My 30L Nano

mytank · 27 Jul 2011

So I took a fresh water tank that you buy at the LFS and started turning into a Nano. Its a little 30L.

So I drilled the back of the tank put a upside down 90 joint with 22m pipe. That's the over flow then I built the sump.

OK so the sump is 10L to 15L (little one foot tank), got some perspects cut at the perspects place in Pretoria. So I created a high and low barrier (High is where the floss is and low is where the return and heater is. Low is 4 CM lower than the top of the sump and then I cut about 3CM at the bottom of that.

Chambers:

1: Floss and rings (this is where the overflow is going to flow into
2: Little Skimmer and live rock compartment
3: Heater and return pump.

I didn't like the all in one NANO's as I dont like that box at the back takes space. Also I wanted a sump that had more then 1/3 of the main tanks water volume so I could sustain more life in the nano.

Let me know what you guys think.

Tremayn · 27 Jul 2011

looking cool man! Lol when you see the heater,only then you realise how small the whole thing is

mytank · 27 Jul 2011

Tremayn said:
looking cool man! Lol when you see the heater,only then you realise how small the whole thing is

Hehheh yeah thats true - sump in a shoe box

Been interesting. Next is sump goes into the sump box I made, water, salt, LR and cycle.

Tremayn · 27 Jul 2011

Good to see a nano with a sump

.. I think its pretty dof when guys have nanos with all the equipment in the tank.. Like its not small enough lol

.. What are you planning on stocking? Some cool captive bred seahorses are in the country

mytank · 27 Jul 2011

Tremayn said:
Good to see a nano with a sump .. I think its pretty dof when guys have nanos with all the equipment in the tank.. Like its not small enough lol .. What are you planning on stocking? Some cool captive bred seahorses are in the country

I am building this for my GF

I have a 4 week old cycling main tank <rimless cube around 200L> she loves sea horses but in keep being told they impossible to keep.

I wanted to have some frog spawn, some Zoas and maybe a fish or two now the sea horses are a nice option. Where do they have them? Pic or URL?

ReefMaster_SA · 27 Jul 2011

we need more pics

mytank · 28 Jul 2011

Here we go some pics of the actual tank build.

The main system:

Here we have the back of the tank:

The actual overflow in the tank:

The proud silicone job I did

And the tank itself:

Charl_Stanhope · 28 Jul 2011

awesome. wasnt it scary drilling that tank. wish i thought of it when i started my buyo tl550. by the way it looks really good. :thumbup:

KeeganP · 28 Jul 2011

Hey dude, Looking good man,
But I must warn you :dft004:

I had one of those exact same skimmers and its extremly hard to dial in properly, its either to dry or to wet, so wet that the cup over fills with water and spils over.... it was very irritating, but I hope it works better with you.

mytank · 28 Jul 2011

Charl_Stanhope said:
awesome. wasnt it scary drilling that tank. wish i thought of it when i started my buyo tl550. by the way it looks really good.

Yup I k@ked my self but it worked out. Took me 30 Minutes

dallasg · 28 Jul 2011

looking good there

mytank · 28 Jul 2011

Keeganp said:
Hey dude, Looking good man,
But I must warn you I had one of those exact same skimmers and its extremly hard to dial in properly, its either to dry or to wet, so wet that the cup over fills with water and spils over.... it was very irritating, but I hope it works better with you.

You 100% right. It's not the most well engineered Chinese product. I will have to try get it to work though!

Any tips?

Charl_Stanhope · 28 Jul 2011

mytank said:
Yup I k@ked my self but it worked out. Took me 30 Minutes

you desreve :peroni:

for being brave man. well done. good luck wih the setup.

mytank · 28 Jul 2011

Charl_Stanhope said:
you desreve for being brave man. well done. good luck wih the setup.

Thank you, you can see you need patience and also time. It took 30 mins cause I didn't want to push it even though I wanted to OFTEN

It's better than having that all in one built in.

KeeganP · 28 Jul 2011

mytank said:
You 100% right. It's not the most well engineered Chinese product. I will have to try get it to work though!

Any tips?

If I start you gona kill me, I see you have the pump on its side, I found that mine worked better when the tube part was facing down,
I don’t recommend that you use the hole on the side on the collection cup as I got many wet floor's using that method, also the micro bubbles are a pain no matter how much I tried there were bubble is my DT, so I suggest replacing the sponge with filter floss or something that can trap them. but you will only know how it goes once you have water in there and have it running, oh and that centre tube in the skimmer, ensure that it is up straight.

Good luck bud :thumbup:

mytank · 28 Jul 2011

Keeganp said:
If I start you gona kill me, I see you have the pump on its side, I found that mine worked better when the tube part was facing down,
I don’t recommend that you use the hole on the side on the collection cup as I got many wet floor's using that method, also the micro bubbles are a pain no matter how much I tried there were bubble is my DT, so I suggest replacing the sponge with filter floss or something that can trap them. but you will only know how it goes once you have water in there and have it running, oh and that centre tube in the skimmer, ensure that it is up straight.

Good luck bud

Great advice thanks I will play around with them. Any other LITTLE skimmer you can recommend?

KeeganP · 28 Jul 2011

mytank said:
Great advice thanks I will play around with them. Any other LITTLE skimmer you can recommend?

No Idea bud, I think tunze have some really small awesome skimmers.
Maybe post on there sponsor forum.

Something you should definitely look at in the future.

I wouldn't even give that skimmer to my worst enemy...

mytank · 28 Jul 2011

The other thing I wanted to ask is what lights

I have lights but they florescent lights (circular connection) - not sure if you get a light for marine that would plug into that?

coswecanfly · 28 Jul 2011

Nice... Can't wait to see the final result... :thumbup:

Mc · 30 Jul 2011

Yeah looking nice. :thumbup:

I have similar setup except I went with the HOB filter.
I like it with the heater out of the display tank.
Are you planninng on adding a power head or wave maker, I think you gonna need it If you want that frogspawn.

I found out that finding lighting was probably the hardest thing with these small tanks what were you looking at spending on lighting? Is the fitting you have a
T8-25mm, or T5-13mm. I looked around alot and couldn't find a marine T5 globe short enough for these tanks, and the T8's IMO not strong enough although maybe if you add it the light thats already in there it might work.

My 30L Nano

Controversial Reefer, but knowledgeable!