Red sea max nano LPS/ZOA office tank

[Daan Hijmans]

Hey reefer friends!

Due to some planned construction on the house for a bigger kitchen/dining room, and yes ofcourse a bigger tank, I recently sold my reefer 350.

After that I changed jobs. With the new job came my own office. To keep my fingers salty and to stay in touch with the hobby, I bought a second-hand red sea max nano to set up as an office tank. Which, to be honest, kinda is a dream come true. The reason I went secondhand is to see if the set up is maintainable in a work-environment. I might upgrade to a 40 gallon later.

Equipment
- All the equipment that came with the red sea max nano.
- Old mp10 I had laying around.
- Once the cycle is complete I'll invest in a tunze osmolator nano to keep stable parameters.
- Once waterchanges can't keep stable ca/alk/mg I'm adding a doser.

Stocking plans fish
- Pair of bullethole snowflake clownfish once properly cycled.
- When the tank is matured (1-2 years) I might add a small lawnmower blenny if I happen to need one, otherwise a fridmani or a royal gramma. I'd love a sixline-wrasse for pestcontrol but I'm afraid to take my chances with aggression in a tank this small.

That'll probably be it. I want this tank to be as low maintainence as it can be for the types of corals I plan on keeping.

Stocking plans coral
- Mainly Zoa's and different kind of LPS.
- Maybe a green and purple monti-cap, if I trust the system can sustain them.
- Due to the size-restriction I'm focusing more on finding some cool frags instead of trying to fill the tank out as quickly as I can.

I'm going to keep filtration on this build simple and just stick to the basics:
- 25-30% waterchanges each week, which is easy peasy in a 20 gallon.
- red sea skimmer.
- Cured dry rock.
- 10 maxspect nano ceramic balls in the rear sump.

In a few days I'm going to add sand and water to the tank and starting the cycle with a fresh shrimp. Speaking of cycling; I'm pretty much going to follow the BRS/WWC hybrid method and their 4-month cycle. Keeping the lights off 'till I know the tank has stabelized a bit.

Once the scape is done, sand is added and the tank is wet, I'll post some more pics. After that it'll probably be quiet for a while.

I'll be enjoying this view A LOT in the years to come.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

So, I got lucky...

Bought the tank without a light and figured I'd buy one when the cycle is complete BUT..Someone on our dutch forum's had a AI prime HD for sale WITH the original red sea nano mount.

Added the sand yesterday, leaktested the tank with RO/DI and put in the salt later. This morning I added the shrimp in a media bag to start the cycle.

Kinda disapointed with the size of the top-off container. Barely holds more than a day of water. So either I invest in a glass top or a tunze osmolator nano. I was planning on buying a custom top from Reeftops tough, so osmolator might be the way to go. Otherwise I'll have to return to the office on weekends just to fill the top off container. Tough I'm not to worried about salinity swings during the cycle, I'm afraid my heater runs dry. Might put it in the main display untill I have a solution for this.

Found a piece of rock that fits perfectly on top of my scape to finish it off. It's bleachcuring atm. I'll update when I added it to the tank.

Still have to do some cord management but I need to customize the inside of the cabinet first.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

So 6 days after I added the shrimp and 3 days after I pulled it out, I tested my parameters.

NH3 1 ppm

NO2 0,25 ppm

NO3 0 ppm



Getting some microbacter 7 in a couple of days and plan on adding one more piece of cured dry rock.



Do you guys think it's wise to add another ammonia-source when I add the bacteria or was that initial first spike enough?

Since nitrite is already present my ammonia should be on the decline, which means it probably spiked higher than 1ppm.



I'd love your guys opinion on this. No worries, I'm okay with taking my time with this cycle.



Thanks guys

 

[schneidergarrettt60]

How is this thing coming along I would like an update. I want to do an office tank but have to get it approved first and need to find the right tank. Looks like you have selected a good size

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Hey dude, thanks for the reply Since I din't get much traffic on here I posted on another forum which is specificly for nano thanks.

Tank is doing great! I'm really happy I went with an AIO. It's clean and simple, which is great for a work enviroment.

Added a pair of Wyoming clownfish a couple of weeks ago and added my first corals this weekend; a couple of acans, a torch and 2 blasto's.

Got a bit of a diatombloom but it went away within a week. I guess patience pays off haha.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Oh btw, old rockwork broke after some rescaping so I made a new scape with real reef rock :

 

[New&no clue]

Looks good I have an office tank too. What did you end up doing for your ATO?

 

[schneidergarrettt60]

I am thinking about doing an all in one so I do not have to worry about returns and less likely to leak. I think I want a lid though because of evaporation have you had a problem with that? About how much water do you lose a day/week?

 

[Daan Hijmans]

I am thinking about doing an all in one so I do not have to worry about returns and less likely to leak. I think I want a lid though because of evaporation have you had a problem with that? About how much water do you lose a day/week?

I have a reeftops uk custom lid on it, but it's mostly mesh so doesn't help with evaporation.

The ATO that came with the tank didn't last trough the weekend so I hooked up a auto aqua smart ato micro. Super easy to set up and super small. Next to my tank is a 4 gallon reservoir so I only have to top that off every 2 weeks or so

Definitly reconmend it as with nano's the salinity fluctuates greatly when they're not topped off correctly.
And if salinity is unstable, so are your other parameters.

Best 100 bucks you can invest in your nano IMO.

 

[schneidergarrettt60]

It looks nice will be nice once more established and everything grows out.
An ato is on top of the list I just picked up a reefkeeper I am slowly buying things to get one going I never had one through out my reefing years and was always hard to keep good success I have always had nano tanks too maybe that is why. The longest tank I had was a 24 gallon nanocube must of been set up for 3 or 4 years. Had to take it down when times got rough...

How did the office like the cycle smell? That is one thing I am worries about too is the cycle and my boss getting mad at a bad odor haha.

 

[New&no clue]

What are you doing about testing and dosing? Do you plan on the water change to replenish the elements you need?

 

[Daan Hijmans]

It looks nice will be nice once more established and everything grows out.
An ato is on top of the list I just picked up a reefkeeper I am slowly buying things to get one going I never had one through out my reefing years and was always hard to keep good success I have always had nano tanks too maybe that is why. The longest tank I had was a 24 gallon nanocube must of been set up for 3 or 4 years. Had to take it down when times got rough...

How did the office like the cycle smell? That is one thing I am worries about too is the cycle and my boss getting mad at a bad odor haha.

I have my own office so no one notices . Pulled the shrimp out after a couple of days and threw in a bag of carbon which helped a lot.

you’re gonna have a lot of fun with a tank in your office! Best place for it IMO since you’re right next to it most of your day. Plus people who don’t know reef tanks freak out at corals, so that’s pretty cool haha

 

[New&no clue]

How did the office like the cycle smell? That is one thing I am worries about too is the cycle and my boss getting mad at a bad odor haha.

You could cycle in a brute can at home and then bring everything in to start the tank.

 

[schneidergarrettt60]

Those are good ideas thanks guys for the help and advice.

What is your coral selection going to be? You said Lps and Zoas anything in particular

 

[Daan Hijmans]

What are you doing about testing and dosing? Do you plan on the water change to replenish the elements you need?

I test alk eod. Ca, Mag, po4 and nitrates weekly. Currently change 25% weekly which keeps my parameters stable. Once alk drops more than .5 in a week, I’ll throw on a versa doser and start dosing all-for-reef.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Those are good ideas thanks guys for the help and advice.

What is your coral selection going to be? You said Lps and Zoas anything in particular

I like acans and euphyllia’s a lot. Might throw in a chalice, fungia and evt some scolly’s once I’m sure the tank is matured enough. Even though scolly’s are pretty easy to care for, things are going too smoothly. I’m counting on the tank taking a hard left before it’s first birthday haha.

 

[schneidergarrettt60]

Yes that is my favorite too waving in the currents I also do like monti caps I only had one but it grew like a champ. Idk if I will be going with high end coral or things like gsp and zoas that way it can fill up nicely

 

[schneidergarrettt60]

Might put a desk tank here after I clean up my mess or in the corner where that chair is for more people to see and a bigger tank.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Yes that is my favorite too waving in the currents I also do like monti caps I only had one but it grew like a champ. Idk if I will be going with high end coral or things like gsp and zoas that way it can fill up nicely

yeah I might get a purple and green monti

Might put a desk tank here after I clean up my mess or in the corner where that chair is for more people to see and a bigger tank.

Awesome place for a tank dude.
I put in ro/di-unit in the boiler room too so no hauling buckets on commutes.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Photobomb!