FailingUpwards
Community Member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2018
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 23
This one may be a little verbose and scattered......
First off, hello everyone and welcome to my insanit....sani.....build thread (yeah, that's it).
Let me introduce myself a little. I've been in the FW planted side for a few years and decided to dip my toe into the Reef side. I've been drooling over much of the marine fauna for years, but was never willing to justify the expense of starting up a Reef tank. After a couple of years of learning I found that in all honesty you don't need to invest thousands of dollars for a successful reef tank.
So after a couple of moves and having a free tank, as well as time, I decided to start that journey.
My plan:
Use one of the tanks that I've lugged across the US twice, keep it small for now in case I need to pack it up and move it (hoping to buy a house in the next year), learn from it and see how much I enjoy it.
First step was to figure out which tank to use based on space consideration and what I could use from what I had already.
So digging through the garage I found a wire shelving rack that was in pieces, looked up the system and found it was rated to 300lbs per rack. Alright, something I can work with! So assemble the shelving rack and level it. Took some 3/4" plywood and put it on the associated shelf as well as a cheap yoga mat to place under the tank. But wait, what tank to use? Choice time between the 12g or 22g (also a Mr. Aqua, yes I like those tanks). So figuring about 140lbs total for the 12g and 250lbs for the 22g, I decided to play it save and go with the 12g.
So going forward, I needed flow and lighting. Jump on to Amazon and found a cheap 36" wide LED marine light, some power heads and an AC70 to act as a fuge. Next up, heaters...but I don't want much more in the tank. Oh wait, mini fuge, find one(s) to to in the AC70 -> Neo Therm x 2.
So that means we're here:
Made the decision to go ahead and get an RO/DI unit and all the fittings.
OK, next up was rock and sand. Which sand? I didn't have a clue. Finally decided on Hawaiian black for the sand and going with wild live rock (Tampa Bay Salt Water) and enjoy the process of discovery.
But wait, I'm dealing with a nano-tank and I'm considering gobies! That means an ATO and a screen.
OK, how much for an ATO.....oh god the wallet......
Wait, you're an electrical engineer (/slap) make an ATO yourself. Alright, gravity fed with a solenoid it is!
So using a PICC microcontroller as well as a 0 PSI capable solenoid. OK, design the PCB and solder up the components....well, poop. Need to rev the PCB.
While waiting for the second rev of the PCB, I decided to tackle the screen. Found the diy kits at HD and remembered someone using tulle instead of screen material. The first attempt was of a single screen with a cutout for the HOB and ATO float switch but I found that was not structurally sound and then went with 3 rectangular screens with acrylic epoxied to the outer 2 screen to help support the third.
Waited another week, the PCBs showed up, got them together and programmed and away we go.
Oh wait, haven't bought sand or ordered my rocks yet.
Great, local Petco has the sand and placed the order with Richard. Started hitting up the local stores to find out who is good or not and find that in my area it just isn't good.
Get a reply back from Richard saying it's going to be a little bit (weather issues) so I go to the good "store" nearest me and pick up some flat sided dead rock so at least I can build a base and add my sand. I say store because it's a couple of guys trying to get their store going (awesome on the corals, but competition from the big online store owned by Bezos). Make up my water, toss my rocks in, put in the sand and fill.
So we're at this point finally:
Tossed in a bag of chemi-pure and we'll see how it goes. Going to does a small amount of ammonia to start the cycle but will start the cycle in force when the wild rock shows up.
So at this point I'm at:
Testing to commence tonight.
First off, hello everyone and welcome to my insanit....sani.....build thread (yeah, that's it).
Let me introduce myself a little. I've been in the FW planted side for a few years and decided to dip my toe into the Reef side. I've been drooling over much of the marine fauna for years, but was never willing to justify the expense of starting up a Reef tank. After a couple of years of learning I found that in all honesty you don't need to invest thousands of dollars for a successful reef tank.
So after a couple of moves and having a free tank, as well as time, I decided to start that journey.
My plan:
Use one of the tanks that I've lugged across the US twice, keep it small for now in case I need to pack it up and move it (hoping to buy a house in the next year), learn from it and see how much I enjoy it.
First step was to figure out which tank to use based on space consideration and what I could use from what I had already.
So digging through the garage I found a wire shelving rack that was in pieces, looked up the system and found it was rated to 300lbs per rack. Alright, something I can work with! So assemble the shelving rack and level it. Took some 3/4" plywood and put it on the associated shelf as well as a cheap yoga mat to place under the tank. But wait, what tank to use? Choice time between the 12g or 22g (also a Mr. Aqua, yes I like those tanks). So figuring about 140lbs total for the 12g and 250lbs for the 22g, I decided to play it save and go with the 12g.
So going forward, I needed flow and lighting. Jump on to Amazon and found a cheap 36" wide LED marine light, some power heads and an AC70 to act as a fuge. Next up, heaters...but I don't want much more in the tank. Oh wait, mini fuge, find one(s) to to in the AC70 -> Neo Therm x 2.
So that means we're here:
Made the decision to go ahead and get an RO/DI unit and all the fittings.
OK, next up was rock and sand. Which sand? I didn't have a clue. Finally decided on Hawaiian black for the sand and going with wild live rock (Tampa Bay Salt Water) and enjoy the process of discovery.
But wait, I'm dealing with a nano-tank and I'm considering gobies! That means an ATO and a screen.
OK, how much for an ATO.....oh god the wallet......
Wait, you're an electrical engineer (/slap) make an ATO yourself. Alright, gravity fed with a solenoid it is!
So using a PICC microcontroller as well as a 0 PSI capable solenoid. OK, design the PCB and solder up the components....well, poop. Need to rev the PCB.
While waiting for the second rev of the PCB, I decided to tackle the screen. Found the diy kits at HD and remembered someone using tulle instead of screen material. The first attempt was of a single screen with a cutout for the HOB and ATO float switch but I found that was not structurally sound and then went with 3 rectangular screens with acrylic epoxied to the outer 2 screen to help support the third.
Waited another week, the PCBs showed up, got them together and programmed and away we go.
Oh wait, haven't bought sand or ordered my rocks yet.
Great, local Petco has the sand and placed the order with Richard. Started hitting up the local stores to find out who is good or not and find that in my area it just isn't good.
Get a reply back from Richard saying it's going to be a little bit (weather issues) so I go to the good "store" nearest me and pick up some flat sided dead rock so at least I can build a base and add my sand. I say store because it's a couple of guys trying to get their store going (awesome on the corals, but competition from the big online store owned by Bezos). Make up my water, toss my rocks in, put in the sand and fill.
So we're at this point finally:
Tossed in a bag of chemi-pure and we'll see how it goes. Going to does a small amount of ammonia to start the cycle but will start the cycle in force when the wild rock shows up.
So at this point I'm at:
Testing to commence tonight.
