Rex’s 7 Gallon Nano Build

[ReeferMadness0347]

Following along for the ride!

 

[hart24601]

Looks like a good build so far. If you have experience you won't have trouble with a smaller tank. It's the new people who have trouble with nano tanks, the experienced people just have a small kalk drip and do weekly water changes religiously. That's all you need and you'll be fine.

As for a small powerful pump... If you want a wide varied flow, consider the Tunze 6040. it's silent, more powerful than you will ever need, small, discreet, and has a wide gyre type flow pattern. You can do much, much worse for flow than this pump. I recently added one to the pair of 6095's in my tank, and you'd be surprised to know it pushes a LOT of water even in a 50 cube.

Oh that is the model of tunze powerhead I was talking about above. The DC version is very nice especially for picos. Used it in my jar reef before the 34g.

 

[Rakie]

A primer on Kalkwasser usage -- This was information that may benefit someone later, so I'll post it all here

_____________________________________________________________

Kalk is caustic. it will eat up your ATO pump. The good news is ATO pumps are like $20 if you get a really great one.. The bad news is it's easy to overlook and you may run into problems if you don't mark your calendar, or clean it often.

So here's what you do;

1) Get a water container with a spigot at the bottom.

You can go down to walmart and get the 5 dollar ones you put in the 'fridge. Or you can get a fancy decorative one you'd use for family gatherings -- It doesn't matter. What DOES matter, is the little spigot at the bottom, like in this picture.

Why? -- Because once you mix kalk, the left over junk will settle as the bottom. The most rich "Saturated" kalk water (important term) is fully saturated with the mixed kalkwasser Alk/Cal/Mag. This floats ABOVE the bottom calk sludge. Basically EXACTLY where the spiggot is. The upper most kalk water is not as saturated, and below that is the sludge.

This ensures you get the perfectly fully saturated kalk water, and allows you to collect it without mixing up the kalk sludge at the bottom. You do not want to disturb the kalk sludge, it is what will kill pumps, and corals if it gets dumped heavily into your tank.

2) How much kalk do I use when mixing?

You use a MAXIMUM of 2 TBS per gallon of water. But I would suggest 1 TSP per gallon to start with. You can pour in pounds of the stuff, but chemically, only 2 TBS will mix up per gallon. and you will have lots of kalk sludge at the bottom.

Note: There are ways to get more kalk to mix into your water, but I am choosing not to divulge that information on purpose. Too many people try to do things far too advanced for their own good and crash out their tanks being silly. You won't ever need to know this information, because in 2+ years when you're maxing out your kalkwasser, you will have moved onto a doser, which is more reliable, stable, and better for you tank. Some might even suggest a doser like the BRS 1.1mL doser to dose kalkwasser regularly and keep things nice and stable.

You will need to let it settle for a day or two before you can use it. You only need to mix once for a few minutes, then it needs to sit undisturbed so you can use the spigot to get your kalk water out.

3) Okay, so I listened to your advice and have started with 1 TSP Kalk per gallon of RODI water -- Now what?

Now, you put it in your ATO. 1 TSP is very light, it's 1/6th the maximum dose (3 TSP per TBS). I would advise a 1:1 mixture of saturated kalk water to RODI. Meaning if your ATO is 2 gallons for example -- 1 gallon of kalk water mixed @1TSP/g, and 1 gallon of fresh RODI.

4) Okay, then what?

Test your tank twice a day. Make sure your alkalinity is stable. yes, testing twice a day is a bit excessive, but it will get you in-tune with your tank. Also consider you will be dosing 1/12 the amount possible, and it may still be a hair much for your tank at the early stages.

I would not advise bothering with kalk until you have added at least 5-6 LPS/SPS corals. If you start dosing before you have a need for it, you may run into trouble.

It will be much easier initially to do a 1/2g water change once a week, or twice a week even.

Nonetheless, here is a very safe starting point.

 

[Preme]

A primer on Kalkwasser usage -- This was information that may benefit someone later, so I'll post it all here

_____________________________________________________________

Kalk is caustic. it will eat up your ATO pump. The good news is ATO pumps are like $20 if you get a really great one.. The bad news is it's easy to overlook and you may run into problems if you don't mark your calendar, or clean it often.

So here's what you do;

1) Get a water container with a spigot at the bottom.

You can go down to walmart and get the 5 dollar ones you put in the 'fridge. Or you can get a fancy decorative one you'd use for family gatherings -- It doesn't matter. What DOES matter, is the little spigot at the bottom, like in this picture.

Why? -- Because once you mix kalk, the left over junk will settle as the bottom. The most rich "Saturated" kalk water (important term) is fully saturated with the mixed kalkwasser Alk/Cal/Mag. This floats ABOVE the bottom calk sludge. Basically EXACTLY where the spiggot is. The upper most kalk water is not as saturated, and below that is the sludge.

This ensures you get the perfectly fully saturated kalk water, and allows you to collect it without mixing up the kalk sludge at the bottom. You do not want to disturb the kalk sludge, it is what will kill pumps, and corals if it gets dumped heavily into your tank.

2) How much kalk do I use when mixing?

You use a MAXIMUM of 2 TBS per gallon of water. But I would suggest 1 TSP per gallon to start with. You can pour in pounds of the stuff, but chemically, only 2 TBS will mix up per gallon. and you will have lots of kalk sludge at the bottom.

Note: There are ways to get more kalk to mix into your water, but I am choosing not to divulge that information on purpose. Too many people try to do things far too advanced for their own good and crash out their tanks being silly. You won't ever need to know this information, because in 2+ years when you're maxing out your kalkwasser, you will have moved onto a doser, which is more reliable, stable, and better for you tank. Some might even suggest a doser like the BRS 1.1mL doser to dose kalkwasser regularly and keep things nice and stable.

You will need to let it settle for a day or two before you can use it. You only need to mix once for a few minutes, then it needs to sit undisturbed so you can use the spigot to get your kalk water out.

3) Okay, so I listened to your advice and have started with 1 TSP Kalk per gallon of RODI water -- Now what?

Now, you put it in your ATO. 1 TSP is very light, it's 1/6th the maximum dose (3 TSP per TBS). I would advise a 1:1 mixture of saturated kalk water to RODI. Meaning if your ATO is 2 gallons for example -- 1 gallon of kalk water mixed @1TSP/g, and 1 gallon of fresh RODI.

4) Okay, then what?

Test your tank twice a day. Make sure your alkalinity is stable. yes, testing twice a day is a bit excessive, but it will get you in-tune with your tank. Also consider you will be dosing 1/12 the amount possible, and it may still be a hair much for your tank at the early stages.

I would not advise bothering with kalk until you have added at least 5-6 LPS/SPS corals. If you start dosing before you have a need for it, you may run into trouble.

It will be much easier initially to do a 1/2g water change once a week, or twice a week even.

Nonetheless, here is a very safe starting point.

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it a ton!

 

[Nelson Vargas]

I was looking at the photo of your equipment... are these for some new type of filtration system?

I'm very interested in this, too! I haven't seen one in the wild yet. Would love to see your opinion on them!

Yeezy, offwhite, Balenciagas loving it !

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Looking good so far! Following!

 

[hotashes]

I wanted to try something new! I’ve never had a tank below 10 gallons, so I thought it’d be fun to try out! Also I wanted to set something up in my room and didn’t have room from anything over 10 gallons. On the bright side I won’t have to spend as much on equipment.

Don't forget to log the $ spent, eeeekkkk.

A.

 

[Preme]

Yeezy, offwhite, Balenciagas loving it !

Thanks! Streetwear is my other main hobby!

Looking good so far! Following!

Appreciate it!

 

[Nelson Vargas]

Thanks! Streetwear is my other main hobby!

Appreciate it!

Same dude, I have almost all the yeezys release. Just picked up the new prosto x acronym !! Best hobbies

 

[Preme]

Update 3:
Today I received some more toys including The AutoAqua Smart ATO, Trigger Systems Crystal 5 Gallon ATO reservoir and half of my Tonga branch rock!
I finished what I could of the scape so far, the other half of the rocks coming tomorrow.

 

[jsker]

The setup is moving along. I have had my Autoaqua for sometime and I have been very happy with it. Good choice.

 

[Rakie]

The setup is moving along. I have had my Autoaqua for sometime and I have been very happy with it. Good choice.

I love mine and recommend it frequently.

 

[Preme]

BIG update tomorrow, stay tuned

 

[jsker]

BIG update tomorrow, stay tuned

 

[Nelson Vargas]

BIG update tomorrow, stay tuned

Waiting !!!

 

[Preme]

Update 4:

Sorry for the belated update, I was busy all day yesterday doing the JF live sale

So I finished my scape a few days ago now! When I was creating it I was looking for two things, very open and minimalistic. I was also very inspired by bonsai tree like structures so I wanted to accomplish something like that. I used instant ocean epoxy to piece everything together to create the structure.

Excuse the algae on the glass, gotta pick up a CUC next week

For the past week I’ve been dosing AquaVitros Remediation, it works like a charm! Also I have been checking the water parameters daily and the tanks finally cycled in! Last night I added Electric Watermelon Zoas, Warpaint Scoly and my Aussie Button Scoly. All the corals are opened up and doing great!

I’ve decided that I’m going a different direction with tank now... as I originally said I was going to do a SPS dominated tank, but after giving it some thought I decided I’m going to do a mixed reef, which I feel will be easier to maintain in a small tank.

I started working on my “fish room” today. Basically my closet is directly behind the wall the tank is on, so I drilled a hole through both sides of the wall that way I can feed the wires and ATO tubing through there. I then cut a piece of plywood and painted it white which will hide the wires behind it and have the controllers and power bar on the outside.

More pics and goodies on the way next week!

 

[Preme]

Sadly my CoralBox RN-1 stopped working...
I unplugged it while doing a water change the other day, and when I plugged it back in it stopped running. I sent an email over to CoralBox and they’re sending me replacement parts, hopefully it can be fixed!

 

[Nelson Vargas]

Love the scape dude ! Keep it up.

Sad your pump went bad.

 

[Preme]

Love the scape dude ! Keep it up.

Sad your pump went bad.

Thanks bro appreciate it!

 

[WallyB]

Update 4:

Sorry for the belated update, I was busy all day yesterday doing the JF live sale

So I finished my scape a few days ago now! When I was creating it I was looking for two things, very open and minimalistic. I was also very inspired by bonsai tree like structures so I wanted to accomplish something like that. I used instant ocean epoxy to piece everything together to create the structure.

Excuse the algae on the glass, gotta pick up a CUC next week

For the past week I’ve been dosing AquaVitros Remediation, it works like a charm! Also I have been checking the water parameters daily and the tanks finally cycled in! Last night I added Electric Watermelon Zoas, Warpaint Scoly and my Aussie Button Scoly. All the corals are opened up and doing great!

I’ve decided that I’m going a different direction with tank now... as I originally said I was going to do a SPS dominated tank, but after giving it some thought I decided I’m going to do a mixed reef, which I feel will be easier to maintain in a small tank.

I started working on my “fish room” today. Basically my closet is directly behind the wall the tank is on, so I drilled a hole through both sides of the wall that way I can feed the wires and ATO tubing through there. I then cut a piece of plywood and painted it white which will hide the wires behind it and have the controllers and power bar on the outside.

More pics and goodies on the way next week!

That's nice rock work. Will look great once coralline covers it. And a few more frags.