Brandy Glass Nano

[Anonymous]

Well I got this sucker at Wal-Mart as a joke for a party but I can't resist. I was thinking betta bowl but new nano reef it is. I haven't figured out the volume yet but it can't be more than 2 gallons.

The plan: Drill a small bulkhead through the bottom and have a dosing pump topoff/airline/undergravel heater run through there. I hope I can silicone all those and get a watertight fit. Water movement will be an airstone, lighting a 250W HQI MH (or maybe a 96W PC) pendant. Viewable from 360 degrees. I'm planning on no fish unless I find a Trimma or Eviota at a LFS, and LPS corals. Maybe a nice Acan and a wild colored Favia.

This seems like that heater solution we've been looking for. Anyone tried one of these Hydrokables? I plan on sticking a bit of black sand around it...
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113767

 

[trido]

Sounds crazy! I'll look forward to seeing it :lol:

 

[Rikko]

I could have sworn you said you were putting 250W MH over a large novelty brandy snifter... Guess that beer's hit me harder than I thought.

FWIW my GF has that exact one as a betta/aquatic frog bowl and it does alright. Maybe yours is a little tougher but I think the glass is pretty filmsy and don't know if I'd trust it with bulkheads... I'm following along with interest.

 

[Anonymous]

I could have sworn you said you were putting 250W MH over a large novelty brandy snifter... Guess that beer's hit me harder than I thought.

:lol:

It's actually an HQI 250W too.

 

[Anonymous]

Brandy Glass Nano

8O :wink:

And you're a professional bartender?
It's called a Brandy Snifter.

btw it looks neat. :wink:

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

Brandy Glass Nano

8O :wink:

And you're a professional bartender?
It's called a Brandy Snifter.

btw it looks neat. :wink:

Regards,
David Mohr

Bah! I know, and I am the one who is normally OCD about these little things (It's a 'Stemmed cocktail glass', not a 'martini glass', for instance) but I didn't want it to sound like I was going to be sniffing my corals. :lol:

 

[brandon4291]

Matt that is fantastic! Working with curved glass will be the bee's knees...you'll have to set that diamond drill on high and barely touch it and let it run for about an hour per hole

Still though, this will rock. I feel confident the HQI will work wonders you'll just have to space that bad boy as needed I am using that 175 HQI right now to run my terrarium bowl but right next to it is a 2.5 g planted that receives ambient light to run some java ferns...the spacing above the system (about 2-3 feet) prevents overheating (max 82) and your extra output should provide good intensity at that distance. We can't wait to see you put it together, good job bud.
B

 

[Anonymous]

Well, got it drilled and siliconed today. I ended up not using a bulkhead at all. Just made a small hole and squeezed all the necessary stuff through. Good news, no leaks! There's a heater cable, the heater probe, and two pieces of rigid airline tubing--one for an airstone and one for topoff from a dosing pump. The hole is about the size of a button so silicone worked fine to seal it up.

For some reason my phone is not sending properly at the moment but should have pics by tommorrow.

 

[Anonymous]

El vaso con agua.

The airstone and topoff hose will be hidden under live rock of course. I can't really do anything to camouflage the umbilical cord though. :lol: The heater works!

 

[minibowmatt]

cool. Looks like its gonna be awesome. Can we see a pic of the DIY bulkhead?

 

[Anonymous]

Shore! Not much to look at though. It's just hoses and wires siliconed through a hole. Pretty makeshift. One nice side effect of the shape of the tank--a little dancing halo at the bottom when the light is on.

 

[Anonymous]

What are you using for a light?

How about the air stone, what is that for?

I would of thought you would of come up with some kind of center tube running straight to the top of the glass that acted as a skimmer or something...

when are we going to see something in it?

full of questions ain't I?

 

[MartinE]

Go Matt Go. What are you going to put in it?

 

[Anonymous]

What are you using for a light?

How about the air stone, what is that for?

I would of thought you would of come up with some kind of center tube running straight to the top of the glass that acted as a skimmer or something...

when are we going to see something in it?

full of questions ain't I?

Nah, no skimmer. There won't be any fish.

The air stone was going to be for water movement but I'm just not happy with the splashing and salt creep and noise. I found a teeny tiny powerhead to move the water that I'm hiding in the sand.

Oh yeah, inhabitants will be mostly nice LPS stuff. No fish or other inverts. The light is a 250W DE 20000K XM bulb.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt,

I remember seeing Daniel Knop give a very cool talk about european nanos at the MACNA in Louisville in 2003. One of the neatest things that they were doing was that they were taking a fist sized piece of live rock and drilling a vertical 1/2" diameter hole down through it. They then blew air bubbles at the bottom of the hole and the rock more or less became an air lift. Daniel said that it pulled water through the rock, enhanced biological filtration and provided circulation without taking up real estate. He was talking about sub-gallon nanos, but a larger rock in a larger nano might work just as well.

Just an idea,
-Lee

 

[Anonymous]

I like that idea....

 

[Anonymous]

Matt,

I remember seeing Daniel Knop give a very cool talk about european nanos at the MACNA in Louisville in 2003. One of the neatest things that they were doing was that they were taking a fist sized piece of live rock and drilling a vertical 1/2" diameter hole down through it. They then blew air bubbles at the bottom of the hole and the rock more or less became an air lift. Daniel said that it pulled water through the rock, enhanced biological filtration and provided circulation without taking up real estate. He was talking about sub-gallon nanos, but a larger rock in a larger nano might work just as well.

Just an idea,
-Lee

I've seen pictures of that nano. It's a great idea. I have a nice rock that is somewhat doughnut shaped. It's what I pretty much planned on doing.

Unfortunately I've scrapped this nano for now. I simply wasn't happy with the viewing surface and the top. Also, the wires coming out the bottom were far more noticeable than I thought they'd be. Further, an airstone just won't make me happy. Too much noise/salt spray when it makes a real water movement for me.

 

[Anonymous]

Say it ain't so, joe. Say it ain't so.

It was a cute idea, Matt. I hope that you solve the problems and find another similar project soon.

-Lee

 

[Anonymous]

Say it ain't so, joe. Say it ain't so.

It was a cute idea, Matt. I hope that you solve the problems and find another similar project soon.

-Lee

I did! Check the forum.

 

[trido]

Do you have it stocked yet? I've been wondering.


"Edit" Too bad. I was wondering what it would look like stocked.