hig789
Active Member
I've been away from the hobby for a few years and decided to come back but in a much smaller way. I had a 90g mixed reef running for about 3 years before I tore it down because I was just working too much to take care of it the way it needed. Prior to that I had a 29g and a 55g.
A few weeks ago the wife mentioned that I should get another aquarium because I always talked about getting a all in one system as long as I got a clown for our 2 year old to look at, so I willingly agreed.
I started looking at the different all in one models and decided I'd drop by our LFS and see what they had by way of used tanks. Well I found a 15g acrylic custom all in one with hood and stand that they took in on trade on a larger tank. The display is 15" x 11.5" x 16" which come out to about 12g if I remember correctly. It came with a custom made skimmer which separates the compartments for the media shelves and the return chamber.
It was pretty scratched up so I got it for $125. I knew the scratches could be removed and after some research I bought a mothers powerball and got to wet sanding. Well after about a week of working on it off and on and sanding it completely two times I decided to live with the scratches that were left in it. I watched quit a few videos of people that sanded up to 2500 grit and then polished with Novus and said they got it crystal clear and it looked new. Didn't work like that for me there were scratches left in it from sanding but the polish softened the edges of the scratches enough that you wouldn't see them with water in the tank. Rinsed it out with vinegar water and then salt water a few times and called it good enough.
The hood didn't have any lights mounted in it and I really wanted to keep it since I thought it looked pretty slick. I started researching retrofit LED kits and it came down between a small NanoBox retro and a small StevesLEDS kit. I ended up going with the NanoBox kit with the moonlight upgrade and a bluefish mini controller. Now I had to figure out how to mount it. After a hour or so searching Hobby Lobby I found some acrylic stamping blocks that I could cut up and weld to the hood to give me something to mount the light to. Also they carried a acrylic weld called Plast-I-Weld that contains the same ingredients as Weld-On. I ended up getting a 4x6 block and two 3x3 blocks. The 4x6 was cut up, stacked on top of each other and welded to leave some room for ventilation for the heat sink. Then I took some .25" acrylic and made a shelf coming off it to mount to the heat sink to hold the light. I also cut some small squares and welded them to the hood to mount the drivers on. The 3x3 blocks are going to get stood on their sides and have a sheet of the .25" screwed to them to make a splash guard for the drivers and light. I'll probably just pretty much enclose the whole underside of the hood and put a vent fan on one side eventually. I am very happy with the NanoBox retro although my mounting brackets aren't the prettiest they serve the purpose. I'll get some pics of the brackets up when I get a chance.
I finally got the tank setup about a week ago using about 10lbs of live rock, 20lbs of live sand and filter floss under the overflow. I left the skimmer out because it needs a little tweaking to rid it of the micro bubbles it produces and no matter how high I ran the water it would push the cup up and run out the top of the skimmer. I might not even use it for now, debated on making a removable media basket with a place for some cheato.
The return pump is getting upgraded to a Tunze Silence 1073.008 and I added a Tunze 6040 also. I have the 6040 turned down to about 25% right now. Pretty good flow in there right now but the turnover will be much better with the 1073.008. The heater is a 100w Cobalt Aquatics Accu-Therm. Probably a little overkill but I'd rather have a heater that's too big vs just big enough. The thermometer is just a cheapo Mercury one for now. More reliable than most of the cheaper digital ones out there IMO.
Also decided to mix my own water vs trusting the sketchy dude at out LFS. I can get DI water at work that they use for our lab testing. Went with a bucket of good old Instant Ocean.
Here are some pics from the beginning to where I am now. Planning on adding some more live rock eventually to raise the aquascaping up a bit but I'm pretty happy with the looks so far though.
Planning on having some zoas, LPS and possibly some SPS in the future with a clown probably being the only fish.
Thanks for looking.
Here are some pics from start to where I am now.
Back compartment
Massive micro bubble coming out of the skimmer.
Inside the hood before with most of the supplies to mount the LEDs.
Everything in there and running.
The light mount with the splash cover. It's not pretty but it works. Haha. Still need to enclose the back of the hood to prevent the light from spilling out and mount the fan on the side of the hood for air movement.
A few weeks ago the wife mentioned that I should get another aquarium because I always talked about getting a all in one system as long as I got a clown for our 2 year old to look at, so I willingly agreed.
I started looking at the different all in one models and decided I'd drop by our LFS and see what they had by way of used tanks. Well I found a 15g acrylic custom all in one with hood and stand that they took in on trade on a larger tank. The display is 15" x 11.5" x 16" which come out to about 12g if I remember correctly. It came with a custom made skimmer which separates the compartments for the media shelves and the return chamber.
It was pretty scratched up so I got it for $125. I knew the scratches could be removed and after some research I bought a mothers powerball and got to wet sanding. Well after about a week of working on it off and on and sanding it completely two times I decided to live with the scratches that were left in it. I watched quit a few videos of people that sanded up to 2500 grit and then polished with Novus and said they got it crystal clear and it looked new. Didn't work like that for me there were scratches left in it from sanding but the polish softened the edges of the scratches enough that you wouldn't see them with water in the tank. Rinsed it out with vinegar water and then salt water a few times and called it good enough.
The hood didn't have any lights mounted in it and I really wanted to keep it since I thought it looked pretty slick. I started researching retrofit LED kits and it came down between a small NanoBox retro and a small StevesLEDS kit. I ended up going with the NanoBox kit with the moonlight upgrade and a bluefish mini controller. Now I had to figure out how to mount it. After a hour or so searching Hobby Lobby I found some acrylic stamping blocks that I could cut up and weld to the hood to give me something to mount the light to. Also they carried a acrylic weld called Plast-I-Weld that contains the same ingredients as Weld-On. I ended up getting a 4x6 block and two 3x3 blocks. The 4x6 was cut up, stacked on top of each other and welded to leave some room for ventilation for the heat sink. Then I took some .25" acrylic and made a shelf coming off it to mount to the heat sink to hold the light. I also cut some small squares and welded them to the hood to mount the drivers on. The 3x3 blocks are going to get stood on their sides and have a sheet of the .25" screwed to them to make a splash guard for the drivers and light. I'll probably just pretty much enclose the whole underside of the hood and put a vent fan on one side eventually. I am very happy with the NanoBox retro although my mounting brackets aren't the prettiest they serve the purpose. I'll get some pics of the brackets up when I get a chance.
I finally got the tank setup about a week ago using about 10lbs of live rock, 20lbs of live sand and filter floss under the overflow. I left the skimmer out because it needs a little tweaking to rid it of the micro bubbles it produces and no matter how high I ran the water it would push the cup up and run out the top of the skimmer. I might not even use it for now, debated on making a removable media basket with a place for some cheato.
The return pump is getting upgraded to a Tunze Silence 1073.008 and I added a Tunze 6040 also. I have the 6040 turned down to about 25% right now. Pretty good flow in there right now but the turnover will be much better with the 1073.008. The heater is a 100w Cobalt Aquatics Accu-Therm. Probably a little overkill but I'd rather have a heater that's too big vs just big enough. The thermometer is just a cheapo Mercury one for now. More reliable than most of the cheaper digital ones out there IMO.
Also decided to mix my own water vs trusting the sketchy dude at out LFS. I can get DI water at work that they use for our lab testing. Went with a bucket of good old Instant Ocean.
Here are some pics from the beginning to where I am now. Planning on adding some more live rock eventually to raise the aquascaping up a bit but I'm pretty happy with the looks so far though.
Planning on having some zoas, LPS and possibly some SPS in the future with a clown probably being the only fish.
Thanks for looking.
Here are some pics from start to where I am now.
Back compartment
Massive micro bubble coming out of the skimmer.
Inside the hood before with most of the supplies to mount the LEDs.
Everything in there and running.
The light mount with the splash cover. It's not pretty but it works. Haha. Still need to enclose the back of the hood to prevent the light from spilling out and mount the fan on the side of the hood for air movement.
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