No More Nanos!

[FishyKat]

Hello RC!

For years I've had nanos. I made many mistakes with my very first 10 gal nano about 15 years ago. had it for about 4 years before I moved out of my parents house. In a tiny apartment, I allowed myself a 9 gal cube which I loved. I really miss it- it is now planted FW tank. Then I moved to a condo and upgraded to a 20 gal JBJ nano cube which is nearly 2 years old now. I have to say, I never liked this cube.. the bow front drove me nuts with the distortions.. I couldn't modify it- HOB skimmers wasn't working properly, the lighting was OK though never felt it was worth it to upgrade lighting on a tank I didn't like much.. yea. after 2 years of having it, I decided to take the plunge into a 75 gal reef! Since I wasn't sure how the floor supports are, I felt 75 is the largest I could go. I didn't want to risk it with a larger tank.

OK, enough with my nutshell history.. here's the fun stuff:

Standard Marineland Reef-Ready 48"x18"x21".
Aqueon Pine Stand
Trigger Crystal 36" sump (30 gals)
Coralvue Reef Octopus INT100 Classic Skimmer
Return Pump - Lifeguard Aquatic Quiet One Pro Series 2200
AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro
Reefkeeper Lite Controller (not in use at this time)
Coralife HO T5 light fixture- 4 bulb
Spectrapure RO/DI 4-Stage Filter with Booster

60 lbs Sand (1 inch SSB in DT, DSB in Sump)
about 50 lbs of LR

of course, the usual heater, refractometer, testing.. so on.

Currently my tank's been up for nearly 2 weeks. It is still in the cycling phase- my tank is void of any livestock at this time. I have a pair of clowns and some corals from my 28 JBJ nano that will be moving into the 75 once it's ready. I figure while I (im)patiently wait for it to complete its cycle, I can keep busy here and hopefully get advice as I go along.

Photos!

My tank as it stands today:



With the old temporary light- but you can see the stand better:



The sump:



I am also in the process of setting up my first QT tank. The decoration is there because the tank looked so empty, lol. I need to pick up some PVC:

[FishyKat]

Whoops, photos are HUGE. I can't seem to edit my post (keeps saying invalid.. I am not allowed??). Can someone help fix it please?

[zachxlutz]

Looking forward to seeing what you've got in the works!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FishyKat]

My fish stocking idea. If anyone has suggestions or advice, I'd be happy to hear them.

2 Clowns (already in my 20g nano)
Square Tail Bristletooth Tang
Midas Blenny
Blue Spot Goby
Royal Gamma
One Spot Foxface
(2) Wrasses

Wrasse Options:
Blue star leopard wrasse
potters leopard wrasse
ornate leopard wrasse
yellow coris wrasse,
red head Solon wrasse
melanarus wrasse
Fairy wrasse

[Ruskin]

Are you using just one drain from the overflow to your sump? Usually your tank comes with "one" and a return line, but a lot of people decide to use both as drain lines. One can easily become blocked and you have no backup. If so check out the "Herbie" method, it might fit what you are after with a bit of a safety factor.

I had a yellow coris wrasse and loved it! so much fun to watch. While they may look plain on first viewing they have a really nice iridescent green on them.

Congrats on the upgrade, I too started with a nano and then upgraded and it was just so much fun! Enjoy!

[FishyKat]

I have one drain, yes. and one return. I have not even thought about clogs.. no one ever mentioned that to me, of all the people that helped too. I will look into herbie method you've mentioned! Though it's too late, I think. my plumbing is already set and glued accordingly and water is in the tank cycling. I can only pray for the best through it's life.

I like the bright color on the coris wrasse!

[Ruskin]

It's not that big a deal to switch as long as you didn't glue the plumbing in the overflow to the bulkhead? You can put your heaters and a powerhead in the tank while you remove the plumbing (and essentially take the sump offline) if you're interested.

[FishyKat]

yea, it's been glued- I was advised to glue. too late. I literally spent weeks researching and checking other forums before I found this one. not one mention of the herbie.

[Ruskin]

That sucks, you don't need to glue that side in at all. Not that I'm trying to drive this home or keep on you about it, just offering more suggestions if you are interested, but you could always undo the nut on the bottom of the bulkhead cut the plumbing down there and pull the whole thing out. all you would have to do again is drop the water line in your display so the water doesn't go into the overflow. Then drain the overflow completely and do as above, cut and pull.

[FishyKat]

Too late, lol. I wish I'd known earlier.. I literally researched for weeks and its the first time I hear of this method.

Anyways..

Tank's cycled for over a week now. I moved my clowns from my 28g to the 75 gal.. they look so lost in the tank! Took them a day or so before they got brave to explore the tank.

[FishyKat]

I have tons of diatoms too. I took some CUC from my 28g as well and moved them over to help with the clean up of the diatoms

[Gamestyle]

I think nanos are nice