Nitoralis by JDH
 

Introduction

This is my tank journal for my Reef Aquarium "Nitoralis"


The Name

Nitoralis is a pseudo word from two latin words merged together. Nitor and Borealis. Nitor meaning: elegance, brilliance, to shine and Borealis meaning: Northern. Canada=Nothern and those LED's sure do shine!* I spent quite a while thinking of the name, and believe it really adds to the character of this tank.


History

This is my first Reef Aquarium, and first saltwater tank. I have only had one Aquarium in my lifetime - and that was a freshwater 10g from when I was about 12 years old. Many years have passed since then and looking back, I didn't do much right! It's truly a miracle that the livestock didn't croak within the first week, but that tank lasted me a good two years before I got bored with it.

I have spent the last four years doing much research and readings from forums to books to learn as much as I possibly could before embarking on a journey like this. This is probably much longer than the average reefer, and I truly wish I could have started sooner, but glad I waited as I believe waiting saved me many disasters.

I have dreamed of saltwater tanks from the time I was small. I would always stop by the pet store every chance i could when my family and I went into the city (small town growing up) and would spend the majority of the time looking at the tropical fish.

Many delays were from my own fear of messing up, and always having the assumption that Saltwater is so difficult you had to be a rocket scientist to get it right. None of my friends, family or co-workers seem to have any interest in anything Aquarium-related; so it was up to me to push myself to get started. Cost was a bit of an issue as I didn't want to have to constantly replace equipment along the way, and I am a firm believer in "Doing it right" the first time.

Lets get on to the journal!


Equipment

I chose my equipment very carefully to suit the needs for this build. having absolutely nothing to start with wasn't easy on the wallet, but there are lives at hand here, and nothing but the best for my livestock. The components I chose had a lot to do with energy savings as well (Go Green!)


Main System

• Tank - PicO Aquariums Custom Starfire (all 4 sides) 20"x12"x10" ~10g
• Lighting - Maxspect R420R 120w 16k
• Circulation - Ecotech Marine VorTech MP10es
• Pumps - 2x Eheim Compact 300 (one in each of the two back chambers)
• Heater - Cobalt Aquatics 75w Neo-Therm
• Filtration - Coming Soon

Accessories/Misc. Equipment

• Base Rock - BRS "Reef Saver" Rock
• Substrate - Caribsea Arag-Alive! Fiji Pink 10lbs
• Salt - Fluval SEA Pro Formula
• Glass Cleaner - Nimble Nano & Vertex Duplex Magnetic Algae Cleaner (I couldn't decide, so I got both!)
• Test Kits - Elos Testkits (Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite)
• Refractometer - BRS Refractometer[/*]
• RO/DI - BRS 5 Stage Chloramines PLUS RO/DI

Livestock

For this build, I am aiming to keep things clean and in line with my vision for this tank. Keeping certain color groups for corals, and not overcrowding the Fish & Inverts. This saves me on my Bio load and also keeps everyone happy in such a small volume. My goal is to have equal amounts to positive and negative space by using simple design philosophies, and keep an open feel to the tank. I don't really care for the "Thousands of Frags wasteland" that I see all too often.


Fish

• Coming Soon

Invertebrates

• Coming Soon

Corals

• Coming Soon

a build thread with its own logo? Let the games begin indeed :wink:

Great start to your nano tank journal. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Haha! What can I say, I had time on my hands. More to come...

Thanks :)

i wasn't able to track down which font that is. did you add the serifs yourself? i like it.

It's called Rawengulk. The "O" is custom :p

Good looking post! I bet the tank will be as well.

I gotta come up with a tank name now too...

it sounds like you've put some thought into this :-)

:pop2:

Haha, why not, right!?

I did indeed :p I have been planning a tank build for the past 3-4 years. Not that i've been planning this build for that long, but I am taking things pretty slow, so have some time for these things hah!

That's actually a good thing. You don't see that too often actually. Most of the time people just fly by the seat of their pants and wing it. :lol: