22.4 Fiji Nano

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Well @ScottR (I'm still blaming you) started a thread this past week that got me thinking about going small so here we go.

22.4 Fiji Cube with internal overflow. Decided to stay with Red Sea for the lighting so ordered a 50 with arm and also an Icecap Nano Skimmer which should fit in the second overflow chamber.

Since I already made one rash decision why not follow it up with another so I decided to build the stand myself. The tank will be on the outside of my office entry so I decided to go with an over all length of 48". I will put a plant and maybe some nick knacks on it as well as the tank.

Step 1 get big wood
20210417_101611.jpg


Step 2 make big wood into little wood.
20210417_104244.jpg


Alright time to mill wood. Moisture meter said the wood was around 10% so I decided to just go for it and hope there's not much twist or warp.
20210417_141219.jpg


And finally we have a completed frame.
20210417_181525.jpg


Cool thing about being single again, you can build stuff in the kitchen.

While I was working in the back UPS dropped off the first round of equipment.

20210417_182632.jpg


The tank comes Tuesday So I will try to finish the stand by next weekend. For now the glue is setting. Tomorrow I'll sand and then think about skinning this thing. I have decided to paint it so will probably stick with pine and run it through the planner. Anyways I'll post more when I make more progress.

Cheers.
 

ScottR

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Beautiful start and your home looks beautiful as well. I’ll follow along with your progress. If there’s anything I regret, it’s not taking enough pictures and documenting along the way. Tanks change so much as you add things in, change them and things start to grow.
 

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nice I have there fiji 18.5 peninsula (now 20 gal ) I try to make a 2x4 stand with pocket screws but I could not get it to stop twisting for the life if me. so I found a small TV stand at the restore...lol

point i...s your a better wood worker than me . haha

cant wait to see the tank!
 
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nice I have there fiji 18.5 peninsula (now 20 gal ) I try to make a 2x4 stand with pocket screws but I could not get it to stop twisting for the life if me. so I found a small TV stand at the restore...lol

point i...s your a better wood worker than me . haha

cant wait to see the tank!
Thanks. The joinery is actually glued. I use the screws to hold in place. I also actually milled the wood down after truing it up on the jointer and table saw. The vertical supports are now 2.5" x 2.5" and the cross members are 2.25 x 1.125. The pocket screws are 2" set at a .75" depth. I can easily lift the entire frame with 1 hand.
 
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So I started thinking about ATO for this tank. No idea how much evaporation such a small tank experiences and if I'm able to get the skimmer working I imagine it could become a pain in the butt. What does everyone think about placing a small optical sensor in the return pump chamber and running a five gallon RO tank under the stand. I can't see why that wouldn't work. Any thoughts?
 

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So I started thinking about ATO for this tank. No idea how much evaporation such a small tank experiences and if I'm able to get the skimmer working I imagine it could become a pain in the butt. What does everyone think about placing a small optical sensor in the return pump chamber and running a five gallon RO tank under the stand. I can't see why that wouldn't work. Any thoughts?

I use a petco 10 gallon tank for my ATO res. works great I get a lot of evap here so I can not worry about for a good 3 weeks give or take.

I use the smart mirco ATO in the return chamber works perfect.

oh I should add I got a pirce of plate glass with a corrnor cut off for cords for the lid for the ATO res. the hple set up was under $20 and in a pinch you got another tank if you need. :)
 

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Thanks. The joinery is actually glued. I use the screws to hold in place. I also actually milled the wood down after truing it up on the jointer and table saw. The vertical supports are now 2.5" x 2.5" and the cross members are 2.25 x 1.125. The pocket screws are 2" set at a .75" depth. I can easily lift the entire frame with 1 hand.

I think that the trick the 2x4 I got a not 100% straight some twisting in them if I had the tools that is what I would have done. maybe I can barrow some from a buddy or pay him to run them through it for me.
 
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So while I'm waiting on finishing my cabinet I started thinking very bad thoughts. I'm toying with the idea of using this tank to house a CSB anemone and a pair of blue ice phantom clowns. This got me thinking about maintaining quality. So here's my thoughts.
Incorporate a auto water change system to perform a daily 1% change out.
The math:
20 gallons (roughly) = 75,700ml
1% = 757ml
5 gallons (water reservoir) = 18,927ml
That gives me about 24 days of water change capacity.
Does anyone see any problems with my math or basic idea?
I would use a simple 2 head dosing pump and run synchronously as to avoid kicking off the fresh water top off. Also I imagine I would keep a small power head and heater in the salt tank. Will precip / evaporation become a factor I will need to account for?
 

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So while I'm waiting on finishing my cabinet I started thinking very bad thoughts. I'm toying with the idea of using this tank to house a CSB anemone and a pair of blue ice phantom clowns. This got me thinking about maintaining quality. So here's my thoughts.
Incorporate a auto water change system to perform a daily 1% change out.
The math:
20 gallons (roughly) = 75,700ml
1% = 757ml
5 gallons (water reservoir) = 18,927ml
That gives me about 24 days of water change capacity.
Does anyone see any problems with my math or basic idea?
I would use a simple 2 head dosing pump and run synchronously as to avoid kicking off the fresh water top off. Also I imagine I would keep a small power head and heater in the salt tank. Will precip / evaporation become a factor I will need to account for?

I love this idea. someing I am going to do on my big peninsula tank. from what I understand is that you do not need a heater or PH in the SW bucket I think your in tank heater will handle 1% just fine, there are lots of ppl doing up to 3-5% daily with non heater SW mix. of course that is on bigger tanks but the math is still the same.

I am curious what other say about this. sure would make it alot easier maybe to easy??
 
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Got the stand painted. Wanted a little of the grain to show and I think I got that. Going to match it with some black metal hardware and am toying with the idea of "aging it a bit with a fork and piece of chain. I'll seal it tomorrow with a few coats of flat poly and then get it upstairs and the tank setup! ( I'll do the doors after the fact to save some time).

20210426_173410.jpg
 
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Forgot to mention I went with adjustable swivel legs with nylon pads for the feet. That will keep it nice and flat as well as provide almost an inch of clearance under the cabinet for drying water spills.

20210420_124325.jpg
 
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Update
The tank is setup!
I added 20lbs Carib Sea live sand, 16 pounds live rock. The tank took an even 15 gallons after adding the sand and rock.
The heater is set to 80 and the skimmer is in place. I'll start running it in a few days after everything settles. So next up is the ATO and the AWC systems.

20210428_160720.jpg
 
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