Matt Rogers' Neo Nano Aquarium

With the parts in place and pumps on, it is time to start my tank build.

Matt Rogers' Neo Nano Aquarium


UPDATE FEb 14th 2011:
New light! Aqua Medic Ocean light 150w halide/T5 combo:



Officially started February 22, 2010 with 50% Fiji and 50% Indonesian Live rock and 3mm sand from the Philippines. The week or two prior was a water test and experiment with fine aragonite sand.





My Aqualight Mod:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/4-88-neo-nano-lamp-mod-84424.html





Specs:
Tank
34 Gallon Neo Nano Aquarium from Deep Sea Aquatics - Official Web site
* 24" x 24" x 14"
* Dual 3" x 3" overflow boxes
* 2 1" bulkhead drains
* “Cascade" return system

Stand

* 25" x 25" x 32"

Sump

* 18" x 18" x 18"


Protein Skimmer:



Bubble Magus NAC6 Meshwheel protein skimmer
Capability : 400L-600L (100G-160G)
Pump: Atman ph2500 (made in china)
Pump power: 28W, 220V 50Hz /110V 60Hz * (*pump received says 45.5 watts)
Air intake : 500L/H
Dimensions: 170 * 265 * 500 mm ( 6.7" * 10.4" * 19.6 ")
Cylinder: 6"
Water Level in My Sump : 10"

Read more about skimmer here:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein-skimmers/bubble-magus-nac6-skimmer-unboxed-77380.html

Sump Pump:
[STRIKE]Lifeguard Quiet One 3000 that I dug out of the basement.
700+ GPH[/STRIKE]
3/24/10 - Replaced with an Eheim 1260. 630 GPH.
- The Lifeguard would not restart after power failure without a lot of effort.

Powerhead:
Tunze Turbelle 7240/2 with 7091 electronic controller




Auto Top Off:
Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 with Tunze Kalk Reactor







More info on ATO:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-articles-how-tos/quick-tunze-ato-install-84363.html


Light:
Coralife Aqualight Advanced Mount 150 watt Halide Pendant with Ushio 14k bulb about to go in.


Heater:
Marineland 150 watt Stealth Pro

Salt:
Seachem Aqua Vitro Salinity Salt
More on salt-
http://www.3reef.com/forums/salt/seachem-salinity-salt-mix-coming-month-specs-78095.html

Water Filter:
SpectraPure ProPlus 90 GPD RO/DI

SpectraPure Customer Appreciation SALE! 20% - 50% off

 

First corals added March 12th, 2010!

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PHOTO UPDATES:

Tank -
1/2/11
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...s-neo-nano-aquarium-84665-10.html#post1040777


Refugium -
1/6/11
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...s-neo-nano-aquarium-84665-11.html#post1044768


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TEST RESULTS LOG:

Aug 27th, 2010 - Wow.. big drop in numbers since adding new frags. I hadn't tested my magnesium in 2 weeks since I spiked it up to 1550. Now it is down to 925! Alk is down to 3.43, calcium down to 375. Surely the big mag drop brought the others down. All this while I have been dosing 30ml of each two part. Going to bring mag up first with IV then correct the others.

UPDATE - I did a bad combo - I had fubbed my original mag test I realized with 2nd test and THEN I dosed to 'fix' it so I spiked mag to over 2000!

Aug 28th, 2010 - did a 10 gallon water change to dilute magnesium.

Aug 29th, 2010 -
alk 2.86
cal 380
mag 1662.5 (down from over 2000!)

Unbuffered Seachem salinity salt always brings my alk and calcium down. Unfortunately I had to mix my new esv calcium additive with new ro/di and it has to sit for 24-72 hours. So I will correct all this once that is done.

Aug 30th, 2010
alk 2.74 - will raise with ESV tonight via IV
cal 420 ? interesting - perhaps water after water change had not mixed completely when I did the test a few hours afterward yesterday.

- when I use the additive calculator, and put the alk number from today 1st input and the alk number from yesterday as the desired, it says I should add 2.7 ml of ESV part1. I am curious if this will hold as my daily dose to offset drops.

Sept 15th, 2010

alk 4.23
cal 400

 

I am a DIY guy. If it involves giant drill-bits, jig-saws and toxic chemicals - count me in. The battery box refugium was a great DIY project I had fun with yesterday. My Neo Nano aquarium is about 34 gallons and I wanted to build a refugium that was proportional and would not take up existing sump space. Another requirement was that the refugium was designed in a way that did not light up the whole living room at night. So with this in mind, I began the DIY version of the pub crawl and starting hitting the local hardware stores. When I stumbled on the Attwood Battery Guard Box, the fun began.


The Battery Box Gravity-Fed Refugium: DIY Fun

This battery box seemed ideal for me from the start. It is black so light would be not be a big issue. It comes with a nice vented lid and it is made from heavy-duty plastic* that can handle high heat and acidic conditions (battery acid).

So after choosing the battery box as my refugium, I ran around looking for bulkheads locally… always a pain. When I am rich I will buy a whole box of these things and stick them in my closet for when I need them. Anyway, I tracked down a couple. One was built for boats and had a nozzle on it - I decided to use this for the return with some flexi-hose. The other was a nice 3/4" and I put a slip adapter on it to bring it up to 1" for the input.

Drilling out the plastic battery box was obviously no problem. I free-styled it and just made the return about a 1/4" lower that the input hole. I had some wood hole saws and pulled out the 3/4" one and went slow through the plastic after drilling a small starter hole first.



I had an old DIY PC fixture laying around (2x13 watt) that was ideal for the lid on the battery box. So all I needed to do was cut out a hole in the lid for it. I used a jig-saw and started from the existing top-side vent holes in the lid. (There are big scooped side vents on the lid which remain)





I lucked out and made the cuts fairly straight by going slow.

After doing my cuts, I used a sharp knife and cut out some loose trim and then sanded. When I did the bulkhead holes I was careful when sanding as I was paranoid about the gasket sealing well.

After sanding, I put the bulkheads on. Looked good!



Gravity-Fed

With the box ready to go, I went back to the aquarium and thought about how to feed it. I have a luxury of two drain hoses with the Neo Nano so I shut down the tank and determined which one of the hoses to use for the refugium. The hose was just long enough to put the refugium on the side I wanted. I also was lucky with the table I put it on. It was the perfect height - higher than the sump and lower than the aquarium bulkheads. It was also just skinny enough to fit between the tank stand and the bookshelf. Everything blended in nicely and the hoses are unseen as well. I was started to get pumped up.

PVC Parts

I almost forgot about the PVC parts. I didn't need many, a 3/4" threaded pipe, A 3/4" to 1" thread to slip. A 1" 90 degree elbow and some 1" pvc connectors. I used Oatey PVC primer and glue on everything but the connection to the hose and the threaded pipe into the bulkhead. There I used teflon tape so that I could remove it later if need be.

Water Test

With the box plumbed, I made up 5 gallons of salt water to test it out. With a little sand on the bottom, the Attwood Battery Box held a bit over 4 gallons of water. It seemed right for a 34 gallon aquarium. I turned everything on and stood back. Wow. The gravity fed refugium is dead silent. I eye-balled my holes well as the input was just above the water level - making it quiet and not splash. I was fired up. I dialed in everything for a bit and had to tighten the cheapo boat bulkhead a bit to stop a drip - then I was loving it!




The Light

I picked up two 13 watt 6500k PC bulbs from Ace Hardware (Ace Brand) for my old DIY light. I hadn't used it in a while so I was a bit nervous whether it would be enough light for the box. Once I turned it on over the box though, the fear went away. It is really bright and over a shallow box, it should do the trick.





Cost Estimates

• Attwood Battery Box $14 (saw it later online for as low as $9)
• Bulkheads $15
• Assorted PVC and Hose <$10
• Bulbs $11

The egg-crate and light I already had.

TO DO

Make a light shield to cut the light down even more. It is good now, but I will tinker some more.

Conclusion

I love this thing. I think it is a nice size for my needs and fits into my living room without making it look like a science experiment. It passed the girl-friend test too.

I anxiously await the chaeto algae I just ordered.







* This battery box is made out of polypropylene. It appears to be reef-safe. For more on reef-safe plastics, read this amazing 3reef thread:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/reef-safe-plastics-leaching-myths-facts-57828.html


View Comment thread on this build here:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/battery-box-gravity-fed-refugium-diy-fun-85163.html

 

How dare you reserve slots

I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Great start, about time you stopped teasing us about this build.

That is a cool design for a tank. Looks like the possibilities are endless.

 

Very cool. These are neat tanks. The LFS here has one with a couple Viper halides on it and it does look sweet.

 

Definitely at a great start! I will be watching this build for sure! Thanks for the pics as usual and full line of Data!

 

Looking good Matt.

 

Thanks all!



I started water testing today and my pH was 8.2 and my alk was 4 meq/L. Added a little Seachem buffer to the kalk reactor. (I can't find my kalk! ) to bring those up a bit.

I will spend the next few days or so getting all numbers up and then start thinking about corals soon.

For corals to start I am thinking of zoas,rics, bird's nest and this easy montipora I used to have in my 20 long and a clam down the road.

Still noodling on fish!

To DO - clean up slop in stand - wires are already out of hand. :

 

Looks Great Matt. Glad to see you finally back at it.