defender.TX Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Hello! I'm about to fire up a new Reef and thought I would journal my progress here. I've been a long term lurker of these forums and active poster at Nano-Reef for a few years now. This will be my third reef and I'm really excited about the unique challenge of such a small tank. EquipmentAs the title says, I'm running an ADA 30C with a NanoBox Mini. This is going to be a low-tech tank with just live rock and a Vortech MP10QD for filtration. I might add a MAME skimmer at some point if I feel like I need the additional filtration, but the plan at this point is just large, weekly water changes to keep the water clean and elements up. I'm using IKEA EKBY BJARNUM shelf brackets as light hangers and the stand is an old metal cabinet I found on Craigslist and modified for the purpose. I added a stained wooden top and a stained wooden shelf inside the cabinet as well as cut some access ports in the rear and side. It has leveling legs so I was able to get the stand just about plumb even on carpet, which was nice. I work from home a few days a week, so having this tank as part of my home office is really going to make it special! The cabinet is lit with a cheap LED strip kit from Amazon and I'm using a Tripp-Lite Power Strip with individual outlet control. Livestock Since I have no plans to dose two part or Kalk I'm going to pass on SPS most likely and just keep softies and a few choice LPS (who can pass up Acans amirite?). I'll be setting up a frag tank soon so I can keep the LPS small enough that the weekly water changes should be "good enough" for my foundation element levels. I hope to keep a small Goby and a shrimp as well as my clean up crew. Next Steps I'm waiting on my RO system, which should show up today, and I'll be stopping by Plastic-Mart on 620 to pick up a 20 gallon storage tank next week. Once I have everything together and making water I'll start curing some dry rock to go into the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Looking forward to this. I love Acans too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 This is going to be awesome! I love nanos. I bet you could grow SPS if you're on top of your water changes though! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 I mean I could probably be convinced to try a few SPS if I thought hard enough about it. In the meantime, though, RO showed up: The outlet in the picture I just had installed on a dedicated 20A GFCI circuit. Should be enough to mix a bucket of saltwater... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 I also just ordered a MAME switch and MAME backup switch for ATO purposes - since everything is going to be in the tank I want it to be as "invisible" as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 That NanoBox Mini light looks pretty sleek; the first I've seen this. Stellar build so far...I'm a sucker for nano tanks as I like the simplicity of everything in one. We have had ours setup for just over a year but plan to upgrade to 105 gallon...I'll be honest I'm becoming a bit overwhelmed with all the pieces. Good luck with your build. I'm along for the ride to see how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 Yeah the NanoBox is a pretty nice light, it's the second one I've used. My last tank was a 20 gallon cube that had a NanoBox Duo over it and it grew everything I could put under it. I'm going to be installing my RO unit tomorrow and hopefully I'll be making 0 TDS water by the end of the weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 That's a pretty sleek setup there sir! When you're ready for some acro tester pieces, hit me up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 That's a pretty sleek setup there sir! When you're ready for some acro tester pieces, hit me up! You people just won't be happy unless I get SPS in this tank I can tell... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 Small update: I swung by Plastic-Mart (Tank Depot) on 620 south of the dam to try to pickup a 20 gallon vertical tank for my water station but they didn't have it in stock. I didn't want to purchase on their website due to $54 shipping! Luckily they said they would ship one from their San Antonio store for only $20. It should show up today and I can start to plumb the rest of my water station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 My mame stuff came in the post today! Everything looks pretty good. Really high quality borosilicate glass. There were a couple of issues, though. First, the manual is only in Japanese with no translations available: That shouldn't be too big of a deal because it's a pretty straightforward device. However, the switched outlet doesn't have a ground (not sure how much of an issue that will be) and it clearly has 100V marked on it for Japanese mainland power. I assume that running a small US pump like the Aqua Lifter won't be a problem on 100V, but we'll see. The backup (sub) switch was also missing the tank mounting bracket, so I'm in contact with Saltwater Conversions on getting that part now. Now I need to secure an RO reservoir and a pump. I'm in between the Aqua Lifter and Innovative Marine Hydrofill pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Just go IKEA style on those instructions! Who needs words?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Just go IKEA style on those instructions! Who needs words?!?! That's pretty much what I'm doing, but I also found out that the Google Translate app on my Nexus does live translation through my camera, which is pretty darn cool! Also, I was just talking to one of my EE friends, and we feel it's unlikely they have a voltage regulator in the switched outlet box, so it will probably just pass through whatever voltage I plug it into. Shouldn't be an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Quick update: I did get my 20 Gallon tank for my water station and plan on plumbing this weekend. It's a perfect fit for where I planned it to go. I still haven't heard back from Saltwater-Conversion about the missing bracket for the mame sub switch. I also ordered a few other things for the tank and water station: Finnex HMX-S 50 watt titanium heaters, a Milwaukee digital refractometer, some tests, and an Innovative Marine Hydrofill ATO pump. Looking forward to actually making some progress soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender.TX Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 I finally got my water station plumbed and not leaking, so I'm happy to be past that step. The plan is to store water in the tank but mix in a bucket. In other news, my wife's tank is looking way better than mine is so far Hers' is an ADA Mini-M with ADA AquaSky, Advanced CO2 system, Solenoid, and lily pipes with a small canister filter. Stocked with Harlequin Rasboras, Amano Shrimp, Hemianthus callitrichoides, and Eleocharis Parvula. We still need to get an Ottocinclus to clean the glass below the carpet but River City Aquatics has been out for a few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Did you ever get this tank wet? Looking forward to update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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