Coastings 2012 Nano Contest Entry.

[Coasting]

Coastings 2012 Nano Contest Entry.

This is my Nano contest entry.

I dont know if there is a whole lot of inspiration behind my idea other then it being a learning experience. This will be my first ever attempt at drilling a tank. First attempt at making my own sump. First attempt at ever using a skimmer or return pump. Let it be said now that I have no idea what I'm doing :lol:

I am looking for this to not only be functional but look nice. The display portion will be sleek, dark, highlighting the tank inhabitatnts.
I am hoping to create a sump with a fuge in the middle that will double as a second display for the cats.
Tanks stand will be on castors so it can be moved within the room, as well as for easy access for sump care and cleaning.
Supplies used are what I have collected over the past year and never bothered using. They have been tucked away in the garage or closet or basement. Most are cheap brands nobody would ever dream of using. Most were free anyway so I cant complain. Time to put them to the test!

__________________________________________________ ___

[Coasting]

Tank: Aqueon Evolve 8.
~I liked the look of this tank, and how it came with its built in overflow area.
Despite being called an 8 and claiming to be 8 gallons... the display area only holds about 4 gallons of water. This will be drilled for a 1/2" overflow and 1/2" return, however the ending locline is less.

Sump: standard 20 gallon tank. Of coarse it wont get filled to the brim and with rock and sand in the display the system is under our 20gallon limit. I will have to cut my baffles and silicone them in place once I figure out exactly where they can go as I want a decent sized "fuge" in the middle between the return and skimmer.

Livestock: 1 fish per display area. Possibly my grumpy female clown in the top, maybe a clown goby or damsel, something that has colour but will stay small. Few snails, no crabs. Any coral added will be bright and wavy looking. So I'm thinking no SPS or zoas or anything else that doesnt appear to have "flow" to it.

Lighting: Will be looking to add just a simple 50/50 10,000k/actinic for the top and bottom "fuge". May eventually go LED if I ever oder some for my bigger tank and temp use them on this nano. Lighting is still a hazy area for me.

Equipment: Have a seaclone 100 skimmer and a few aqueon powerheads, and an aqueaon return pump. Everything will be hard plumbed together, so no flexible tubing. My rock is currently cycling in a bucket in the basement, so we're starting fresh. Might use a rock or 2 from the current tank as a part of the "fuge" in the sump.

[intarsiabox]

I was going to use an Aqueon Evolve 8 as well and even bought it. Unfortunately it was the only one the store had and when I took it out of the box the acrylic was all scuffed up and I had to return it. It was a very nice set up and had lots of room in the back to add more filtration if needed. A simple all in one cartridge filter was convenient too. I look forward to seeing your build!

[Coasting]

Building the stand:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/SeptemberAnimals080.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/SeptemberAnimals122.jpg

Some Equipment:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/SeptemberAnimals078.jpg
Standard 20 gallon for sump

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/SeptemberAnimals079.jpg
Instant Ocean sea clone 100 skimmer, will need to mod it slightly because the output will drive me nuts.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/SeptemberAnimals124.jpg
Aqueon Evolve 8

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/SeptemberAnimals123.jpg

Drilling:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/September033.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/September036.jpg
Nothing fancy, the loc line will be screwed into the back then just slipped through the hole in the front. Nothing fancy. Some water will obviously escape into the back there through that hole.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/September034.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/September035.jpg
Added some extra holes to where the filter pad will sit to ensure proper drainage will go down my overflow.

[reefwars]

wow looks great , see i knew youd do just fine, hell your builds a million times better than mine :):)


keep up the good work ill be watching this one for sure too hehehe;)

[Enigma]

Very nice! Those are such great looking tanks.

[nanoreefnewbie]

Very nice set up soo far :biggrin:

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Looks great. Will be watching this build for sure.

[Coasting]

Well I'm going to need to plumb this thing soon, and silicone in my baffles....
I think this part worrys me since I've never done anything of the sort in my life...

[reefwars]

when your making the lengths for your baffles just remember to leave enough space so that the glass fits in with out having it too tight, less is better as you can use silicone to hold it inplace anyways:)


also use cd's for spacers when making your sump:)

cheers

[Boxboy]

This build is going to be freaking great! Love that you sumped an AIO tank :)
Keep up the great effort!

[Coasting]

Plumbing

Well that was an interesting adventure.
There were some mess ups' and issues and "Crap wrong part" but regardless it should work, hah! Even one of the dogs managed to get some of the cement on him...

My wheels are on!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/Tank003.jpg

My hole in the stand is drilled.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/Tank009.jpg

Had to do this part twice... My goal was to be able to take everything apart and off the stand for proper cleaning as needed, Started cemending the unions to their pipes and forgot to put the loose piece that screws on over the pipe before cementing, so its a little shorter in the back after cutting them BOTH off. Ended up using them under the stand. And of coarse forgot to use a T joint for the overflow line, wanted to do a durso style, but yet again forgot I wanted to do that until everything was done. If the noise gets to me I will do something later.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/Tank002.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/Tank004.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/Tank005.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/Tank006.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/Tank007.jpg

I'm sure I managed to screw something up but again let me stress the "I have no idea what I'm doing" part.

Baffles will be going in next

Have to paint/seal the stand, get my panneling for the outside to prevent the kittys from going swimming. Its getting there!

[Boxboy]

Awesome!

[sphelps]

You left the lid off your PVC cement :surprise:

[Coasting]

You left the lid off your PVC cement :surprise:

You should have seen the nice puddle it made :lol:

[sphelps]

You should have seen the nice puddle it made :lol:

Oh I've done that before, I can assure you better outside than on carpet.

[reefwars]

i have done the same with unions too forgot to put on the washer before glueing lol lots of leaning experiences still to be had, the judges will appreciate that your learning and did this all yourself im sure:)

looking stellar!!

[fishoholic]

The plumbing looks great!

[nanoreefnewbie]

Awsome job so far keep up great work:wink:

[Coasting]

I feel like I'm really delaying on doing anything on this tank because THERE IS NO ROOM IN THIS HOUSE!

Deadlines met : Empty tank shot by October 15, done.

Next Deadline: Official fill date. November 1st.



Well my baffles have been cut, but I have yet to silicone them in place. Guess I have about 9 days to do that.

So I decided to make my baffles out of Plexi... or better yet LEXAN, why? Because it's what I had laying around the garage... Who else has Bullet proof baffles.... Yeesh...

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/FishStuff002.jpg
The "mini" project.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/FishStuff001.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/FishStuff003.jpg
Look, snowing plastic!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/FishStuff004.jpg
All cut and ready to go, just need to clean the sump out after having it sit outside and collect plexi and wood shavings from all this cutting. Then silicone everything in place.

[coolhandgoose]

Looks good. What kind of blade did you have in your table saw for cutting the baffles?

[Coasting]

I've got WATER

Deadlines met :
Empty tank shot by October 15, done.

Official fill date. November 1st, done.

Next Deadline: Rock design and placement. November 15th.


nov1rst/2012- official fill date:
by this date your tank should be filled with water , all plumbing done and be a running system. a pic of the tank running with water and the plumbing are to be provided. sand may be added before water if that is your desire;P



Not quite ready for my sand yet. Still have some stuff to do. Still no place in the house for this tank. So here it is, with water, plumbing done, and is officially a running working system! I cant believe I made a fully sumped tank that actually works! Oh and better yet, DOESN'T LEAK!

I will still have to do my baffles, I have been so distracted getting my main tank up and running I haven't been paying attention to this one. Now that the DT is done (other then my light) I can start paying attention to my nano again.

I still have some tweeking to do with the return pump flow but it looks good, isnt overflowing the tank, just not sure I have enough flow in the tank itself. I need some kind of elbow coming off that ball valve in the sump to point the water down, but theres not much room for one when the pump stays put. I made a bit of a mess having it all on full blast, got water kinda everywhere.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/NanoTankFill001.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/NanoTankFill002.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/NanoTankFill003.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/NanoTankFill004.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/NanoTankFill007.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/2012%20swNano/NanoTankFill010.jpg