To cram or not to cram

That is the question. All right, 2 Tunze nano streams and a MH reflector arrived today. Nanos ROCK! My DIY Iwasaki's NEVER looked better. That got me to thinking. Can I shoehorn a 250 watt MH AND 65 watt PC's into my standard Finnex set up? Do the math. 250+130+96

I think I can. Here's how. (maybe) Construct a second hood for the MH. Not much heat generated behind the reflector. So I'm going to attempt a acrylic hood. Light weight, strong and easy to work with. 1/4" should do the trick I think.

Coralife dual 65 is already torn apart from 60 gal tank. I will need longer lead wires to outlets. Easy. Ballast's are tiny (compared to MH one.) Fans not necessary if mounted in stand. Now for the fun part. Finnex hood is 23 1/2" wide. Plenty of room for 65 watt PC's stuck on the sides. The trick will be mounting the PC clips the hold the bulbs. They will need to have clearance and not operate at a funky angle. No reflector needed as the Finnex reflector will be utilized. Then figure out moon light LED wiring and placement. (Stock placement stinks IMHO)

Next shipment from MD is LocLine plumbing stuff. Got the Y, forgot one whole side of Y plumbing stuff. Scheduled to arrive Monday. DOH!

Sand may hit the tank this weekend. OLD 60 gal. LR get placed in tank with saltwater. Cycle begins? How long can LR survive out of water wrapped in wet newspaper? Don't know? We'll find out. Lots of color still and NO SMELL.(die off) We'll see! Substrate is a combination of South Down, fine (yes I have South Down, still have 12 bags of it) and Argonite course.

Reef wall is out. Too many drawbacks at this point. Time and MONEY (for LR)!

ATO, 10K bulbs and Coralife power strips ordered.

Man will this tank ever get started. Mod, mod and mod some more!

The Stand

Main construction of the stand is complete. Final size is 27D X 30W X 36H. All 2X4 construction with 1/2 veneer plywood top, bottom and 1 shelve.
I first cut 4 24",30" and 36" 2x4's. I had to take into account the ability to get the stand out of the basement if needed.
I then built two 27"X30" (24"+ 1 1/2" width of 2X4=27") They turned out pretty square! Amazing ehhh!!!!
Next step was to attach main legs. If you notice I installed legs to the inside. This will allow me to install another 2X4 on the outside for added support.

Here is LB standing inside the stand!!!!

Here you can see the other 2X4 installed to the outside of the frame adding support to the top. All connections were made with 2 1/2" sheet rock screws.

Top cut and placed on frame. Top off container sitting in place. An ATO from Ebay will be installed for top off.

Installed a shelve for storage and tank placed on stand. Up next is staining the top. Going with a black stain. Sides will be 1/4" Oak veneer plywood stained black. Front will be the same except it will not be nailed. I will place velcro on the front for full and easy access.

So it begins...

After tearing my 60 gal. down for the move I wanted to step back and re-evaluate my position on reef keeping. The 60 was A LOT of work.

I have always enjoyed smaller systems and was waiting for the right one to come along.

Well I found it. A 30 gal. Finnex cube. I came to this conclusion after reading some posts at Nano-Reef and ReefCentral. It seemed the quality was there.

I am shooting for a softy tank with a few fish (3 maybe), crabs, shrimp and clean up crew.

I was really impressed with masterswimmer's reef wall set up. I want to add a peninsula coming out of the center of the tank. Take a look here!

My (initial) set-up will be as follows.

Lighting: Stock T5's that came with the tank. In addition to the T5's I will either add my Dual 65W Coralife PC's or one of my two 175W MH. Custom Acrylic hood (built by me to house them)

Pump: Stock for now. Going to leak test and run tonight. Single output will be replaced by a 1 1/8" X 1/2" bulkhead, Loc-Line Y and two 1 1/2" nozzles. To add "flow" I am adding two Tunze 6025 Nanostreams. Thought about a larger pump but was concerned first about heat and then the need for a valve to control flow. Some have had to mod their fuges to settle down the flow.

Skimmer: Stock for now. There seems to be a little trouble with micro bubbles and adjustments. I'll wait for that verdict.

Stand: Custom built by me. I plan on thinking this one out a bit. Need room for Top off container and a safe (read DRY!) place for electrical.

ATO system found here.

That's it for now. It is going to be a good weekend to start this "adventure" here in Burnsville. Weekend highs will NOT make it above zero during the day and -15 to -20 at night! YIKES!