Snaz's Aquapod 12 with Stock Lights

[Snaz]

This All in One(AIO) tank was purchased 2nd hand in August 2008 as a reward for quitting smoking. It has a few upgrades and mods but the lights are stock PC.

SETUP
Chamber one(overflow) - Filter Floss, 50w Stealth Heater
Chamber two - Backlit chaeto refugium
Chamber three - Live Rock Rubble, float switch DIY ATO
Chamber four - Bag of Chemipure and Maxijet 900 return pump
Koralia 1 in main display
CD case mod for better surface skimming.

INHABITANTS
Orchid Dottyback - Pseudochromis fridmani. (Inara) Awesome fish!
Painted Fire Fish
4 x Sexy Shrimp - Nifty

Many assorted snails and red legged hermit crabs
Giant Feather Duster

CORALS
Growing collection of Zoanthids
Dendrophylia
Ricordia
Frogspawn
Green Trumpet
Pulsing Xenia
Porites rock with Christmas Tree Worms
Branching Leathers
Montipora Digitata
Assorted Mushrooms
Branching Orange Sponge

I lug water home from a trusted local bottling company and perform 10% weekly water changes religously. No skimmer at this time.

Here is an FTS of the tank soon after I brought it home in August 2008.
http://www.snaz.com/marine/aug_2008.jpg
The Clarkii clown was MIA for 3 months in the 1 gallon filter compartment and was only discovered when we packed the tank into the back of my car. He survived and quickly outgrew the tank and was donated to the LFS. One chunk of GSP and a sad Xenia that did not survive

Here is a FTS from December 2008.
http://www.snaz.com/marine/dec_2008.jpg

The LR is piled in the middle of the tank in a bit of a jumble but it creates a nice place for Pseudochromis fridmani to hide. The only other fish is a Nemo with a taste for my flesh.

[Snaz]

A few closeup pictures.

Dendrophylia
http://www.snaz.com/marine/dendro2.jpg

Pseudochromis fridmani
http://www.snaz.com/marine/inara.jpg

Paly
http://www.snaz.com/marine/polyp1.jpg

Zoas on shell
http://www.snaz.com/marine/tb2.jpg

Zoas on LR
http://www.snaz.com/marine/zoa2.jpg

Full room shot - Really shows how small 12 gallons is!
http://www.snaz.com/marine/files/IMG_pene_4.jpg

[Snaz]

Full Tank Shot April 2009
http://snaz.com/marine/fts-april2009.jpg

[Tine]

Tank looks good, why not an update?

[Snaz]

Nothing is quick with PC lights, slow and steady...

I am happy to see that my two frags of Monitipora digitata coral are growing under my blazing 56w of PC light.

[es355lucille]

Nice looking tank Snaz! You have some nice colors happening. It does seem like a big tank. That was amazing to see how small the tank really is.

Nice job!

Brad

[Myka]

Your tank looks awesome! Great shot of the Dendro. Btw you have an Ocellaris clown, not a Percula. :)

[Snaz]

Your tank looks awesome! Great shot of the Dendro. Btw you have an Ocellaris clown, not a Percula. :)
Thanks for the ID!

[Snaz]

I reorganized the chambers and built a chaeto refugium in chamber two. This is not a new idea and some variations can be found on nano-reef.com:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=170506&st=0&p=1818210&#entry1818210

Total cost was about $30.00 and time was a couple of hours mostly spent scraping off the vinyl backing and glue.

Here are the parts as brought home from RONA. The grey box is an outdoor junction box.
http://snaz.com/marine/bits.jpg
Construction is self explanatory by the pictures, everything got painted black.

Removing the vinyl and glue from the back of the tank was a LONG task but I like the way it came out and I am pleased I took the time to make it fit neatly.
http://snaz.com/marine/back.jpg
http://snaz.com/marine/back2.jpg

Here is the finished housing, note the two pieces of velco that hold the fuge to the back of the tank. I also dremmelled some vents in the housing but the bulb is a 15w 6700k CFL, not very hot to touch at all.
http://snaz.com/marine/fuge.jpg

The fuge is on a reverse light cycle, time will tell if it actually grows cheato.

[Tine]

Looks great Snaz, let us know if it works!

[Ron99]

Should work just fine. I did something similar to my BC8. The cheato in the middle chamber grows really well.

[Snaz]

The fuge is on a reverse light cycle, time will tell if it actually grows cheato.

Well after 1.5 weeks it grew a nice squared "brick" of chaeto taking up every inch of the chamber. I removed all but a pinch.

[Snaz]

Nothing is quick with PC lights, slow and steady...

I am happy to see that my two frags of Monitipora digitata coral are growing under my blazing 56w of PC light.

Strangley the digitata are the fastest growing corals in my tank right now. Kind of bland to look at but they sure do grow. Each frag has grown three spikes, one centimetre long each.

SPS growing well under 56W of PC light, nifty.

[Snaz]

I came home with a Yellow Clown Goby today from Ocean Aquatics.
http://snaz.com/marine/ycb.JPG

[Leah]

Cute clown

[Snaz]

I have had the tank one year this week so I have borrowed a nice camera to document the tank. Here is the first of a few I am going to post this week.
http://snaz.com/marine/grumps1.JPG

[Tine]

Great pic. let us see some more.

[Leah]

Love your Paly picture it is beautiful
How is Tines tank coming by the way

[Snaz]

Tine needs to update her thread but it is doing fine. She has some minor cyano that concerns her but I explained that is normal for a new tank. She has my peppermint shirmp and it made quick work of her few aptasia. They are very good with the maintenance and I'm proud of them both for the great tank.

1 year pics of my 12 gallon can be found here:

http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=55172

[Snaz]

One Year Update with Pictures

The SPS is growing quite well considering these are PC lights for a whopping total of 52 watts, I have two Digitata pieces and the Porites stone with the Xmas worms doing great. I think I would like to try a Monti cap. :mrgreen:

Still not skimming but still doing 10% water changes every week for maintenance. I am not dosing and I haven't tested anything for more than 8 months. The best upgrade I did was the DIY ATO, it really has made a difference to the corals. The DIY chamber fuge grows a nice brick of cheato every 8 days which is good nutrient export.

I am really pleased with this tank right now but it is "finished" in that there is nothing else I can really add. No room! Well maybe a Monti cap. :)

http://snaz.com/marine/sexy3.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/zoa10.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/digitata1.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/zoa11.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/grumps1.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/dendrobig1.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/feathers1.jpg

[Tine]

Wonderful photos, you will have to give me lessons.

m

[JPotter]

How do you folks get such lovely, clear, macro photos. I do not have a didital srl but have cameras that I can put on manual settings if required. Do you use a tripod?

[Snaz]

How do you folks get such lovely, clear, macro photos. I do not have a didital srl but have cameras that I can put on manual settings if required. Do you use a tripod?

Yup. I borrow Mum's(Tine) Canon Digital SLR, a tripod is a must with any macro shots. My little personal pocket Canon does nice shots too if mounted on a tripod.

[Snaz]

I picked this up at Oceanic Corals yesterday for $10.00.

Looking at the mouth I expect the Millennium Falcon to fly out!

http://www.snaz.com/marine/055.jpg

[Skimmerking]

I see something else there,,, :lol:

the tank is looking really good man .

[Greenmaster]

For a tank that small it looks exquisite. We getting another FTS?

[4lti7ude]

Nice Refugium light.
I love custom work. Always has the most pleasing pay off.
I was wondering what the CD Case mod your talking about is tho.
I tried googling it with saltwater and surface skimmer with no prevail :cry:

[Leah]

Glad you have come out of hiding...tank looks great! :biggrin: I second the full tank shot.
Maybe when you return the tripod you can take a few pictures, while you're there. :wink:

[Tine]

Great looking piece Keith, did you get any thing else?

[Snaz]

Yep I am back. The birth of my 2nd lovely daughter last October put the tank on the back burner. My usual regular weekly water changes fell to about twice a month or worse and as a result I lost 90% of my zoas, the porite stone with the xmas worms and giant feather duster. Most of my coralline has gone too so I'm guessing the main harm done was not replacing the needed minerals as my cheato was keeping up with the nutrient export quite nicely. Surprisingly regardless of my neglect the frogspawn, green Digitata and large green candy-cane corals thrived and have outgrown the 12 gallons so I will be looking to trim and trade them soon I think.

I am taking the Summer off from work to look after my new daughter as my wife returns to her work and so when I am not changing diapers, grinding food, shopping or ferrying my eldest around the city I am looking at my tank again with renewed interest. Stay tuned for more pictures as well as an updated FTS although currently the tank does not look as nice as it previously did.

[Snaz]

Great looking piece Keith, did you get any thing else?

Yes I got three pieces one favia, one chalice and one other I have no idea what it is. Once I get the new aquascape sorted out I will post some more pics.

[Greenmaster]

Yes I got three pieces of favia, one pictured above. Once I get the new aquascape sorted out I will post some more pics.
Why not do a before and after... we love pics :D

[Snaz]

Here is a short video I took with my phone as a demo of it's capabilities. While the purpose of the video was not reef related it does show my current tank state.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata&v=nHFkFtoeHM0&hd=1

[Tom R]

Hi Keith

Between the bottles and dipers the tank still looks great. Sometimes the least amount of attention produces the best tanks.

Tom R

[Tine]

Every thing looks really good, come by some time and post photos of my tank it has been over a year, about time I posted.

Mum

[Greenmaster]

Looks good.