Welcome to R2R!
Key to a happy office tank is easy tank maintenance and weekend survival.
I assume your 26 gal peninsula is an AIO, but let me know of it is a drilled tank with sump.
Weekend
1. Have a good automatic top off. The upside down bottle approach works for a 10 gal, but it will run out for a 26 gal and you'll come back to an empty return chamber and burnt up or shut-off pump. Ways to mitigate: a) get a larger ATO with a few gallons reservoir; b) get a solid polycarbonate lid that minimizes evaporation (at the cost of heat exchange and aeration, more on this below). Note: I recommend the solid lid, because nano fish have a horrible tendency to jump through all but the smallest mesh.
2. Have a reliable autofeeder for the weekend. Many use the Eheim rolling barrel feeders effectively, or you can get more precise dispensing with an Avast Plank. I also set up a dorm fridge with holes drilled through the sides to run tubing from a multi head doser inside the fridge that pumps liquid food (Reef Nutrition) into the tank.
3. Heat exchange. Nothing special about heaters, just the usual recommendations. However, cooling can become a problem over the weekend depending on where you live and what your office does. My building shuts off A/C automatically at 6pm on Friday until 9am on Monday. During the summer, my office temp gets in the 90s or more. So cooling the tank becomes a problem. A small chiller is the best bet or several fans on an Inkbird (lots of evaporation, so make sure that ATO is big enough).
4. Filtration. Socks? Media basket with floss? I actually use no mechanical filtration. If it get clogged up over the weekend, which it tends to do because you're not there, then it will slow the flow of water through the back chambers, causing your return chamber level to drop, causing the ATO to go off when it shouldn't, causing too much water in the tank and risk of an overflow... I sometimes run floss during the week and leave it out over the weekend.
5. Overflow. Speaking of overflow. Isn't it annoying how every snail that crosses your overflow weirs causes the ATO to go off? Get one of these to prevent that from happening (and also to prevent your nano fish or anemones from going through the overflow):
Maintenance
1. Skimmer vs. no skimmer. Pros: control nutrients, aerate the water, relaxing sounds (sarcasm); Cons: unsightly nastiness in your office, smell that comes with it, need to clean the mess, another thing that can break, inefficiency of nano skimmers
I feel no need for a skimmer in a nano tank. If nutrients are a problem, I prefer using an algae scrubber. If your nutrients aren't too bad, you could convert a chamber to a chaeto refugium or have decorative macroalgae in the display. I like the Santa Monica scrubbers and a Drop scrubber would fit in a back chamber. Does well outcompeting display algae.
2. Fragging. Make office life easier by stocking with corals that are easier to frag or don't need to be fragged at all (like trachys, lobos, scolys, etc.). Softies are generally easy. Euphyllia that can be easily taken out of the tank (e.g., on an island) can be cut with a dremel. Sticks and pating corals (monti caps) can be fragged in tank with bone cutters.
3. Vacation/Travel. I actually find office tanks easier here than at home. You can get a coworker to feed and check up on things like the ATO levels, etc. Get some coworkers you trust to take care of the tank while you're gone! Xmas/Tgiving can be problematic, though...
I'm sure there's a lot more I can't think of right now. Drop by my build thread if you like and feel free to ask anything!
Key to a happy office tank is easy tank maintenance and weekend survival.
I assume your 26 gal peninsula is an AIO, but let me know of it is a drilled tank with sump.
Weekend
1. Have a good automatic top off. The upside down bottle approach works for a 10 gal, but it will run out for a 26 gal and you'll come back to an empty return chamber and burnt up or shut-off pump. Ways to mitigate: a) get a larger ATO with a few gallons reservoir; b) get a solid polycarbonate lid that minimizes evaporation (at the cost of heat exchange and aeration, more on this below). Note: I recommend the solid lid, because nano fish have a horrible tendency to jump through all but the smallest mesh.
2. Have a reliable autofeeder for the weekend. Many use the Eheim rolling barrel feeders effectively, or you can get more precise dispensing with an Avast Plank. I also set up a dorm fridge with holes drilled through the sides to run tubing from a multi head doser inside the fridge that pumps liquid food (Reef Nutrition) into the tank.
3. Heat exchange. Nothing special about heaters, just the usual recommendations. However, cooling can become a problem over the weekend depending on where you live and what your office does. My building shuts off A/C automatically at 6pm on Friday until 9am on Monday. During the summer, my office temp gets in the 90s or more. So cooling the tank becomes a problem. A small chiller is the best bet or several fans on an Inkbird (lots of evaporation, so make sure that ATO is big enough).
4. Filtration. Socks? Media basket with floss? I actually use no mechanical filtration. If it get clogged up over the weekend, which it tends to do because you're not there, then it will slow the flow of water through the back chambers, causing your return chamber level to drop, causing the ATO to go off when it shouldn't, causing too much water in the tank and risk of an overflow... I sometimes run floss during the week and leave it out over the weekend.
5. Overflow. Speaking of overflow. Isn't it annoying how every snail that crosses your overflow weirs causes the ATO to go off? Get one of these to prevent that from happening (and also to prevent your nano fish or anemones from going through the overflow):
Maintenance
1. Skimmer vs. no skimmer. Pros: control nutrients, aerate the water, relaxing sounds (sarcasm); Cons: unsightly nastiness in your office, smell that comes with it, need to clean the mess, another thing that can break, inefficiency of nano skimmers
I feel no need for a skimmer in a nano tank. If nutrients are a problem, I prefer using an algae scrubber. If your nutrients aren't too bad, you could convert a chamber to a chaeto refugium or have decorative macroalgae in the display. I like the Santa Monica scrubbers and a Drop scrubber would fit in a back chamber. Does well outcompeting display algae.
2. Fragging. Make office life easier by stocking with corals that are easier to frag or don't need to be fragged at all (like trachys, lobos, scolys, etc.). Softies are generally easy. Euphyllia that can be easily taken out of the tank (e.g., on an island) can be cut with a dremel. Sticks and pating corals (monti caps) can be fragged in tank with bone cutters.
3. Vacation/Travel. I actually find office tanks easier here than at home. You can get a coworker to feed and check up on things like the ATO levels, etc. Get some coworkers you trust to take care of the tank while you're gone! Xmas/Tgiving can be problematic, though...
I'm sure there's a lot more I can't think of right now. Drop by my build thread if you like and feel free to ask anything!
