As several of you know, I'm new to the hobby and decided to finally stop lurking and buy the gear to start a nano. I thought did start small and go in the 12-15 range but many of you talked me out of it. So, I decided to go the Innovative Marine All-in-One 38g. I decided to start my own build thread.
All of the final parts arrived last week and I got the whole thing plumbed and the water making yesterday. To make a long story short, I bought a Spectrapure 90gpd RODI and make some tasty water all day yesterday. I mixed Salinity brand salt in and mixed it for several hours. I arranged about 32 pounds (I bought 50 and picked the best pieces) of Fiji live and about 28 pounds of Fiji pink sand.
The hardest part was plumbing in the bypass for the UV. I know I didn't have to do that. My family thought it would be easier to just plumb it in the return and turn off the UV light itself but I wanted to be able to bypass it for maintenance or disconnect entirely. It looks nice and hangs behind the tank neatly. The next hardest thing was getting the Ecoxotic 24" Panorama Fixture light to hang correctly. I scabbed some pieces together from the LFS with stand mounts and wire hanging kits. It looks decent and hangs about right. Sometimes it twists and it's a pita to get into the tank. I'll have to figure something out in that regard.
Over the next few weeks, while I watch the algae grow. I'll work on figuring out the reactor and the skimmer. They are on, but I'm sure I'm just wasting power at this point. I bought Phosban, but that's it. I need to learn this part. I also will be setting up the ATO in the next day or so. It doesn't look too hard and there's room in the central part of the return area in back.
Anyway, I tested the water for the first time and the results were as expected. Using a refractometer was easier than expected - stupid easy actually. It read 1.027. Water temp was 79.8F, Ph was 8.3, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were predictably 0. Nothing going on yet I guess.
After much ado, here are my pics.
Full frontal:
From side - showing rock scape:
The supporting cast:
Test result - Day 1:
I'll keep you all updated.
Tona
All of the final parts arrived last week and I got the whole thing plumbed and the water making yesterday. To make a long story short, I bought a Spectrapure 90gpd RODI and make some tasty water all day yesterday. I mixed Salinity brand salt in and mixed it for several hours. I arranged about 32 pounds (I bought 50 and picked the best pieces) of Fiji live and about 28 pounds of Fiji pink sand.
The hardest part was plumbing in the bypass for the UV. I know I didn't have to do that. My family thought it would be easier to just plumb it in the return and turn off the UV light itself but I wanted to be able to bypass it for maintenance or disconnect entirely. It looks nice and hangs behind the tank neatly. The next hardest thing was getting the Ecoxotic 24" Panorama Fixture light to hang correctly. I scabbed some pieces together from the LFS with stand mounts and wire hanging kits. It looks decent and hangs about right. Sometimes it twists and it's a pita to get into the tank. I'll have to figure something out in that regard.
Over the next few weeks, while I watch the algae grow. I'll work on figuring out the reactor and the skimmer. They are on, but I'm sure I'm just wasting power at this point. I bought Phosban, but that's it. I need to learn this part. I also will be setting up the ATO in the next day or so. It doesn't look too hard and there's room in the central part of the return area in back.
Anyway, I tested the water for the first time and the results were as expected. Using a refractometer was easier than expected - stupid easy actually. It read 1.027. Water temp was 79.8F, Ph was 8.3, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were predictably 0. Nothing going on yet I guess.
After much ado, here are my pics.
Full frontal:
From side - showing rock scape:
The supporting cast:
Test result - Day 1:
I'll keep you all updated.
Tona
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