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

That's crazy! The most I've seen them go for here is $30.

Yeah, I would keep an eye on the Dottyback, if you decide to add one

 

There are also $30 Ric/Yumas available here to but they're boring compared to the $75/$100 ones.

 

Been crazy with school lately but here are some updates from today!

Added a CAD light nano reactor to run some bio pellets in the nano as well as my RKL moonlight module came in with my two royal blue modules and one red! Looks awesome, and after I installed them cleverly into the LED fixture of my CAD light tank they are perfectly hidden and work great. Grabbed a pricey Yuma that my photo just doesn't do justice of. Neon pink and green bubbles with an ultra neon green mouth. Also picked up a big orange neon tube anemone and a smaller pink anemone that went into the nano. The orange one is for the large DT. Couldn't be happier with my grabs today. The green and yellow yuma was from a purchase a couple of days ago.

Started by taking down the LED fixtures

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

and floating the new inhabitants!

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is what the RKL moonlight module bulbs look like. They have two holes for mounting screws but there really wasnt anywhere to mount them at first glance without risking using some sort of double tape. If the lights fell in the water I would not be to happy.....(solution ahead)
I grabbed two royal blues and a red for some neat accenting on the tank at night.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is the brain of the RKL moonlights or the "module" that just gets conviniently daisy chained into the rest of my Reefkeeper Light system. The nice part about this is it allows me to control them on a separate set of timers and module controller settings still through the Reefkeeper Light brain. I love technology...

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So this is something I have been debating for a while now and I finally just made the jump and couldn't be happier. I have loved the effects of BioPellets on my 72 gallon and decided to grab CAD lights nano reactor (which is compatible with bio pellets as well as GFO and a few other filter medias.) The unit looks sleek and matches my tank lighting, and the fitment was all A++. The pump included is nice and solid and very adjustable which allows me to control a tumble for the biopellets not to shred apart.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Using the same AquaMaxx biopellets as my main DT I filled about 1/4 to 1/3 of the reactor to start to not overload the bacteria column in the water. Slow and steady works great for bio pellets it seems....

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

To get the reactor in I removed all 3lbs of rubble in the sump to be able to place the reactor and pump in the second sump chamber. After the pump and reactor was installed I was able to still put in 1lb of rubble around the unit without restricting flow or function at all which was nice.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Fitment with their lighting system was just perfect....I could have taken off the mount arm on the reactor and sink it completely submerged but I preffered to have rock underneath and use the support system as seen above.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Sooo as mentioned the mounting of these things were in question as first but ended up with a great way to set them up by using the stock hardware on the light unit itself to mount to one of the holes in the bulbs plastic shroud.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

As seen here.....worked great, and no relying on glues or tapes to keep the lights from falling plus its not blocking any of the actual LEDS.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is is all strung up and in the dark. Blue/Red/Blue woop woop!

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here she is.....one of THE coolest Yumas I have ever seen. I like this photo but it still does NO justice for this thing and I can't wait to get it in the day time with the proper LEDs on.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Neon green hammer frag I picked up to add some movement to the tank in the high section of the rock work.

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Little neon pink tube anemone perfectly suited for the nano!

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here's the big brother that went into my 72 gallon!

Nano Tank Upgrades and Rare Yumas! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Also on top of these changes as you will see with daytime photos...no more clown fish! I got rid of one of the clowns in my large tank due to him being a ***** with me and the other fish and put the nano clown in there. My DT is at peace and everyone is happy and I can work in the tank without a stupid clown nipping at my hand constantly......just wait till you see whats now in store for the nano for fish :-D Secret till they arrive!

Day time photos soon and full tank shots of this little thing, really coming along nicely!

 

Looks really great. My wife and I love your itty bitty pellet thing.

 

^ Haha thanks! The reactor is working great

 

Sick nano tank man! makes me want to start one

 

thats the most cutest reactor iv ever seen........

 

As with my 72 Gallon, it's been a while for updates to this little thing It officially made it through it's first week stint without me home maintaining it while I was in NYC which is awesome! It actually somehow looks cleaner than when I left!

Here are my levels as of less than a week ago, post-NYC trip and they look AWESOME!
Phosphate - 0.00
Nitrate - 6ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Ammonia - 0ppm
pH - 7.8
Mag - 1150 (Buffing this up a bit now)
Calcium - 428
Iodine - .04
Alk - 179
Temp - 78
Sal - 1.026
RO - 5 TUS

The tube anemone that was in the last update, different angle.

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The ricordia/yuma garden is really starting to fill in!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Red goni, and ultra goni looking great

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Hammer is loving it's new tucked away spot, and this brand new rare pattern/colour maxima looks awesome under the CAD light LEDs

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

More of the rics, can't get enough of these things

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Flame fin goby is out and about all the time now!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

On another amazingly positive note....I want to thank Don at Crazy4Coral as I was the winner of his three month ballot draw for a brand new BRS 4 stage water purification unit! This will be a welcome upgrade from my two stage RO unit and at almost a $200 price tag what a score! Thanks again Don


Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Also picked up two sand dollars for this tank to get some sand sifting action going on. Almost all the GHA is gone after a good sucking while water changing.

 

Sweet update Emilio, I figured you would get the right method for taking photos of your tanks quickly.

I am starting to incorporate shallow DOF in my shots now and really love the isolation of the subject.

 

Oh I LOVE shooting my nano vs my Bowfront. I actually to be honest hate shooting my main DT unfortunately :-( Can't wait till I get a new tank!