2.5 nano tank

[Nano_Steve]

hey all, here's another project i have in mind. its going to be a 2.5 acro/zoo tank. i saw one on nano-reef.com and fell in love, and now that i have a little folding cash i can pick some of the things up to make this.

lemme know if anyone has any new ideas or problems that i dont see. :D

-steve

[LuckyReefer]

That looks good, but im not sure I understand the intake. Where is the pump going to be located?

[LuckyReefer]

NM, i worked it out!

[Nano_Steve]

oh yeah, i didnt draw the pump, it will be after the tall baffle to the right of the fuge.

-steve

[Nano_Steve]

what do yall think would work better, having the metal halide in its sockets inside the canopy or do what they do on nano-reef.com and have it in the pendant like this?

-steve

[RobertG]

You guys are NUTTS! LOL What is it about a small tank? I thought bigger all the time. Wont the light burn the corals like this. How many watt MH like a 70Watter. **** never thought someone would do this.

[reefer]

that's i nice idea, i believe that is like the cpr nano reef that they are (gonna) offer.

[Nano_Steve]

lol, well i started out doing nanos and i never really got rid of the bug(some people consider anything under 50 gallons to be nano)

which setup do you guys think would work out nicer? the pendant or the housing?

-steve

the thing about having it in the canopy means that i would have to cover the tank with uv protective glass and then i would have to get some really high airflow so as not to heat up my water too much. with the pendant it already has the glass but looks different.

[Ram_Puppy]

I have a 1 gallon nano set up, it's a Red Sea Deco Art Vase, with a 75K power compact (18 watts I think) and a little tiny filter that circulates the water. Ther eis a 3/4 inch live sand bed, about 4 smallish pieces of lalo live rock rubble, topped off with a zoo rock from sams tank, zoo rock has green zoos, purple dotted zoos with brown tentacles, and totally white zoos on it. I added a clump of sawblade macro algae as well. It has been up for almost 2 weeks now and is pretty stable. I just have to top it off with water every morning, and I am doing a small water change every few days. This week I will be adding a couple of small hermits, and maybe a sexy shrimp to the mix. so far the zoos expand rapidly in the morning and have great extension all day.

[BA]

wow Ram, water changes....a cup...thats cool, how much evaportaion do you get w/ the 1gal tank???Steve, i think the idea w/ the pendant in the last pic would look better, plus might help w/ heat/evaporation

[Ram_Puppy]

I get a little over a mm of evaporation a day. No heater as the office is maintained at a steady 76 degrees. I would be seriously concerned over putting a halide pendant over such a small tank, even with a ton of fans, My ventillation on my 30 at home is excellent, and the 175 watt light is guranteed to bring my temps up to at least 82 every day, my house is maintained at around 74 degrees. if you build the tank first, and then just put the halide over it for a test, you would probably get a good idea of what would happen. Something to keep in mind, is that coralife is making some nice 10K/Actinic bulbs that screw into a regular medium socket. You could put a few of those in there, at 20 watts a pop, you have 60 watts of power compact light for less heat...

Oh, I have a shroom in there as well, little purple one.

[Ram_Puppy]

I don't have a way to upload pics right now, but if someone wants, I can e-mail them a shot they can put up. Otherwise, will try to put one up tonight.

[Nano_Steve]

ive got one of those corallife bulbs over it already, i want to keep sps in this tank.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=a5d12e3ae92968243206d6fa38c6189f& threadid=16346&highlight=2.5

scroll down to the bottom, this guy's tank is gorgeous, im gonna strive for something similar.

-steve

thanks bobby for being the only one so far to answer my question :P :-D

[Ram_Puppy]

xien, very interesting link... I haven't read through all 10,000 pages yet, but off the top of my head, I would say a canopy and a metal halide would create an unsurmountable heat load, I would go with a pendant.

Is there someway you can test the feasability of both methods (pendant and canopy?) I was thinking along the lines of fashioning a test canopy out of cardboard and so on, but that would already require a financial commitment in the light and fans, which, it looks like you wouldn't need the fans with a pendant, or you would use a different light fixture with a pendant... The MH appears doable, from your link, it has been done... I am just worried about the addition of a canopy to the mix, it makes it a very closed system, even with fans... remember, 30 gallon hex with excellen air flow, in the 80s by noon, your looking at 28 less gallons than that. I don't want to be a killjoy, Just trying to give you some constructive info... fans can only do so much.

Now, if you do do it, and succeed, I will be one of the first to slap ya on the back and say 'good job'. I can't wait to see it.

[Nano_Steve]

well the thing about having it completely open top is it will look like crud from a viewer's standpoint.

there probably is a way i can test both ideas but if i was gonna to a closed canopy i was going to buy the mh endcaps rather than the regent floodlight so as to be a bit more pro. i see where your coming from on the fans, i plan to have one ocillating air in and the other out so there will be a constant flow of air through the canopy and i was going to test how it works with having a lid over the fuge where there is direct air/water contact when it goes over the baffle to the return pump.

all of this is still in its infancy, i just got back from lowes and bought some fittings that i will make into bulkheads and im still trying to figure out how im going to make the fuge.

thanks for the response though ;) i like having discussions about ideas, this way someone might say something i havent thought of or viceversa :D

lol, its kinda a waste of time reading all the posts, ive done it and its mostly kudos and questions from people who dont actually go through with it :P

-steve

[Ram_Puppy]

well, I actually have a thought to maybe modify your fuge and help you with the heat problem... Do you know what a peltier cooler is? There is a principle, that (allow me to explain it badly) if you have two surfaces, and run a current through one, but not the other, heat will move to the energized surface. This is very similar in form and function to the heat sink used on a CPU in a computer. A fan is mounted on the energized surface to cool it.

Anyhow, Marine Depo sells Peltier coolers for the aquarium, it looks like you drill your tank, and from what i can see on the picture, a ceramic 'bulb' goes in the tank itself, and then the peltier cooler and the fan go on the outside. From what I understand it won't run a current through your tank, and it can drop a tanks water several degrees.

here is a link. http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_chillers_coolworks_iceprobe.asp?CartId=

they also appear to have DIY parts for chillers for the 'nano' aquaria, and a micro chiller as well, but I would expect one of the iceprobe peltier coolers would do it. If you click on their badly spelled "click here for more information" you will see one device can drop a 10 gallon tank 6 to 8 degrees farenheit.

If heat becomes an issue, or if you want to head it off at the pass, I would think setting this bad boy up to run when your halides pop on just might do the trick. (Oh, remember, since this can only cool to the ambient air temperature, you will need to make sure the exhuast fans keep the hot air away from it, and that your location is also ideal temp wise.)

hope that helps.

[Nano_Steve]

hmmm.....i wonder if i can make something like that? that with a heater placed in the tank would be PERFECT! but im not about to pay 150 bux for something like that, the mh light is already costing me a small fortune.

anyone have any ideas of how i would go about making something like this?

0-steve

[Nano_Steve]

check this dude out! scroll down about a quarter of the page til you see a picture.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=a8ed52031004c9eceb45286581ea0b8c& threadid=13762&perpage=20&highlight=iceprobe&pagen umber=2

he's got an awesome chiller setup and ive pm'ed him to see if he can help me out with a replica. it says he kept a cup of water at 64 degrees for 4 hours!!!

-steve

[lax]

i read nano-reef everyday. to do the canopy design some people have purchased 70w retro kits from lamp dr. and put them in your canopy as you have. ive seen two different ways to mount the glass, 1) where you have the horizontal pieces of wood to hold the canopy on the edges of the takn, just put another layer of the wood directly above it with about 1/8" gap to slide your glass in, or 2) on the corners of the reflector for your mh, put in stainless steel stand-offs, and then attach a small piece of glass to the stand-offs. option #1 is probably better since it will allow you to keep a barrier b/w you pc bulbs and salt.

as for the canopy opening/closing design, i'm not a fan of it. imo "it will look like crud from a viewer's standpoint" quoting you. to many lines, not very clean looking. just me, but what i would do is to put your hinges on the back edge of the canopy. route in an edge for the top to lay on the sides. when you do this it will allow you to be able to use more of the underside of the lid space, so you can spread out your lights instead of being so crammed in there.

questions about the rest of your design:
-is this a 2.5 gallon tank and you are diving it in half, or with a 5 gallon to make 2.5 gallons show?

possibly solution to your sump problem:
- you could put a durso in the overflow and still have a hole drilled in the back for the fuge, then you could have another tank below the one pictured above for the sump amd then plumb it back into the fuge somehow.

for heat:
-just put in two huge 4" or 5" fans, that should solve all heat issues. should have the space since your not going to have a 2" tall canopy.

[Nano_Steve]

ok well can anyone see any probs with the main design? ive got my bulkheads done(i love my dremel :D) and im about to start measuring to go get my glass cut.

-steve

[lax]

o i'm at work right now, but as soon as i get home i'll try and posts some pics, since they're saved in my comp at home.

[Nano_Steve]

huh?

-steve

[Nano_Steve]

lol, belay that last response of mine, i just now noticed we posted at the same time!

i really really like your thought pattern there lax, im going to draw up a plan of what i am understanding your explanation! ill brb.(scuttles off to use GraphicConverter)

-steve

[Ram_Puppy]

xien, can you document your work process for us? I am pretty good with wood, but would especially like to see your work on the tank itself, I am sure there are others that would like to see you construct the canopy.

[Nano_Steve]

id love to document my processes, i just dont have a digi cam, if anyone will let me borrow their's for a couple of days id be glad to take lots of pics and even write an article for the site.

ive already made my bulkheads but im sure i can go back to lowes and buy an uncut one for documentation's sake :D

-steve

here is what i understand your post to picture lax. tell me if im close.

[Nano_Steve]

i have a question regarding the intake and return for those folks that know about these things.

i plan to use a mini-jet 404(106 gph) for the return pump instead of the maxijet and i have a 3/4 in blukhead(1 in. thread with 3/4 in hole) and i want to know if this is going to be a big enough intake for the fuge area or will the pump overflow my tank?

thanks, steve

[lax]

more or less what i was thinkin, might want to attach a knob or pull to open top, or further modify so you wouldnt have to add a pull. just a possibility. im in the design process as well for building a stand/canopy for my next nano(s).

[Nano_Steve]

:shock: i think ive fallen in love

does anyone have a 7 gallon bowfront they wanna sell me :D

-steve

[captexas]

Steve -
I've neve done a nano, but have always been interested in possibly trying one. I take it that as the bioload is so small you don't need a skimmer?

[BA]

does it count if i put some saltwater,sand, and a polyp in a shotglass?????Hey steve, is the 7 gallon a rare little tank, c/ i tried to look the up on some different sites, w/ no luck...

[Nano_Steve]

chris,

when i had my 10 setup it ran beautifully on just 2 hob, one stuffed with caulerpa and the other that i ran carbon filters on. i had a very large bioload for the size with 4 fish at one time and it seemed to do just fine. i plan to turn all my nanos into clam lagoons though because one prob with nanos is their high fluctuation of nitrates.

bobby,

lol, ive actually seen someone try to pass that off on nano-reef.com.

the mb7(minibow 7) isnt a "rare" tank but its unique, thats y i like it. im actually just a few minutes away from going to petsmart and buying a brand new one for 59.99. i plan to drill out the back and have an overflow that leads to a 5.5 gallon below it for filtration. i dont think i will use a skimmer, rather, just a refugium with lots of caulerpa.

-steve

ps if anyone is interested in letting me borrow their digi cam i can document me building all these tanks, id love to write some articles for our site.

[BA]

cool, ya would love to see progress....

[captexas]

Steve -
That's cool. Just couldn't figure out how you can cram that much equipment on such a little tank. A 10g is one thing, but a little bowfront would be interesting to see how it all fits and looks half-way decent. You're drawings are really good. What program are you using? I used to use a program called Gcadd, a simple version that Autocadd put out many years ago. Unfortunately it is old and not Windows or printer friendly.

[Nano_Steve]

alright, well i did it, i went to petsmart and bought the minibow. they didnt have any nano cubes but im starting to think that while at amazonia i saw a tank that was the same bowed front and shape like the nano cube but without the filtration in the back. since im planning on drilling all these tanks i think i should look into that system instead.

chris,

thanks for the compliment on the drawings! :D lol, i actually use a mac version of mspaint :P i just draw a bunch of lines and get lucky that folks are able to understand what im talking about.

-steve

ps i found that black sand at petsmart too! oh man this stuff is cool looking!!!

[lax]

i have no problems what so ever with nitrates in my nano, your problem is you have fish, true nanos have no fish! imo i would add a small skimmer to your fuge, make it a sump/fuge. by adding a small skimmer to my setup with a fuge already there, made the water crystal clear vs. kinda clear.

as for the fuge, all you need is 3/4" intake and 1/2" out

[Nano_Steve]

lol, what can i say? i have to have SOMETHING moving to look at ;) xenias just dont do it for me :P

where am i gonna find a skimmer that small?

-steve

ps thanks for the input about the returns, thats what i really needed to know :) thats just what i bought a few days ago and was wondering if it was enough.

[Ram_Puppy]

maybe mat could make one?

[Nano_Steve]

well i need someone with acrylic experience to make me a couple of overflows also sooooo. anyone have matt's number?

-steve