3 Foot Office Nano

Jimbo662 · Jan 17, 2016

Both sump designs look great. I guess it's going to come down to personal preference. The top gives you additional space for other stuff...maybe ATO reservoir. The bottom give you a nice clean layout to work in...like you said about the current layout it's a pain to work in there with the shelving. For me I'd go with the bottom...I'm more about making things easier to work on.

gtbarsi · Jan 18, 2016

I personally like the first design,I think it leaves room for dosing containers and other equipment, and still allows good access to what you are going to have to work on.

I'm wondering what you feed your tank, and if you use any frozen food, the reason I am asking is two fold.
1. It would appear that your only nutrient export method is water changes, and that tank looks really clean. Clearly you have found a balance that works really well for you.
2. My wife HATES the smell of defrosting / defrosted frozen foods, even when I cover them up, that little whiff you get while feeding usually gets a comment if she is in the area. I'm just wondering if / how you deal with any scent related challenges with only 1/2 walls between you and your coworkers.

cvx16 · Jan 18, 2016

eschulist said:
This will take me a little bit of time to create but I can label everything if you want to know what corals are what species and if they had any “brand names”

I would really appreciate that, thanks!!

cvx16 · Jan 18, 2016

Double post...

revhtree · Jan 18, 2016

It's Monday and I still love this nano!

Jimbo662 · Jan 18, 2016

Me too!!! I need to find a cabinet that'll fit this tank so I can get mine started!

eschulist · Jan 18, 2016

gtbarsi said:
I personally like the first design,I think it leaves room for dosing containers and other equipment, and still allows good access to what you are going to have to work on.

I'm wondering what you feed your tank, and if you use any frozen food, the reason I am asking is two fold.
1. It would appear that your only nutrient export method is water changes, and that tank looks really clean. Clearly you have found a balance that works really well for you.
2. My wife HATES the smell of defrosting / defrosted frozen foods, even when I cover them up, that little whiff you get while feeding usually gets a comment if she is in the area. I'm just wondering if / how you deal with any scent related challenges with only 1/2 walls between you and your coworkers.

I used to feed mainly flakes and pellets when this tank was at our old office building. At that place I had my own room so it wasn't because of the smell or anything, just convenience. I also didn't have as finicky of fish back then. Now with the Venustus, Anthias, and Helfrichi I feed frozen brine, calanus, and mysis almost exclusively. The convenience part became easier at our new office because there is a shared refridgerator/freezer a short walk from my desk to store lunches for employees. Except is almost completely empty and only myself and a few other people take advantage of it. Everyone else stores their foods in the kitchen fridge.

I don't even smell anything coming from the little blister packs. No one else near me has ever complained, not even the coworkers that have fed the frozen food while I've been gone. Maybe the size of the room the cubes are in plays a role. I also thaw the food out without breaking open the blister packs. Once the food is thawed I peel back some of the foil and dump in 1/3 - 1/2 of the food. After 15 minutes or so I dump in the rest. Swish around little plastic container to wash off any food residue and throw the little pack away. Doesn't smell for me.

The corals are fed reef chili and acropower. I usually kill the return pump (close my return valve so less water back siphons) and turkey baste the corals the chili. After a few minutes I turn the pump back on and dose the acropower.

ChristopherKriens · Jan 18, 2016

Decent tank.

Where did you find Calanus?

jlanger · Jan 18, 2016

Yeah, definitely decent.

Congrats on all of the newfound attention!

What are you considering for a stand???

Zoaeasy · Jan 18, 2016

Zane said:
I dig it.

Bubbles all the way!

eschulist · Jan 18, 2016

ChristopherKriens said:
Decent tank.

Where did you find Calanus?

Yea it's alright lookin'

Your algae farm is missing its algae.

The Calanus I got from SWE in a twin pack, supposedly that's the only way to get it lately.

eschulist · Jan 18, 2016

jlanger said:
Yeah, definitely decent.
Congrats on all of the newfound attention!

What are you considering for a stand???

This one guy I know builds some sweet stands. I'll probably ask that guy. On the last page I showed my interior plumbing ideas. I worked on the exterior of the stand a bit today at work. I'd like to bounce some ideas around and show some images of things I've found.

CenlaReefer · Jan 19, 2016

Simply amazing! I love the progression shots! I am subscribing to this thread.

Jimbo662 · Jan 19, 2016

I actually stumbled across something! Mr Aqua is now making a 22g version of this. 36"x12"x12"!!!

eschulist · Jan 19, 2016

Jimbo662 said:
I actually stumbled across something! Mr Aqua is now making a 22g version of this. 36"x12"x12"!!!

While the added water volume is nice I wish they would have kept the same proportions. Just increasing the width and height changes the overall look of the tank in my opinion. A 48 x 12.5 x 11 keeps the ratio the same and would be really cool. I've even dabbled in the brain with a 60 x 16 x 14 tank for the basement. I love the shape but want to go bigger

Jimbo662 · Jan 19, 2016

eschulist said:
While the added water volume is nice I wish they would have kept the same proportions. Just increasing the width and height changes the overall look of the tank in my opinion. A 48 x 12.5 x 11 keeps the ratio the same and would be really cool. I've even dabbled in the brain with a 60 x 16 x 14 tank for the basement. I love the shape but want to go bigger

I like the idea of the 48" version. Maybe we should be running Mr Aqua so we can all get exactly what we want!

Jimbo662 · Jan 20, 2016

I see you have a return and drain on each side. Do you see that it has any advantages? Do you think it would work well for flow to have one return split into two nozzles to produce flow down the front / back of the tank and running into one drain? This would save having to drill two extra times and less chance of breaking the tank.

knukles55 · Jan 20, 2016

Like others says I wouldn't be Able to get any work done and I probably wouldn't want to leave work

MJC · Jan 20, 2016

Another drain/return question.
I see your return is lower than your drain and was wondering how you prevent back siphon? Or does the tank drain that much when the return pump is off?
Just wondering if a up and over return might be a better option for me? again less holes to drill.

eschulist · Jan 20, 2016

Jimbo662 said:
I see you have a return and drain on each side. Do you see that it has any advantages? Do you think it would work well for flow to have one return split into two nozzles to produce flow down the front / back of the tank and running into one drain? This would save having to drill two extra times and less chance of breaking the tank.

Having 2 drains for me was important as this is setup to be my only source of water movement. I need as much water draining as possible so I could use a higher flow pump. There is more leeway and redundancy if there is any type of obstruction or issue with one of the drains. By having the returns on each end I get more of a circular flow with some random turbulence. If you were doing the same setup and really wanted one drain and one return I'd put them both on the same end and a powerhead on the other.