André's 11g custom AIO - now bare bottom!

[André Brasil]

Established: October 2017

Disclaimer: It's a long one! (that's what she said?)

Hello everyone!

My name is André, and I'm from the Azores (a somewhat hidden piece of paradise).

This is my second saltwater tank, but the first built on actual experience and purpose.

The goal of this tank (yet to be achieved) was to house a small species of Mantis Shrimp. Sadly, Capitan Hook died prematurely during a shipping misstep. Sad times.

Anyway, the tank is now an actual reef, and the mantis shrimp idea is on hold.

One main idea with this tank (coming from a 50g) was to reduce the equipment and maintenance needed and increase the overall enjoyment of the actual tank. In my case because I collect my own NSW that meant that reducing the total volume of the tank would have a pretty significant impact on the time put into my weekly routine.

Also, I wanted it to have a clean, minimalistic look and feel. Especially in a small tank that meant hiding the equipment, so an AIO became an obvious solution.

Finally, it had to be cheap. Unhappy wife would mean soon-to-be-dismantled tank xD. Bought some glass, aquarium safe silicone and some acrylic sheets. As I had access to a laser cutter from a jewelry store, all the pieces were custom made to fit the tank.

That being said, on to the original setup:


Equipment


Tank: DIY 11g AIO

Lighting: Chinese Par 38 LED Bulb

Circulation: Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5

Filtration: Filter floss, sponge and purigen

Temp Control: Small 50w heater

ATO: Tunze Nano Osmolator

Skimmer: Air stone diy water bottle skimmer


Corals


Utterchaos Zoas

Scrambled egg Zoas

Gorilla nipples Zoas

Playboybunny Zoas

Sunny D Zoas

Rastas Zoas

Orange Bam Bams Zoas

Ring of Fire Zoas

Blue Hornet Zoas

Purple Bee Zoas

Keds Reds Zoas

Red Hornet Zoas



Green Mushroom


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Below, a visual time-line of some of the phases the tank went through until reaching its current state:


October 2017


Order from chaos...

Back of the AIO

Custom media basket

Finished!!

Acrilic top helped cut down evaporation and paved the way for the removal of the ATO.

November / December 2017

Used some friends rock to seed new one, but it started getting some bad air algae. Had no snails to counter it at the time.

Ricordea Florida

January - June 2018 - New rock structure made using reef glue added for a hair algae free start. This structure (or rather, part of it) would make it to present day!

One of the "legs" broke and the structure had to be adapted.

Tailspot Blenny, who sadly died a few days after coming in.

Counter to an aiptasia infestion I had to deal with. Sadly, he started eating my zoas and had to be moved :/

Tank born little trochus snail.

New additions! Couple clownfish, torch, montipora, digitata and hydnophora corals.

Top view

Side view

Simple "refugium" with some chaeto strands added to the back of the tank.

July 2018 - changes to lighting and circulation


AI Prime HD added!

Spin Stream arrived!

dang hitchhikers...

After light and flow adjustments

August 18

Tank shot

Close ups

Current Equipment

Tank: DIY 11g AIO
Lighting: Ai Prime HD
Circulation: Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5 + IM Spin Stream
Filtration: Filter floss, sponge and purigen
Temp Control: Small 50w heater
Skimmer: Tunze 9001


Current stock


- Occelaris Clownfish x 2
- Trochus Snails x 4

- Zoas (same as above)

- Blue, orange and green ricordeas

- Green and blue mushrooms

- Torch Euphyllia

- Red Montipora

- Pink Digitata

- Green Hydnophora

- Purple and green Clavularia

_____________________________________________

After a lot of changes and my fair share of challenges, I finally feel like this thing is on the right track.


Feel free to offer insight or ask questions.



Abraço, ffoott

 

[ndrwater]

Tank looks AWESOME!! Keep the updates coming!!

 

[Thewatchmangoby]

Tank looks great!

 

[Kyle Rinker]

@André Brasil I'm quite impressed with your build. I wish I was that talented with glass and acrylic. Nice job!

 

[SPR1968]

Absolutely beautiful Andre, and stunning photography which is clearly another hobby, very nice indeed.

Thanks for sharing your tank and welcome to R2R!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very nice! Love the walking stick LOL!

 

[Chrisfish]

Beautiful Nano tank!! Thanks for sharing it

 

[Katrina71]

Absolutely beautiful! Tank and rock look amazing.

 

[Carew]

Hi

Please send schedule setting AI Prime HD.

 

[André Brasil]

@André Brasil I'm quite impressed with your build. I wish I was that talented with glass and acrylic. Nice job!

On the grounds of full disclosure neither am I, but my father on the other hand ...handy man indeed ^^

 

[André Brasil]

Absolutely beautiful Andre, and stunning photography which is clearly another hobby, very nice indeed.

Thanks for sharing your tank and welcome to R2R!

Thank you for the kind words!

Coming from no aquarium experience of any kind, such a project would never have happened were it not for helpfull people in foruns like this one...the least I could do is share the results of your shared experience!

 

[André Brasil]

Very nice! Love the walking stick LOL!

That was a truly random moment...got home one day, and there he was...just chillin xD

 

[André Brasil]

Hi

Please send schedule setting AI Prime HD.

Sure ^^

It's just a slightly modified AB+ (Brs) file.

 

[André Brasil]

So the tank is currently on my desk at home, but I would like it to have its own furniture I believe that would make maintenance and accessibility easier. One drawback in creating your tank with a custom size is that you will also probably have to custom design the furniture ^^

This is roughly what I was going for:

I was considering a conglomerate for the body and real, solid wood, like mohogony for just the frame where the tank would fit (not sure if my drawings help hehe)

Didn't want it too tall, as to make putting my hands in the tank or reaching for equipment a challenge, nor did I want to have to be on my knees to get a look at the actual tank, soo...I settled on about 26,5 inches height.

Another thing is that I want to store the NSW that I collect in that stand. That being said, I fear that the conglomerate may not be an ideal "floor" to store NSW containers. So it occurred to me that not having a stand base or "floor" and, instead, making the shelve that goes roughly through the middle of the stand "bolted in" would give it the necessary stability.

Thoughts?

 

[André Brasil]

The frame would be something along these lines. I find that interesting because it hides the bottom glass line and gives it a more integrated look and feel.

 

[ramona]

looking good...

 

[André Brasil]

Water change - check!

Avaluating if any ill effects in doing WC bi-weekly instead of every week are made noticeable. Tying it at 25%...so far so good ;Happy

 

[André Brasil]

Trying to get my torch happy is proving a challenge after my last aquascape change, so I made some small tweaks on the strength of the flow and position of the main rock on he tank.

Let's see how it effects things overall...

View attachment 20180903_213751.jpg

 

[Katrina71]

I'm going to try a custom media basket for a 3 gallon JBJ Cubey after Christmas. Your tank looks sleek!

 

[André Brasil]

I'm going to try a custom media basket for a 3 gallon JBJ Cubey after Christmas. Your tank looks sleek!

Thant you!

I've been interested in trying a pico tank, but haven't come around to it, hope yous goes well!