HAPPY NEW YEAR! & Nano Reef Update #1

[Discusking]

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope you all had a great time celebrating the holidays. I wanted to update you all on my nano reef so I attached some pics. I am looking for any and all advice you can give me

The first compartment will house a corse filter sponge, fine filter sponge followed by chemi-pure or something like that.
The second compartment houses a heater and NF-1 Nano Protein Skimmer.
The final compartment will have the light mount, and the pump. (Hopefully, I can fit the sensors for the ATO in this chamber as well... I’m waiting to see how stable the water level is in this chamber).

I have been thinking about the aquascape for weeks now and I would love to do something like this.
I understand that a floating scape is probably extremely difficult. Therefore, I’m thinking to have the rock run down the back and onto the bottom to form a small base for additional support. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can do this or is even willing to assist me in this endeavor I will compensate you and be very grateful!

Thank you,
Justin

 

[Wilson]

Maybe consider something like this, attached by magnets. They sell a lot of different shapes and sizes. I'm sure with some creativity, you can create the perfect scape you're looking for.

 

[Mark_C]

HNY!
Good luck with the tank. Looks great so far, beautiful tank and great size.

To be honest, with something that small a protein skimmer is un-needed and extreme overkill if you're doing a few gallons of water change a week (which you should).
Also note that if you want to do softies, palys, zoas, they like the water a bit dirty, so the skimmer may be detrimental.
I've got a 30g with a Tunze 6004 and I run it occasionally, even with a mixed reef inclusive of SPS. I'm considering ditching it. In a tank 30-40g or less your water changes act as your skimmer for the most part.
Per the ATO, you definitely want the switches in the return chamber, they should always be in the same water level as the return pump.

Floating scapes are tough and heavy. Usually people mount them with large magnets or in bulkheads, but in your system that will be tough as the back wall obviously leads to the AIO system.
But, if you did ditch the skimmer, that chamber would have plenty of space for magnets to hold rockwork (if you build the pieces yourself use ceramic coated ones).
You also have to options of gluing the rockwork to the back wall and stabilizing under it with clear acrylic rods if necessary, or building the whole scape on clear rods and leaning it against the back wall.
Regardless, measure out the tank and build the complete scape before you mount it in the tank, remember in a nano to leave enough space between the rockwork and the sides that a cleaner can get through.

Keep us updated, you've got a great setup, looking forward to see what you're going to do with it.

 

[Discusking]

HNY!
Good luck with the tank. Looks great so far, beautiful tank and great size.

To be honest, with something that small a protein skimmer is un-needed and extreme overkill if you're doing a few gallons of water change a week (which you should).
Also note that if you want to do softies, palys, zoas, they like the water a bit dirty, so the skimmer may be detrimental.
I've got a 30g with a Tunze 6004 and I run it occasionally, even with a mixed reef inclusive of SPS. I'm considering ditching it. In a tank 30-40g or less your water changes act as your skimmer for the most part.
Per the ATO, you definitely want the switches in the return chamber, they should always be in the same water level as the return pump.

Floating scapes are tough and heavy. Usually people mount them with large magnets or in bulkheads, but in your system that will be tough as the back wall obviously leads to the AIO system.
But, if you did ditch the skimmer, that chamber would have plenty of space for magnets to hold rockwork (if you build the pieces yourself use ceramic coated ones).
You also have to options of gluing the rockwork to the back wall and stabilizing under it with clear acrylic rods if necessary, or building the whole scape on clear rods and leaning it against the back wall.
Regardless, measure out the tank and build the complete scape before you mount it in the tank, remember in a nano to leave enough space between the rockwork and the sides that a cleaner can get through.

Keep us updated, you've got a great setup, looking forward to see what you're going to do with it.

I think I’m gonna ditch the skimmer... thank you for the advice!