City's 15 gallon Column NANO reef build

[Dj City]

Possible success!

I tried the AI Prime again in the hood. This time with the diffuser on and the light turned way down.

It did not seem too hot and did not seem too bright.

This just might work!

I will experiment more but right now I'm going to bed.
Gotta be up at 5am and it's after midnight.

I will do more and better pics and descriptions when I get this build rolling. Im just trying to gather my gear and work out ideas at this stage.

 

[Dj City]

I will be breaking the tank down and starting the actual build SOON.

I am participating in a biological study on bacteria in our tanks. It seems that I have the oldest wet, dormant tank out there at 3 years old. The study is to see if our bacteria can survive and still remove ammonia after so long.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/
This tank has not been fed, has had no water changes, has had no filtration of any kind in the last 3 years. The tank just sat there with water that I would top up from time to time when I thought about it.
Surprisingly, When I turned the lights on after all this time, I had worms of some kind that had come up the glass from the sand and rock. I also saw what I think was some kind of pod scurry under a rock so even after 3 years of no filtration and no feeding of any kind, there is still life in the tank. Even the coraline algae has hung in there.
The sand and rock has been sitting in this water for the past 3 years so this ought to be a good study.

I decided against using black sand but my back glass will be black. I am going to use Caribsea Special Grade Arag-Alive Live reef sand for this build. I really liked the idea of black sand but with how i'm thinking of running my lights inside the hood, I figured I will need the help of the reflective properties of the white sand.

Please share your build threads with me!
Post the links so I can check them out.

 

[Dj City]

Good news!

I contacted Aquaillumination. They informed me that my idea will work!
I should have no problem with my light overheating the tank and I will still have great coverage even with the light being 3 inches from the surface.

He also said that my settings should be good. I can go up higher if I want with no ill effects.

Happy days are coming!

 

[Dj City]

I drilled a hole in the hood for the power cord to go through so now everything fits under the diffuser neatly.
I also drilled 5 holes in the top of the hood above the fan so the light can vent and cool easier.

I will be detailing everything with pictures once the build actually starts!

I'm still waiting on all parts to arrive before I really get started.
Right now, I'm just playing with the light on the tank which has sat dormant for over 3 years as I develop my ideas for exactly how I want this tank to be.

So far, I have only received my AI Prime HD and my Aquatic Life 115 Mini Internal Skimmer.
I changed up my skimmer choice due to the hefty price and not great reviews on the Tunze Comline DOC 9004 skimmer.
I wound purchasing the Aquatic Life 115 Mini skimmer due to the great price and great reviews. I have done the airline mod and it's pretty quiet.
The skimmer had been going through a vinegar bath since last night.

I am also going to change up the refugium light choice. I think the I.M. ChaetoMax might be a bit too much for the CPR Aquafuge2 HOB Refugium.
I am searching for a light that would be more appropriate for the size if the fuge.
Suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Dj City]

I must be crazy.
I just ordered the I.M. ChaetoMax light. I found out it's a 9w light so it should not be too much for the chaeto.
The only problem is it costs $70.
I can get a 9w or better from Amazon or ebay for waaaaaaaay less.

I'm looking (and bidding) on this light...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Grow-L...at=159912&_nkw=led+grow+light&_from=R40&rt=nc

It's 10w and right now is only $1.04
$1.04 beats the heck out of $70

Thoughts?

 

[Art2249]

My AI Prime HD arrives tomorrow.
I have ordered the HOB refugium and the skimmer. I will be ordering the automatic water change system next week.

I think im going to ditch the existing sand and start over with new sand.
Im also going to build a brand new live rock structure from live rock rubble. I have a lot of live rock rubble that I've had in a bucket on my back porch for about 2 years. I took the rubble and laid it out on a table and let it bake in the HOT sun for the past 3 weeks. It's bright white now.
I want a combination of bonsai style and shelf/overhang in one structure. I will have a small island or two as well.
Creating this structure is going to be a challenge because I will be using many pieces of rubble to create it just the way I want it.

I also have a whole bunch of Seachem Matrix that I plan on putting in the bottom of the HOB fuge. I have enough for my 110gal so I have waaaaay more than enough for the little 15gal column.
I figure it's better to use that than to purchase marine pure.

When it's all set up, I'm going to cycle the tank with the new rock structure and seed the tank with rock from my 110gal.

I will be taking lots of pictures for documentation.

As far as the sand, I really want pure black sand. Not mostly black or salt and pepper but BLACK sand. I would like to get the R2R communites advice on what sand to get and why one sand over another.

Also, what's best to attach a bunch of live rock rubble together? I'm talking like 30 to 40 peices. I want to be cost effective. I will be using a lot of whatever I use.

Thanks.

The build will begin soon!

Aquarium silicone really holds well to rock. just put where you can't see it. Take a piece of rock and put some on and try to take it off later! it sticks really good.

 

[Dj City]

Thank you @Art2249

I can see me doing that as well as the IC gel. Especially any rock where I might need a little "Flex" to a structure.

 

[Dj City]

THE BUILD BEGINS​

 

[Dj City]

I want to make this picture heavy and descriptive.

I received my CPR Aquafuge today.

I am on my way but ran into a problem. The aquafuge was just a little too wide to fit.

Nothing a hacksaw can't fix...

Now it fits like a glove.

 

[Katrina71]

You can get a rubber gasket to fit in the hole you drilled for your plug. I get mine at Ace or HD. It keeps the sharp edge off of your plug and gives it a polished look.

 

[Dj City]

I want to show the pics of the light in the hood to explain what I have done.

I removed the T5 light fixture that came with the hood.
I cut the brace that was molded in the plastic in order to make the AI Prime fit nice and snug.

I removed the cord from the T5 light and drilled the hole so the power cord of the AI Prime can fit.

I drilled 5 holes into the top of the hood where the fan for the AI Prime is.
Now the AI Prime can breathe.

And this is what it looks like completed.

 

[Dj City]

You can get a rubber gasket to fit in the hole you drilled for your plug. I get mine at Ace or HD. It keeps the sharp edge off of your plug and gives it a polished look.

I wish I had thought of that or read this before I used silicone to seal it all up.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I want to show the pics of the light in the hood to explain what I have done.

I removed the T5 light fixture that came with the hood.
I cut the brace that was molded in the plastic in order to make the AI Prime fit nice and snug.

I removed the cord from the T5 light and drilled the hole so the power cord of the AI Prime can fit.

I drilled 5 holes into the top of the hood where the fan for the AI Prime is.
Now the AI Prime can breathe.

And this is what it looks like completed.

Very nice!

 

[Dj City]

First attempt to glue a structure together.

Let's see what it might look like in the tank

Against a background?

A little more rock maybe?

Ok so the pillar is too short. It's too thin and the overhang does not reach out enough.
I will continue to try to make something nice happen.

These are feeble attempts to try to carve out something I might like and be able to live with.

I don't want the rock wall! I want something simple, minimal and functional.

 

[Dj City]

Uhhhgh!
It's HARD to aquascape a column tank!

My rockwork broke while I was trying to add to it. I had it going pretty good but a part of the base decided to let go. While trying to fix that, I dropped the whole dang structure.
*SMASH*
Rock rubble all over the place.
I did not have the heart to take pics of the broken structure.

What kills me is I want the tank, well... the way I want it.

I do not want a solid rock wall.
I do not want a pile of rocks in the middle of the tank.
I do not want simple pillars.

I want something with plenty of open space
I want something that reaches towards the top of the tank.
I want a cliff / overhang or two.
I want a cave or two.
I want an island or two.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Dj City]

If the idea of creating my own structure in the shapes I am looking for fail, I have the existing rock from the 3 year old dormant tank sitting in a bucket of vinegar and water with a powerhead since yesterday.
I figured, if this new rockwork does not pan out, I have some really nice pieces that I can probably work with.

I opened the bucket this morning and I have purple water and DARK rocks.

I will probably let this sit till tomorrow, rinse and scrub the rocks then do a bleach bath.

On a happier note...
My Autoaqua Smart Auto Water Change system arrives today along with my
I.M. Aqua gadget Chaetomax Refugium LED Light. (Pics to come this evening)
The Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6040 arrives tomorrow.

 

[Dj City]

Continuing...

I was tossed up as to which salt to use for this build. It was between Instant Ocean (regular purple bucket) or Red Sea (regular blue bucket).
With the constant auto water change in place, I did not want to use a salt that has elevated elements like Reef Crystals or Red Sea Coral Pro.

I decided to use Red Sea (blue bucket) and ordered the 1st bucket from BRS today.

My hope is that since this salt is supposedly very close to NSW levels, it should do very well in an auto water change environment.

I would appreciate you thoughts on this because the Red Sea salt is more expensive than Instant Ocean and this will hurt my pockets long term.

Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[Kevin Jaako]

I do not want a solid rock wall.
I do not want a pile of rocks in the middle of the tank.
I do not want simple pillars.

I want something with plenty of open space
I want something that reaches towards the top of the tank.
I want a cliff / overhang or two.
I want a cave or two.
I want an island or two.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

Keep at it man. You’ll eventually get it just how you want it, so don’t settle and don’t get discouraged. I definitely got tired of stacking rocks together, but ya get there. Eventually.

I can see your vision and I’m excited to see where you end up!

KJ

 

[Dj City]

Keep at it man. You’ll eventually get it just how you want it, so don’t settle and don’t get discouraged. I definitely got tired of stacking rocks together, but ya get there. Eventually.

I can see your vision and I’m excited to see where you end up!

KJ

Thank you!

I'm not discouraged. I just have more work to do (and a back up plan if needed).

 

[Katrina71]

There was a scape on the forum a while back that had almost tree shaped rocks. It looked very cool. They were awesome with Coral on them.