekly 10% water change, I'll need to buy 16 x 1.5L bottles of "Life Water" per week, or around 5 cartons (5x12x1.5L) per month.

The mathematics is about $30 per month of water.

I have not forgotten the chore of lugging 5 cartons of such water back home last month to fill the tank.

Haha, I bought the wrong brand somemore. It was the first time I'm buying distilled water for fish tanks.. Paiseh...

Was talking to fellow reefer Marcuss, and he recommended doing a DIY distillation of water.

So this is what I did.

1. Cut he base off a rigid water bottle and make holes with a heated fork.

2. Stuff a filter bag of activated carbon and resin respectively, and squash them between 2 small pcs of filter floss in the bottle.

3. Invert the base into the bottle to hold everything in place securely.

4. Try to fit the outflow of a small water pump to the mouth piece of the bottle.

I had to use 3 pcs of Eheim hose of ascending sizes to fit the pump. Haha.

5. Fill up a tub with tap water, and run the pump through the bottle for a few hours. The pump is only 400L/hr.

6. Then test for tds. Yeah.

7. I kept this water in 1.5L bottles for topping up the top up. Hehe.

Note: My raw tap water is measured at 47ppm.

I got this TDS pen only 4 days after I prepared the tub of water. Surprisingly, water can be kept 0ppm even after 4 days.

I wonder how many more days can it be kept?

[Marcuss]

Wow bro you have a very nice diy skill , hope can save you from 5 cartons burden

[kaykay]

Wow bro you have a very nice diy skill , hope can save you from 5 cartons burden

Thanks bro. Not possible without your advice.

Haha, I wouldn't want to go through the 5 cartons again. I'm not young anymore lol..

The shoppers were giving me strange looks at the Fairprice outlet too. They must be thinking I'm stocking up water getting ready for famine. Or for war. Haha..