Cigar Sherlock's 20 Gallon Long nano build..

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 6, 2012

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was introduced to this club by man named Darrell (not sure of his username) after I purchased his Prism skimmer. I'm putting together a 20g long nano-reef for my family to enjoy. I will post pictures as the items come in and will update the post accordingly. This will be my third saltwater tank and I'm really looking forward to it. The last tank I owned was 12 years ago and it was a 10 gallon nano FOWLR and I also had a 55g FOWLR experimental failure tank. Hopefully since I'm 12 years older and no longer a college student on a college budget, I can keep this tank running successfully for years to come.

Items already owned: 20G Long tank, Aquatraders.com 4X24 T5 lighting, Red Sea Prism skimmer, AC70, File Cabinet ($25.00) stand.

I'll post the items that are ordered later today. Time to get ready for work. Rob

revhtree · Apr 6, 2012

Welcome to R2R! Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

Dowtish · Apr 6, 2012

Welcome to Middle TN circus!

VandyTime · Apr 6, 2012

Welcome Rob!!

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 6, 2012

Ok, the list of items currently ordered and shipped are: Eheim jÃ¤ger 100 watt heater, 50 gal bag of reef crystal salt, captive purity refractometer, TOM temp alert thermometer, API master reef test kit, tunze 6015 nano powerhead, small brine net, mag-float medium. All of these items were bought from Marinedepot.com who price matched everything I ordered, even if it was on amazon.

Things I am getting in very near future. CPR refugium small/dual coralife light controller (deal on Craigslist), I need some live sand and plan on getting some base rock from reefcleaners.com. I'm also going to use all distilled water from Wally world.

Oh and thanks for leading me here Darrell.

Where is the best place to get live sand?

VandyTime · Apr 6, 2012

I have about 10-15lbs of Ocean Direct Caribbean live sand(pacific black reef) you can have. It is a black and white mixture.

revsgirl · Apr 6, 2012

Hi there! Welcome to R2R!

Dowtish · Apr 6, 2012

I would suggest testing that water from Wally World, before using it. I seriously doubt they change the filters like they are supposed to. Look into getting a RODI filter asap.

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 7, 2012

Vandy you are very kind to offer but I think I'm going plain tan for the sand.

Dowtish I understand your concern but I'm not using their RO water. I'm gonna buy gallons of the pink top distilled that many nano reefers swear by.

gmoney243 · Apr 7, 2012

I would use the RO water publix sales before distilled but hey gl if u use it. I would test for phos/nit tho as if it has any in there your gona have a ***** time with algae.

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 7, 2012

I'll test the water no matter what, just to make sure. I do have another quick question. The T5 lights I got from aquatraders have an opaque white water shield. Should I replace that shield with clear acrylic to maximize my lighting. I was disappointed to see the milk white cover.

jtgordon20 · Apr 7, 2012

Try cleaning it or yeah, replace it.
They also look like they are low to the water. Maybe find a way to raise them. Bend the legs so they are taller.

Reefer5060 · Apr 7, 2012

I used to use the the distilled in the pink cap , nothing grew how ever nothing really bad happen either but once I switched to rodi corals took off colors got better and I have yet to have to scrape the glass .

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 9, 2012

Ok so today I completed a few more things on the tank. I modified my Aquaclear 70 into a refugium (pics below) and painted the cardboard that came with the tank to give it a black background. I attempted to cut a hole into my new stand, but alas my b&d batteries are caput and so is my charger. So I have to get to lowes to buy a new charger so that I can use all my powertools (buying everything with a plug next time). I'm running all the electronics into the stand to a nice neat layout with minimal wires showing. Cheers!

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 9, 2012

A few of the tank on the stand...I'm very excited to get this up and running.

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 9, 2012

jtgordon20 said:
Try cleaning it or yeah, replace it.
They also look like they are low to the water. Maybe find a way to raise them. Bend the legs so they are taller.

I feel like an idiot because the cover on the lights had a film on it that needed to be taken off. So once I removed it, it was perfectly clear and ready to be used. (face palm to forehead)

Cigar Sherlock · Apr 10, 2012

Disaster #1 strikes... After routing my cords into the stand, I began testing the digital timer strip. I turned on the moonlights and noticed one of the eight wasn't working. I left them on and just was going to accept the loss when they all started to turn off. Then I heard a pop from the adaptor and the terrible plastic burning smell. I shut everything off and pulled the adaptor out except it broke and the cover came off instead. So I promptly checked the T5's to make sure they were still ok and sent an email to autotraders to get me a new adaptor. Hopefully it didn't harm the LEDs.