malacoda

A similar option would be furniture sliders - you wouldn't have to lift the stand and tank quite as high to get them underneath as you would for pallet wheels or a furniture dolly. I used to use some under the small caster wheels of my wife's piano so that they wouldn't leave an indention in our hardwood floors when it was moved to do occasional cleaning and dusting behind it. The only thing you'll have to be careful with if you choose 'option a' is to make sure the top of your stand is solid/rigid enough that it won't flex when you move or lift one end of it. Otherwise, you may risk also flexing the tank and putting excessive pressure the bottom pane (if it's rimless), or the silicon seams ... which could lead to broken glass or a leaky seam.

Well that's pretty interesting. Not at all the type of effect I had imagined their bite/venom would have

+1 Fang blennies are active swimmers with great personalities. Curious, fairly brave, and peaceful toward pretty much any other fish (except other fang blennies). Very underrated fish IMHO. Personally I can't imagine ever having a tank without one in it.

Small ones can be kind of flat, but not totally; very shallow cone shape. Just a heads up - if it is a limpet it'll take a little effort to pull off. They have a pretty strong grip. And not all limpets are reef safe. I had several that came in as hitchhikers on uncured live rock from the Gulf, and caught one eating my acans.

Has it moved? Is cone-shaped when viewed from the side? Looks like a top-down shot of a keyhole limpet to me.

If hermits are a definite 'no-no' for your tank, then yeah, definitely should make a few nassarius snails part of your cleaning crew - glad to see you have them on your list. While the astrea and trochus (which I assume you mean by 'trophies') snails eat algae (and perhaps a bit of detritus from time to time) the nassarius snails are carnivores and will eat the left over bits of food that are normally taken care of by hermits. They also spend most of the daylight hours moving beneath the sand, so great 'stirrers' for your sand bed. Or, if you want a little variety in your tank, a peppermint or skunk cleaner shrimp will also take care of leftover bits of food - although they may also steal it from corals you try to target feed as well. Speaking of sand bed stirrers, may want to add a few cerith snails to your list. They too will spend some of their time (mostly daylight hours) moving beneath the sand ... and the rest of it cleaning algae off the glass and rocks. IMHO, for a 15g a good place to start would be around 4 ceriths, 4 or 5 astreas, 1 black trochus, and 5 or 6 nassarius. You could also substitute a few nerites for an equal number of asteas. Just be aware that they may climb out of the tank for the first couple weeks (until they figure out the tank boundaries) so you'll have to check each morning to see if any wandered out and put them back in.

Very cool. Looking forward to seeing the new set up. Be sure to post some pics as the build progresses.

If you're looking for movement throughout the water column and a curious, brave, peaceful personality any type of fang blenny would be worth consideration. They're very active, inquisitive fish... about as 'reef safe' as you can get ... and get along with pretty any fish except other fang blennies. Very cool, underrated fish. Personally, I can't imagine having a tank without one.

@SethSolomon - thank you very much for taking the time to not only provide such a detailed yet down-to-earth explanation, but also for hunting down and including the pics. Very, very helpful and informative for those of just starting to stick our toes into the acro-keeping world. And thank you sen5241b for posting the question!

Can't say for certain, but I suspect they made the switch injection molded parts to not only cleaner and better looking piece of equipment, etc,. but also to help resolve an occasional leaking issue they had with the internal boxes on the earlier 'reef overflow' machined/solvent-welded design. I was (very) briefly toying with the idea of trying to drill my filled 24g to install one about two months ago and noticed that one of reviewers on the 'synergy reef' overflow (vs. newer 'shadow' overflow) product page at BRS as well as one or two people on other forums say they had minor leaking with the internal box due to poorly glued seams. Like I said, it was only one or two instances in a slew of positive reviews/feedback for what looks to be a great product. However, given that injection molding would not only make manufacturing more efficient but also eliminate the need for hand-welded seems - thus removing any possibility of them leaking, I would not be the least bit surprised if the switch to the molded parts was to improve the product even more. Guess what I'm trying to say is that, if it were me, I would feel even more confident about the molded parts than I would the earlier solvent welded ones.

Will do. And have to say, the Synergy oveflow is indeed a nice looking piece of kit. If I ever end up drilling my tank, it's probably the way I'd go as well.

As the owner of a 24g rimless with a single drain pipe (via a Marine Depot HOB overflow box) I too initially had the same concern. I found my solution in the choice/design of my sump. If the return chamber of the sump is sized so that the volume of water needed to keep your return pump submerged is LESS than the volume between the normal DT water level and the actual top of the tank, you will not have any risk of the DT overflowing and flooding the floor. However, if the return chamber of the sump you already picked up required a larger volume of water to keep the pump submerged than the 'spare' volume of space available in the top of your DT, then yeah, you do run the risk of an overflow if the drain becomes clogged. (Although I think it would take a pretty friggin' big snail or critter to block a 1.5" pipe.) As for noise... Lower flow through the drain will of course mean less noise from overflow. Some people also stick a piece of airline tubing into their HOB overflow pipe to allow it to 'breathe' a little easier/quieter (I personally haven't had much luck with it.). Maybe it also work on an in-tank overflow box. Noise from the bubbling as water and air exit the drain pipe in the sump can be significantly reduced by what some folks call a 'reverse durso' on the end of the drain pipe. I'm actually putting one of these on my drain pipe within the next week or so (more to reduce salt creep caused by the bubbles breaking on the water surface in my sump than to quiet any noise they make) but my pvc parts are literally on a UPS truck as we speak so I can't comment on the actual effectiveness of one just yet.

IMHO, yeah, it can feel a bit like price fixing. In general, as I understand it, the only reason it is legal -- and not considered price fixing -- is because it is not "a price their equipment must be sold at" ... but rather the minimum price a product can be advertised at. In other words, in theory, retailers can sell such products at lower prices, they just can't advertise those lower prices (that's why you'll sometimes see things like 'add to cart to see the price' on some online retailer sites -- they can't advertise the lower price on a website, but can show it on an cart invoice). Likewise, a manufacturer can opt not to make their product available to a retail who does not agree to an MAP ... and can also legally impose fines on a retailer who violates an MAP agreement. From a business perspective I can understand how it can help a manufacturer making product for a very small/limited market to remain in business and continue to provide and improve upon said products. But from a consumer perspective, yeah ... it doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling either.

Nice looking tank. Really like the aquascaping.

Have to say, that stand is really nice. But the tank... IMHO it's the star of the show. Simple, sharp, fantastic design. Wish I never saw it, because now I want one.

tank 1

If you're thinking about getting anything made by EcoTechMarine - Vortech MPxx pumps, etc. - then Black Friday is the ONLY time each year they allow retailers to put their stuff on sale. Usually ~20% off. Am 100% sure the online shops start offering the sale at 12:01am Black Friday. But I believe brick-and-mortar stores (e.g. LFSs) are able to offer the sale prices as well. Last year, Neptune also lowered their MAP pricing for a few days giving a rare 10% on Apex controllers along with the rest of their products.

Got the response back from Bob Stark at ESV, here is what he said: Hi John, Thanks for using our products and your interest in the Transition Elements! We have found that the transition elements iron, manganese, and zinc deplete very rapidly in closed reef aquaria even when being supplemented by products containing these elements such as our salt mix and B-ionic Calcium Buffer. As such, we recommend using the products in addition to our other products. Our Transition Elements Plus incorporates carbon dosing (citric acid and vitamin C) and is recommended for systems with nitrate levels over 5 ppm. For systems running with nitrate levels below 5 ppm, or are currently using another form of carbon dosing, we recommend our standard Transition Elements product which does not provide carbon dosing. Hope that helps! Regards, Bob Stark ESV Aquarium Products Inc.

I too have been considering trying Transition Elements. I also already use both the ESV Salt Mix and the B-Ionic 2-part Calcium Buffer system. Like you miggs, I also noticed their website description of the 2-part says it provides trace elements. I just sent ESV and email inquiry asking if the trace elements in each are the same, or if the two products would compliment each other. I'll report back here when I get a response and find out more.

Welcome aboard Tom!

Very cool and clever to see the drawer being used as an ATO resevoir. Looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

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Given that it was founded by two microbiologists who have decades of experience in the aquarium industry (per the Biota website), and all the talk of sustainability, I'm a little surprised they include a Rainsford Goby as one of the fish... It's my understanding that Rainsfords are incredibly difficult fish to keep alive over the long term - particularly in nano tanks where there is limited supply of sand bed fauna for them to feed on. Who knows, maybe because they're aquacultured rather than wild caught, they've already got them eating prepared foods. But still...

I agree, it does sound like a lot... but the dwarf ceriths are really small - about the size of a Tic-Tac. So, while they're good at cleaning in tiny rock crevices, they really don't add much to the volume/bio-load of a CUC.

This ought to give you a good idea as far as numbers of each for a 6g pico: https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/quick-crew-5-5-gallon Only thing is the nerites are the ones that tend to wander out of the tank for the first week or two (until they get their new home 'mapped out'). Might want to skip them and go with an Astraea or two (from somewhere else) instead. While I do find the my nerites to be just a tad more efficient at keep the rocks and glass clean, my astraeas do a great job too and I wouldn't think of having a tank without them.