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Unread 11/28/2017, 09:37 AM   #1
NS Mike D
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Huntington, NY
Posts: 391
Over-Doing the Nano 29 Gallon Standard


(I change some rockwork since that picture was taken, and sorry, I thought the quality was better, this was my first post using my iphone and tapatalk)

Normally I am a KISS person. However, I find myself pushing the limits of my little ecosystem. Let me share while learning from others.

In February of 2015, I did some very basic research and discovered I could keep a small saltwater tank in my apartment, so on a whim I picked up a 29 gal standard tank some live rock and other basics from the local Pet Smart.

Without really truly knowing what I was doing I quickly overstocked my tank and added equipment as if I was running a 300 gal. This includes a 5 gallon CPR HOB refugium cramming it with a hydro nano slimmer, and a reactor that at one time had bio pellets and now runs carbon (and occasionally GFO).

In addition, I decided to see if I could maintain a mix of corals. Recently, I pushed the limits further and added a mandarin that was already on frozen prawn eggs.

Which brings me to my latest endeavor to trip up the system. One, I never liked the CPR lack of surface skimming. I added a cheap sponge surface skimmer to handle that work, but it’s a PITA to keep clean as tuned. secondly, since I am overstocked, there is just too much detritus to clean up with waster changes and the the CPR is not designed to perform mechanical filtration.

So I am adding a DIY sump with filter sock, ATS, and possible a semi cryptic zone in the fuge. More on that later.

Enough for now. I’ll make additional posts to explain the current system and document the sump build.

Some pics more pics















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Last edited by NS Mike D; 11/28/2017 at 09:53 AM.
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