Starting a 20 gal nano

[icereefer]

Well I finally sold the 37 cube , so Now I got room in my computer room to set up a 20 gal Nano, I'm going to use it as a zoa and ricordea tank.
I'm going to use a Remora skimmer I have a optix III Pendant and a 150 watt 14k phoenix bulb, a Icacap ballast, Next I'm going to figure out a top for my tank I'm going to make the top out of a tinted acrylic. and custom fit Moon lights into the top.and the Pendant will be fitted to sit on the top of the top...lol. and I'll have room to add fans to the sides if needed.
I painted the back a Marine Blue. and I'm looking for a iwaki pump small enough to give me good water flow to my SCWD closeloop and tank.
And I'm leaning towards Kaelini Live Rock. I want something beside Fiji this time.....lol.
Here's some start photos.

[Gryz]

Looks like a nice little project!

[Sefu]

What a coincidence, just today, I set up my old 20g using left over equipment!

its cycling in the living room right now !!


How about we set up a friendly competition ?

One year from now, on the 2nd Sunday of February, the year 2007, we will meet back on this very same topic and post our 20g's to see who has progressed more !

Are you in ? 8)

[icereefer]

:lol: :lol: Yeah....

[Sefu]

Awesome, my name is Anthony, how about yourself ?

[icereefer]

ICE....(Jim).

[FishinInTheDark]

And may the best man win!

(Nice start, too!)

[Sefu]

I am legally not a man yet :(

May the best man or adolescent win !

[FishinInTheDark]

You'll be of age by the end of this little contest!

[pilotrob]

can we place bets??? :wink:

[Sefu]

I got 20 on Jim :lol:

I still don't even know what I am going to house yet !

[Doctor_Reef]

Hehehe....Ok....who is the bookie here!!!! :lol:

[caseyjaydarling]

sefu, i'm not sure you know who you're up against :lol:

[icereefer]

Leave the poor guy alone....lol.
plus it wouldn't be fair to have a contest,I already have enough in my 40 gal to fill the 20 gal that's not even going yet...lol.
Plus please could we keep this post to it's topic.. :wink:

[Doctor_Reef]

Sorry Jim....we all got carried away here.....

So, any new pic's????? 8)

[icereefer]

:lol: ... no that's fine Ron...
No not yet on the photos, but I did order my HQI icecap ballast, some moon lights for my Dark acrylic. !! canopy, I'm going to make for my tank. I bought a New Maxi-jet 1200 for my Remora. next I need to get a SCWD,,LOL anyone got one there not using. :wink: and find the coolest running external pump to run my closeloop. I need to set up my closeloop and make my preskimmer box for my remora first to see how to fit cut my canopy.
looking for advice? I'm going to cut the top of the canopy to fit to my pendant. what heigth should I make my canopy to get side to side coverage of light from my pendent?
Not asking for much am I.... :lol:
Thanks Jim

[gman0526]

You can put a Dart on the closed loop and blow the water right out of the tank. :lol: But i think that would defeat the purpose, right?

[icereefer]

well I just ordered my Dart...lol. No just kidding.
But I did just order a Iwaki 30 RLT pump, and I got my moon lights in the mail and I got my Ballast. :rockon: I just need to get my SCWD and then start on my plumbing then order my LR.
well I just thought I would share these photos with you I took one with my 14K on and one with my moonlights on..
My grandson was over here today and when I got home from work this was in my tank.... :rockon:
he love to sit in the computer room while I'm on the computer and watch and reads CR with me and the other sites and watches my coral tank.

[gman0526]

Awesome, an Iwaki will definetely will do the job on that closed loop, now you gotta figure how to aquascape so the sand won't blow all over the place ;) . I've told you before that your grandson will be a hobbyist one day, he sure is interested.

I really like the look of the 14k, can't wait to see this filled up already!!!!

[icereefer]

yeah I don't know I still might go BB.?

[FishinInTheDark]

How fun, Jim! It's really neat that you guys have similar interests, and can bond around the hobby.

Nice start on the tank, too.

[icereefer]

yeah it's cool he's 9 and he knows the name of all my corals and we quiz each other all the time. he loves it. I just got him a betta for his birthday and said if he can keep it alive, I'll set him up with his own Nano.
so he's been bugging his mom and me to get him Betta books so he can keep his betta alive.
3 and a half weeks now and he's still got it. :lol: he already knows if his betta don't eat his food he'll get his little air hose in his betta tank and sucks out the un eatin food. I asked why and he looked at me and said grandpa,the uneatin food will turn into ammonia. :wink:
Sharp kid...

[gman0526]

yeah I don't know I still might go BB.?

We will welcome you on the Dark Side :badgrin: :lol:


I really like the fact that he's so willing to read up, awesome!!!

[icereefer]

LOL.all already there. my 40 is BB.

[Sefu]

Heart-warming Grandson you have Jim

[icereefer]

Well I went with the BB bottom. but I like my sand look to so I lined my tank bottom with cutting board sealed it so water wouldn't get under it then I spreaded a 1/8" layer of silicone on top of my cutting board and mixed in some aragonite sand. to give it a sand bottom look.. easy clean up with the look of a sand bottom. :hmm3:

[specsgirl]

Great idea. Keep us updated on how it looks as the tank matures and the coraline algae takes off.

[icereefer]

Well I got my SCWD closeloop installed today.I used a RLT 30 Iwaki pump.
if you click on the photos you can get a better look at it .

[gman0526]

Very nice. ;) One suggestion.. why not make the intake PVC bigger? If I'm not mistaken it's 1" i would go with 1.25 or even 1.5 that way it should increase the pump's performance and make up for some of what is lost due to the SCWD.

[icereefer]

I just went with what was provided, my pump inlet and out let were 3/4" so that's what I went, I used thin wall PVC on my intake so that gained me a little more volume intake. I was thinking with that short of run and this pump producing 510 GPH, that's a lot for a 20 gal.
if not I'll try that Thanks George.

[FishinInTheDark]

Nice work, as always!

[icereefer]

Well I hurry upped and made a canopy for my 20 gal. sorry I didn't get more in depth,but I have to hurry and get this done because I have my rock coming this week. I ordered 90 lbs of Kaelini LR.

[icereefer]

one more

[FishinInTheDark]

Pretty neat design there, Jim! I'm cycling 88# of kaelini at the moment also. I have to tell you, mine was completely uncured, and it stunk to high heaven. Have lots of carbon on hand!

[icereefer]

How does it look though?

[gman0526]

Jim, looking great as always. I see you didn't use the metal mesh this time. Any particular reason?

[FishinInTheDark]

It's absolutely gorgeous rock, Jim. The porosity and shapeliness are impressive.

[Doctor_Reef]

Looking good Jim....and Conni great to hear, sounds like a great score!!!! :)

[icereefer]

Jim, looking great as always. I see you didn't use the metal mesh this time. Any particular reason?
mostly because you can see how much room I have left on top after adding my pendant holder.the areas on both sides of the pendant bracket,I like have smoked colored Plexi glass in there that I have holes drilled into it for ventulation.Plus I will be adding my Moon Lights to each of those panels. My velcro moon light mounts wouldn't of stuck to good to metal mesh???
Jim

[icereefer]

Conni did you have to order your Kaelini in or did you fined it locally?

[FishinInTheDark]

I had it cargo shipped into Denver International Airport, 100 miles from my home.

[icereefer]

cool!!! Yeah I got my LFS to order mine. I didn't think to bad of a deal 3.75 a Lb for it to be delivered to my LPS, I just need to pick it up when it gets here. hopefully wednesday.
Jim

[specsgirl]

mmm...kaelini rock...my favorite! Post up some picts when you get it please!

[icereefer]

I'll do that Specsgirl.
Well I got my moon lights hooked up heres a few photos.

[specsgirl]

ooo...looks nice! Can you come hook up my moonlights? I have all the parts...just too lazy to put them all together! :razz: :lol:

[Volar]

i love the spray bar! yay for bubbles!

[icereefer]

i love the spray bar! yay for bubbles!
:thinkhard: No sorry that's not a spray bar, thats my intake for my closeloop.
jim

[gman0526]

Jim, I'm sure you've tested already, but wouldn't a couple of more holes in the intake restrict the pump a little less and give you more flow? Just thinking that you will need as little restriction as possible because of the SCWD ;)

[icereefer]

I got about 30 holes drilled into it? if my flow is low or resticted I can always drill More, Do you know were I could get some kind of sponge for my In take

[gman0526]

Let me look into it ;)

[gman0526]

How about these?

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/12709/cid/3994

Looking for livestock protection? More filtration?

[icereefer]

Thanks George, Yeah I forgot I had a bunch of sponges from the mag 5 and 7's I've bought that I never used. plus I put one a Mag 5 because the Iwaki pump made my water to warm. :cry:

[icereefer]

Well I got my LR. :rockon: I ordered 88 lbs of Kaelini, man this stuff was Nice!!!

[FishinInTheDark]

Congrats! Looks like great rock!

[icereefer]

Thanks Conni Yeah it looks sweet.can't wait to watch it come back.

[icereefer]

well this is not a very good shot but this is the first hrs of my rock I used for my 20 Gal.

[icereefer]

and this is pictures of my curing garbage can. I'm running 2-620 seio powerheads, a heater to keep my rock at 76 degrees and I'm running a 65 watt PC 10k to keep my coraline and such semi happy till I can get my paremeters under control, I'm using a urchin skimmer with the modified drain. that Caseyjaydarling is letting me use"Thanks Casey".Casey your new skimmer works fine... :rockon:

[nbaker]

I am legally not a man yet :(

May the best man or adolescent win ! bud if your old enough to sign a draft card your a man.

[nbaker]

Leave the poor guy alone....lol.
plus it wouldn't be fair to have a contest,I already have enough in my 40 gal to fill the 20 gal that's not even going yet...lol.
Plus please could we keep this post to it's topic.. :wink: Jim your rigs looking excellent!

[icereefer]

well I had to pull my closeloop out. I can't afford to keep trying different pumps. I couldn't get my temp under 83 with running my closeloop. to get my goal for water movement. so I'm back to Powerheads..... :evil:
Jim

[icereefer]

well my parameters are finally starting to drop. Thank god I've already gone threw about 30 lbs of salt....lol. oh well part of the curing process.
I got some blue legs doing there job and a fine one there doing at first I thought they were dead because they were not moving but they don't have to move around much they'll move in above a 4" circle all day but in that circle the rock is picked clean. :banana:

[gman0526]

That's too bad. So what do you have in mind Maxis, SEIO's or dare I say Tunze :D ?

[icereefer]

well I got some zoa's in my 20 gal now ,the main reason I have got it full is I'm re-doing my 40 gal.
today I pulled all of my egg create shelfing out and I'm going to start adding my Kaelini LR I put some poly board on the bottom of my tank for in case of rock slid.
here's some pictures of my 20 gal.

[FishinInTheDark]

That looks great, Jim! I've never yet seen a mature, all-zoa tank, but yours is looking as good as I've seen, even if it is temporary!

[icereefer]

thanks conni.

[gman0526]

Tank's looking great Jim!!! Keep it up :D

[gman0526]

BTW.. remeber I mentioned Tunzes? Little did I know that these were in the works. Just awesome.


http://www.tunze.com/fileadmin/downloads_en/interzooen.pdf

[FishinInTheDark]

Those are too cool!

[icereefer]

I agree conni those are awesome little guys. I didn't read far enough are they out there yet?

[gman0526]

They'll be out 4th quarter this year. I read somewhere that the prices should start at the $70 mark. Not that bad, IMO.

[Ocean Singer]

any updates/new pictures?

[icereefer]

Well one up date, I noticed all my picture on this post are gone???
and yeah I guess i could get some more pictures out , because my 20 gal will be up for a few more weeks then all my Nano's are coming down and I'm just going to go with one 75 gal reef.