Ed's bonsai - Nano in 90 thread

gorally · May 24, 2012

I finally decide to dip my feet into this contest. It has been my plan to build one nano reef before I did my 180G last year. I never get a chance once I have start the DT. Then I read this contest in R2R. I am interested in setting up a low maintenance and sustainable mixed reef system. My goal is try to minimize setup cost to achieve an eco-friendly system. Here are my challenges:

Tank size- 4gallon
Temperature control
Natural lighting
Maintenance

I have a 4 gallon tank from my brine shrimp project. This will be a good shape and size for a pico reef system as the tank is 16â€ long x 7 x8. The plan is to put this in my home office room which is 1) West facing with a large Window 2) Right above the garage which insulation is the worse. The summer can go up to 100 and winter can be as cold as 30. However, the benefit is the natural light from the window. Many reports do not recommend using natural light as the main source of lighting. However, I still trust all source of light are there to mimic the sun. Nothing will be better than the original. Let see what happen here. With limited budget and foot print, I design to use a simple AquaClear filter with a conversion to a Refugrium and planted with Mangroves. These are my tentative equipment list:

4 gallon rimless tank
AquaClear 10G filter coverts to a Refugrium
Ebay LED clip on 9W with white and blue lLEDs. This will be used to supplement the time when the sun light is limited.
About 2 lb of live rock, either got it new or from my display tank
Bare bottom
Small power head to be purchased
Book shelf as stand
Clip on fan to reduce the heat
Tunze ATO (bought that for my main tank but never get to use it)

I am still waiting for the LED from Ebay but will start the water cycling this weekend. Will take some photos when I have a chance.
My design will be a â€œBonsaiâ€ style mixed coral. This is inspired by the bonsai idea of plant. Therefore, the size of the livestock is my main consideration.

Rolling total of Coral expenses. All coral are based on market value as all are transferred from my display tank. Last update August 10, 2012
[TABLE="width: 493"]
[TR]
[TD]Brown Gorgonia [/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Purple Gorgonia[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Green Polyps branching Montipora[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Red polyps branching Montipora[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]30[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Xenia[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]40[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Green Clove Polyps[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Green Star Polyps[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Green Zoos[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Pink Zoos[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]12[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Red Zoos[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]12[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Green Plate Montipora[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Brown Millipora[/TD]
[TD]Frag[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Acan[/TD]
[TD]polyps[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]7[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]35[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mangroves[/TD]
[TD]Piece[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]75[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"]334[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

feh · May 24, 2012

I'd ditch the mangroves for chaeto or something. Mangroves are slow growing and won't do as good of a job.

fishguy95 · May 24, 2012

It sounds like you will have an interesting system. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is up and running. What kind of rock will you use? Also, will you have any fish?

gorally · May 24, 2012

I will stuff with chaeto inside the aquaclear, the magroves are partly for biofilter and partly because I like it. They might ended up moved to the tank.

gorally · May 24, 2012

I am try to get some Fiji or Indo but if nothing small enough for my tank, I might just pick a piece up from my DT. I will keep fish, shrimp and other live stock. Again, has to be small and not grow large. It gonna be a challenge.

revhtree · May 24, 2012

fishguy95 said:
It sounds like you will have an interesting system. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is up and running. What kind of rock will you use? Also, will you have any fish?

Welcome to R2R!

gorally said:
I finally decide to dip my feet into this contest. It has been my plan to build one nano reef before I did my 180G last year. I never get a chance once I have start the DT. Then I read this contest in R2R. I am interested in setting up a low maintenance and sustainable mixed reef system. My goal is try to minimize setup cost to achieve an eco-friendly system. Here are my challenges:

Tank size- 4gallon

Temperature control

Natural lighting

Maintenance

I have a 4 gallon tank from my brine shrimp project. This will be a good shape and size for a pico reef system as the tank is 16” long x 7 x8. The plan is to put this in my home office room which is 1) West facing with a large Window 2) Right above the garage which insulation is the worse. The summer can go up to 100 and winter can be as cold as 30. However, the benefit is the natural light from the window. Many reports do not recommend using natural light as the main source of lighting. However, I still trust all source of light are there to mimic the sun. Nothing will be better than the original. Let see what happen here. With limited budget and foot print, I design to use a simple AquaClear filter with a conversion to a Refugrium and planted with Mangroves. These are my tentative equipment list:

4 gallon rimless tank

AquaClear 10G filter coverts to a Refugrium

Ebay LED clip on 9W with white and blue lLEDs. This will be used to supplement the time when the sun light is limited.

About 2 lb of live rock, either got it new or from my display tank

Bare bottom

Small power head to be purchased

Book shelf as stand

Clip on fan to reduce the heat

Tunze ATO (bought that for my main tank but never get to use it)

I am still waiting for the LED from Ebay but will start the water cycling this weekend. Will take some photos when I have a chance.
My design will be a “Bonsai” style mixed coral. This is inspired by the bonsai idea of plant. Therefore, the size of the livestock is my main consideration.

Can't wait to see it come together!

gorally · May 24, 2012

Thank you. I can't wait to get this setup.

revsgirl · May 25, 2012

Sounds great!! Lookin' forward to seeing its progress!! Good luck and have fun!

sirevans reef · May 25, 2012

Sounds cool!! Good Luck!

BarbH · May 25, 2012

Welcome to r2r, look foward to seeing this come together

gorally · May 25, 2012

Thank you everyone. I purchased a shelf from Ikea today and will put that together in the weekend. The shelf is mainly to raise the tank to the window level. Also picked up some Mangroves and get ready for the tank. However, couldn't find any live rock at the LFS that is small enough for my tank. I will grab a few from my DT. Today is hot, its about 95. The room temperature is around 90. I will need to see how the water temperature will like after I start running the tank. As long as I can keep it under 85, I should be fine. Keep my fingers crossed.

gorally · May 26, 2012

Finally had my stand/shelf put together by my son, Thank you Adam. I was busy building a working desk for my younger boy. Had the tank cleaned and Aquaclear tested. Tomorrow will fill the tank and put my live rocks into cycle mode. I will monitor the tank temperature hopefully it will stay around 80. Here is a few shots of the tank which will sit for the next little while.