L8 2 RISE August 22, 2012 Share August 22, 2012 (edited) I'm hoping to start this thread as sort of a guide for anyone else looking to bring a tank to college where I can share any ideas or issues that I have. Anyone else with any suggestions or experiences, please chime in! I think this will also be useful for anyone looking to keep a tank in the office or anywhere else where the tank will need to be moved back and forth. Many of you will remember my thread a while ago about whether to go with an ecopico or a nuvo 8 and I decided on: an ecopico! I based this on multiple things, but mainly the light (nuvo doesn't have very good lighting), and the ecopico was a better size for me. More to come soon! Edited August 22, 2012 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE August 28, 2012 Author Share August 28, 2012 I figured my biggest problem with a tank in the dorms would be temperature because our rooms aren't air conditioned. Good temp controllers are expensive as it is, so for just a little more I purchased a DA Reefkeeper Lite. With this, of course came a temp probe and heater. There were way too many wires in the back for me to stare at with those and the powerhead, so I drained the water from the tank for about 20 min, and siliconed in a black acrylic overflow. This serves to hide the wires and provide surface skimming. I drilled a hole the fits around the output for the pump exactly and that serves as my "return". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami August 28, 2012 Share August 28, 2012 Hi Sam. I hope all's well in school. This is your second year, right? Good for you. I'm looking forward to your updates. Nice job on the slim overflow design. It looks like a tight fit for the pump, though. Is there room to remove it and clean it from time to time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 August 28, 2012 Share August 28, 2012 Looks good. How did the transport go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE August 28, 2012 Author Share August 28, 2012 Hi Sam. I hope all's well in school. This is your second year, right? Good for you. I'm looking forward to your updates. Nice job on the slim overflow design. It looks like a tight fit for the pump, though. Is there room to remove it and clean it from time to time? Yep, second year and everything's going pretty well! The pump fits very tightly in the back because it was the limiting factor in terms of how slim I could go. The part of the pump that sticks out of the hole comes off and then the pump can be pulled out through the top so it's not too hard to remove. Looks good. How did the transport go? Everything made it! More to come on that soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE August 31, 2012 Author Share August 31, 2012 (edited) The next problem I found was that not only were there lots of wires inside the tank, but TONS outside of the tank. I didn't want all of these to slow down the moving process (unplugging everything, keeping track of wires, tripping over them, etc) so I decided to build a small stand. Started with four 2x4's and a couple pieces of plywood that I cut to size. Then I had to countersink the screws on the top sheet of plywood so that the surface the tank would sit on would be flat. Used black acrylic for the outside of the stand. I started by using a table saw to cut a length of the acrylic off a sheet, but then didn't have the table saw later to cut each piece to size for the sides. Instead I used a reefer's best friend... a Dremel. I decided to use the shiny side of the black acrylic for the stand... thought it would look better. I brainstormed for a while over what material to attach the acrylic to the wood with because I didn't want any screws or anything showing. Ended up just using silicone. (sorry, don't have pics detailing this part, but it's pretty easy to imagine). The product: My next worry was that water would drip down the tank and be able to go straight through the wood to the electronics. To solve this I sealed the stand with, once again, silicone: Smoothed down with my finger: Also siliconed over the screws so no water/rust would be a problem there: Then I drilled a hole in the front panel to bring the RK lite bus wire through and used 3m tape to attach the controller. Finished product: Notice there's only one wire (the PC4 power strip) that comes out from behind the tank. The PC4 and NET module are velcroed to the inside of the stand and all the wires are zip tied up so there is no movement of anything in the stand when I move the tank. It probably took me longer to write this than it did to build the stand, and it's proved to be extremely helpful. Sorry for the slow updates. Hopefully you all like the sneak peak above of what the tank looks like. As soon as I get a chance to pull the camera out I'll share current pictures of the tank! Edited August 31, 2012 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin August 31, 2012 Share August 31, 2012 that is pretty cool. maybe i will build myself a stand for my 24 as well following your instructions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE August 31, 2012 Author Share August 31, 2012 Thanks! I don't know that I'd do it exactly the same for a 24... you'd probably want several more 2x4 supports, but I'm sure it would be sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin August 31, 2012 Share August 31, 2012 i liked your idea of using black acrylic. Thanks! I don't know that I'd do it exactly the same for a 24... you'd probably want several more 2x4 supports, but I'm sure it would be sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf August 31, 2012 Share August 31, 2012 Looks great!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE September 1, 2012 Author Share September 1, 2012 Thanks! Something I've noticed over the last week with this tank is that at least three of my zoa frags are acting super weird. First, a big frag had all the zoa's slowly close and they looked like they were going to melt away, then two more frags started to do it a couple days ago. Now the first frag is slowly opening back up and looking healthy again, but the other two still seem to be on the decline. Anyone have any idea what this is? I've seen fungal/bacterial infections do stuff like this, but it always acted quicker and the zoa's never cured themselves... maybe these ones are just strong, but not sure. Ideas appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin September 1, 2012 Share September 1, 2012 zoa spiders? maybe you can help them recover faster with coral vitamins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE January 27, 2014 Author Share January 27, 2014 (edited) Just wanted to update this thread. The tank went in a different direction for a while. I switched the rock and had it set up as a cuttlefish grow out tank, however the eggs I got were bad and I wasn't able to source anymore before the Summer. Over the Summer the tank sat with out anything other than top off for the entire time. No real livestock or anything to feed, just a few corals. Finally, right before coming back to school I decided I had to do something about the tank, so I put the old rock back in and this time decided to set the tank up as a softy/easy coral tank. No more high end zoa's or anything special, I just wanted a full, pretty tank. This tank has really only been functional again since September 1, 2013. Livestock wise, I decided to get a Hawaiian Dwarf Moray Eel. It took him about 6-7 weeks to eat for the first time after shipping but since he took his first bite he has had no trouble eating. I added a peppermint shrimp, hoping he would eat that, but he was never able to catch it (Giving the names Tom for the eel and Jerry for the shrimp) and now the shrimp is too large anyways. Over Christmas break I added a Talbot's Damsel to get something swimming around and so far I've been very happy with that decision. On to the pics: Not the best pic, but at least shows all of the inhabitants: Edited January 27, 2014 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef January 27, 2014 Share January 27, 2014 Looking great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtom2245 January 27, 2014 Share January 27, 2014 Looks awesome! I did the whole tank while in college thing for all four years. Started with a 10gal brackish that had a few puffers in it and then moved up to a saltwater biocube 29 for the last two years but by then I was renting a house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt January 27, 2014 Share January 27, 2014 Really dig the coco worm...not so easy as the rest of what you have though. What kind of feeding and water change regimen are you doing with this tank now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE January 27, 2014 Author Share January 27, 2014 Thanks all, Moving this tank has become a total breeze with practice. It takes me 5 minutes from unplugging it to getting it all set up in the car. I just unplug, drain a gallon, put wet paper towels over any exposed corals, duct tape the glass top down, put the tank in between seats with towels rapped around it and then drive to anywhere. Yeah I was really pushing for easy with the tank this go around. Just not worth it for anything hard. I try to feed a little frozen every day for the damsel, but in reality that doesn't always happen. The eel gets a piece of krill every week or two. I try to do a 1 gallon water change every week. In reality it gets a gallon water change every 2-3 weeks. I do just about nothing on the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE January 27, 2014 Author Share January 27, 2014 Also, Sorry for the bad pictures, they were all taken with an iphone, but I'd like to point out that I used the red photography gels to get better pictures. This is how it came out without the gels: With one of the gels: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 January 27, 2014 Share January 27, 2014 That's an awesome tank. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni January 29, 2014 Share January 29, 2014 Looking really good. Can't believe the eel is okay with just a piece of krill...how big a piece are you feeding? how is the tank escape proofed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE January 29, 2014 Author Share January 29, 2014 The krill are large, almost the size of a quarter when curled up. I'll usually feed half of a krill each time which ends up being at least one krill every 1-2 weeks. It's plenty of food for him, as I said he didn't eat for 6-7 weeks when I got him and he got really skinny. He has been fattening up since then so I'm happy with how he's doing and I don't want to dirty up the tank. In my experience eels as well as many other reef predators don't need much food. In some cases it's bad for them to have too much food, such as frogfish- that's how I ended up killing mine I think. Have you seen otherwise? I'm open to suggestions. The tank has gutter guard glued to the overflow I installed on the back, then a strip of duct tape on the sides of the glass lid that comes with the eco pico. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni January 29, 2014 Share January 29, 2014 The krill are large, almost the size of a quarter when curled up. I'll usually feed half of a krill each time which ends up being at least one krill every 1-2 weeks. It's plenty of food for him, as I said he didn't eat for 6-7 weeks when I got him and he got really skinny. He has been fattening up since then so I'm happy with how he's doing and I don't want to dirty up the tank. In my experience eels as well as many other reef predators don't need much food. In some cases it's bad for them to have too much food, such as frogfish- that's how I ended up killing mine I think. Have you seen otherwise? I'm open to suggestions. The tank has gutter guard glued to the overflow I installed on the back, then a strip of duct tape on the sides of the glass lid that comes with the eco pico. I haven't seen anything different and it's obviously working for you. You're tempting me to setup a tank for a dwarf eel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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