Off the Wagon - New Nano

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by don.ald

i want to see the sump set-up

Nothing special so don't get your hopes up, the combination of all my tools being in storage and blowing most of the budget on the stand made me have to improvise on some details.

The sump consists of a fluval 304 which holds the various media and is drilled in the base and plumbed into a recycling bin which holds some more rock, heater, return pump and float valve.


Also I just want to say thanks to Jay for his help on a couple things that made putting this together a lot easier and cheaper. Cheers!

[don.ald]

well, i am impressed! looks amazing. can you explain the canister filter...i mean why not just overflow into the bin and return pump back out? i have never used a canister filter so not sure how they work. how is the tank itself plumbed? did you drill and put in bulkheads?

Originally Posted by sphelps

Nothing special so don't get your hopes up, the combination of all my tools being in storage and blowing most of the budget on the stand made me have to improvise on some details.

The sump consists of a fluval 304 which holds the various media and is drilled in the base and plumbed into a recycling bin which holds some more rock, heater, return pump and float valve.


Also I just want to say thanks to Jay for his help on a couple things that made putting this together a lot easier and cheaper. Cheers!

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by don.ald

well, i am impressed! looks amazing. can you explain the canister filter...i mean why not just overflow into the bin and return pump back out? i have never used a canister filter so not sure how they work. how is the tank itself plumbed? did you drill and put in bulkheads?

The canister filter has three trays inside stacked on top of each other. I feed the water from the overflow directly down into these trays which hold my filter floss, carbon and some bio-media. This was easier for me than trying to build such trays or chambers into a sump. It also keeps the majority of water noise and humidity to a minimum as it’s all contained within the seal canister filter. I drilled a hole and installed a bulkhead in the base of the canister to convert it into a wet-dry system which typically wouldn’t be ideal for saltwater but in nanos I believe it can be good. A bulkhead is also installed in the lower side of the sump to connect to the canister drain. This drain puts less back pressure on the overflow compared to trying to feed the output out of the top of the canister and into the sump. The sump is now free of micro bubbles and most of the clutter so it holds the return pump, heater and float valve easily. I’ve also placed some live rock in the sump for added bio-media in the more conventional saltwater way.

I did have to make some changes to the canister filter to make this work for me, besides installing a bulkhead in the base I also opened up the water entrance (which is actually the stock water output) by removing the impeller assembly and drilling out any major obstructions, this way a clog is less likely and it handles the gravity feed flow much better. I also made a simple baffle to keep bubbles in the canister and out of the sump.

[cale262]

Looks great... I built an edge with an over flow, 6gal sump and led's, but just some plug and play led's using the edge fixture, mine are not as bright as those cree's though...The nicest thing about the sump is you never get any bubbles trapped under the glass

Got any pics of the lights?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by cale262

Looks great... I built an edge with an over flow, 6gal sump and led's, but just some plug and play led's using the edge fixture, mine are not as bright as those cree's though...The nicest thing about the sump is you never get any bubbles trapped under the glass

Got any pics of the lights?

Yeah not getting those annoying bubbles is key to this tank, although I still get a few from time to time but they are easily removed with regular cleaning. However I think the best feature gained by adding the sump and overflow is that the tank doesn't overflow when you put your hand in it, the stock tank is pretty freaking stupid for this reason.

I'll post a pic of the light fixture tonight.

[soapy]

Nice tank! Great corals. ;-) Is that a bit of blue cloves you got from me? Looks like it, the cloves are ok but it has that weedy caulerpa on it too. I would pull that out immediately and toss it in the trash. You do not want that particular weed in this small tank. Only a foxface or something big will mow that weed down and it will fill your tank up. Unless of course it runs out of food or iron perhaps? To be safe I would pull it.

I should be able to give you a bit of cloves sans weeds if you like.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by soapy

Nice tank! Great corals. ;-) Is that a bit of blue cloves you got from me? Looks like it, the cloves are ok but it has that weedy caulerpa on it too. I would pull that out immediately and toss it in the trash. You do not want that particular weed in this small tank. Only a foxface or something big will mow that weed down and it will fill your tank up. Unless of course it runs out of food or iron perhaps? To be safe I would pull it.

I should be able to give you a bit of cloves sans weeds if you like.

Yeah I was thinking about doing that, if you have some more that would be great. Let me know.
Thanks

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by cale262

Got any pics of the lights?

1/2" x 8" x 4" aluminium flat bar
6 LEDS, no optics
Aluminum screen frame used to hold 1/8" acrylic shield

LEDs are a little beat up as I ran them without the shield for few days. Runs a little warn so I'll probably add some fins when I get a chance.

[sphelps]

So you figure this tank is too small for a ghost ribbon eel? Good or bad idea?
I had one before, pretty sure they're blind and wouldn't really notice, just swam around in circles before anyway or just hung out in the overflow box

[Polscot]

welcome to the fluval nano nation, that tank is gorgeous, u did the light mod amazing dude, and chance you could post or pm me detailed info on how you did your plumbing and ATO, i wanna redoo my edge with better plumbing, and did u just order all your lighting from cree.com?