Incorable's 13 Gallon Starphire Nano Build

[Incoralable]

My second tank will be a custom built (DIY) 13 gallon rimless Starphire tank. The dimensions will be 24 x 12 x 12 and will be made of 3/8" glass. Front & sides will be Starphire glass. Based on the inside dimensions and the fact that it will be rimless and will have a waterline about 1" or so from the top, I am estimating the tank volume at about 13 gallons.

Lighting will be a TEK 24" T5 fixture. Water movement provided by a Vortech MP-10. The tank is drilled and will use a sump that I had on my old 7.5 gallon nano (at least until I see how the smaller sump works with the larger tank). The overflow came from Glass-Holes.

I had on old Premium Aquatics Lighthouse controller laying around, so I believe I will use that to run my lights and monitor pH, ORP & temp. No skimmer is planned for this tank and will go with weekly 1 gallon water changes to start. The tank will likely be a mixed reef with zoanthids, some soft corals, LPS & will try a few hardy SPS frags from my 140 to see how they do.

So, here is the sump that I built for a previous nano that will be used on this tank.

The sump was built for a smaller tank, but hopefully will suffice for this tank also. The sump is 20 x 12 x 7. It is not very tall because it was originally built to fit underneath a small tank in a small cabinet that would sit on a table. It has a small fuge also. Here it is up and running on my old tank. The only old pics I could find was during a fresh water test just after set up.

Here it is in operation under my old nano...

The stand is an off the shelf cabinet that I bought from Pet Smart (one of the few things I have ever found there that I could actually use).

So, yesterday I got started by drilling my back glass.

I siliconed the tank together yesterday and will give it a couple of days to cure and will hopefully get it running over the long holiday. Here are some pics of the freshly built tank (fingerprints & all).

I have some dry rock that I will use and was playing with how I want to scape the tank while I was waiting for it to dry.

And with the TEK light on the tank...

Anyway, that is the whole build in a nutshell, at least to this point. I will update the thread if there is any interest in seeing it develop.

 

[_Alex_]

sweet little tanks!! nano's are always awesome!

 

[Invert]

Nice Set-Up !

There was a lot of thought put into the Sump.

I have been looking for a new way to Drill Glass.
Who Makes the Drill Press you are using ?

Keep the Updates Coming.

 

[Incoralable]

Thanks. I enjoy nanos and I also have a 140 that has been running for about 4 years.

The glass drill is something that I traded for over 20 years ago. I worked on a display for a LFS and got the drill as part of the trade off. You can still buy them, but they are pricey. If you drill a lot of holes or own a fish store then it would be worth buying. But, at a retail of around $525 nowadays, not for the person that drills a tank now and then. You can find something similar here: Glass Drills Scroll toward the bottom of the page. They do rent the drill, but honestly I don't think it would be worth the hassle to go through putting the deposit down, paying the shipping and mailing it back & forth. Surprised that they really do that.

 

[cmcneil]

awesome build you have here.i love seeing things being built from scratch.

 

[Antonias1391]

sick tank man!! love the sump are you going to skim? what kind of corals are going into it? would be a great LPS tank!

 

[BlazinNano]

Sweet tank man.

 

[NanoNano]

Wow, that is amazing... I wish I had a sump instead of the HOB refugium. It's really hard to work with. Beautiful setup.

 

[Incoralable]

No skimmer planned this time around. My other nano had an oversized skimmer on it and the tank really did better once I took it off line. I plan weekly water changes to see how that goes. I have a 55 gallon drum of saltwater at my disposal, so changing a gallon or two every week won't be a problem.

I want to stock with some zoanthids, some softies and LPS. I will try a few hardy SPS to see how they do once the tanks is much older. I have a friend that has a big greenhouse full of coral that he farms and his preference is acans, so I am sure I will raid his house for some nice frags. I like densely populated tanks, so I imagine this one will end up the same.

This is my 140...

 

[clowns101]

Very cool little tank!

I am really impressed by your 140,very good looking tank.

 

[WWC]

Looking good! I have a thing for rimless tanks.

 

[skinz78]

Great looking build! Very clean!

Your 140 is awesome too, do you have a thread for it here at R2R?

 

[Incoralable]

Thanks for all of the positive comments! Hopefully this will turn out to be a successful tank.

Great looking build! Very clean!

Your 140 is awesome too, do you have a thread for it here at R2R?

No, I never did a tank thread on the 140. I have posted a picture or two of it in different threads (like the FTS thread), but that's about it. I really don't post that much. More of a lurker.

 

[revhtree]

That is super sweet and your 140 is nice!

 

[KLR]

Neat nano rimless your making, if i tried to build one it would break,lol

140 is insane too!

 

[Incoralable]

Got the tank plumbed and wired today. I think it is finally ready for a water test!

 

[skinz78]

Nice and clean!

 

[Incoralable]

Runing the first water test. Only a couple of drips in the plumbing to take care of. The video makes the tank sound loud, but it really isn't. The mic on the recorder is sensitive. The only significant noise is at the drain where it enters the sump. I will play with that to see if I can quiet that down. Sitting in front of the tank, the noise level is very low. Nice to have a light fixture that doesn't use fans. Still have to paint the back glass black.

[video=youtube;aBacuemhDtc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBacuemhDtc[/video]

 

[jascymcl]

nice little build bro.

 

[underwaterfirefighter]

Awesome looking set up! Very clean. Can't wait to see some livestock in there!

Dave