Good morning Folks.
So since I am new to R2R and the hobby I thought I would share my project with you all that now has me hooked on the hobby and diving in head first... Pun intended .
So here is my Nano and my first saltwater tank. Yes first thoughts are right " he's nuts for starting out with a nano" . Regardless that headed me into a much deeper dive, I will explain that more on my next build which I have started since I have time waiting for this to cycle.
Not very creative on the name Kev's Nano but here are her specs
Tank: Fluval EVO V Marine.
Return pump: Aqueon AQ600 150gph.
Heater: Marina mini 25w ( it isn't cutting it so I will upgrade it this weekend).
Lighting: Current USA Orbit 11k loop remote control.
Filtration: Marine Pure gems 3.2oz and bio blocks cut approx 4oz from my LFS tank, each in separate Chemi-Pure media bags, stacked one on the other with an air bubbler line running between the two to add air over night on a timer.
Substrate: 10lbs of Caribsea Super Naturals sand, yes 10 lbs I'm trying a deep bed.
Dry Rock I Aquascaped approx 5-7 lbs ish I never weighed what I built.
Stand: Hand made solid maple with a worn aqua stain. Almost done need to add the door and hide the wires.
So at the start of this journey I wanted to reward myself for making it a year sober as I'm not shy to admit I'm an alcoholic and for health reasons I needed to quit, also I thought this is a great past time to keep me busy, and I've always loved fishkeeping.
So the build started with some 2x4's of solid maple I had in the garage for the past 3 years doing nothing but collecting dust.
So that's the inspiration that lead to a couple hours of cutting and shaping my stand for a dry fit before glue.
So that's without glue or nails everything was snug.
The wife really likes blue so I found an worn aqua blue stain and did a fast wipe with a rag then sealed it with 4 coats of diamond finish to give it a kinda worn antique look.
So I went to an awesome little LFS here in town and George set me up with all the test kits and this little Gem of a starter kit.
Now as I learned the hard way DON'T overdose your Ammonia sheeeeesh the lid popped off while I was squeezing the drops in and POW instead of a drop she shot a small stream of Ammonia in when I was doing the second part of the setup dose. I was way too excited and twisted the cap too far . So after a week of crazy high ammonia levels I did a 60% water change and added some more MicrōBacter Start XLM a week later and my ammonia is sitting at around 1.2ppm, nitrite 0.2 and nitrate 5.0 as of last night.
So that's the start of my little build. I hope you all like it I think it's kinda cool, and I look forward to any advice, tips or comments.
I will post more here while she grows and am working on a much larger adventure that I will start a thread on once I have my tank room built over the next week or so. FYI my wife made me do unspeakable things in order to build a tank room ( I have to renovate the bathroom ).
Have a great day happy reefing.
So since I am new to R2R and the hobby I thought I would share my project with you all that now has me hooked on the hobby and diving in head first... Pun intended .
So here is my Nano and my first saltwater tank. Yes first thoughts are right " he's nuts for starting out with a nano" . Regardless that headed me into a much deeper dive, I will explain that more on my next build which I have started since I have time waiting for this to cycle.
Not very creative on the name Kev's Nano but here are her specs
Tank: Fluval EVO V Marine.
Return pump: Aqueon AQ600 150gph.
Heater: Marina mini 25w ( it isn't cutting it so I will upgrade it this weekend).
Lighting: Current USA Orbit 11k loop remote control.
Filtration: Marine Pure gems 3.2oz and bio blocks cut approx 4oz from my LFS tank, each in separate Chemi-Pure media bags, stacked one on the other with an air bubbler line running between the two to add air over night on a timer.
Substrate: 10lbs of Caribsea Super Naturals sand, yes 10 lbs I'm trying a deep bed.
Dry Rock I Aquascaped approx 5-7 lbs ish I never weighed what I built.
Stand: Hand made solid maple with a worn aqua stain. Almost done need to add the door and hide the wires.
So at the start of this journey I wanted to reward myself for making it a year sober as I'm not shy to admit I'm an alcoholic and for health reasons I needed to quit, also I thought this is a great past time to keep me busy, and I've always loved fishkeeping.
So the build started with some 2x4's of solid maple I had in the garage for the past 3 years doing nothing but collecting dust.
So that's the inspiration that lead to a couple hours of cutting and shaping my stand for a dry fit before glue.
So that's without glue or nails everything was snug.
The wife really likes blue so I found an worn aqua blue stain and did a fast wipe with a rag then sealed it with 4 coats of diamond finish to give it a kinda worn antique look.
So I went to an awesome little LFS here in town and George set me up with all the test kits and this little Gem of a starter kit.
Now as I learned the hard way DON'T overdose your Ammonia sheeeeesh the lid popped off while I was squeezing the drops in and POW instead of a drop she shot a small stream of Ammonia in when I was doing the second part of the setup dose. I was way too excited and twisted the cap too far . So after a week of crazy high ammonia levels I did a 60% water change and added some more MicrōBacter Start XLM a week later and my ammonia is sitting at around 1.2ppm, nitrite 0.2 and nitrate 5.0 as of last night.
So that's the start of my little build. I hope you all like it I think it's kinda cool, and I look forward to any advice, tips or comments.
I will post more here while she grows and am working on a much larger adventure that I will start a thread on once I have my tank room built over the next week or so. FYI my wife made me do unspeakable things in order to build a tank room ( I have to renovate the bathroom ).
Have a great day happy reefing.