Oh Boy....My Winter project...

[Dickie52]

I am a person who hates winter and cold weather and living in NY, you have plenty of both. So I have decides to give myself a new winter project, which will be to set up two new tanks.....

The first is going to be a stock JBJ Nanocube 6, with it's 18watt, 50/50 bulb. The only mods I am going to do, is to the filter system and that will be the typical things, you have talked about here.

The second tank I am really excited about, it a custom tank which measures 24" X 8" X 8", which will give me 6.6 gallons of water. I have a Coralife Lunar Aqualight over that. It has a 65watt true Actinic and a 65watt 10,000K , plus 2 lunar blue moon glow LED's.

I made some more room in the basement fish area and plan on getting started in the next week, as I am waiting for some sand and extra pumps to arrive. Here is a pic of the two tanks.

I have been stocking up on some pretty nice items and hope to build these two tanks with some sort of theme. I am think of going mostly with shrooms in the nanocube. The long shallow 24" tank is another whole story. That one I am going to have to give a lot of thought on even how to aquascape it.....only 8" high!!!
here is a shot of it with the light on it.

Her is just a random shot of my wall of fish.....starts off with my 20 gallon and then the 10 gallon and then the 5gallon (seahorse) and ends with the 120 prop tank.

 

[drty811]

wow.....that is really cool. wish my basement looked like that.awsome job dickie. cant wait to saee the progress with the two new tanks. keep use updated.

 

[sadielynn]

Wow that is a lot of tanks
cant wait to see the 6 long that you got and how that turns out .
Cant wait for pictures either :mrgreen:

 

[reefman23]

If you put some sort of sump on that 6.6 to give you more water in your system, you could stock it with sps or anything else you wanted with that much light on such a shallow tank. looks like fun!!

 

[skipm]

That is one awsome little tank. Where in the world did you find one like that? I am very interested so keep us posted. Skip

 

[reefman23]

They sell one at petco...its called a bookshelf tank.

 

[Dickie52]

That is one awsome little tank. Where in the world did you find one like that? I am very interested so keep us posted. Skip

I bought off a girl, over on nano-reef.....

 

[Dickie52]

If you put some sort of sump on that 6.6 to give you more water in your system, you could stock it with sps or anything else you wanted with that much light on such a shallow tank. looks like fun!!

I know what you mean....I haven't had a tank without a sump in years.....I am trying to keep it simple and see if it does OK......


then I want to move it to a bookshelf..... :love4: In the real house!!!

 

[Dickie52]

Well the filters for the 6.6 arrived today along with some sand so I am finally under way!!! The live rock should be here Friday.....

To get good filtration and flow, I decided to go with 3 AquaClear 20's. I placed them along the back wall of the 6.6 here is a pic.....

The sand I am using is the Agra-Alive, in a fine Fiji Pink. You don't rinse it, but it does cloud the water.....

While I was at it I also added the sand to the nanocube 6.......

Here is the sand that I used....

Well after about an hour wait, I can clearly see that the three AquaClears are going to be doing a much better job than the nanocube6(even though I upgraded the pump to a 115GPH.....

So that is pretty much the update for now, I will be sure to let you all know how I make out with the live rock.

I think I have finally settled on a plan for the 6.6, I am hoping it will have a big tank look, in a small tank foot print..... :loveface

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

This is awesome. I really like that custom tank. Why did you decide to go with three AC 20's as opposed to running two 70's, one for mechanical and one as a fuge? Or even two 50's? I would think the flow would be about the same if you swapped impellers. That little tank has alot of potential. What are your thoughts on stocking?

After seeing the shot of the tank clear, I have one small suggestion...trim down the U-tube so the lower portion of the intakes aren't sitting directly on the sandbed. If the sand gets kicked up for any reason, that's going to get sucked directly into the impeller area of the AC's and could potentially block the impeller/burn out the motor. (did that) Just a suggestion though, you can of course just tell me to sth up. :lol:

btw, :thumbup: remote DSB in the 20H.

 

[Jennie]

Wow, that's alot of tanks! This is an interesting thread, keep the pictures coming

 

[reefman23]

trim down the U-tube so the lower portion of the intakes aren't sitting directly on the sandbed.

I second that. you should be able to just hack it and use a 2 part epoxy and glue the new cut ends together.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

If you cut the U-tube itself, and not the lower portion, the lower portion will slide right onto the U-tube, no need for epoxy or glue. If you cut the lower portion that slides on to the U-tube, you cut off the larger opening that accomodates the U-tube.

So, it's not actually U-shaped but who cares.

 

[sadielynn]

Oh the possibilities for that bookshelf unit . As for the filters man they cleared that up pretty quickly ...... I agree on moving the intake away from the bottom as they will suck in the sand :mrgreen:

 

[Dickie52]

You guys are sooooo right!!! :razz:

I can already see some sand building up under the sponges. Here comes the saw!!!


I spent almost 2 hours at work today drawing differnt seascapes for the 6.6.....I think I have one I really like. I hope the rock that I get will let me do it. I told the guy it's a nano and I don't want to see any boulders... :roll:

Thanks for the input!!! Don't be afraid to kick my arse if I need it......

 

[Dickie52]

This is awesome. I really like that custom tank. Why did you decide to go with three AC 20's as opposed to running two 70's, one for mechanical and one as a fuge? Or even two 50's? I would think the flow would be about the same if you swapped impellers. That little tank has alot of potential. What are your thoughts on stocking?

The main reason was for clearance below the light. Even with the legs on it, it's still very close. Plus I wanted to be able to adjust the flow over different parts of the tank. When you see my aquascape, I think you will see what I have in mind......

Keep the ideas coming, every little thing you guys can see something that I screwed up on, will be one less thing I have to fix later on......

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I bought off a girl, over on nano-reef.....

Isn't that illegal?

I see what you're saying about the clearance with the light. I just ran into the same problem when I put a new Current Dual Satellite over my 2.5. Had to build a 3" frame to set the fixture on to clear the AC 70 fuge on the back.

Have you thought about sticking a micro-jet (or two) behind the rockwork on the side of the tank? It would break up the circular flow patterns that the AC filters will give you. I see three circular flow patterns, which will intersect to some degree, not sure how much. You can see that for yourself. I'm just thinking that adding a MJ on one side or even both sides behind the rockwork will serve two purposes. To add even more flow and to create cross flow. Any detritus/uneaten food/DOC's will be aimed directly at the intakes to the HOB's. Micro-jets are adjustable too. Another option would be that tiny Tunze PH. And another would be to use the microjets to make a mini spraybar across the back of the tank.

 

[Dickie52]

I bought off a girl, over on nano-reef.....

Isn't that illegal?

Nah.....you know those girls....over at nano-reef.... :wh

It is going to be a wait and see on the added current. Right now without the rock in, the AquaClears will blow the sand off the bottom, if I turn them to full.....This tank is only 8" high!!!LOL

 

[skipm]

Here is a link to a powerhead that would work well in the application that Sugar described: http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=MZ3151 and here is a link to the Tunze pump: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... unze_pumps . These are very small if you check the dimensions so it would be easy to hide either one. HTH, Skip

 

[Dickie52]

skipm,

thanks for the links.....I have quite an assortment of macro pumps in my fish closet, so If the need arises I should be ready.....

I have taken the advice of the many helpful members and shortened the inlet tubes of my AquaClear filters. I tried cutting the u-tube to save the glueing, but once it was fitted, the pump wouldn't take a prime. I ended up cutting an inch out of the lower tubes. I used a chunk of tubing as a collar and sealed them with some super glue gel.....seems to be working fine now.....

The nanocube 6 has cleared uo very nicely and I ordered a surface skimmer for it, which I think is a must. Live rock should arrive tomorrow....Here is the two tanks, running with clear water...