Islandoftiki Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Ok folks, here we go! For those of you who follow along on the Nano-Reef forums, you may recognize this tank as Micro-Reef's original 25 gallon display tank! Current equipment includes: 25 gallon TruVu tank, stand and canopy. 1/10 hp Oceanic chiller/heater Tunze 9002 skimmer Lighting is yet to be determined Pre-Buffing.... It's in pretty good shape, not many scratches, won't need much work: This is the rear chamber. The pump goes down at the bottom on the right side. There is a bulkhead fitting with a nozzle that goes in the hole on the left at the bottom, there are two media trays that fit on those shelves: This is the chamber for the skimmer. It also holds the pump and the plumbing for the heater/chiller: About an hour and a half later and 95% of the scratches are gone: I've got both of the pumps running in a bucket with some water and some vinegar to clean them out. They are working great. That's it for today. I hosed the tank out thoroughly after buffing it to remove any leftover debris. Tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll fill it with tap water, hook up the pumps and chiller and let it run for a couple days to make sure the temperature is stable and the pumps are working well. During the testing period, I'll polish up the stand, the canopy and start working on moving shelves around in the room where it's going. It will be sharing a room with two African grey parrots. I'm also going to give this tank it's own GFI electrical circuit since the nearest outlet only has two prongs and is on the same circuit with a bunch of other junk. I don't want to risk overloading it and losing power. Once everything is ready, I'll set up the tank upstairs, fill it with salt water, substrate and live rock and let it cycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 I hooked up the chiller to it's pump and it's all humming away in a bucket right now. Prior to connecting the chiller, the water was running about 85 degrees with both pumps operating. It dropped the 4.5 gallons down to 80 degrees in about 15 minutes. That's it for now. I'll do a wet test of the tank in a day or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Very nice John! That is one sweet new mantis home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 You expected anything less than awesome? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 You expected anything less than awesome? LOL, sure beats living in a sump full of Cheato! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Re_Run Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Very cool what are you plans for LS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 Very cool what are you plans for LS? G. Ternatensis mantis shrimp and mushroom corals. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 Hey, what do you guys think about elevating the live rock to the level of the substrate with acrylic rods? Has anyone done this? I've seen it recommended in a couple places but I've always just put the live rock on the sand bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Ive seen alot of people use pvc to do the same thing, ive never personsllu tried it but i might on next build to allow water to flow under rocl sounds like a great idea more surface area for liveness too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 Ok, we're wet with tap water! Pumps are running; chiller/heater is doing it's thing. I'll let it hum away for a couple days while I sort out the details of where it's going to reside in the house. I want to get a feel for what level of evaporation to expect, how effective the heater part of the chiller is (will it need a supplemental heater), and make sure there are no leaks. So far, so good. Everything is happy. I might stuff the skimmer into the 7.5 gallon tank in the next day or two, fire it up and see what it can produce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Flenderson Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Looks good, are you planning on running this tank at a lower overall temp than room temp? Why the chiller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 The chiller is because most AIO tanks tend to run on the warm side. When you throw in a couple powerheads, the pump for the filtration and toss in some lighting on top of that, they often run warm, especially in the summer... just like my AIO pico tank (which needs a chiller). Heck, even my 10 gallon needs a fan in the summer to keep it cool and we have A/C that we set to 78. I only have one powerhead in that tank; the other is an MP10. I'm going to put a peltier chiller on it next spring. I don't think heat is as much of an issue with most sumped tanks because you get more evaporation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmanmike01 Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Looking good..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 Here's a quick picture of Chuck and his mad building skills. These guys could get a job building stone retaining walls if they were larger... and terrestrial. He built that entire wall all by himself. Note the creative use of a dwarf cerith shell as a finial. Brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 LOL! That's awesome! Two thumbs up Chuck! He should right a book on how he came in as a hitchhiker and ended up as a master builder in a Mantis mansion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 Must be getting ready to molt soon, hes awesome though love the blue on him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 Must be getting ready to molt soon' date=' hes awesome though love the blue on him[/quote'] He's just getting comfortable and building a den to his liking. He hasn't closed himself in or anything like that. About the time he gets completely comfortable, the 25 gallon tank will be cycled and then he will get moved into that tank. My little G. Viridis just came out from a two week molt sequestration. A long time for such a small mantis. Second time he's closed himself up for that long. I guess that's just his deal. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 This afternoon, I did the airline mod for the Tunze 9002 and I'm testing it out in the temporary 7.5 gallon tank. Looks a little out of place, but Chuck doesn't care that it's in there. I also got the two Koralia Nano 425's today, so I threw them in to make sure they work and the water flow is good. It is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 Nice dude, two week molt, thats a long time. Havent seen parkers bury itself yet, but he was hidden in my sump for months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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