15 Gal Nano Project Timeline

[Aquadan88]

So, I've decided to document the process of my first attempt at a "nano" tank (if it can even be called that). For starters, I have a 15 gallon wide tank (24" long). I decided to add a 10 gallon refugium underneath.

The Tank:
Regular 24" 15 Gallon AGA tank. Custom overflow (Built by Ray?)
1" drain bulkhead
1/2" return bulkhead.

The Refugium:
Standard 10 Gallon AGA tank.
Nothing Special Here.

The Pump:
Supreme Pondmaster 250
1/2" Ball valve on outlet to control flow rate


So, I guess this is the part where I tell everyone what I did.


SO:
I got the tank from Ray (thanks Ray!), ordered a stand at work, and I had a 10 Gallon tank laying around.

I got the stand home and right away attempted to see if the 10 gallon tank would fit under. It would not. But I came up with a brilliant idea to modify the stand so it could! I cut the back of the stand enough for the tank to slide in, and also cut a whole where my drain hose can go (just cuz I'm an anal freak lol).

I plumbed everything up, got the pump running, and stuck a Koralia Nano in there just to see how it would look. I placed the Koralia on the overflow, with the magnet on the inside of the overflow. Doesn't seem to have much effect on the drain rate so that's good i guess.

However, I am having a slight problem with the drain. Apparently the overflow can't accommodate the flow rate of my Pondmaster 250, so I added a 1/2" ball valve on the output of the pump to control how much water comes out.


That's pretty much it. Planning on installing a baffle to shield the pump from the rest of the tank, and maintain a constant water level in most of the tank to make it a refugium. Anyone have any suggestions on how I should do this?

Pictures to follow!

 

[Aquadan88]

 

[Aquadan88]

 

[reeferpj]

i used a pond pump on a 155 and cooked everything in my tank keep in eye on the temp

 

[Rick C]

Sweet litle project. I like what you have going

 

[Aquadan88]

i used a pond pump on a 155 and cooked everything in my tank keep in eye on the temp

What kind of pond pump did you use? We've used the Pondmaster pumps at work for a while, and never noticed a problem. But then again, most of the tanks at work are more than 20 gallons.

Sweet litle project. I like what you have going

Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. Next thing to go in is Live Sand.

 

[reeferpj]

i dont know over a year ago when i got my tank. i got the pump at home depot

 

[Aquadan88]

i dont know over a year ago when i got my tank. i got the pump at home depot

Do you remember the make? Chances are if you got it at Home Depot, it wasn't anything too high quality.

 

[reeferpj]

sorry no. it was the bigist one thy had 1200 or1500 gph

 

[Aquadan88]

lol, this runs at 250 gph, and mine runs at 170 gph (with head included).

 

[Aquadan88]

Update:

Rigging up the power strip. Need an opinion.

Should I put the Koralia Nano on a timer, and if so, should I set it to go on at short intervals (say 5 min. on/5 min. off), or should I set it to go on for an hour, and off for an hour?

Edit: The shortest interval I can set it for is 15 min.

 

[Aquadan88]

Why is no one interested in my nano.

 

[Rick C]

Rigging up the power strip. Need an opinion.

Should I put the Koralia Nano on a timer, and if so, should I set it to go on at short intervals (say 5 min. on/5 min. off), or should I set it to go on for an hour, and off for an hour?

Edit: The shortest interval I can set it for is 15 min.

You could always try it out and see how you like it. It could be a god idea. With the constant flow from the return, having the koralia go on and off would be nice for alternating flow.

 

[Aquadan88]

You could always try it out and see how you like it. It could be a god idea. With the constant flow from the return, having the koralia go on and off would be nice for alternating flow.

K, any suggestion on an interval? I read somewhere that having it go on for a long period of time makes it more like a tide, and having it go on in short bursts is like waves.

Any opinions or suggestions?

 

[sciknen]

im not sure about the nano but i have 3's and the click horribly off and on so i dont have them on a timer...just imagine hearing a clicking noise every 15min

 

[Aquadan88]

I just unplugged and plugged it in a few times to see if it clicked. It does a little bit, but I don't think I'll be bothered by it if i set it to go on on a tidal cycle. (Say 2x a day for 2 or 3 hours)

 

[Aquadan88]

Update #2:

Just added a ball valve to slow down the output of the return pump. Also added a small digital thermometer. Going to use the inside of the door as my "command center" for all my digital readouts.

Next plan is to add a check valve onto the pump. By doing this I'll be able to divide the 10 gallon tank into 1/4 sump, 3/4 refugium. I'm going to install an 11" baffle to keep the refugium side at a constant water level. The skimmer will hang off the back of the refugium side, while all other utilities (return pump, heater, probes, etc) will be in the sump side. Also probably going to hard plumb the drainpipe instead of using the drain hose to allow the overflow water to enter in on the refugium side.

 

[Aquadan88]

Update #3

I finally got a sheet of PVC from a buddy of mine, so I went to town and got my refugium/sump modification done this afternoon.

As you can see, I divided up the 10 gallon tank into 2 sections (see picture below). The section on the left will be used as my sump, for the pump,heater, etc.

The section on the right will be my refugium. I left about a 1" gap between the top of the baffle and top of the tank so the water can overflow from the refugium side into the sump side, and be pumped out by the return pump, which will have a check valve on it to prevent backflow (see picture below).

Trying to decide what I want to use for refugium lighting. I won't need anything too major. Thinking about using cold cathodes. I've made a few nice fixtures, including a custom one made out of a gutted 2 1/2 gallon AGA incandescent striplight. Going to try and do some research about what the light output of them are. Anyone ever tried this, or have any info that might help?

 

[sciknen]

theres going to be alot of bubbles being pumped up with no baffles

 

[Aquadan88]

I don't believe there will be. I had it running for about a week with just the 10gal tank in there, and the drain hose pointing directly at the pump intake at a distance of about 4 inches. Haven't had a problem yet. But, we shall see.