J-Ranko's 15 Gallon Rimless Nano

[J-Ranko]

Hi, Everyone!

I'm a new member of RF. A current member here introduced me to RF, which seems to have a lot of reefers in the western Washington area. Since I live in the region, too, I thought I might introduce myself and start my own tank thread here.

I have a 15 gallon nano tank. It's a mixed reef containing mostly SPS, some LPS and some softies. There's also a resident derasa clam, a clownfish, a royal gramma, and assorted snails for my CuC. Here's a couple of recent full tank shots taken on December 3rd:

[I do have a couple of powerheads for circulation, but I took these pictures while the powerheads were soaking in vinegar for their regular clean-up.]

The oveflow in the corner drains to a sump below, which houses a protein skimmer, a heater, a media reactor with carbon, and an ATO system.

The whole system has been up since February of this year. I recently upgraded the actual tank from a 10 gallon AGA to a 15 gallon rimless tank I bought from Barrier Reef Aquariums. Although the tank, the stand, and the plumbing were recently changed, everything else was simply transferred over, including all the livestock, which I moved all together and all at once. So I consider this a continuation of the former tank.

I'll write some more details about my system, an overview of its history, and of course more pictures, in later posts. But for now, I just wanted to introduce myself and my aquarium.

 

[Rothany]

Very nice nano! What kind of lighting are you using? Got any pics of the sump?

 

[iroll253]

Welcome bro. Good to see you on here, tank looks great.

 

[Krish]

Wow!! That is a beautiful nano!!!

 

[dawgwe1]

Very nice set up.

 

[keener1830]

Very clean and nice setup digging the ducans. Welcome to RF.

 

[rainydave]

That is very nice!

 

[Jesse_emel]

One of the nicest nano tanks I've seen. Have you got the upsize bug yet? Welcome to RF

 

[DonW]

Do you have pics of your overflow setup. Looks real clean.

Don

 

[Frankie]

Welcome to RF
Can't wait to see the filtration. Great display and husbandry!

 

[J-Ranko]

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone!

Here's some more info about my set-up:

LIGHTING: the fixture is an FNI 150w DE metal halide with a Phoenix 14,000K lamp. I modified the fixture a bit. I changed the ballast to a Lumatek ballast that can power 150, 175, 250 and 250 HQI, so that I can experiment with other lamps with higher wattage later on. I installed a couple of moonlights (LEDs) inside the fixture. And I hung the fixture on a bent EMT pipe that I attached to the stand. Here's a pic:

FILTRATION: There's a 5.5 gallon sump in the stand that contains an Aquaticlife 115 protein skimmer and a TLF PhosBan Reactor 150 (running GAC). I also use a pad of Poly-Filter wedged in the baffles to further polish the water. I'll post a picture of my sump once I have it cleaned up. It's a bit messy at the moment.

CIRCULATION: I'm using just a couple of Koralia nano's in the display tank, but I'm going to buy a Vortech mp10 as soon as this week to clean up the look.

ATO & DOSING: I'm using a dual float-switch device for my ATO from autotopoff.com. It's run by a timer to further mitigate the risk of flooding. I dose a two part system from Brightwell Aquatics for my Alkalinity and Calcium.

MAINTENANCE: I do a 3 gallon water change a week (sometimes every two weeks when I get lazy ). I replace the carbon and Poly-Filter every two weeks. I use only distilled water for water changes and top-offs.

As you can see, my system is rather simple. I will likely keep it simple in the future, and the direction I may go with is to add more automation (such as dosing pumps). Of course, there will be the inevitable upgrades along the way, including devices with controllers (lights, powerheads, controllers).

In the near-term I see myself upgrading my equipment and adding to my livestock but nothing as major as a whole new bigger tank yet. In my experience, nano tanks are easier and less costly to manage and maintain than large reef tanks.

 

[flatteringchild]

Very impressive!!!! You sound like you have been involved with this hobby for many years. Great ideas and husbandry. Keep up the good work!

 

[dawgwe1]

Can you give further details on your overflow? Looks pretty simple and clean. I need to do a sump with my 29 gallon but don't want to drill. Looks like a syphon type overflow but can't tell for sure. Thanks for any information....

 

[kickside]

Awesome looking tank dude
I love how it has such a clean look to it

 

[J-Ranko]

Do you have pics of your overflow setup. Looks real clean.

Don

Can you give further details on your overflow? Looks pretty simple and clean. I need to do a sump with my 29 gallon but don't want to drill. Looks like a syphon type overflow but can't tell for sure. Thanks for any information....

My overflow is a siphon type overflow based off of the MAME overflow design, which combines the overflow and return lines into one unit. Here's a pic of the actual MAME glass overflow:

FRONT

BACK

I wanted to buy this for my overflow. But it's expensive and it's sold out even in Japan, where it is produced. Importers in the States won't have it available until at least the end of the December. So I thought rather than wait forever, since it's been delayed by half a year already, I'll build an imitation until I get my hands on the real thing. Here's some shots I snapped with my phone of my overflow before doing a water change:

My design differs in that it doesn't use a venturi on the return line to prime and maintain the siphon in the overflow line. I had no success in copying that from the MAME, so I just use a standard airline tubing along with a check valve to prime and maintain siphon. The airline tubing goes all the way down to the sump as it, too, siphons the water.

Siphon type overflows do, of course, carry a high risk of flooding. So to mitigate that risk I have several measures:

1. There's enough spare capacity in the display tank such that if the siphon fails, the return pump cannot raise the water level in the display over the top. This is achieved by having a very lower water level in the sump's return section, low enough that it's total volume is less than the spare capacity in the display tank.
2. The ATO is on a timer so that it can add not much more than the amount needed to replace the evaporation. This replacement water + the water in the sump return section is maintained to be less than the spare capacity in the display.
3. The check valve in the airline tubing helps prevent air build-up in the siphon. But as an added measure I periodically vacuum the siphon with a syringe to eliminate any air build-up.

I'm still thinking about how to incorporate a venturi to prime and maintain the siphon as the MAME design does. It's a bit tough since i want to keep its clean look.

I wanted to use this type of overflow because I didn't want the look of a drilled overflow on my tank. The only drilled overflows I like are the ones in the corner with a false wall to hide them (like the ELOS mini).

 

[DonW]

You get around the venturi up top by using an aqualifter down under in the stand or put a ventui on your retun pump inlet.

Don

 

[J-Ranko]

Here's a series of shots showing the progress of my system from cycle to present:

MARCH (cycle)

I tried several scape concepts while the tank was cycling. I finally settled on this:

APRIL (initial stocking phase)

In April, I started stocking my tank. First I put a clownfish and a clean-up crew of cerith snails and turbo snails. It was at this time that I discovered Barrier Reef Aquariums by accident and thereafter got all my fish and frags from them. Over the course of two weeks I added several frags in the following order:

1. Acropora sp.
2. Aussie Duncan, Red Cap Monti, Green Birdsnest
3. Yellow staghorn acro

Yes, I started with SPS and even a couple of acropora frags! But hey, this isn't my first time with reef tanks so I was pretty confident about it.

MAY to OCTOBER (growth and gradual addition to livestock)

From May to October I gradually added more frags, changed the scape and just let things grow out.

May
In May I added a sixline wrasse, a derasa clam and a red Aussie acan. It was at this time that I began to notice a very slow receding of tissue from the staghorn acro. Over the course of May and June the staghorn went through a very slow STN, and so I ended up fragging it twice and gluing to a rock piece to stop the tissue necrosis.

June
In June I added one orange ricordia, a mini colony of acropora tenuis, and rescaped the tank. By the end of June I had ended up cutting off almost 1/3 of the large original staghorn frag, but the STN finally stopped.

August

In August I added a red milli, a green/purple acan, a watermelon zoa, and a purple frilly gorgonian. From this point on, the staghorn would begin to grow slowly, first by encrusting on the rock I glued it to, then later by branching out.

September

Over the course of September and October I just let things grow out.

October

Late October to Early December (All livestock and live rock moved to new tank)

I've been wanting to go rimless for some time. When I saw the new rimless tanks at Barrier Reef around October, I couldn't resist. I purchased the 15 gallon one they had in stock and began to design my overflow system. Once the PVC MAME-imitation tested out fine, I went to work on preparing for the transfer.

All live rock and live stock was transferred to the new tank over course of a few hours on a Saturday. Here's a shot of the tank a few days after the transfer.

I wasn't too happy with the scape, so I changed it again, this time to allow for a column/tower to stand near the middle right under light. This tower would be dedicated for acros. After the new scape, I added an orange plate coral. I also went to Barrier Reef's anniversary sale and bought a couple of nice frags: a Red Planet acro and a Ice Tort acro. Here's a shot of the new scape with the latest additions:

Around this point, my sixline wrasse began attacking my clownfish and even nipped its fin. So I banished it to the sump where it's still serving out its sentence while I figure out a more permanent solution. :badgrin:

Finally, over the last couple of weeks, I cleaned up the clutter on the sand bed by moving the acans off the sand, taking the red milli up to the "acro" tower and gluing it behind the acropora tenuis, and gluing my gorgonian down to a live rock. I also added a new fish to the tank--a royal gramma and a new acro frag--a blue Oregon tort! The current state of the tank:

 

[Krish]

Nice progress!! Any photos of your sump??

 

[J-Ranko]

[...] Got any pics of the sump?

Nice progress!! Any photos of your sump??

It's not very clean at the moment, but here's a couple of shots of the sump I took today:

As you can see, it's a maze of tubes. You might be able to discern a skimmer, a heater, a phosban reactor (with carbon), and a dual float switch.

The sump is just a 5.5 gallon AGA tank with a couple of 8"x8" glass panes for baffles. I got the glass cut at a local hardware store and just siliconed them on.

When I set-up the tank, I used to have chaeto in the section with the skimmer. But after a few months, it stopped growing, faded a bit and slowly disintegrated, clogging up my skimmer and return pump.

I know I can clean up the sump set-up by Tee-ing off some of the return water to the reactor, getting rid of the little maxi-jet, but I haven't found a strong enough motivation to do it. When I upgrade to a bigger skimmer then obviously I'll need to do it to make some room.

 

[J-Ranko]

Here's a few shots with better views of the corals:

Right Side

Left Side

Top View of "Acro Summit"

I'll try to get some decent close-up shots. I do have some macro shots of my corals, but they're from months ago before the move to the current 15 gallon.