albert_dao's 2012 Nano Contest Entry

[albert_dao]

Okay, since people are already starting up their entries and filling tanks with water, I will too.

Let's start with introductions.

Hi, I'm Albert and I like Nano of all sorts. Here's a few I've done (both past and present):

Dendro Dominated Nano




Zoa Dominated Nano




Lily-themed FW Nano




Nano Display @ Oceanic Corals




Crypt-dominated 4 gallon




Same tank rescaped, a few months later




20 gallon Planted w/ Wood Hardscape @ Proline Aquatics




25 gallon cube (Rock Only) @ Oceanic Corals




Now for something different.

As you can tell, I change my tanks fairly often - every six months or so. I reuse most of my equipment and rarely upgrade. The way I figure it, if I intend to shut down and start a tank over again with any frequency, increased system sophistication would complicate the habit. And then I'd get lazy because the tank was no longer interesting. And then it would all fall apart. Frown town.

So bearing those criteria in mind, here is my proposal:

1. The tank will be simple beyond reproach. Like, I'm talking glance at the tank once a month simple. None of this "Oh sh-t! I've really been slacking and stuff be dyin!" crap.

2. The livestock will be sustainable without significant effort on my behalf. I did the high maintenance thing (See Dendro tank) and, while rewarding, it did not have a lot of overlap with my idea of personal zen.

3. This nano will not be retreading any ground upon which I have already covered.

4. I will spend exactly NOTHING to get this started aside from whatever I already have lying around. Why? Because I'm cheap and will get bored of most of this within a year anyway. And it also bites into my "oh snap(!!!!), I need booze" funds.

Okay, so now for the actual process. I will be reusing the sloped front 8 gallon that is featured in the first three images. Zoas have been relocated to my frag tank and all the equipment has been cleaned to the point of looking new.

I have the following parts assembled:

Filter - Aquaclear 207i
Flow - Koralia Nano 425
Light - Vertex Illumilux Marino Bianco 300

I’ve opted not to use a skimmer because I always have 50 gallons mixed and water changes take less than 5 minutes.

That's it. I have a heater somewhere but I will not require it to accommodate for livestock I have planned for this set up. Which is a colossal relief since heaters notorious for being garbage.

Alright, now for the reasoning and philosophy behind the design: How do we create a distinctly saltwater tank without it looking like every other nanoreef that’s ever been slapped together as a weekend project? Initially, I dabbled with the idea of doing a temperate system, but eventually ruled against it since issues with heat were inevitable. There was also the legality of collecting local wildlife to top it off. So that went out the window. However, the idea of keeping similar tropical analogues kept tugging at me and I brainstormed for countless hours until it hit me: Tube Anemones on the sand flats!

Let’s review my checklist:

1. Easy – check
2. Sustainable - check
3. Unique – check
4. Free – check

Perfect. Now came the actual planning process. I started by reviewing my inventory of dried reef rock. After playing with it in the tank for nearly an hour, I gave up. There was no configuration I could assemble where it wouldn’t just look like a typical reef tank. And bearing in mind that Cerianthids have no business being in the rockwork, I scrapped the idea of using reef rocks altogether. Back into the boxes they went. Then I tried out some of the river-worn volcanic rock I had from a previous Freshwater install. You can see it here:



This stuff is gorgeous. It’s light, colorful, inert and doesn’t look like it has any place on the reef. Faaaaantastic

This is what I came up with after a few trials:





For the substrate, I figured your basic white aragonite would look a tad peculiar, so I used a volcanic sand collected from the same area is the rocks:



Placed into the tank, filled with saltwater, I got this:



I’ve since added 10 drops of Zeobak, 2 mL of Zeostart3, 1mL of household Ammonia, 2mL of Potassium Chloride concentrate and will be monitoring the progress daily.

Quite the morning/afternoon, haha.

Pics of planned livestock with my next update.

Edit: If you guys want me to wait until the end of the month, I can. It usually takes me 24 hours or so to cycle a tank, so yeah