DIY 10 gallon nano

[pastout]

well i put my 90 gallon project tank on hold to build my gf a nano and decided rather then a biocube then have to spend 150$ in mods id just build one from scratch with spare parts i had laying around and extra's. 10 gallon with an internal 10 + inch over flow with internal mini sump i guess. here are some glued together pics and some test running pics. gonna swap out this water tomorow maybe and add some salt water and gravel to get it going.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/tank_front_shot_dry.jpg

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/tank_side_shot_dry.jpg

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/top_shot_wet.jpg

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/tank_front_wet.jpg

[Midknight]

Looks cool Buddy but watch out for the evaporation rate in the small return section.
I did one like this and it goes down really fast. :wink:

[JDigital]

Cool looking tank... look forward to the progress.

[pastout]

it has a full plexi glass lid on the whole thing it has water gravel and a couple small peices of rock in it now has laying around il post some pics tonight

[pastout]

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/tank_water.jpg

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/tank_new_water.jpg

new progress pics. i havent tested the water yet

[whatcaneyedo]

Thats really cool looking. Are you going to have anything in the overflow section besides the carbon or is it just to break the surface tension?

Beware... I set up a nano for my girlfriend a while back to help teach her how to run my tank when I'm out of town... Guess who does all of the work to keep it running? You bet: ME! lol

[pastout]

ya i was thinking about that i needed somewhere to store a coupel sun corals so her nano has temporaly adopted them im thinking some sort of cleanable filter floss in the overflow compartment. haha ya proably will be the same situation not a big deal.

[pastout]

with such a small tank and olny shrimp for inhabitents is a skimmer necsesary?

[TheMikey]

I think it would depend on how much live rock you have. I've got a bunch in my nano (15 Gallons) without a skimmer and it's doing great.

[sphelps]

I believe a skimmer will actually be a disadvantage on such a small tank, it will always lead to over-skimming which is something you want to avoid since your coral to water volume ratio will be much higher than a larger tank.

[BlueAbyss]

This is an interesting thread. I may do something similar to this with my 20G as I may have decided to replace it with a homebuilt custom acrylic tank, if I can find a supplier for acrylic sheet / tube and solvent in Manitoba or Saskatchewan.

[BlueAbyss]

So any updates? How's the tank looking? :mrgreen:

[pastout]

so the tank has moved back to my hous emy fiance has had a bit of an issue with it an over growth of caulurpra and tons of flat worms. so im revamping the tank it has good coraline growth on everything ive added some more live rock i found laying around that is very non living. and am working up a way of hooking a 175 watt metal halie i had laying a round up to it any advice on mounting height? i can mount it at any height. il ty and get some pics soon ive just been cleaning all the coraline of the front and such

[TheMikey]

175W Hallide over your 10? I'm not so sure about that.

Not that I'm trying to tell you that you're doing anything wrong. It might work, but your evaporation is going to be huge unless it's mounted very high. You'll also have to worry about your temperature and making sure your top-offs are done diligently. The only problem with mounting it too high is that you're going to lose a lot of PAR intensity.

[Snaz]

The Halide will evaporate all of the water unless you come up with a DIY ATO. Leaving the lid on will cause the tank to boil. Lots of good ideas and DIY instructions on nano-reef.com. Good luck!

[pastout]

ya proably right on that one so i just took an old 48 inch power compact fixture i had and cut the reflector down the midle flipped it around to make it a 2 bulb for it for now its alot brighter. not sure what il do with this tank as im in the midle obuilding my self a 20 gallon and gonna put a diy led set up on it i may just transfer her tank over to mine

[pastout]

i just had something very od happen in the nano i started doing water changes on the tank and trying to bring the salt level down gradualy as it was through the roof. so ive proabably changed 50% now. but looking at the tank this morning i noticed almost all the flatworms are curling up and dying? any ideas what might have sparked this not that im complaining