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Mason's Red Sea Nano Reef

Mason

Mason

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Like any hobby I got a little too complacent with my 30 Gallon mixed reef tank and it got taken over by green toadstool leathers and Nuclear Green Paly's. I was still doing regular changes, had a cheato tank and a decent skimmer. I use Red Sea salt so the tank was healthy but I lagged on adding nutrients so the colors were not the best. My two clownfish loved the Toadstools and would lounge on them like beanbag chairs..
One day I got up from my desk to get something from the garage and when I came back I noticed the tank was a few inches low. Taking a closer look I noticed that it had sprung a leak about half way down one side. It's a 20 year old tank and I knew it was time to upgrade but the whole complacency thing and other hobbies getting in the way prevented the timely upgrade. I guess I was lucky as the Covid crap had me working from home otherwise there would have been a lot more water on he floor. I epoxied the leak until I could setup a temp tank and then started to sell the overgrowth corals. I found a great deal on a Red Sea Reefer Nano that included a Kessel 360X so now the journey continues with a fresh perspective and renewed excitement. Now I have a sump and a nice clean setup...aaahhhh!!!
I'm working on the reefscape and would love feedback. I'm also in the process of designing and building a netted cover and a chaeto chamber in my sump. I'm an Engineer and work with CREO so I tend to model up everything and love to build the pieces in my garage and on my 3D printer.
With the reefscape I tried to bond it together using cyanoacrylate gel and it work decent until I was bringing it into the house and bumped into a chair and broke it. Lesson learned. Restarted with 3/8 acrylic rod and hydraulic cement for the big pieces.
I decided that the Red Sea O-rings were not sized the way I would do it so I picked some metric sizes that should do the job. I think that the Redsea o-rings are stretched too much which will reduce their lifespan as they will crack more easily over time. Anyways I'll share the sizes I used for anyone reading that needs to replace theirs. I found them in stock at ACE hardware.
The hood cover has 3D printed front and rear corner pieces that slip into the Lowes window frame material. I'm happy to share the files for anybody interested, I'll post more in the DYI section.
Getting close to adding water and starting the cycle.
Cheers!
20210423_180810.jpg

The future vs the past.
20210609_145141.jpg

The scape I broke,,,,arrrrg.
20210609_164300.jpg

New cover frame in place. No screen yet.
Printing new rear corner pieces tomorrow with clearance for pump cords.
20210609_164323.jpg

Close up of the rear corners. I chose to run material rather than cut frame.
It feels more rigid this way as well.
 
Last edited:
Mason said:
Like any hobby I got a little too complacent with my 30 Gallon mixed reef tank and it got took over by green toadstool leathers and Nuclear Green Paly's. I was still doing regular changes, had a cheato tank and a decent skimmer and use Red Sea salt so the tank was healthy but I lagged on adding nutrients so the colors were not the best. My two clownfish loved the Toadstools and would lounge on them like beanbag chairs..
One day I got up from my desk to get something from the garage and when I came back I noticed the tank was a few inches low. Upon a closer look an saw that it had sprung a leak.about half way down one side. It's a 20 year old tank and I knew I had to make a change to but the whole complacency thing and other hobbies getting in the way prevented the timely upgrade until it was finally forced. I guess I was lucky as the Covid crap had me working from home otherwise there would have been a lot more water on he floor.
Long story short I fixed the leak until I could setup a temp tank and started to sell the overgrowth corals. I found a great deal on a Red Sea Reefer nano that included a Kessel 360X so no the journey continues with a fresh perspective and renewed excitement. Now I have a sump and a nice clean setup...aaahhhh!!!
I'm working on the reefscape and would love feedback. I'm also in the process of designing and building a netted cover and a chaeto chamber in my sump. I'm an Engineer and work with CREO so I tend to model up everything and love to build the pieces in my garage and on my 3D printer.
With the reefscape I tried to bond it together using cyanoacrylate gel and it work decent until I was bringing it into the house and bumped into a chair and broke it. Lesson learned. Restarted with 3/8 acrylic rod and hydraulic cement for the big pieces.
I decided that the Red Sea O-rings were not sized the way I would do it so I picked my own so I could resize them. My opinion is that the o-rings are stretched too much which will reduce their lifespan as they will crack more easily over time. Anyways I will share the sizes I used for anyone reading that needs to replace theirs. I found them in stock at ACE hardware.
The hood cover has 3D printed front and rear corner pieces that slip into the Lowes window frame material. I'm happy to share the files for anybody interested, I'll post more in the DYI section.
Getting close to adding water and starting the cycle.
Cheers!
View attachment 28446
The future vs the past.
View attachment 28447
The scape I broke,,,,arrrrg.
View attachment 28448
New cover frame in place. No screen yet.
Printing new rear corner pieces tomorrow with clearance for pump cords.
View attachment 28449
Close up of the rear corners. I chose to run material rather than cut frame.
It feels more rigid this way as well.
Click to expand...
Way to find the leak early! That is everyone's worst nightmare in this hobby. Nice progress and welcome!
 
Today was a good aquarium day for me. I finally finished dinking with the reefscape and put it in the tank,. I wanted to have a tank with zero dead spots under the rocks so I added acrylic pedestals to the bottoms of each section. I used some old pieces of sandpaper from floor redo to sand the bottoms flat then used E6000 adhesive to attached them. The idea is to allow flow under he rocks and any creatures that want to burrow under and help keep the sand clean can do it safely.
The "L" shaped corner pieces for the cover we.no match for the screen. They flexed in and the cover warped so I redesigned them to a solid corner pieces which worked out really well.
Tank is running and now the task of configuring the Apex Jr. and the rest of the equipment.
20210613_125709.jpg

Seascape with the pedestals bonded in place.
I left room in from for separate small rocks for those specimens that grow like mad.
20210616_153044.jpg

One 10 lb. bag of live sand. I'll need to add more,. Going to clean the sand from the old tank and add it next.
20210616_195741.jpg

Cover installed. Fits well. I plan to add a feeder access spot in the right front corner,
Know me I'll go back and buy the black frame and build another one.
20210616_195745.jpg

The new corners work well and will not block any light.
I added slots and dimples where it inserts to the framing material to aid in retention and allow bonding if needed but it turns out they're not needed..

The Apex is a challenge but I'm making good progress.
Double checking the temp using a laser temp gage but I'm not sure I trust it 100%
 
Mason said:
Today was a good aquarium day for me. I finally finished dinking with the reefscape and put it in the tank,. I wanted to have a tank with zero dead spots under the rocks so I added acrylic pedestals to the bottoms of each section. I used some old pieces of sandpaper from floor redo to sand the bottoms flat then used E6000 adhesive to attached them. The idea is to allow flow under he rocks and any creatures that want to burrow under and help keep the sand clean can do it safely.
The "L" shaped corner pieces for the cover we.no match for the screen. They flexed in and the cover warped so I redesigned them to a solid corner pieces which worked out really well.
Tank is running and now the task of configuring the Apex Jr. and the rest of the equipment.
View attachment 28632
Seascape with the pedestals bonded in place.
I left room in from for separate small rocks for those specimens that grow like mad.
View attachment 28633
One 10 lb. bag of live sand. I'll need to add more,. Going to clean the sand from the old tank and add it next.
View attachment 28634
Cover installed. Fits well. I plan to add a feeder access spot in the right front corner,
Know me I'll go back and buy the black frame and build another one.
View attachment 28635
The new corners work well and will not block any light.
I added slots and dimples where it inserts to the framing material to aid in retention and allow bonding if needed but it turns out they're not needed..

The Apex is a challenge but I'm making good progress.
Double checking the temp using a laser temp gage but I'm not sure I trust it 100%
Click to expand...
The club has a calibration thermometer. I would trust it much more than a laser thermometer: https://barcode.bareefers.org/bc/equipment
 
OK I need help. I'm cycling the tank and on day 6.
I added Brightwell Microbacter XLM starter. 6 capfuls for ~24 gallons.
Dry rock with 10 lbs of "Live Aragonite"
Threw in a raw shrimp....ugh regretting that.
Red see Pro salt @ 35PPM'
Temp 78
No lights
Good flow
Shrimp has dissolved.
I put the sock back in for 1/3 hour to get out the shrimp chunks. It immediately clogged and had a gelatinous mess on it.
Tank is also very cloudy.
Ammonia - 0 PPM
Nitrites - 0 PPM
Nitrates - 0 PPM

Thinking of doing the following:
Upping the temp to 84
Adding more Microbactor
Adding more gravel for the bacteria to grow in.
Or....start over using Microbacter start ( liquid ammonia)

Am I just too impatient? Never heard that before....lol
Any help is appreciated.

20210624_112709.jpg
 
My opinion is you skip the cycle in a bottle and go straight to a chunk of live rock or rubble from a fellow hobbyist with a good looking tank. Throw the rubble in and let things go.

The cloudiness is bacteria growing, all part of the cycle. Day 6 is still super early.

I don't think adding more bacteria in a bottle is bad. The idea of that is you are seeding the tank heavily with the bacteria, then continuously adding the same bacteria to make sure you get a colony going. Upping the tank temp will theoretically grow bacteria faster.

Gravel amount is dependent on what do you want to keep in terms of livestock and/or what do you want to look at.

Yes, you are being impatient, I am too, that's why I went for the instant cycle with live rock with every tank I have started. If you find yourself in the south bay, you can stop by my house and get some rubble.
 
H2OPlayar said:
My opinion is you skip the cycle in a bottle and go straight to a chunk of live rock or rubble from a fellow hobbyist with a good looking tank. Throw the rubble in and let things go.

The cloudiness is bacteria growing, all part of the cycle. Day 6 is still super early.

I don't think adding more bacteria in a bottle is bad. The idea of that is you are seeding the tank heavily with the bacteria, then continuously adding the same bacteria to make sure you get a colony going. Upping the tank temp will theoretically grow bacteria faster.

Gravel amount is dependent on what do you want to keep in terms of livestock and/or what do you want to look at.

Yes, you are being impatient, I am too, that's why I went for the instant cycle with live rock with every tank I have started. If you find yourself in the south bay, you can stop by my house and get some rubble.
Click to expand...
Thanks H2OPlayer.
I added a bit more Microbactor today and a live rock.....trying to be patient.
I'll give it a few days before adjusting anything else like the temp..
 
July 4th update.
The water has finally cleared up in the Red Sea.. Based on my research it looks like the cloudiness was some type of algae bloom.
I restarted the Brightwell XLM tank cycle which is going slowly. Ammonia went form 3PPM a few days ago to 1.5 PPM today so at least the ammonia is moving in the right direction. Nitrates still measure zero but the ammonia is going somewhere so.... I don't know, maybe my testing is not accurate enough.

I finally finished the Hydra 26 light mount. . I used 1" SQR. and 1/2 x 1" 80/20 to mount the light and printed the mounting hardware. The 1" sqr. 80/20 was a little short so I'll have to buy longer one to give a little more height adjustability. For now i turned the intensity way down.
The nose piece to clean up the front is still printing.

The Kessel has been moved over to the Red Sea Nano so good progression today.,
I need to tuck away the wires still.
20210704_144743.jpg


20210704_145209.jpg

20210704_145220.jpg

Holes every 1" IN 80/20 and a thumbscrew to adjust and clamp the height.
20210704_152013.jpg

I
 
Update.
I used the PAR meter to adjust the lighting and find the right spots to place some of the corals from the frag tank.
I have the cheato tank in place in the sump with a decent light on it.
Slowly moving the frags over and keeping and eye on the alk and salinity. Ammonia is .001 and nitrates are below 5 PPM.
Put in a little Banggai Cardinal. Once I get more of the corals in I'll put the clowns in. I have to leave them out for now otherwise the big one will relentlessly attack my hand.
20210802_111454.jpg
 
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