Dream Tank

[BELL]

Hello Guys!

I'm Bell ( created a new acc with my nick, because I keep getting called a "Bro")

Glad to give my first post to my thread on my NANO tank!

First of, I'm very inspired by all the beautiful tank set-ups here and have decided to sell off my 1ft tank for an upgrade to a 1.5ft tank! Two thumbs up to those who put in so much time and effort into this hobby to achieve success! Never expect it to be so time-consuming. But it is definitely worth the time to invest if the outcome is as desired! After much reading and advice from my reefer friends, I decided to contact Aquarium Artist for my 1.5ft tank set!

He came down to my place and after we discussed for about 1.5 hrs. This is what I plan to do:

• 45cm x 50cm x 45cm
  
• 4inch for IOS
  
• 8mm glass thickness
  
• Front side Crystal Glass
  
• White acrylic board partition sealed with clear silicon
  
• 1m Height Flat top Gloss white Cabinet.
  
  
  
  
  
  I will be keeping my Chiller inside the cabinet, and Vincent advised to make it open space at the back of the cabinet for better ventilation. Can be seen in picture. However not drawn to scale!
  
  Delivery date should be about 2 weeks time!
  
  Meanwhile, I am taking my time to gather the needed equipments.
  
  Things I have gotten
  • Eheim Compact 1000 pump.
    
  • Resun CL-85 (From a reefer)
    
  • Filter Media
    

  Things I plan to get

  [*]Lumen Aqua Max 300 (from a Reefer)

  [*]Fiji Live Rocks from CF.

  [*]Live Sand

  [*]Skimmer

  [*]Wave maker

  Thats all I can think of right now, did I miss out anything?

  All the pros out there please guide me along if you can!

  I'll keep this thread posted with any updates!

  Looking forward to the arrival of my Dream Tank! : )

  Have a nice weekend reefers!

[MadScientist]

sis, you are missing test kits. haha, if you dont want to be called bro, maybe you can try defining your gender? i would call bell a bro too if you have not posted that, haha. mind pming the price of your tank as I am trying to find a cheap and good tank maker?

yup, reefing is a time consuming and demanding hobby. think about the time spent by mother nature to create and maintain this beauty! maintenance will be tedious, you are talking about daily, weekly, monthly and yearly routines. must be very committed to have this hobby. time, energy and money consuming!

I would suggest running a dc fan in the cabinet to prolong life of the chiller compressor. if you are using external temperature probe, you can connect the fan with the controller, thus switching it on and off with the chiller. I used to have fans that are only switched on when the chiller was on and switched off 5 minutes after the chiller was switched off.

[BELL]

Will heed your advice on the DC fan! Have thought of it as well. Thanks!

[Jameshong]

You need a Salinity Refractometer.

[spkentchai]

Good start...tank maker started to build tank already?

[BELL]

@jameshong Ok, thanks!

@spkentchai Thanks! Yes he processed my order already

Would like to get advice on whether i should get another eheim compact 1000 as return pump? i bought 1 Eheim compact 1000 and it is for running the chiller.. If i need to get another one, where to put it in the IOS?

[BELL]

Another Picture of my tank

Feel free to leave comments!

[digibee]

Hi Sis, I am not a pro but below are my preferences.

I prefer to use two pumps;

1 for chiller and 1 for return. So that if any one got problem, you still have the other.

Can put both in the same compartment. Furthermore, Eheim compact 1000 is not a strong pump.

Also, I prefer not to put chiller in the cabinet, because chiller needs ventilation and expels hot air.

Hence, chiller in cabinet is bad and will affect the efficiency of the chiller in long run.

If really no choice, then you have to have openings (Grilles) on the cabinet door.

for the fiji live rocks from CF ..... best rocks so far for me.

Cheers!

[spkentchai]

@jameshong Ok, thanks!

@spkentchai Thanks! Yes he processed my order already

Would like to get advice on whether i should get another eheim compact 1000 as return pump? i bought 1 Eheim compact 1000 and it is for running the chiller.. If i need to get another one, where to put it in the IOS?

For flow wise, 1 pump should be sufficient to provide that...given Ehiem reliability....shd not have any worry...some reefer do buy 1 or 2 pumps to standby just in case it breakdown...

[BELL]

@digibee Hi bro thanks for your sincere advice, will consider them

@spkentchai Hi thanks for your advice

Any idea where to get those black and white mixed Live sand?

[MadScientist]

Aquamarin should have some

[MadScientist]

I prefer universal than compact. Non submerged function reduced heat to the water, and the energy consumption is less than compact

[BELL]

@Madscientist Thanks! Will drop by Aquamarine soon

Which skimmer do you guys recommend?

[MadScientist]

Any budget to constrain our temptations to recommend you the most expensive beast?

[macro]

_{Resun CL85 is a TEM chiller}

_{given your tank size 90litres plus the heat load from your skimmer and return pump,you may have problem keeping temperature low enough.}

[MadScientist]

It all depends on where she's placing the tank and what's she's keeping. The chiller may or may not be sufficient, given the tank size, it will most probably be running almost continuously

[comycus]

If you are not keeping SPS, can consider running this tank with ventilation fans clipped on the back.

I have seen a reefer keeping his temperature constant at 27-29deg with sump included. Key is to use energy efficient equipment. 1 small wavemaker, 1 return pump and probably MCE600 will do the trick. Just have to watch out for evaporation.

[BELL]

Back view of the cabinet.

Hole for the above is for power point.

bottom for Chiller's ventilation.

[MadScientist]

Heat escapes upwards. Unless you are placing the cooling fins flushed or out of the bottom hole, i would suggest using the top vent with fan as ventilation.

You can always test the flow with dry ice mixed with warm water or if you smoke, lighted cigarette. I would not advise the latter as it leaves chemical residues

[Ketchup]

Any idea where to get those black and white mixed Live sand?

Try madpetz. Shd be caribsea or Nature's ocean sand

[desideria]

Hi Bell,

I strongly encourage you to change your chiller. It is undersized for your tank size. THe total volume is 101 Litres for your system thereabouts max. The Resun chiller is only for volume up to 60Litre. Your chiller is gonna be on all the time and the hot air will come out and warm up the entire environment. TRust me, in Singapore hot environment and if you put the tank and chiller in any room, the occupants are gonna swear! Not only that, you will be using up lots of electricity. For chiller, it is always better to get an oversized one so that it will chill down the water faster and have less heat emitted.

Where will you be facing the cabinet/tank? The wall? Hope that the back of your fish tank is to an open space otherwise the back of the wall will be hot which will in turn heat up your tank.

good luck and keep us posted on your setup.

[BFG]

Get a proper chiller, 1 model upwards than what you required. A tem chiller is no good in our climate. Another chiller tip is to modify your chiller to use an external temperature probe. With this modification, your chiller is actually measuring your tank water temperature, not the temperature of the chiller water compartment. More efficient as you are not hampered by the return pump flowrate.

Hope this helps!

[kaykay]

Hi Bell,

Welcome to SRC.

Nice tank you have there.

I'm running quite a similar setup as yours, and I would like to offer some humble opinions.

1. A 4" ios is kinda narrow to work with. The equipment you choose will hence, be limited by this dimensions.

This will also mean that it may be slightly more difficult to "spec-up" your equipment ( as higher rated products usually are built bigger).

For instance, I'm using a BM NAC3+ skimmer (rated for 3 times my tank volume), and it fits with barely half an inch of space around it. My ios is 5.5" wide.

One way to get round it is, of course, use hang-on type equipment. But I'm a perpetual worrier of saltwater leakage, so I only source in-sump equipment.

2. Chiller placement.

We've already read much reviews on the chiller choice in this thread, so I'll skip that.

However, I think that placing the chiller in the lower shelf requires the pump to drive the water 1450mm down and up again. The pump will have to cater for this head loss. Do take note. (The 1450mm is from the tank rim to the chiller, as I don't see any drilled holes in the picture)

3. I'm running the tank with a fan 24/7. My temperature ranges from 27.8deg to 29.9deg. If you are not keeping SPS you may consider chiller-less. Evaporation rates are pretty high though. Around 1.5 - 2L per day.

4. It's really a good idea to keep your cables in the cabinet. But you have to take note of one very important point.

*Make sure the cables do not run straight into the power point. You have to loop it upwards. You don't want water to drip downwards into the socket via the cables and trip the mains, or worse, get electrocuted while doing maintenance.

An easy way is to mount the extension multiple cord on a vertical wall inside the cabinet. In this way, your cables can loop upwards, without giving the water a chance to seep into the sockets.

Above are my 2 cents, in a kinda lor-sor manner.

Looking forward to your updates ya.

Enjoy this reeling journey!

[BELL]

Hi all! Thanks for your concern! Let's wait for the tank to come, everyone seemed to be more worried than i am. Im pretty flexible with things, if the chiller cant be placed in the cabinet i'll just put it outside. If its unable to work for my tank size i'll just sell it off and get a new one Take a chill pill GUYS!!

[BELL]

@Kaykay mind teaching me how do i mount the extension multiple cord on a vertical wall inside the cabinet?