It's a small world 2/17 update P.2

[Sherita]

Welcome to the story of my small world tank. This tank is specifically for those little creatures that would get lost in our larger tanks. Things like harlequin shrimp, sexy shrimp, small gobies, pompom crabs and little blennies. I have wanted a tank in my hallway for quite a while, but space is at a premium and the hallway isn't that wide. Well, one day I had a brainstorm....I have this oddly sized little Sea Clear acrylic tank, and wouldn't you know it, it's the perfect size to fit right into that hall. That's the good news. The bad news is, this tank is scratch, BAD. So, before I could actually use it, I had to fix it. This is going to be a slow build, because I have to build the cabinetry for this tank as well. It will be totally enclosed within a custom cabinet, in the picture frame viewer style. The top will be screened, to make sure none of the little creatures escape. It will be lit with two ecoxotic panoramas and three ecoxotic blue stunner strips. I'm going to build a small fuge/sump for it, but this tank will be run skimmerless. A custom foam background will hide the ugly blue acrylic background (eww). So, here we go............

Since this tank was so badly scratched, I had to refinish the acrylic inside and out on the front. I started out with 220grit sandpaper on a palm sander.
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/220grit.jpg

I took all the deep gouges out with the 220grit, then moved through 400grit to 600grit.
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/600grit.jpg
Right about now is when you go "oh no, what have I done??!!". The acrylic should be translucent over the entire area that you are working on. Inspect very carefully at this point for any missed scratches. If you find some, back up to the 400 grit and get them out, then resand with 600 grit. I can't stress enough to inspect carefully. I missed two scratches, didn't find them until much later, and had to back up and start over. Not fun. I used my palm sander for the 220,400, and 600 grit sandpaper, and all sanding needs to be done wet. Do NOT dry sand acrylic. It will clog up your paper, and the acrylic could get too hot from the friction and warp on you.
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For the remainder of the steps, I used my random orbit sander, and micromesh sanding pads designed for hard surface refinishing. These refinishing pads come in kits with 9 grits, starting at 1500 going all the way to 12000. Take your time, do not rush. Use plenty of water (and keep adding water as needed), and clean well between grits with water and a soft cloth. Don't mash down on your sander, let the machine float over the surface and do the work for you. The finer the grit gets, the longer you will spend on each step. Do Not Rush. This is a messy job, don't do it in the house if you can help it, the sander will sling debris everywhere. Wear work clothes, the sander also slings the debris on you. Wear glasses or safety glasses.

Here the tank is after the 2400grit application.
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/2400grit.jpg

4000 grit
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/4000grit.jpg

8000 grit
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/8000grit.jpg

And DONE!
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/smalltankdone2.jpg
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/smalltankdone.jpg

Next step: Background and drilling for drain and returns. Stay tuned for updates!

[koa25]

Very cool. This will be an interesting tank to watch come together.

[koa25]

PANDA GOBY!!! Those things are so small they get lost in a pico. You should get one ha ha.

[Louis-210]

WOW, thanks for all the info, will also follow this build aswell :)

[Sherita]

I haven't fully decided on livestock yet, but here are some of the things I am considering:

sexy shrimp
harlequin shrimp
pompom crabs
porcelain crabs
yellow rose goby
panda goby
hectors goby (tank raised)
barnacle blenny
tail spot blenny
candy hogfish

corals will be:
actinodiscus shrooms (supermans, blue pinstripe, bloody mary, pink polkadots)
zoas (various)
gorgonians
small leathers (devils hand most likely)

I'm going with black sand as a substrate, and live rock structures that are going to take me a little while to build. Heater is an inline hydor, cooling will be provided by computer fans. I've still got to come up with a two stage temp controller. Lights will be controlled via timers. I don't want to have to buy a controller for this tank, since I have two larger builds for later this year that are already going to require the purchase of Apex controllers.

Suggestions are welcome! If you know of a small critter that you think would look good in this tank, I wanna hear about it! Keep in mind, this is going to be a peaceful community, so no meanies please :)

[Sherita]

The overflow and return have been installed. Background will be next. I'm going to foam around the pvc lines, so they will be hidden.

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/overflow3.jpg

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/overflow2.jpg

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/overflow1.jpg

[Zack]

Sherita, how exactly does sanding work to remove scratches from the acrylic?

[Big_Pun]

Sherita, how exactly does sanding work to remove scratches from the acrylic?

it's like polishing car surface scratches you knock it down till surfaces are even, basically removing material and then lil by lil polish it back out. it's not hard but takes time and a light touch so you don't burn it.

[Sherita]

The idea is to gradually move to finer and finer grits, until the final grit (12000) leaves scratches that are not visible to the human eye (they are microscopic, they human eye sees the acrylic as clear). I found that even the final 12000 grit left a tiny amount of haze, but the haze was easily removed using Novus #2 polishing compound.

I started out with regular paperbacked sandpaper, first 220grit, then 400 and 600. From there I went with a micromesh kit that has 9 grits, starting at 1500 and ending at 12000. If a person takes their time, the acrylic turns out looking like new.

[Zack]

Wow that's awesome.. I can't wait to see this thing up and running. Thanks for the info guys

[Sherita]

Background is done. I left the overflow side "puffy" because I want to be able to push frag plugs into it. It also made some cool cave looking shapes that will give my little guys somewhere to hang out.

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/background2.jpg

[Mr Cob]

nice job Sherita

[sdunn90fowlr]

Looks very cool. I will surely follow along to see this one progress.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk HD

[Sherita]

Big news today........the stand is finished! Take a look:

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/smallworldstand.jpg

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/smallworld.jpg

The upper front above the tank is designed to flip up out of the way for easy access, when closed it is held by magnetic catches.

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/smallworldtank.jpg

The lower doors are pegged on the bottom, with popout magnetic catches on the top. The doors are recessed into the stand, for a clean, lowprofile look.

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/smallworlddoor.jpg

In this photo, you can see the peg holes at the bottom of the door, and the magnetic catches at the top.
http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/smallworlddoor2.jpg

I picked up a tiny little three chambered sump at ER the other day, it fits perfectly on the lower self. My plan is to have it setup like this

live rock>return<softy fuge

The upper shelf will hold the worlds smallest macro fuge, and my topoff container. I will use fans on the sump, and above the tank for cooling, and twin heaters in the return section for heating. Temperature is going to be controlled with a homebrew controller made out of a computer thermal control. I will have work lighting on both shelves. The live rock lighting will run with the tank lighting, and the softy fuge and the macro fuge will run on a reverse cycle.

The tank still needs to be drilled for one more return. Other than that, the stand is done. I still have to build the mini-fuge for the middle shelf, and start wiring up for lights.

[Sherita]

Lots of news to post! The stand and tank made it into the house and got set up. It's impossible to get a fts due to the location of the tank in the hall, so you will just have to take my word for it when I say that it worked out perfectly!

This tank shot is at an angle, so it's deceptive (and blue, bleh). What looks to be a pile of rocks is actually a very airy open structure with lots of swim through areas and flat spots to mount zoas and other soft corals. It hides the closed loop system return. The rocks you see to the left hide the intake for the closed loop. To the right side of the tank you see the Barnacle Bungalows embedded into the foam wall. Those are for the trio of barnacle blennies, and for any of the other small creatures to take refuge in if they wish.

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/tank.jpg

The fuge is up and running, with two tiny little light bulbs lighting a tiny little fuge. I built the light rack out of white acrylic for the reflective value. Plus, I like the clean look. The tank drains directly into the fuge.....

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/fuge.jpg

And the fuge drains into a tiny little sump......

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/sump.jpg
I packed the drain section of the sump with live rock rubble. This serves two purposes, one is the obvious added area for beneficial bacteria, the other is a reduction in microbubbles that could get sucked up by the return pump. I still need to build my ato float switch holder, you can see the bracket for it on the back of the sump. I'll get that done tomorrow.


My closed loop is driven by a little Hydor pump (180gph), actually designed for skimmer usage. It sits in a small plastic bin that will catch spills when I need to remove the pump to service it. I have two ball valves on the lines, to keep the water contained when the pump is offline.

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/closedloop.jpg

What you can't see is the DJ Powerswitch (4 switch model) that will be used to control the main pump, the closed loop and the ato. I have electrical installed in the cabinet that lets me use standard timers to control the lights. And a homebrew temp controller will be installed as soon as I fabricate a bracket for it out of acrylic. It's actually micro computer temp controller, now it will serve duty as a temp controller for my little tank. The tank will be cooled using 4.5" 12v computer fans, and is heated with an inline Hydor heater. I still need to finish wiring up the fans and get them in place. This stand is tightly enclosed, so for fresh air ventilation I needed to open it up a bit. I found a really neat aluminum filigree at home despised, and turned it into a pretty grate to cover the circular holes for the fans. There are two fan holes, one above the tank, and one above the sump. I painted the filigree a hammered bronze, to match the stand, and recessed it into the side of the stand so that my trim would fit flush. The holes won't be nearly so noticeable once the fans are installed. If they are, I will insert a dark screen behind the filigree.

http://coralbeauty.us/nanobio/fangrate.jpg

So, how about opinions? Do you see anything I should change? I'd love to hear what everyone thinks!

[Scutterborn]

That's awesome! I love the "Barnacle hotel"!


-Ben-

[Scream311]

Aww Inspiring as Always Ms Sherita

[reefreak]

Sherita what is the size of that tank? Looking great!

[Sherita]

Tank dimensions are 36Lx10Dx16T, right at 25g for the tank. the fuge holds another 2 gallons, and the sump another 4. Minus rocks and sand, I would guess the whole system is around 30g or so.

The temp controller is in and working well, and the dual float ato switch is up and running too. I've got to build new fan brackets for the sump tomorrow, the old ones I had are too big for the stand. I've also still got the side mount fan brackets to build for the stand, and a angled bracket for fans above the tank. But, the worst of the work is over. I dropped a table shrimp in tonite, to kick start the cycle. A lot of the rock I used was already cured and very much live, but the sand was dead, and some of the rock is too, so I'm expecting a mini-cycle for sure (and not the kind you ride on).

The timers are working perfectly, controlling the blue leds and the panoramas, as well as the the itty bitty sump light. I would say that now I just have to wait for the cycle, then the real fun begins :)

I've begun working on a possible stock list. I won't have ALL of the critters listed below, they are just listed for my consideration.

PomPom crab
porcelain crab
sexy shrimp
harlequin shrimp
tail spot blenny
orchid dottyback
firefish
white banded possum wrasse
Hector's goby
Barnacle blennies
Blue Striped Pipefish
ninja star astrea
regular astrea
scarlet reef hermits
elephant snails
florida turbos (maybe)

Corals will be zoas/palys, actinodiscus shrooms, gorgonians and a couple small leathers (nepthea and devils hand).

I had considered Panda Gobies for this tank, but further research indicates that they don't do well in tanks that don't have pocillopora in them, and there will be no sps in this tank so they are a no-go. If you have an idea for a critter that I don't have on my list, by all means, speak up :)

[sdunn90fowlr]

The tank looks great! Can't wait to see updates after some stocking.

[Triggerman]

nicely done!