Nemo's Reef by P Sherman

[P Sherman]

Hey guys,

After recently moving from 42 Wallaby Way to our new home we decided to build a 'small' saltwater aquarium to learn a little about science and keep a clownfish or two. I have never had an aquarium before so this is my first attempt to recreate about 2 cubic feet of the south Pacific in our living room. I will say that while the process has been slower and more complex than I anticipated it has been one of the most fascinating endeavors I have attempted. I have had so much fun designing my system, exploring the science, and learning from others. I hope to be able to share my experiences and help others.







Specs:

- Tank: ADA 60P. (60cm x 30cm x 36cm; 60L or 15.9 Gal) drilled for Ghost Overflow. On ADA Garden Mat.

- Sump: Synergy Reef CL-22 Sump (22" x 15" x 15"; 15 Gal) in Red/White cross laminate. Working with Vanessa at Synergy was great, very helpful.

- Display Light: Nano Box Duo with Blue Fish controller. 4-chanal (Blue, White, Moonlight, UV). Gooseneck mount. Dave at Nano Box is awesome, Thanks!

- Refugium Light: Tunze 8850.000 LED Full Spectrum 26W light that is fully waterproof and submerged in my refugium to minimize light loss.

- Recuculation System: Bean Animal silent overflow, Synergy Reef Ghost overflow, Tunze 1073.050 DC variable return pump with 17mm lily pipe

- Display Powerhead: Tunze 6150 hidden behind rock, a unique DC pump which uses magnetic-bearing to be nearly silent. Roger Vitko at Tunze is awesome!

- Water Exchange System: Water exchange using Spectra-pure LiterMeter 3 pump and WXM module

- Auto-Topoff System: -Auto Top-Off System using the SpectraPure Liter Meter pump and Tunze 3155 Auto Top Off Osmolator

- Aquascape: Two islands made from Pukani rock from Bulk Reef Supply, stuck together with E-Marco 400 cement. Japanese Iwagumi style.

- Skimmer: Tunze DOC Skimmer 9004 DC, very nice compact skimmer with DC variable speed motor.

- Biological Filtration: CerMedia MarinePure Bio-Filter Media 8"x8" by 4", Pukani Rock from BRS, and Special Grade Arag-Alive Reef Sand, Dr. Tim's Bacteria

- Zeovit Reactor: -Avast Marine 2L Vibe Zeovit reactor

- Heating: One 100w and one 50w Aqueon Pro heaters, controlled by a Johnson Controls A421 Digital temperature controller.

 

[P Sherman]

Recirculation System:

I am using the Bean Animal Silent & Fail-Safe Aquarium Overflow System (www.beananimal.com) to move water between my ADA 60P (60L/15.9G) display tank and my Synergy Reef CL-22 Sump (www.synergyreef.com) 15 gallon sump. I drilled the tank and installed the 16" Synergy Reef Ghost Overflow and Nanobox Duo light (www.nanoboxreef.com). I used a Tunze 1073.050 pump which I run at it's lowest speed to return water via a 17mm lily pipe.

I have been running it for 4 months and I really love it. I have slept peacefully knowing that the system is truly both Silent & Fail-Safe. I love tinkering in my sump because it is a bright clean interesting space and that is due to the guys at synergy reef and the choice to line the sump with white polycarbonate panels rather than just painting it and good lighting. Below is a video I made showing an overview of the system as well as photos showing my progress (it has taken me some time).

-Mocking up the Nanobox Duo light and Synergy Reef overflow. I needed to add spacers behind the overflow to allow for the gooseneck light to clamp to the glass.

-Drilling the ADA60P

-The foundation, a black acrylic piece with ADA garden mat foam

-All put together, tank, light, overflow, base... now on to plumbing.

Holes drilled in the old built in bookshelf (someday I need to paint it )

Plumbing and true union connections installed on the overflow side

All installed, on to the sump!

White Polycarbonate installed lining the still unpainted walls, along with IKEA "STRIBERG" light

Sump and plumbing installed along with CerMedia 8" x 8" x 4" block and Tunze 9004 DC Skimmer All 1" pipe and the Valve is a NDS gate valve.

Return pluming installed along with Vertex 1.5 L Media reactor fed by return pluming.
The container to the right was an auto-topoff 5G container I ended up removing to instal my Avast Vibe ZEOvit reactor.

As it looks toady with Tunze 8855.000 LED submersible refugium light and Avast ZEOvit reactor also fed off the return pump.

 

[P Sherman]

I am going to use this post as a way to document tank progression photos as I add things. So far I have added bacteria! Time for a photo, all bacteria say cheese... wait bacteria make cheese... hmmm... Click;Snaphappy.
April 2017

 

[P Sherman]

Other Sub-Systems.....

I like easy. Unfortunately Nano aquariums can be challenging to keep things stable. So I have designed and automated some stuff to help me maintain a heathy stable nano tank. I want to post some here to share how I went about it.

ZEOvit Reactor:

I am fascinated by ZEOvit system, it is an interesting mix of carbon dosing, zeolites, color enhancers, bacteria, and biological black magic. So you need a reactor that you can agitate to release the "mulm" bacterial film. I wanted to automate as much of this as possible so step one was to buy the Avast Marine Vibe 2L ZEOvit reactor (www.avastmarine.com) which can shake the heck out of the zeolites for me automatically. I am feeding this reactor off my return pump using a NDS gate valve to control the flow. I went ahead and customized mine and posted a video showing my setup. Step two will be to dose the carbon source (ZEOstart3) automatically using a doser which I am looking at the GHL Profilux 2.1. I am looking to use the other 3 pumps to dose 3-part Balling Salts.


Auto-Topoff:


Heater Temperature Controller:


Auto Water Change/Exchange:
Part 1: The Sump

Part 2: The Basement

 

[Ponraj A]

Wonderful built and good looking tank !!!

 

[fabutahoun]

Wow, Amazing Build, Love it All, nice aquascape, also I love the red plumping and how all the sump and equipment are organized.
Well done !!

My thought is to paint the entire background black, I think this will give the tank a sharper look

Fadi~

 

[sebastiaan1985]

Really an awesome build! Will follow this one!
Think I will follow some of your tips for cleaning up my build!

Keep up the good work!