The Colonel's 28 Nano Build

[The_Colonel]

I thought I would share the progress of my new 28G nano. This is my 3rd reef tank, previous two reefs were 90 and 240, so this is a bit of a downsize. I wanted to go smaller, as we do not have the room for a big tank, and well, I just wanted to go smaller....

Feedback/suggestions/criticisms are all welcome!

Starting off with water. I got a new RO/DI from The Filter Guys (highly recommended, as they are reef guys):

Here is the RO/DI installed under the kitchen sink. I originally had the RO bypass hooked directly to a small faucet for drinking water, but the flow was just not enough to make this feasible, so now I just fill up a few jugs for drinking water directly from the RO bypass tube, and throw them in the fridge. The unit has a dual TDS meter and it is reading 4 ppm from the RO and 0 ppm from the DI.

Next is the tank and skimmer. It is a JBJ 28G HQI, but I tossed the stock skimmer and got an Eshopps PSK 75H. I have not fired the skimmer up yet, but it looks like a quality skimmer and will be way more than enough for this tank. I had to do a little dremmel work to the back lip of the rim in order to get the skimmer to sit far enough back to have the hood as much as I would like. (Dremmel work not in this picture.)

I got some base rock from David (Prof) just to see how it would look. I epoxied some of the pieces together to make a solid base:

I bought the 2.18 Factory Retro kit (Both bulbs Actinic ) from nanotuners. The install was easy, took about 1.5 hours. I will post some pick with the lights fired up later (right now, it is sitting too far from the outlet. View of installed 2.18 upgrade:

Last nights project was the stand. I wanted a very specific size stand, very tall, narrow and deep. The stand is 41" high, 20" wide and 30" deep. This gives me plenty of room behind the tank for the skimmer and whatever else I decide to add later on, and also gives me enough room to get a 20G (or so) sump, if I decide to add one later on. I had David (Prof) cut the plywood for me (Thanks!), and like the way it turned out. I still have a lot of wood filler, sanding and trim work to do, then a very dark (possibly black) stain. I will also add a few shelves, and power strips inside.

I could not resit putting the tank on the stand to see how it looks:

From the back, you can see the extra room behind the tank:

From the front:

That is basically where I am right now. I will be out of town this weekend, so will work on finishing up the stand early next week. Then, hopefully, have water in the tank by the end of the week. I will keep this updated with new pics, as I go forward.

Thanks for looking,

JP

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

Great job!

[Hamp]

Looking good. I might start looking into a chiller. With a closed top and metal halide, I think you may have some heat issues.

[acropoorer]

Looking good. I might start looking into a chiller. With a closed top and metal halide, I think you may have some heat issues.

I agree on the chiller. I run the stock 28 gal JBJ as a quarantine tank and it gets to hot if I don't keep the lid up 2". The stock unit is typically 5 degrees above ambient at the peak. If you keep your house really cool and don't run the actinic and halides together you might be OK at peak temp, but the swing will be higher with the skimmer. A fan on the sump might work.

Looks like a quality build, like the way you set up the ro/di. I'm a big fan of plywood stands -- looks like you have good carpentry skills.

[DaJMasta]

There's also a number of mods for those hoods and a few ways to get higher flow fans in there without cutting extra holes.... and a few with cutting holes..... so there are sub-chiller options as well. I don't know how nanotuners does it, but perhaps it already came with a fan upgrade as part of the retro kit. You can also do a little bit of air cooling off the rear chambers, since they're exposed.

Looks pretty sweet so far though.

[The_Colonel]

Thanks for the comments!

I have a chiller plan as a backup if all else fails. Nanotuners does have a fan upgrade, but the only real advantage is it allows you to power the fans separate from the light, so you can run the fans for an hour or so after the main light turns off. I did buy the C-Breeze Adjustable Clamp-on blower here: http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?cPath=68&products_id=586 from them. Hopefully this along with good AC will be enough, but will just have to wait and see.

I should have the stand completed in the next few days, and will post some more pictures then.