Carter o51
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2013
- Messages
- 116
- Reaction score
- 34
Whats up Reef2Reef! So after a couple years of being out of the saltwater hobby and realizing that freshwater just doesn't do it for me, its time to go back to reefing. New tank is a 2 ft. by 1 ft. petco purchase from a couple years ago that I recently broke down from a planted tank. The goal of this build is keep it simple stupid (KISS). No sump, nothing drilled, just all self contained hang on the back equipment. One of the things that bothers me the most with this type of build is having all the equipment sitting in the tank and taking away from the natural look.
So after a little research I found a solution. Bought a big aqua clear 70 HOB filter. I'm using it as a sort of improvised sump. I didn't bother with the inserts and am using it for a skimmer and a heater. So I bought an Aquatic Life mini internal 115 skimmer. Super small footprint and the perfect size to sit inside the HOB. Heater is a Cobalt 75 Watt heater that is also squeezed into the filter. This way the only equipment inside of the tank is a small powerhead for circulation and the 2 intakes for the Hob filters (I am also running another HOB aqua clear 30 that Ill probably use for chemipure or other media based off necessity, as well as flow).
Tank is set up with about 1/2 inch of "live" aragonite and live rock. I spent a lot of time looking into lighting as well. I wanted to go LED on this build due to power usage, dimming ability, and shimmer. I found a good nano light from reef breeders called the nano light touch, also sold as Aqua Knight LED. It uses 9 3W Cree LEDs with violet, blue, royal blue, and white. Dimmable with 10 intensity settings on each channel. I bought 2 of these units, which should be solid for lps and some easier sps. The tank is only about 16 or so inches deep so I'm not worried about light penetration.
All set, equipment is here and tank was set up Tuesday. I threw about 1/3 of a raw shrimp into the tank to get some ammonia built up for the cycle. I may at some point put up some sort of black back to the tank or just wait for coralline algae to build up
Pics!
Initial Aquascape
Aquaclear 70 with Skimmer and Heater
Completed Aquascape
So after a little research I found a solution. Bought a big aqua clear 70 HOB filter. I'm using it as a sort of improvised sump. I didn't bother with the inserts and am using it for a skimmer and a heater. So I bought an Aquatic Life mini internal 115 skimmer. Super small footprint and the perfect size to sit inside the HOB. Heater is a Cobalt 75 Watt heater that is also squeezed into the filter. This way the only equipment inside of the tank is a small powerhead for circulation and the 2 intakes for the Hob filters (I am also running another HOB aqua clear 30 that Ill probably use for chemipure or other media based off necessity, as well as flow).
Tank is set up with about 1/2 inch of "live" aragonite and live rock. I spent a lot of time looking into lighting as well. I wanted to go LED on this build due to power usage, dimming ability, and shimmer. I found a good nano light from reef breeders called the nano light touch, also sold as Aqua Knight LED. It uses 9 3W Cree LEDs with violet, blue, royal blue, and white. Dimmable with 10 intensity settings on each channel. I bought 2 of these units, which should be solid for lps and some easier sps. The tank is only about 16 or so inches deep so I'm not worried about light penetration.
All set, equipment is here and tank was set up Tuesday. I threw about 1/3 of a raw shrimp into the tank to get some ammonia built up for the cycle. I may at some point put up some sort of black back to the tank or just wait for coralline algae to build up
Pics!
Initial Aquascape
Aquaclear 70 with Skimmer and Heater
Completed Aquascape
