TWOLITREmedia's 18g Nano Reef (NEW Platinum Designer Clowns Added!)

Alright so after much anticipation my 18 gallon CAD light nano set up came in! I am super happy with the build quality of this tank, and can't wait to get my cycle done with and get on to the fun stuff! Humungous thanks to Don @ Crazy4Coral for hooking me up with this thing and personally picking it up in Ottawa for me. I believe he is receiving more of these bad boys in soon so check them out!

Picked up 18 lbs of uncultured Tatoka and 3 lbs of rubble to fill the back filter compartment as well from Don. Eventually I will run a nano skimmer and about half the current amount of rubble back there but for now this will work great. Took about 10 gallons of water from my main DP to seed it and 8 gallons of freshly mixed saltwater from the night before.

Here is what the tank looks like dry, with one of the LED light fixtures sitting next to it on it's side....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

As you can see the unit is nicely sectioned off into an overflow/sump system for you with three compartments. The overflow runs into the sponge to remove large particle matter. After that it is pushed through about two and a half pounds of rock rubble. Under the seperator and out the 250gph pump running the tanks flow system. I will be opting for the "wave making" power head adapter you can add to the spout in the tank...

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Sexy.....I love how it looks with the rest of the room, and almost matches the SOL units over my main DP tank.

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

An overhead shot of the LED units....blown out lighting, sorry guys did these all quick.

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Rinsed the 10 lbs of new argonite i purchased for about 40 minutes till the water was asclear as possible, then rinsed with RO water for another 20 to reduce diatom bloom as much as possible

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

In goes the sand bed....about 2.5-3"

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Fillerup...and a rouch idea of the aquscape. Went for a cavernous space in the middle of the tank with higher ridges on the outsides slightly. I am going to change up the front right portion though tomorrow...

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

At night....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Better shot of the aquascape at the end of it....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Let the cycle begin! Stay tuned on the build up of this one

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


(Posted this same post in my 75g build thread just for good measure. Sorry for the double read guys!)

 

Awesome! May I ask how much you paid for the tank?

I can't wait to see how the tank turns out!

 

Absolutely. The tank was about $330 + tax and this included return pump, sump slie tray, ceramic stone for the filter (which I replaced with live rock rubble) and the two LED hoods (as well as the full glass canopy that is not shown here)

Only thing essentially I needed was a heater which I grabbed a 100watt Aquaria Quartz glass heater for about $25.

I had the option for the matching white gloss finished stand from CAD lights but opted out as I had the perfect spot on my table.

The company is CAD Lights

 

Thanks for all the info!

 

No problem
The starfire glass they use is freaking incredible. They claim 10x the clarity of your standard aquarium glass and I believe it. The polished rim edges are beveled and beautiful as well. I added the glass canopy on today and will keep it until the cycle is done and light penetration becomes a consideration. For now it will just reduce top up and evaporation.

 

Ok so picked up another 3lbs of rock for the nano today as well as another 2 lbs of rubble for the sump. That brings me to a total of 23lbs of live rock and 10 lbs of sand...more than enough to run an 18 with no skimmer I think with regular water changes. Also picked up a ReefKeeper Lite as well for the nano that I have everything all plugged into now. Still need to program the unit and possibly grab the SL1 PH probe attachment also. Going to be placing an order on the RKL Moonlight Module for some cool red and blue tones for night!

RKL Unit

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

More rock!

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I ran the head unit in a very sleek way under the table surface and on the front of the table area, looks awesome and super accessible to scroll through options and check everything out! I actually almost prefer this head unit to my ReefKeeper Elite on my main DP tank.

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so originally when picking up more rock today the intention was to replace the awkwardly placed chunk I had before at the front right of the tank. I'm not sure what happened but I not only left that rock in there but after adding the other two large chunks I am extatic about the turnout! I tried to go for an arching tunnel into an "endless" cave type of look which works nicely with the black backdrop!

Here are some shots from all three sides of the new scaping!

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Tons of tunnels everywhere!

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Anyways that's about it for this tank for another two weeks or so when the cycle is really hitting home. I will keep updating with photos as things happen though and hopefully as things start crawling out of all the rock!

 

nice looking tank and those lights should grow anything. nice pick up.

 

My wife is going to kill me when she says she wants a necklace for Valentines and I tell her I want a Nano for the office HA!

Very nice so far!

 

Very nice tank & shots, looks very clean.

 

The tank looks great but you sir, sicken me with your ability to take photos.