Thinking about a nano

[RWillieK]

I've got a little tax money to play around with, so I'm thinking about setting up a nano.

My ultimate plan is to transfer everything from my 40g Long FOWLR into a smaller tank, and eventually turn it into a reef of sorts. I have about 30 lbs of LR, but I'm willing to sell the whole thing, and buy new rock etc. The 40g is messing with the house - its buckling the floor, and cracking drywall....accelerating the settling I guess.

Anyway - I would like a tank I can build a sump into. My idea is to buy a semi-rectangular tank, and square it off by putting in a false wall, creating the sump. I've seen a few tanks like that, just can't find the link now.

I've never built a tank before, so I I would prefer to stay away from that. I bend plastic at work all the time, but I don't trust myself with the the risk of screwing up the entire tank.


So any tank suggestions? Any other sugestions?!

Thanks!

Robbie

 

[RWillieK]

here is a quick drawing of what I want to do:

I'd like to run four 2 foot NO bulbs over the tank (since I already have them).

The pump in the back is either a Maxijet 1200....I might possibly run another pump, Maxijet 600 on the other side. They would run through bulkheads to clean up the tank.

I do have a Mag3 I could run, but I think the flow would be a little much.

Robbie

 

[brandon4291]

Hi Robbie,

Welcome to our forum, really glad to have you on. And there's nothing better than a new participant with a thickened bank account!

I am stewing over some ideas about your system while I am also at work trying to chat undercover...I'll get back on soon though. In the meantime, click around on our Nano and General forums and feel free to PM any of the posters who have made suggestions that are similar to your ideas.

Glad to have you aboard,

Brandon M.

 

[RWillieK]

Thank Brandon - I have been keeping a FOWLR for many years now, and am ready to take the next step.

I have been reading the threads in the Nano section, I've read most of them for six pages back

Robbie

 

[Anonymous]

If youre gonna keep a reef Id suggest not going with the NO bulbs...Heres my experience...I started out with NO...decided I couldnt keep much in the way of corals...So I went to PC...That wasnt good enough..Ok for softies but not as much as I needed for SPS corals..So I went with 175W MH for SPS...Your internal sump idea is good (dont go with an in tank skimmer though) Id go with a Remora or Bak Pak skimmer...I dont see a need to ditch the LR, especially if its been in your current tank for some time...why waste the time and money..I think Oceanic makes a square glass tank. You might have to find a person/dealer who could custom build on for ya...There are a few tricks to this hobby and especially in the reef business..Patience is number one...Number two, I would plan out what your long term goals are in the way of livestock...You already have an idea on the tank (good)...If you want it to be a piece of a coral reef, then id look in the way of what kind of corals do you want to keep..You'll find that you wont get by too far on NO...Number three..water quality..probably not as great of a concern in a FO tank but seeing how you want a reef, water quality will be an issue for sure..You want to keep phosphates down to prevent unwanted algae blooms, that and it is better overall health wise for livestock..A decent RO/DI unit will do the trick..bare minimum an RO unit (Thats all I have and trust me it makes a difference...)...Another good investment in the way of equipment would be a refractometer..It will read salinity and SG far better than a mechanical swing arm hydrometer..They tend to give faulty readings...a decent refractometer will be far, far more accurate..A decent one will run ya about 50 bucks..These are in my opinion options and starts for setting up a tank, even a small one...Good luck and keep asking questions