Greyson's 18G Nano Build

[Greyson]

Hey Everyone !

So i decided to finally get back in the hobby after a good 5 years and i couldn't be more excited. i previously had a 55 mostly softy with some lps tank and i wanted to do something a little different. So i decided to go with a 18 gallon Cad lights tank. Im sort of on a budget with this build, but i think as far as equipment i'll be okay. I'm trying to keep it as minimalist as possible for now, here's what im working with for now :

Cad lights 18 G mini series ( minus the light )
Caribsea Bahama oolite live sand 10 pounds
hydor koralia 240
accuprobbe mini hydrometer
12.5 pounds fiji base rock
chemipure
purigen
Kessil A150 sky blue 10k LED ( either will go with goose neck or hang it )

I think the kessil will be enough to keep SPS which is something i've been wanting to try for a while.

I started working on the stand earlier today, and will try to finish it this week.

Heres a few pics.

[Greyson]

Heres the rock .

[Greyson]

so today i decided to run to my LFS and pick up some epoxy to merge these rocks together ... i only merged the top two rocks because i felt like i wanted a little bit of flexibility if i wanted to move the rocks a bit differently. This is also the first time im using this putty, it dries really fast so i tried my best to make it look as natural on the rock as possible.

[Greyson]

can anyone recommend a good cleanup crew pack for me ??

[Greyson]

Got some more goodies today , Amazon now ships on Sundays ! also i redid my aquascaping because i got a little inspiration to do a "bonsai tree" looking aquascape. Tank is coming in tomorrow ....


uploading pictures


jpg images

[aguerrero56]

Nice job on the stand! Alot more sturdy than a store bought stand. I can tell this is gonna be a good setup. The tank you picked is something like I'm looking to get soon. Good luck with your build.

[Greyson]

Thank you aguerrero , i have to paint the back panel and i gotta put the side panels in later today, i was thinking of adding a shelf in the middle too.

It took me a while to choose my tank honestly, at first i was going to go with a 14 gallon biocube, but then after looking at it i got a little turned off. Then i was going to have a LFS not too far from me build me a custom tank but the guy was trying to rip me off and i just wasn't having that. So when i found the cad lights tank i fell in love with it, its very sleek and modern looking.

[BioCubeGuy]

Greyson,

I really like the stand. So cool that you built your own. Looking forward to seeing your tank up and running!

[Greyson]

Thank you !

I just installed side 1/8 side and back panel and painted them. will probably give it one more coat tomorrow.


Stand

[Greyson]

Finally its here !
Checked to see if there is any leaks so far so good .. time to fill !

1

2

3

[Greyson]

Tank clearing up pretty good, still cloudy.
Waiting for my lights, should have them in a few days.


clear

[BioCubeGuy]

Nice tank man... I swear it feels like xmas every time I come home and there's a package left from the UPS driver I'm excited for ya! Looking good! Keep us posted.

[bitwise]

So far, lookin' good. I have the same tank. I like the rockwork, and your choice to go with dry rock. I had all sorts of issues with hydroids, and now have issues with vermetids.

I just took out my hydor 240 and I'm going to be dropping in a more powerful wave maker tomorrow. I think you will find that the 240 is not powerful enough for this tank.

Let me know if you have any questions getting the sump pump setup, etc. I had to tweak a couple things to get this thing working right.

I'm keen to see how the Kessil works out for you, I'm thinking about getting a light from this brand down the road.

[Greyson]

Originally Posted by bitwise

So far, lookin' good. I have the same tank. I like the rockwork, and your choice to go with dry rock. I had all sorts of issues with hydroids, and now have issues with vermetids.

I just took out my hydor 240 and I'm going to be dropping in a more powerful wave maker tomorrow. I think you will find that the 240 is not powerful enough for this tank.

Let me know if you have any questions getting the sump pump setup, etc. I had to tweak a couple things to get this thing working right.

I'm keen to see how the Kessil works out for you, I'm thinking about getting a light from this brand down the road.

thank you !
Yes that is the reason why i chose to go with base rock and just gradually seed it. i've had bad experience with worms and sponges in the past. So far the 240 seems to be doing okay, but it does feel a little weak, i may just add one more pump in the future. I was playing around a bit with the pump myself, i had to keep the settings on the pump kind of low to get the flow that seemed right, a heavier flow seemed to almost overflow the display tank. The pump didn't come with any kind of nozzel to spread the flow, do you have any recommendations where i can get the proper one, and do you know the name of the pump that they give you. I should be getting the lights either tomorrow or Thursday so i will post pics on the kessil.

[Greyson]

So i added a piece of raw shrimp to my tank to induce a nitrogen cycle since i didn't have liverock in the tank, this morning the tank is slightly cloudy and smelly so i guess im starting to have a bacterial bloom. Can anyone chime in on how long i should keep the shrimp in there? i ordered a master test kit so i should be able to monitor my levels by tomorrow. I'm also getting my kessil tomorrow so more pics are coming !

[bitwise]

Sounds like you might be having a bacteria bloom. I think I've read elsewhere that once you detect 2+ ppm of ammonia you can yank the shrimp.

Regarding your second to last post, if you are talking about the sump return pump being too strong: I've seen another guy on this forum ditch the nozzle piece and just use the circular piece to fasten the pump to the bulkhead. Since this creates a wider opening for the water to flow through it will be less jet like. I haven't done this myself I don't mind the jet.

The biggest problem I had with this tank is that my pump was too weak and zero water would flow through the surface overflow. I had to take a piece of plastic and block the majority of the holes in the bottom filter to get water to cascade down the surface overflow. I told CAD about it and they said odd, we've never heard of this.

[Greyson]

Originally Posted by bitwise

Sounds like you might be having a bacteria bloom. I think I've read elsewhere that once you detect 2+ ppm of ammonia you can yank the shrimp.

Regarding your second to last post, if you are talking about the sump return pump being too strong: I've seen another guy on this forum ditch the nozzle piece and just use the circular piece to fasten the pump to the bulkhead. Since this creates a wider opening for the water to flow through it will be less jet like. I haven't done this myself I don't mind the jet.

The biggest problem I had with this tank is that my pump was too weak and zero water would flow through the surface overflow. I had to take a piece of plastic and block the majority of the holes in the bottom filter to get water to cascade down the surface overflow. I told CAD about it and they said odd, we've never heard of this.

Interesting you mention this because when i got my tank the bottom "slits" were sealed through the back with a piece of acrylic and black silicone. Maybe thats why i didn't have much of a problem with the overflow, pump was just on too high of a setting where it almost made the main display overflow and thats a no no, but i have it set perfectly right now.

[Greyson]

Finally got some goodies in today !
Got my Test Kit , so i will do a parameter check tomorrow.
On another note i got my Lighting finally, unfortunately i didn't get the gooseneck for it yet that should be here on Sat. Tried the light out and i'm very impressed, at first it gave me a bit of a headache because i couldn't believe how bright it really was, the spread is excellent when its about a foot over the tank completely covers everything inside my tank, when i put it on the glass cover you can actually see how crazy the angle is. It really penetrates super deep, my only concern with this is the heat, i may have to get a small fan to keep it cool even though it has a built in fan that turns off the unit if it over heats. Overall i'm sold on this lighting. I also received a few small frags from a fellow reefer in my area, and since i really had no where to put them i just tossed em in my sand bed. When i took the photo of them it was under my kessil for 5 min and they started opening up. The frags are RPE paly , speckled fire and ice zoas , and some random pink & gold zoas, he also gave me a reddish/brownish monticap that i put higher up on the rock work.

1

2

3

4

5

[Greyson]

So i checked my PH and Ammonia , the PH was 8.2 which is good and the ammonia was 2ppm i'm thinking about adding some biospira to the tank.. what do you guys think ?

[Greyson]

Heres a FTS with the gooseneck .


FTS

[Greyson]

So i ended up adding the bio spira last night in hopes to give it a little kick in the cycle, and i just checked my ammonia levels and it came in at 0.50 ppm compared to the 2 ppm yesterday. So im assuming the bio spira is doing its job.

[Booboobear259]

Nice tank I can't wait to see it fully stocked

[BioCubeGuy]

Looking good man. I have the same test kit. Seems like the ammonia is going down so that's good. I'm new to the hobby so I can't give much advise regarding cycling etc.. But i'm learning

This is a great build thread, seems like everything is coming a long well. I just got my tank up and running myself...

[Greyson]

So i was a little bored earlier and decided i wanted to make some kind of quick throw together Mac Guyver Moonlight. So i did ..with some random stuff i found, worked out ok lol.


1

2

Then i decided i wanted blue lights... so nothing a sharpie cant fix.


3

4

[BioCubeGuy]

Haha cool, looks good !