My 7g Office Nano

[novahobbies]

It's high time a tank came to sit on my office desk. This is a little 12 inch cube that I got from a friend of mine. It features a small DIY baffle in the back that takes up the back 2 inches of space. Filtration is an overflow in the back unit, with two Rio 260 lph pumps returning water back to the main display. Here it was yesterday....

With the pumps in place, and sand added...

And water added. I should add that this thing is freakishly quiet...very cool.

 

[novahobbies]

I came in to work today with 5 lbs of live rock to help the cycle. There are a couple hermit crabs on here....no, I probably won't be removing them. But then I don't expect a huge cycle either, not with the live rock.

NOW, I just need to settle on what kind of light I want. LED, certainly, but not sure what kind yet. This entire project is budget minded, so I'm leaning towards some kind of DIY unit.

 

[trigger40]

very cool. i love small tanks.

 

[tonysi]

Sweet tank! So when are you putting a yellow tang in there?j/k What are your plans for it straight up coral tank or are you gonna add a little goby?

 

[novahobbies]

Probably a goby of some kind.....maybe a Firefish or a Rainford's goby. Possibly a red-headed goby or a clown goby as well. As for corals, I'll probably do some easy zoas and/or ricordeas. And most likely a small acan colony, just to see how it does.

I added a par38 LED spotlight today so I can get some light on this while I'm figuring out what the final lighting solution will be. It's in a clip-on shop light fixture so it's not pretty...but it does the trick for now.

 

[tonysi]

Looking good

 

[novahobbies]

Looking good

Thanks! This is my first official nano I suppose. Trying to do it right, but also while keeping a low budget.

I just induced the cycle today. With the mature live rock, I don't think it will take too long to cycle, but I added a couple ml's of pure ammonia today to bring the concentration up to 1.5ppm. I don't think I need to bring it up higher than that. I'll retest tomorrow to see if we're dropping, and then again next Monday. I'm hoping for a 2-week cycle, but I don't mind if I have to wait longer. More stability now means less to worry about later.

 

[tonysi]

Thanks! This is my first official nano I suppose. Trying to do it right, but also while keeping a low budget.

I just induced the cycle today. With the mature live rock, I don't think it will take too long to cycle, but I added a couple ml's of pure ammonia today to bring the concentration up to 1.5ppm. I don't think I need to bring it up higher than that. I'll retest tomorrow to see if we're dropping, and then again next Monday. I'm hoping for a 2-week cycle, but I don't mind if I have to wait longer. More stability now means less to worry about later.

You got that right!

 

[novahobbies]

Ammonia down to less than .25ppm on the API kit this morning. Which I hoped for, given the LR. I'll retest NH3 and bring in my NO2 test on Monday. I think it's time to visit the fish store and see a man about a fish for the QT system!

 

[candaceswf]

Nice! I have an 8g nano I'm setting up at home (my fiance and I both wanted to bring it to the office so we had to compromise with keeping it at home lol).. I'm going to take it slow with this one, I got the live rock and sand going, and then introduced some snails and a couple little serpent starfish about a month later. I'm planning to build a canopy for it, and get a ecoxotic stunner for the lighting. I also got another pump for it (hydor pico evo mag 180), but I'm also going to have to do some work with that in the future bc I want it in the back compartment with the other pump like yours. Do you know where I can get those triangular attachments that direct the water in the display portion?

 

[novahobbies]

Candace, this whole system is about as DIY as you can get....the back section was homemade by the guy who originally got the tank. The pumps are Rio 260lph powerheads, and the flow nozzles came with the pumps. You can pick it up on Amazon for $16...just do an amazon search for Rio Powerhead 69gph.

 

[novahobbies]

Don't you hate when the day gets away from you? I was meaning to go to the LFS today and get some snails/whatnot for this tank, but somehow noon turned into 6pm way sooner that it was supposed to. :-/ Drat. Oh well.....I guess this means I have one more day to let the tank settle in. I'm bringing a gallon of saltwater for the tank's first water change tomorrow, along with my nitrite kit. I also need to find a spare timer...the tank should have a few hours of light for the weekend days, but I didn't want to leave it on 24/7 while I was gone.

 

[novahobbies]

Good news. No ammonia, no nitrite. The tank looks clear and clean, the hermit crabs are happy, and I just added a couple corals. Some zoas and (I'll probably live to regret this) a Kenya. Curious to see how they do with the eBay Par38 bulb. I had a chance to hold and play with one of thos ecoxotic light fixtures. It has the nice clean look I want, but even with three light strips, it's not very powerful.

 

[candaceswf]

Don't you hate when the day gets away from you? I was meaning to go to the LFS today and get some snails/whatnot for this tank, but somehow noon turned into 6pm way sooner that it was supposed to. :-/ Drat. Oh well.....I guess this means I have one more day to let the tank settle in. I'm bringing a gallon of saltwater for the tank's first water change tomorrow, along with my nitrite kit. I also need to find a spare timer...the tank should have a few hours of light for the weekend days, but I didn't want to leave it on 24/7 while I was gone.

This always seems to happen to me on weekends! Saturday and sunday feel like the shortest days ever lol. Thanks for the info! I'll have to post some pics of mine. I read somewhere else over the weekend that they may not be the best lights for what I want to do, so back to the drawing board for now. It's so exciting getting to add the marine life I think I'm going to add a fish this weekend, possibly a pygmy possum wrasse, but a little more research before that.

 

[novahobbies]

Here's a couple shots from this afternoon after the coral started waking up again. The zoas are actually chocomint palys that browned out during the trip to the new tank (weird!) so I hope they get their green back.

 

[snakeblitz33]

looking good Richard!

 

[novahobbies]

Thanks. Good to see ya!

Yeah, it's just a little something for me to stare at whilst working. I like it, but I want to make my own light fixture. I don't think this Par38 bulb is all that great...apparently it was an ebay special.

 

[novahobbies]

And.......DIATOMS. It was bound to happen.

Still no fish (obviously) but maybe some time next week.

 

[trigger40]

i HATE diatoms! took me two months to get rid of them. but the tank looks nice!

 

[novahobbies]

Diatoms are still here, but not really that bad. I've noticed the little blue-legs seem to like them. Not much going on right now, but I DID get my net top built and installed. One of my local places is running a 25% off sale today, so I may swing by and see what trouble I can get into.