Chad's 2gal bulletproof zen tank

ninjafish

ninjafish

New Member
Hello all,

I am new to the site but I post on a couple other forums as either "Fish", "F1sh", or "ninjafish" - depending on what name's been taken.

I just wanted to share my modded-cannister-filter-plumbed-directly-to-the-bottom-of-a-nano concept.

Here are a couple photos:

2gal cube with modded cannister filter for growing chaeto




Halide/desk lamp retrofit






Auto-topoff






Everything coming together = 2 gal cube with:

360 degree visibility
No equipment or plumbing visible
70w de mh 20k bulb
real-time topoff - absolutely no fluctuation in salinity
35x turnover rate
chaeto fuge with extra water volume and LR rubble







- Chad
 
ninjafish

ninjafish

New Member
Because restlessness and reefing seem to go hand in hand... I next upgraded the cannister filter to a larger eheim so that I would have more filtration capacity





But I put the 2222 impellor blades on the 2128 shaft to keep the flow the same





And I added a mantis shrimp. Meet "Ike"





- Chad
 
ninjafish

ninjafish

New Member
Not long after aquireing Ike, my focus changed from building the most incredible pico ever, to providing the best home possible for my mantis shrimp.

Therefore I expanded the tank from an 8" cube to a 12" cube






And added a heater to the cannister filter to maintain the temp of the larger water volume (oh and put the larger impellor blades back on)






The finished product








The "ugly side" with bulkheads visible





- Chad
 
ninjafish

ninjafish

New Member
Summary,

Even though tanks like this are becoming more and more common, when I first set out to build it 2 years ago, there was nothing like this. No one had ever put submersible pond lights inside a cannister filter before and I didn't even know if it would be enough to grow chaeto. I put the halide into a desklamp so that nothing about the system would look DIY or look like "fish tank equipment". I wanted the whole think to look like it was just a box of water sitting on my desk at work. I wanted it to look so simple people would think that they could just fill up a tank and get the same results. I researched the pump and decided that it would do the job of injecting ro/di water into the pressurized system I had built. The 2gal cube was my favorite because it looked a lot more impossible and "miraculous" than the larger tank - but it was a little cramped for Ike.

Anyways, after some daydreaming, a little research, a little work, a little luck, and more than a little money - everything worked out alright.

Here are some videos, hope you enjoy:

http://www.truenorthreef.com/PicoMovie.wmv
http://www.truenorthreef.com/mantis.wmv
http://www.truenorthreef.com/newcube.wmv

Thanks for looking,


- Chad
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
:welcome to the board!

That is one neat tank. I really like the way you keep changing it to keep up with your current needs of your livestock.
 
ninjafish

ninjafish

New Member
Thanks Skip! Ya, if it wasn't for the fact that I wanted Ike to be as happy as possible, I would have kept the 2gal.
In terms of stability, I would put that tank up against systems many times larger. The longest I ever left it alone was for 10 days (vacation) and when I got back, all I had to do was clean the glass. I never tried to push the envelope, but I think I could have locked it in a room and not come back for three weeks without losing any livestock...
That's pretty amazing for a pico... the 7.5gal wasn't as amazing - there are a lot of stable tanks out there with similar volumes.

Jennie,

I drew up some diagrams and had a local shop (InterAmerican) build them for me. The intake never got glogged but over time, things (like broken shells and bits of chaeto) would collect on it. I kept a toothbrush in my desk and every couple weeks I would just brush the intake screen - the objects would end up fitting through the slots and get sucked into the bottom of the cannister where I would syphon them out during a water change.


- Chad
 
R

reefman23

New Member
:welcome to nanotank.com. Incredible tank... I think you are one of the first mantis-keepers on this site. Do I recognize your tank from n-r.com??

This tank looks so pristine. I like the MH retro too. Great job.

Any other pics of the mantis? I love those things.

Jesse
 
R

reefman23

New Member
BTW, have you seen this pic of a peacock from clippo's site... it's in his "digital-reef" gallery.




I have it set as my wallpaper.

Jesse
 
ninjafish

ninjafish

New Member
Jesse,
Yes, I posted a few threads on that site. I go by "Fish" there (stupid username,, makes searching for references to myself IMPOSSIBLE :evil: :lol: )

Thank you for the photo - it is the most amazing one I have ever seen!!!
The peacock is my favorite mantis but it requires a little larger tank and my heart's in nanos. Maybe with my latest project though...

I will try and russle up a few more pics. (although there is nothing that will top that one.)

- Chad
 
J

jay

New Member
Your tank and setup look sharp and clean!
It's nice to see something so different and...... :shock:

Thx 4 Sharing,
Jay
 
ninjafish

ninjafish

New Member
Thanks Jay :gcool

yaitisme,
Thanks I'm glad you liked the videos. The pump is not a piece of reefing equipment but is a laboratory grade diaphram metering pump. They are used for dosing in labs and industrial applications and are built to a much higher standard. After a lot of research, I decided that it would be the right equipment for adding topoff water to a pressurized system like mine. To hide my topoff I planned on hiding it under the tank - but that would make it the week link or "hole" in my closed loop. If that pump failed and allowed water to flow backwards, it would drain every last drop out of water from my display. I decided that this particular type of pump was the safest choice for such a risky endeavor; in fact, the model I have is rated for systems with pressures as high as 110psi!!! I never lost a moment of sleep when it came to the ATO, because it would be more likely to have a seam in the tank fail, or filter hose burst, than the ATO fail.
The other big advantage is accuracy - I had the pump set to exactly match the rate of evaporation in my tank. It added 3/4 ml every three minutes - the result, a salinity in my nano tank that was as stable as some 300gal systems :langle .

- Chad
 
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