Jaybo
Registered
Hi everyone
well I'm new here but thought id make a diary to keep a log of my tanks progress 
How I started.....
I'm not new to marine reef keeping, but it has been over 10 years since I closed down my 400L reef tank due to moving :sorry: and I've been wanted to get back into it for a while, and thought it would be great for my 2 girls to experience. So back in October 2014 after much consideration I purchased my AquaNano Marine 36, a small but very well set up technically to get me of the ground. I wanted to set up a tank to see if I could keep both fish and corals, and after selecting a couple of clown fish and some live rock I was off :dance: carful monitoring of water conditions I soon introduced some soft corals and a few more fish and it just grew and grew from there.
Click here to view more pictures of my AquaNano Marine 36
AquaNano Story by JaySO78 | Photobucket
I made some additional light modifications to the tank and ventured into hard coral territory! :whistling: this were for a short wile going very well, but it was soon evident I needed something more suitable, and my wife also was wanting to move towards a bigger tank.
Soooooooooo..... Introducing my AquaOne Reef 275 Cube:-d
These tanks are usually sold at an eye watering price :swoon: good spec but there are many very nice tanks out there such as the TMC signature tanks etc. that I was also considering, but I managed to pick this one up by chance 2nd hand for a very reasonable price and a significant step up from the nano. So I soon got it set up.....
Sump Modifications..
I made some modifications to the sump set up and the sump was in not such great condition see pic, and the protein skimmer was too noisy for the living room.
So I took the opportunity to put in an extra divider and weir slots in the 2nd chamber to make a refugium. The down pipe from the tank I also extended to be below the water line in the 1st chamber, again to make it quieter. This 1st chamber has about 2kg of rock with some of the standard bio balls it came with, these I will be gradually removing in favour of rock and on top and not in any water is just some foam currently to minimise any evaporation. Under the 1st chamber is the 1st heater and a powered to keep things from settling. The 2nd chamber has the skimmer, I went for the Bubble Magus C3.5 which is a bit more compact and much quieter than the V2 compact 500 the previous owners used. I also added a make shift silencer on the air intake, you can't hear it running now!. The 2nd chamber also has a V2 auto top up switch, which is feed from the 4 litre container of RO water at the front. 3rd chamber has the refugium which has a deep sand layer with some Miracle Mud. In here is a variety of Algae, and live rock for breeding live food. This is lit by a 30cm Arcadia stretch LED unit. And the final 4th chamber has the 2nd heater, powered and the return pump going through the UV steriliser and back into the tank. The basic plan was to make it as maintenance free as possible by minimising any filter foams and chances for organic sediment to build up in chambers 1,2 and 4 (shrimps and other critters will deal with any food waste that's collected in the refugeium or main tank), as well as making it as quiet as possible which seems to be working very well, as I've seen various comments on how these tanks can be noisy.
Lighting Choice and Mod
The lighting set up is a 4x 24Watt T5 array, i quite like the look of the V2 Lumenair 900 but thought id give the T5 tubes a go first as see how it go's, but may switch to LEDs. I've fitted the following tubes...
1x Arcadia Blue
1x Arcadia Deep Blue
1x Arcadia Pink
1x Arcadia Hybrid - though this one will be changed in a few days to the White.
these are either on or off and cannot be selected, so I have added 2 blue LEDs to the centre bar which give a moon like appearance to the tank when the main lights are off.
Moving in day for the nano stock
I finally filled it with water, rock etc.. waited for temperature to settle etc.. and then moved everything in from the nano along with some newly purchased live rock. it was sad seeing the nano now empty and was soon obvious that I needed more, a lot more rock!!
Nano Before
Nano After! :bye:
Cleaned out ready to sell to a new home
All in the AquaReef Cube
so Jump forward a few weeks, the addition of a Regal Tang, Pistol Shrimp and Goby pair, and lots more rock it now looks like this and ready for a variety of more interesting reef specimens ....
Future Modifications
In no particular order...
1) Addition of a reactor in the return pump chamber if needed
2) change the return pump hose to soft silicon tubing and replace the pumps suction cups to completely eliminate any vibrations
3) Add LED lighting system (V2 Lumenair 900 is current contender)
4) Fit 2nd wave maker powerhead (currently only one working which in on a 20 second ON/OFF sequence need the other so it comes on when the other is off and vice versa)
5) I'm sure my list will grow!! :whistling:
anyway hopefully I'm going about things the right way and more images can be seen here if the links work?.. and I will try and update as often as I can and hopefully see it grow, hopefully to standard close to some very nice setups you all have Worship
Click Hear to see more pictures of my AquaReef 275 Cube http://s30.photobucket.com/user/JaySO78/AquaReef/story
Jay
How I started.....
I'm not new to marine reef keeping, but it has been over 10 years since I closed down my 400L reef tank due to moving :sorry: and I've been wanted to get back into it for a while, and thought it would be great for my 2 girls to experience. So back in October 2014 after much consideration I purchased my AquaNano Marine 36, a small but very well set up technically to get me of the ground. I wanted to set up a tank to see if I could keep both fish and corals, and after selecting a couple of clown fish and some live rock I was off :dance: carful monitoring of water conditions I soon introduced some soft corals and a few more fish and it just grew and grew from there.
Click here to view more pictures of my AquaNano Marine 36
AquaNano Story by JaySO78 | Photobucket
I made some additional light modifications to the tank and ventured into hard coral territory! :whistling: this were for a short wile going very well, but it was soon evident I needed something more suitable, and my wife also was wanting to move towards a bigger tank.
Soooooooooo..... Introducing my AquaOne Reef 275 Cube:-d
These tanks are usually sold at an eye watering price :swoon: good spec but there are many very nice tanks out there such as the TMC signature tanks etc. that I was also considering, but I managed to pick this one up by chance 2nd hand for a very reasonable price and a significant step up from the nano. So I soon got it set up.....
Sump Modifications..
I made some modifications to the sump set up and the sump was in not such great condition see pic, and the protein skimmer was too noisy for the living room.

So I took the opportunity to put in an extra divider and weir slots in the 2nd chamber to make a refugium. The down pipe from the tank I also extended to be below the water line in the 1st chamber, again to make it quieter. This 1st chamber has about 2kg of rock with some of the standard bio balls it came with, these I will be gradually removing in favour of rock and on top and not in any water is just some foam currently to minimise any evaporation. Under the 1st chamber is the 1st heater and a powered to keep things from settling. The 2nd chamber has the skimmer, I went for the Bubble Magus C3.5 which is a bit more compact and much quieter than the V2 compact 500 the previous owners used. I also added a make shift silencer on the air intake, you can't hear it running now!. The 2nd chamber also has a V2 auto top up switch, which is feed from the 4 litre container of RO water at the front. 3rd chamber has the refugium which has a deep sand layer with some Miracle Mud. In here is a variety of Algae, and live rock for breeding live food. This is lit by a 30cm Arcadia stretch LED unit. And the final 4th chamber has the 2nd heater, powered and the return pump going through the UV steriliser and back into the tank. The basic plan was to make it as maintenance free as possible by minimising any filter foams and chances for organic sediment to build up in chambers 1,2 and 4 (shrimps and other critters will deal with any food waste that's collected in the refugeium or main tank), as well as making it as quiet as possible which seems to be working very well, as I've seen various comments on how these tanks can be noisy.


Lighting Choice and Mod
The lighting set up is a 4x 24Watt T5 array, i quite like the look of the V2 Lumenair 900 but thought id give the T5 tubes a go first as see how it go's, but may switch to LEDs. I've fitted the following tubes...
1x Arcadia Blue
1x Arcadia Deep Blue
1x Arcadia Pink
1x Arcadia Hybrid - though this one will be changed in a few days to the White.
these are either on or off and cannot be selected, so I have added 2 blue LEDs to the centre bar which give a moon like appearance to the tank when the main lights are off.
Moving in day for the nano stock
I finally filled it with water, rock etc.. waited for temperature to settle etc.. and then moved everything in from the nano along with some newly purchased live rock. it was sad seeing the nano now empty and was soon obvious that I needed more, a lot more rock!!
Nano Before

Nano After! :bye:

Cleaned out ready to sell to a new home

All in the AquaReef Cube

so Jump forward a few weeks, the addition of a Regal Tang, Pistol Shrimp and Goby pair, and lots more rock it now looks like this and ready for a variety of more interesting reef specimens ....



Future Modifications
In no particular order...
1) Addition of a reactor in the return pump chamber if needed
2) change the return pump hose to soft silicon tubing and replace the pumps suction cups to completely eliminate any vibrations
3) Add LED lighting system (V2 Lumenair 900 is current contender)
4) Fit 2nd wave maker powerhead (currently only one working which in on a 20 second ON/OFF sequence need the other so it comes on when the other is off and vice versa)
5) I'm sure my list will grow!! :whistling:
anyway hopefully I'm going about things the right way and more images can be seen here if the links work?.. and I will try and update as often as I can and hopefully see it grow, hopefully to standard close to some very nice setups you all have Worship
Click Hear to see more pictures of my AquaReef 275 Cube http://s30.photobucket.com/user/JaySO78/AquaReef/story
Jay