Current 28G NanoCube / Distant 180G Tank Build

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Already having issues with a stocking list as the size of the tank is small. Would love to get some feedback from the more knowledgeable on the forum. What I am currently thinking:

Fish/inverts:

2x Wyoming White clownfish (ocellaris)

1x green mandarinfish (Striped Mandarin) Question about this species, I have heard many call them a psychedelic but a book I have calls the psychedelic a "spotted mandarin" or Synchiropus picturatus where as I am interested in the Synchiropus splendidus. Any help on the topic would be great.

2x Scarlet Cleaner shrimp

Various snails, say 5 - 8 of them

2x Blue legged hermit

As I am typing this out it already seems like alot packed into the 28G, which I have to remember isnt really 28G as I believe 3 - 4 gallons is allocated for the rear filtration section.

As for corals I am pretty open on the topic to peoples views, im looking for hearty and simple for the most part. I was thinking zoas and some... there are lots that I really enjoy the looks of but based on the information I have in these books I am really limited by size. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! I will spend the next several hours on Canreef and RC looking into what other keep on similar sized tanks. Thanks in advance for any help.

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Well work is done for the summer so I can put some time into getting this going. One of my orders is in at Red Coral so I will have some new toys this afternoon. Also Ordered the AI Sol Super Blue LED from reefgeek early in the week, should be here Monday or tues. Pretty expensive for a small LED module, but I have heard nothing but good things, and it links up with the profilux really nice.

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Couple of pics on the progress... which isn't much. Waiting on the AI Sol which should be in on Tuesday. Still debating on how im going to hang it, thinking about 1/2" tubing bent and attached to the back of the stand using conduit mounts. I would then hang the light off this, kind of like the Solana light mount. We will see.

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Making RO water

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Well tank is full... rock and sand in. Found out that one of the stock return power heads is faulty, must been either a cut in the coating of the wire, or a crossed wire. Every time it sees current it trips the breaker. Guess I should have changed them out to mj 1200's while i had the chance. Ill grab some pics when the cloudiness calms down.

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Well the cube is off and running. RO water to the top, Salt added to a 1.026 Salinity lvl, lights hung, shoes tied (I even tied them myself this time). I really like the AI Sol fixture so far, and I dont even have my Profilux back to play with it so its just a simple on and off type joy . The color is nice, even with all 3 colors on full (I am assuming its 100%), its nice and light and doesnt give off a ton of heat which scared me with the HQI. Speaking of heat Im going to have to figure out why my tank temp swings from 78 - 82 with every hour that passes. If that were my range throughout the day I dont think it would be all that bad, but to bounce around that range ever hour seems kind of odd.

Just waiting on the Profilux and a vortech mp10 and the hardware should be good to go. Just need to figure out the ATO system after that and I should be golden. Trying to figure out a way to mount the profilux optical lvl sensor in the return section in the back, just not alot of room back there. Well enough of my yak yak here are some pics.









Sorry about the pictures... Im going to have to spend some time figuring out how to best shoot the tank due to lighting and the curved front. Oh look... a photography forum... Thanks Canreef.

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A little better shot of the scape. No Blue/Royal Blue LED on for this shot.

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Well the tank has been running for almost 2 weeks now. I started a massive cycle with a couple of shrimp a week or so ago. Just starting to see the ammonia creep towards zero now, still waiting on the Nitrites\ates. Not that there is any rush, I am still waiting on a few things before I feel the tank is ready to function on its own. This is the smallest tank I have ever had, in both fresh and salt water. I now see why people push others for a larger volume, it doesn't take much of a change to see wild swings in parameters. I need to get my ATO set up, did a salinity test this morning and saw 1.030! Crazy how high that climbed in 2 days of evap. Just waiting on the profilux PAB cable to hook up my 6 plug Powerbar, the 4 plug is already full as full can be. Ive heard that it could be in by the end of the week... along with the profilux touch I ordered in July

The brown algae has given way to more of the green, so I assume the silicates are starting to burn out. I had to raise the height of the AI Sol fixture to 8 inch above the water line and turn the intensity down a bit. Those LED's put out way more than I figured they would. Oh well this is the time to tinker with nothing in the tank... well essentially nothing. I managed to get either a spaghetti worm or Hair worm with the scoop of sand from Steve at RC. Thanks again Steve. Hope the little guy makes it through these swings for now. Maybe another week or so and I may.... just maybe be ready for a snail/hermit or two.

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Picked up a HOB Refuge a few days ago thinking to myself "what a great way to add some extra volume and manage pods". Great in theory, until I got home and realized that I did not have enough room off the back of the tank and the wall. Sooooo Im moving my tank today. Fun stuff. On a brighter note the tank is almost completely cycled.

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Figured I would post some pics about the light setup I have going. The profilux with the AI sol is a pretty neat setup, although Im sure the profilux with any LED would be a neat setup.

Current Light Curves:



And a shot of the graph display of Temp and pH. Ive played with temp setting since the tank was set up to see how much of a swing I could expect on hotter days, and not to bad.