Tav's Tank 2.0

[Tavangel]

Hey all, first tank thread on the site after lurking for awhile. I had a fluval evo 13.5 for about 1.5 years as a starter tank for learning everything. Got pretty confident, and did some research into making my own DIY style nano tank w/ a sump. Decided on a 10g Aquamaxx as the display and made a 10g sump to go with it. Installed an eshopps nano, and a little bit of plumbing. Finnaly, found a nice stand at ikea, and heavily modified it to reinforce for the weight of the tank and hold plumbing in place.

Transferred over everything from my evo 13.5 in a single go and everyone seems to be pretty happy! I didnt take many pictures during the DIY process, but can share more info if anyone is interested.

[JSellars]

Nice setup!


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[CoralBeauties]

Looks great. You going to do anything to the back glass? I painted mine black. I think it gives the tank more depth. I’ve seen some in blue that looks nice also
Jeff

[Tavangel]

Nice setup!

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Thanks! Still watching it quite closely everyday to make sure things are settling in.

Looks great. You going to do anything to the back glass? I painted mine black. I think it gives the tank more depth. I’ve seen some in blue that looks nice also
Jeff

Thanks! That's a great idea. I think i'm going to try and find some sort of black stick on? I have an old IM Nuvo 20 and those have a pretty thin peel n stick on the back glass i think. It should help hide the plumbing in the back too.

[Tavangel]

Hey guys, long time no see! Since the craziness of 2020 started early last year I didn't have much time to spend on the tank. Tried to keep up with basic maintenance, but unfortunately didnt escape without some casualties.

I don't think I chopped up frozen food fine enough for my scooter blenny, so she ended up getting impacted(?) and went from 100% to 0% in days, was awful

Also, the leather coral & GSP slowly slowly receded & I didnt notice until it was too late since I didn't spend much time with the tank. The leather coral is still in the back, but isn't opening up much at all.

I think the lighting was to blame, as I have never used a Par meter to get an accurate reading, but just 'guesstimated' from other sources of info only. I have an AI Prime, and used the David Saxby schedule for about a year now.

Switched it to the Karen Nano from the signature line, and am planning to rent a Par meter to get the ranges correct this time.

On the plus side, I got noticeable growth from ALL LPS coral. Soft tissue growth was significant, many of the existing heads split, and there was a little skeletal growth as well.