Pickupman's Tiny Box of water

[pickupman66]

Ok. so I didnt get in on the nano in 90, so here is my NANO IN 9!!!

All this came about when I won a contest on another Reef forum. I was blessed with a Sunbrite Slimline nano fixture. I was thinking it was 12 x 3 Watt Crees. Turns out, it was 18x ! YAY for LOTS OF LIGHT. im amazed at how bright this thing is even compared to the lights in my 180.

so, I had this 10 gallon tank. Maybe it would work. maybe not.

I traded a bubble tip anemone for a 5.5 gallon Fluval Chi.

Pulled off the tab on the back that held the fluval crap filter.

dug thru some rock that I had laying around and found aa nice chunk. I epoxied two more pieces to it to give a bit more height and stability. Looks awesome with the black sand.

I have always wanted to do a cube and top down viewable system, so this was a great opportunity for me. I tried a 12 gallon nanocube a while back at my old office and failed miserably. it was AWFUL. I hated it.

this one will be different. I am at my office more than I am not. sometimes more than I am at home so this will be a blessing. I will try it at home for a few months though to see if I can handle it, then move to the office. As we move forward in the thread, Ill get better shots of the stuff.

Stats on the tank:
5.5 gallons 10x10x12
about a 10 lb rock
Black sand
Aquaclear 20 filtration (arrives today) plan to run purigen and chemipure elite in it. Also a Koralia Nano.
SunBrite Slimline S 18 LED CREE Light.

overall plan is for it to be a Zoa garden with a few select other (easy to care for) corals. I may try to get a tiny Clam for it as well. Dont hate if I toss in some SPS as well, but ill try to not do that. there are NO fish yet. I would LOVE a pair of designer clowns and a shrimp.

Rockwork before sand

top down

filled

Funny, I just realized I completely forgot to paint the back black in my haste to set it up. Oh well.

 

[pickupman66]

So the light I believe was designed for a 20x20 cube or so. being that this is a 10x10x12 cube it hung WAY over the front and looked AWFUL.

I made an L shaped stand that is 15" long. then a 13" upriser to mount the light to. the space between the mount and the glass is perfect for my filter. I will paint this wood black when I move the tank to the office, or the next water change I do.

 

[Mrfresh]

Very clean looking

 

[pickupman66]

the Starts of the Zoas
Utter Chaos

not sure but have a hint of pink in middle, blue then the skirts

pinks

Waiting to see what they are as well

I have a few more ill photo tonight time permitting.

 

[Mr. D]

Can you give some more detail on how you mounted the light on the tank?

Great looking nano, following along.

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[pickupman66]

Can you give some more detail on how you mounted the light on the tank?

Great looking nano, following along.

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Thanks Mr D I appreciate it. the light is a Sun bright slimline LED fixture. It was too big for my tank so what I did is I purchased a piece of one by 10 wood and then put that together in an L shape what part of it that is 15 inches long underneath the tank. The back goes up 10 inches and the light then clamps to that. Here is how it looks in my office now so this should show you kind of how that light is mounted

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[Mr. D]

I see, I like that. What is that in the bottom left corner that has some flex hose running to it?

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[pickupman66]

Fluval surface skimmer attachment for the filter. Works like an overflow.

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[skinz78]

Looking good!

 

[pickupman66]

Thanks Skinz. I am really digging the office tank. Kinda sad and worried about it since I cannot see it this weekend. I have some really nice frogspawn I acquired recently and Im strongly considering bringing in a 2 head frag of it to add some movement to the tank. I know it goes against the zoa garden theme, but it would look good. Also pondering taking off the tip top of the rock. im afraid that with as powerful of a light as I have, i may have issues getting zoas to grow up that high.