Intarsiabox's 2012 Nano Contest Entry

[intarsiabox]

I just got back from a family vacation in southern California so I thought I better get going on my nano entry. Since I spent a small fortune on my holiday(lucky me got a heat wave of 105 during Disneyland and water is $4.00, this alone became pricey) I decided to do my entry on somewhat of a budget. I had a 10g tank, lid, heater and light fixture in the garage so I decided to use some elbow grease and use this equipment.
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This is what I ended up with after some cleaning.
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I did have to buy a filter so I went with a new HOB model for $24. This will be OK for filtration but not enough flow for the entire tank so a Koralia Nano will be tracked down and added soon. I also need to get some black paper to tape to the back of the tank. All in-tank components are black so I'm hoping it'll all blend in.

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I also had a few pieces of dry rock laying around that I'll be using. I have a bunch of live rock in my sump but most of it is covered in anthalia so I may have to buy some fresh stuff.

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I haven't decided on a theme yet but I'm leaning towards an invertabrate only type of tank with a variety of shrimp.

Now I have to see if I can figure out how to post a link in my signature to my build thread.

[intarsiabox]

Well I figured out how to add the link to my signature but not sure on how to rename it, anyone?

[Enigma]

You got that cleaned up nicely! The HOB looks like it will be very discreet, too.

For your signature, replace the text between the URL tags with what you would like it to read:

Intarsiabox's 2012 Nano Contest Entry

I removed the first and last bracket to foul the code . . . hopefully this will work and you'll be able to see what I mean. Don't remove those in your sig.

URL="http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=89972"]Intarsiabox's 2012 Nano Contest Entry[/URL

[intarsiabox]

Thank-you Shelly!

[intarsiabox]

Found a Hydor Nano for the tank, this will give me a total flow of 34X in the tank. Decided to just use the dresser in one of the spare bedrooms for a stand as there is an adjustable shelf bracket above it in case I don't like the lighting and have to switch to an LED fixture that I have laying around. My wife's grandmother made the dresser a number of years ago, it's rock solid and no particle board. I also leak tested the tank today to make sure it still holds water, no problems so I don't have to go out and spend another $15 for a new tank.

[reefwars]

sounds like its off to a great start, ill be following along for sure , you cleaned up that old tank pretty darn good i gotta say looks brand new now

[intarsiabox]

Lighting options for the tank.

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The top is a chinese 60W dimmable LED fixture suspended by my hitech shelf brackets and a 2x3. I would most likely go open top with this route but don't have any form of ATO which may be an issue depending on evaporation rate.

Bottom photo is using a 50/50 T8 bulb. Visually much dimmer but uses the canopy to reduce evap and gives the tank a more finished look.

The heater is keeping the water at 78.2 - 78.4 throught the day and night so I'm not going to touch it. Only problem is the suction cups don't want to stick anymore.

I'm leaning towards keeping a maxi mini, some various zoas, rics and LPS in the tank with shrimp instead of fish for inhabitants to keep the bioload down.

Also need to get a few small pieces of fresh LR to seed and for bio diversity. I looked at the stuff in my sump and it is all covered in clove polyps and anthalia so it's a no go.