Late entry into the Nano competition!!

by Yeti Thu 22 Dec 2011, 4:53 am

OK so I've been keeping this marine tank a secret. Alas I realise that as it was actually established in July 2010, it will not qualify.

Details
Size of tank.... nano....very nano...think pico....think pico-pico.... think ... well you'll see when I post the pictures.

The tank was set up following a trip we made to Galveston. Mrs Y wanted to bring some sand back, so I filled a "Sand Optimised Dihydro-oxygen Accumulator", thus being able to safely transport both live sand and sea water with a natural pH.

Upon getting home I poured the contents of the Sand Optimised Dihydro-oxygen Accumulator (In technical terms this is often abbreviated to S.O.D.A. bottle) into the empty "tank", and pushed the lid down firmly (you know how it has those plastic ribbed seals, I didn't want the "natural ocean scent to escape").

Lighting, this has been set on a natural day light cycle. Using an "Solar Automatic Daily" adjustment for seasonal variations I have found the system to be consistently accurate in following the natural amount of daylight, lengthening during summer, and shortening during winter. Like the LED program tank controllers, I have also included the "Lightening storm" feature, at purely random times.
This "S.A.D. system" is probably the most economical system I've found in all my years of keeping fish.

Tank maintenance
This has to be one of the easiest tanks I have ever had. The clean up crew was included in the live sand, gratis. To our great surprise.
Unfortunately the lack of fans or cooling system may have resulted in the demise of the single shellfish during one of the longer natural day light cycles.
The tank has been regularly cleaned from the outside using a damp cloth, unfortunately I was unable to find a glass cleaner with the correct profile for the inside of the tank, however this has not been a problem, as the pictures I will soon post will show, Coraline has not been an issue.

Filtration. Non. I wasn't aware that a tank may need more than live sand, and as such no live rock was added.

Water changes have not been required. I have admired Donnie's tank for maintaining a closed system, however when it comes down to minimal water loss, I do believe my system has him beat.
Auto top off. I have to say that this system has be fantastic. As and when any evaporation occurred it automatically returned back into the tanks water due to the design of the tanks hood.

Live stock
I knew at the start of this project that the size of the tank would be unsuitable for any fish or inverts.

Corals
I didn't introduce any corals, the plan was to see what would naturally occur and grow based upon a sample of Galveston sand and Gulf seawater.

Results.
Amazing growth finally. As in many tanks of this size it takes a while to cycle, for several months we saw no developments, and by the winter months of 2010 we were very disappointed and considered that the project may be a failure. However the spring of 2011 saw our first bloom of colour, and now I think I can say that the tank shows the full signs of life. I realise by now that both Jaiden and Donnie maybe some what intimidated by our tank, as well they may be, but I acknowledge that I cannot be considered an official entry, as the tank was started before the competition commenced.

I will however post some pictures, to show you just how successful this has been.