Nick's 2Ft Nano Tank

[nicholas_yeo]

Hi all, still new to the forum.

I restarted a new nano tank. Plan to keep some general corals (LPS, mushies and leathers). Here are some pics and stats to share. All comments are welcome.

I design & DIY the tank and an Iron wrought stand from a guy in Sungei road. Pretty cheap - those interested in the guy can PM me. He makes alot of tanks.

Tank Spec

size: 2 x 2 x 1.5 (H)

Build in IOS system with 3 compartments

a) Mechanical / Bio filtration

Refugium wtih 6" DSB

c) Return PH and Skimmer Compartment.

Equipment & Material

1) Return PH: Rio Pump (~1300 L/hr)

2) SKimmer PH: Rio pump (~2400 L/hr)

3) Circulation pump: Seio 620

4) Lighting (Daylight) : Atman PL x36 W (1x 720k and 1 x100k)

5) Lighting (Actinic) : Atman T8 x 15W x 2 (2nd hand from fellow reefer Danny Lee)

6) Lighting (Refugium) : PL x 11W x 1

6) Skimmer: Macro ASF 500 (75 gallon)

7) Grade 0 & 1 sand: 5 bags from reborn

8) Salt: Marine Environment

Research: I spent many mths reviewing products and specs on the web b4 concluding the list and budget that I can afford. One challenge on the nano tank is it is always too small to fit everything in (of coz a 3ft tank will be just nice but I like it small)

Rio pumps: Found them moderated pricing with very low power to high flow rate ratio. Got them off from Reborn. fit nicely into my compartment. Estimate 10-15% drop in flow rate after lpumping 1ft in height with all the bends. Will maintain 10-12 times overturn in vol.

Skimmer: I wanted a Macro needlewheel originally but can't find ASP100. Always sold out. Got ASF100 - venturi style instead. I cramp this baby into the tank with much diffficulty. Have to saw part of the piping shorter in order to fit the sump. I choosen a larger capacity on purpose so that I dun have to worry about organic overload. Pple tell me there is no such thing as over skimming so get the biggest one u can fit in there and there is what I did.

Salt: Check numerous websites and all seem to indicate marine environment is one of the best. Dissolve very quickly and my water was straight at 8.2 pH after settle down (Fresh water source measured 9.7ph). I luv this salt. Much better than red sea salt that I previously bought.

Temp: I couldn't afford to run a chiller so no MH is consider. I run my tank in my office as the room temp is always 24degC except on the wkend which can spike to 28degC. I guess I am the only one here who has to use a heater to keep the tank at 26degC. Otherwise, it will dip as low as 22.5degC on rainy days in the office.

Lighting: I uses 2 x PL (36W) with 2 x T8 (15W). Run the PL on 8.5 hrs and T8 on 12 hrs. I wanted to plan for T5 lighting but back last yr, DIY T5 still quite ex. Verysad when Janet from AquaMarine bought in the new low cost T5 after I bought mine. Miss the opportunity.

Refugium: 1st time I tried a refugium. Plan to keep Caulerpa and some critters in there to help on the nutrient export. Use a 6" DSB with grade 0 sand.

Filter Media: Use quite an extensive of variety here.

a) Wool / poly filter on the top layer

2nd layer use a larger density size of foam

c) Use PurII from aquapharm (recommended by Janet at aquamarin, so give it a try)

d) Use Aquaz Activated Carbon and Rowaphos at 3rd layer

d) Use as much coral chips that I can cramped in. Place it from large to small from bottoms up.