Nano Reef in the Office

[jostafew]

Hey everyone, after a year of planning my nano reef project is finally taking shape. Lots of indecision on design and complexity, but I finally settled on a simple AIO design with dims 16x16x10 and a display area of 16x12x10. Aside from having the glass panels cut at the glass shop, the tank is entirely DIY. I'm planning to use a couple 4x10 pcs of window tint on the outside of the side panels to hide the rear chamber during the day. At night time the light over that area will shine through the tint and I'll be able to see in there to check up on things. I thought I would use tint instead of paint as it'll be easier to apply, and secondly it'll allow me to see in at night time to check up on the pods and such in the fuge area! The tank has a glass lid cut about an inch short at the rear to allow for power cables and hoses etc. to leave the tank. I usually run my tanks rimless and topless but since this one will live in the office I added the lid so the cleaners or random ppl don't accidentally drop stuff in there while I'm out of the office.

Water circulation is provided by an Eheim Compact 600 return pump and a Koralia Nano. I plan to keep LPS and some easy SPS, a few inverts, and 2-3 very small fish (Clown Gobie style).

The system will eventually be run on a DA RKL but for now the heater is autonomous and the lighting is on a simple day/night powerbar. I'm hoping to get away without cooling, but if necessary I did leave enough space to top-mount an Ice-Probe chiller in the back chamber.

Lighting is provided by a DIY LED fixture featuring the following emitters:
4x Cree XP-E Royal Blue
2x Cree XP-E Blue
3x Cree Xp-G Neutral White
2x Luxeon Cyan
2x Deep Red
2x Violet
The White and Blue (incl. Cyan) channels are on on their own circuits with dimmers, and the Red & Violet are on another ciruit. When set up on the RKL the Blues will come on first, then the White and supplementals will come up for mid-day, then drop back to just Blue in the evening. After much experimentation I settled on the above mixture of emitters which I felt provided a very good color balance as compared to the MH lamps that I'm used to. Only issue had to do with the "disco ball effect", but that can be dealt with by keeping the water surface calm. At night time the main LED fixture will be out and a smaller LED light source over the main rear chamber will grow Chaeto etc. (most likely 2x Cree XP-G NW). The main light fixture is 50% finished, with all LEDs and electronics assembled and tested. I'll soon be building the stainless steel housing and will post pics of that when completed.

Water top off will be handled by a gravity fed, vacuum operated resevoir in the cabinet above the tank. I really liked the simplicity of that concept, but I've yet to find a resevoir container that will seal up air-tight and has walls rigid enough to withstand the vacuum which will be generated. Still looking for that.

In the meantime have a look at these photos of the tank. I will continue to update as the tank gets placed on the desk at work, gets its sand bed and LR, and gets its lighting installed. I was dissapointed that I didn't catch the nano reef contest, but I'm still really looking forward to my little slice of reef while I'm at my daily grind!

Thanks for looking!


Tank modeled on the desk


Front View with Lid


Front View, No Lid


Rear View



Return Pump Area


Checking sea-worthiness


Another shot on the patio


Happy Reefing!