12" Cube Nano

[xeon]

I built a tank out of some acrylic and my daughter happened to want a tank of her own... so I decided to give it to her as opposed to placing it on or near my desk.  According to her it was her greatest gift... and we can both share in the fun.

 

Here is the tank at birthday time. June-04

 

Here is her lighting - 2 x 32W PCs (03 and 10K)

 

Here is her stand I built:  (And my wife said it would take me 6 months like other projects.. LOL - try two days Sweetie)

Unfinished:  

 

and Finished: (wife and daughter picked out dark stain... I would have gone lighter... oh well they are happy)

 

Here it is in her room with water, rocks, sand... the works.

 

 

We are still kicking around what she wants to do.  Seahorses have been mentioned, but we will see.  I had some rocks in my sump all ready to toss in, alas she wanted to do her own rock design.... so she and I worked with some base rocks to come up with something she liked.  

 

It will take a while for the rocks to get bio'd up, but I threw in some good sand and snuck in two loaded rocks -n- rubble....

 

The nano fun begins... I am hoping to build a junior remora when I get some time.

[dbartco]

Nice work Dave. Now we know what all the Hirocks were for.

[HowardofNOVA]

Dave,

What kind of glue did you use to make this?

Great job there DAD!

Howard

[Guest Moa]

Very cool tank and stand!  A while ago, I posted on a small Nano skimmer I read about on nano-reef.com: Nano Skimmer.  As I recall I think you'd asked a question about the design.

 

I am real newbie and have no DIY experience but modified this skimmer plan slightly, put it together and got it to fit into the back of my nanocube.  It fits under the stock hood--nothing's visible!  I've had it running for a few weeks and it's pulling out some nasty stuff.  It drains via 1/4" tubing so I'm not having to constantly empty a nano-sized skimmer cup.  I've been swamped at work but when I get a chance I'll take pics and post more details. Might be a neat addition to your very sweet lookin' tank.

 

-Joe

[xeon]

Thanks for the praise; only a group of fish people could fully appreciate it.  Otherwise they may very well think I'm a little strange to put my time or effort into it.  

 

I did use a few of the Hirocks... but since I ordered 90 lbs., I have not put a dent in them.  I have a 40 breeder that will help the cause.

 

To bond the acrylic I used Weldon 4, which is really a solvent.  Of the water thin solvents for acrylic work, it works not too fast (#3) and not too slow (#5).  I used some #16 inside the sump on a spot that leaked when I water tested it.  I probably could have put some #4 along the seam and clamped it... but the inside will not be visible and it did the trick with a dab-n-smear.  Working with dark black and extremely glossy acrylic was interesting.    

 

I would certainly like to see some pics of the skimmer.  I will be building a Nano-remora which I also found on NR.com.  I contacted the designer, who I also think designed the one you are speaking of.  I made some changes that I think might help simplify construction and improve performance of his original nano-mora.  It will be a week or two before I get to it though.  I did make some nozzles the other night... haven't tested them yet though.

[wirick21]

Dave

 

The tank looks great!  How long did it take you to build?  Keep us posted on the nano skimmer I would like to build one myself but don't know where to start.  Once again the tank looks great!

 

 

Brian

[wirick21]

Dave

 

Have you built that skimmer yet?  I still want to build one for my tank.

 

 

 

Thanks

Brian

[xeon]

Actually, I built the main box and started on the skimmer cup... but otherwise I have not had time to work on it.  I stopped to think over a few ideas.  My plans and pieces have been sitting on top of a filing cabinet in my basement untouched for a few weeks now.  Maybe sometime over the holiday or sometime in January.