"Risk Management" ADA 60f nano

cc reefer · Jun 3, 2015

Hi All.

I wanted to start a build thread about my new tank. It's a ADA 60F 8 1/2 gallon tank. Total total water volume is about 9 gallons with plumbing and media reactors.

I travel a lot for work.
So my main concerns were :
Risk management and low maintenance.

I spent about a year thinking about and designing this built to avoid and deal with the risks of a saltwater tank in a house.
And do be as low maintenance as possible so my wife did not have to do anything to it while im away on business.

I wanted this to be a closed loop system. So water exits through one Lilly pipe, runs through the plumbing (silicone tubing) through two reactors, external heater and chiller then returns back to the display through a lilly pipe. And all the plumbing is built inside a kitchen size plastic garbage can. So if any thing leaks it will be contained by the garbage can. The table i built is also designed to contain spills. It has a trough in the center to hide plumbing and keep spilt water off my wood floors.

I hate typing so I will try and post many pictures with descriptions as i go.

I have had a few tanks in the past but i like to think this is the first one I'm going to do right.

Thanks for looking!

Picture to follow

cc reefer · Jun 3, 2015

Heres a quick pict of the where the build is now.
Tank is cycling and im building the arm to hold the light.

brandon429 · Jun 3, 2015

Someone once did a review on my tank and it accurately earned a zero rating on the WAF scale due to all the things I had zip tied to the tank, mess of wires etc. (wife approval factor zero)

Yours in contrast is a 10 on the scale and it looks like Japanese ikebana. Can't wait to see the lighting setup
B

Shep · Jun 15, 2015

I love on clean your tank set-up is, I can't wait to see the tank stocked!

cc reefer · Jun 15, 2015

I hooked my XR15 pro up today. Really happy with it. I welded my own mount to get a minimalist look.
Sorry for the photo quality. Its a iphone camera.

Tahoe61 · Jun 15, 2015

You added sand too. Were your intentions to go BB? It's a wonderful tank, and you pulled of minimalist very well.

Deep_Six Corals · Jun 15, 2015

This is super cool. that look you have going is sleek. I'm following along

cc reefer · Jun 15, 2015

Tahoe61 said:
You added sand too. Were your intentions to go BB? It's a wonderful tank, and you pulled of minimalist very well.

Thanks
I did add sand. A local reefer gave me some extra reef flakes he had and it looks great and doesn't move around with the mp10.

revhtree · Jun 15, 2015

Very cool start!

Aqua fire/medic · Jun 15, 2015

I love the ADA tanks. Especially these shallow builds. Everything looking great so far.

Righteous · Jun 15, 2015

Looks great! I'm also running an ADA 60f so I'm biased.

It sounds like you've planned everything out, and are set on the lily pipes, but if I might, I'd suggest drilling for an overflow now instead. I ran lily pipes for the past several months and they were both a huge pain, and got ugly quick. I regretted not drilling at the beginning and ended up doing it with a live tank. (Drilling the tank was pretty easy).

The lily pipes were very hard to take on and off to clean without spilling water everywhere. Algae also built up in the pipes and clear tubing in about 2-3 weeks and started impeding flow. Every time I stopped and started the pump, chunks of algae would then break off and float around the tank. I cleaned mine by soaking for several nights in citric acid, and used a long brush, which worked well, but requires a second set of pipes.

I love, love, love my ADA though, and I'm sure you will too. It's a beautiful tank, and I'm looking forward to seeing your tank progress!

cc reefer · Jun 17, 2015

Righteous said:
Looks great! I'm also running an ADA 60f so I'm biased.

It sounds like you've planned everything out, and are set on the lily pipes, but if I might, I'd suggest drilling for an overflow now instead. I ran lily pipes for the past several months and they were both a huge pain, and got ugly quick. I regretted not drilling at the beginning and ended up doing it with a live tank. (Drilling the tank was pretty easy).

The lily pipes were very hard to take on and off to clean without spilling water everywhere. Algae also built up in the pipes and clear tubing in about 2-3 weeks and started impeding flow. Every time I stopped and started the pump, chunks of algae would then break off and float around the tank. I cleaned mine by soaking for several nights in citric acid, and used a long brush, which worked well, but requires a second set of pipes.

I love, love, love my ADA though, and I'm sure you will too. It's a beautiful tank, and I'm looking forward to seeing your tank progress!

Thanks for the heads up. After reading your post i did notice a little hair algae starting in the pipes. I think I'm just going to make another pair and swap them out as needed.

That must have been pretty scary drilling a tank that already had water in it.

Righteous · Jun 17, 2015

The drilling itself wasn't so bad. I moved out the rock and coral to a holding tank for the duration. I kept the sand and my clown in the tank with just enough water, a heater and a pico powerhead. I was obviously a little nervous drilling the ADA, but I just went slow and it came out great. The hardest part was really the logistics of moving stuff back and forth.

cc reefer · Jun 25, 2015

What is the best online store to buy livestock from. Im looking for things like sexy shrimp, goby, pom pom crabs?

cc reefer · Jun 29, 2015

So on my closed loop system i have 2 reactors plumbed directly in line. One is a mini brs reactor that i use for carbon and gfo mixed. The other is a full sized brs reactor. The big one is empty. Any ideas what i could use it for besides just increasing my water volume???

cc reefer · Jun 29, 2015

Here some closeups of the light and mount.

Righteous · Jun 30, 2015

Looking awesome!! Looking forward to some livestock shots!

Do you have the 80 or 120 degree optics installed on the XR15? I burned some of my coral hanging my AI Hydra 26 with 80 degree optics too close, since the tank is so shallow. 80 degree optics needs about 14 inches above water to cover 24 inches.

Regarding the empty reactor, you could consider separating the carbon and GFO, since they can have very different replacement rates. Another option I've had luck with is Purigen, which acts like carbon but pulls some different sets of organics. (just make sure to use a very fine mesh bag). I also found filter pads, changed out every week to be helpful. Or... if you ever get into carbon dosing, you could run it as a bio pellet reactor (never tried it, but i do dose vinegar and vodka)