AquaOne Mirage 50 Nano Reef Aquarium

Another day another tank... at least that's the way it seems to be working out! Although I had been stalking this tank for a about two weeks before I pulled the trigger and bought it xD It's an all glass aquarium, with curved front corners, and it a little over 43 Litres (or 11 Gallons for those that aren't metric). It'll be staying as it is, with very few moddifications to the tank.

Measurements:

Length: 49 cm
Width: 29 cm
Height: 30.5 cm
Glass Thickness: 5 mm

Fish:

I'll be using Hang-on-Back filters and skimmers so as to keep it at that 43 litres / 11 gallons. By doing so I'll be given the opportunity to keep a pair of anenomefish! Either:

• Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) or 
• Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion percula)

And then I have room for one more little guy, so I'm deciding between one of these:

• Purple Dottyback (Pseudochromis porphyreus) or,
• Yellow Watchman Goby (Cryptocentrus cinctus) or,
• Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto). 

**My stocking limits stemming directly from lgreen's "Fish Stocking Guide For Nano Reefs" article**

Invertebrates:

• Porcelain Crab (Petrolisthes galathinus)
• Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
• Spiny Star Astraea (Astraea phoebia)
• Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit (Clibanarius tricolor)

The back of the tank will be painted a flat black in whatever I can find that will do the job as I'm yet to find Krylon for Plastic in Australia (at least not where I live), which will make the tank look good as well as hiding my filtration.

Hang-on-Back Eqiuipment:

Filter: an AquaClear 70 (if I can put my hands on one) with media basket, such as inTanks, running both Chemi-Pure Elite and Seachem Purigen.
Protien Skimmer: an AquaC Nano Remora (hopefully)

Lighting: 

QUOTE

3 x CREE XT-E 3UP (2x XTE Royal 1x XTG Neutral)
3 x True Violet 390-430nm w/ 120° optics(?)
1 x Ocean Coral White w/ 120° optics(?)
3 x Inventronics 40w driver - 700mA
3 x pots and knobs
1 x 6" MakersLED kit
1 x DIM4 Sunrise/Sunset Controller V1.0

QUOTE (uglybuckling @ Oct 29 2012, 02:38 PM) 

Costings:

AquaOne Mirage 50 - 43 litre Tank = $74.00
------------------------------------------------------------------
2 x Krylon Fusion for Plastic - Flat Black = $12.95
                                              Shipping = $18.86
------------------------------------------------------------------
Hydor Koralia Nano 900 = $69.00
Hydor THEO 50w heater = $35.95
Aquaclear 300 ( 70 ) Hang on Filter = $79.00
                                        Shipping = $7.95
------------------------------------------------------------------
AquaC Nano Remora Protein Skimmer = $199.99 USD
------------------------------------------------------------------
AC 70 inTank Media Basket = $43.99 USD
                            Shipping = $19.63
------------------------------------------------------------------
Lighting Fixture = $287.55 USD
           Shipping = $69.50
------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Total = $931.32


I'll update this post with more information as I get closer to starting the tanks cycle.

The AquaOne Cube 30 All-in-One Marine Pico Aquarium

Of late I have been bitten by the fish keeping bug (or should that be water keeping?) and have started a few freshwater tanks. That was until my LFS (local fish store) started getting ready to start stocking marine fish and related equipment. Well boy did that hit me hard!

I present to you my first attempt at a marine aquarium, first pico reef, and my first DIY aquarium related project... Well, a SketchUp model and a photo of the cube tank filled with water (to test if it held water, which it did). The tank is an AquaOne Cube 30 (30cm x 30cm x 30cm or 11.8" x 11.8" x 11.8") and is all glass. Un-modded it holds around 27 litres (or 7.13 U.S. gallons) and I expect the final volume of the DT once modded to be 18.2 litres (4.8 gallons). 

The rear partitioning is going to be black 4.5mm acrylic and will hopefully be laser cut by Ponoko. 

It'll be setup to have either the heater or filter floss in the first compartment, a little in-tank protein skimmer in the second compartment, Chemi-pure and Purigen in the media racks in the last compartment, with the heater sitting in the return channel on the far right (if the heater isn't already in the first compartment) along with the return pump. 

What will be in the tank is as follows:

Return Pump: Resun SP-850
Protein Skimmer: Not settled upon yet. Maybe soon though ^_^
Powerhead: a Hydor Koralia Evolution Nano 240
Lighting: 6" MakersLED kit

QUOTE

3 x CREE XT-E 3UP (2x XTE Royal 1x XTG Neutral)
3 x True Violet 390-430nm w/ 120° optics(?)
1 x Ocean Coral White w/ 120° optics(?)
3 x Inventronics 40w driver - 700mA
3 x pots and knobs
1 x DIM4 Sunrise/Sunset Controller V1.0

QUOTE (uglybuckling @ Oct 29 2012, 02:38 PM) 

As for stocking it I have no idea. I am now thinking about maybe one of the following:

• Greenbanded Goby (Elacatinus multifasciatum)
• Yellow Clown Goby (Gobiodon okinawae)

Along with some corals, but as I'm fresh off the boat in the world of saltwater I have no idea (ask me about freshwater and I can at least tread water xD;;) so suggestions/recommendations are most and whole heartedly welcome.

Clean-up-Crew:
2 x Dwarf Ceriths
1 x Nassariu
2 x Florida Ceriths
3 x Antillean Nerite (Nerita fulgurans)
**Based on Reef Cleaners Pico "Quick Crew" CUC**

Oh, and here is the actual model files: https://github.com/punklibrarian/AquaOne-Cu...O---Marine-Pico  if you wanted to give it a twirl, or if once I'm done and you kike it you can make your own =)

My DIY Flirt Pole

So over the weekend Parker got her first taste of some proper training in relation to Schutzhund (I happened to be extremely lucky and bumped into a guy a couple weeks ago that has just moved to town and that was looking for some people to start a Schutzhund group. He's been in the sport and training dogs for 12 years). 

One of the training aids he used were a pair of flirt poles, and since I'll be training her in-between training visits I needed a cheap and easy way of getting some poles quickly.

So I made some! They're easy to make, very repairable and work great. Everything you would need to know about making a pole is in the above video, if you wanted to make one.

If you like it and feel like it please head on over to instructables and vote for my project.

Meet Mr or Mrs Bronze Cory

This is my new and first ever Bronze Corydoras (Corydoras aeneus)!

I picked him (him just rolls off the tongue. I don't really know what sex he is) up last Friday, which was my 23rd birthday, and he seems to be doing well. He's getting TetraColor tropical flakes and Aqua One Vege Wafers every second day. They aren't the foods I want to be feeding him but until I can find a good retailer online it's what I have.

He's breaking the tank in quite well and is all kinds of active. The pet store guy said after about a week I can think about adding another friend to the tank. Eventually he will have another Cory, a Bristlenose Catfish, two Platy's and a little tiny school of Neon Tetra's ^_^

The ArduQuarium Controller

So, I posted on the New England Maker Group's page about a device I am now working on that will eventually control every aspect of my soon to be built 115L freshwater tropical aquarium and 95L sump (although I'm thinking I may just make two 115 litre tanks for both the aquarium and sump).

I call it the ArduQuarium Controller!

The following you'll find the list of things that will make the controller up when it's done (or at least a partial list):

pH sensor - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/190693458379

Dissolved Oxygen (DO) sensor - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/190693459602

Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) sensor - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/190693463449

Conductivity sensor - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/200779540715

Thermal Probe x 2 - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/230664393630

Beefcake Relay Control x 4 - https://www.sparkfun.com/wish_lists/36307

Micro SD card - http://www.adafruit.com/products/254

Real Time Clock - http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/real-time-clock-module 
(my RTC is coming from eBay, since I saved $17.17 doing it that way - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/130702223257)
LCD display - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251143548006

Arduino Mega - http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/dfrduino-mega2560-v2-0  
(again, my Mega is coming from eBay. $17.50! - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390464650227)

Ballcock - Water level measurement

I will probably end up with only three of those Atlas Scientific water quality sensors, as I won't any time soon be delving into marine (i.e: saltwater) tropicals, and the Mega can only accommodate three of them (but I will try and make it easy to swap a sensor out for another should the need arise in the future). The three sensors that are useful to me (pH, DO and ORP) will be housed in the return water chamber of my sump filter, along with one of the thermal probes, UV steriliser and the heating element. The other thermal probe with sit in the main aquarium and the Arduino will monitor the two and attempted to bring the sump temperature up if the aquarium needs more heat (I'm thinking of utilising a PID program, along with a schedular so as to get everything to work when it needs to).

The relay control boards from SparkFun are there to make controlling the heating element, filter pumps, air pump and a water change pump much easier. The Arduino Mega's firmware will have provisions to initiate a partial water change based on data collected from its sensors and the ballcock will shut things off when it reaches a predetermined level.

Although to start with I'll just be using a single relay controller and a thermal probe to control my current aquariums' heating element based on collected temperature readings to keep the tank a constant temperature.

I will be making the aquarium out of glass instead of acrylic as this is my first DIY tank and a tube of silicon is easier for me as I'm familiar with it. The following are the aquariums figures (including GPH and filter media):

• Dimensions: 60cm(L) x 48cm(W) x 40cm(H)
• Glass thickness: 6 mm
• Glass Area: 1.15 m2
• Glass Weight: 21 kg
• Glass + Water Weight: 136 kg
• Litres: 115
• Gallons (US): 30.379786
• Heater Watts: 91.139358

Filter Media:

• Ceramic Media: 1.21519144 Litres
• Bio-Balls: 5.741785295785295 Litres
• K1 kaldness: 1.5189893 Litres
• Fine Sponge: 0.972153152 Litres

Filter Gallons Per Hour (GPH):

• Sump: 136.709037 to 197.468609
• Litres: 517.5 to 747.5

My figures come from TheAquaTools.com's Aquarium Glass Thickness Calculator and DIY Fishkeepers calculators.

This is all just a rather large experiment for me as I'm new to the hobby of aquaria. I will not be stocking this setup heavily, the aquarium will likely only have a small contingent of Corydoras in situ while the tank, sump and controller come together. Wish me luck!

My new hobby!

I now have a 21 litre Marine Master 'EziStart' freshwater aquarium. It measures 44.5cm (L) x 38cm (H) x 20cm (W) and weighs about 25 KG fully loaded.

It's very pretty at night.

The kit, out of the box, comes with the tank, the light and the pump/filter. You need gravel, a pH kit, net, and plants (if you want) separately. You also need a heater for tropicals, so I also added a 25w aquarium heater to my setup (tropicals are the way to go, much cleaner).

At the moment it's burning in for about a week, to get the water aged and settled, before I add in a little sacrificial Corydoras to really get the tank ecosystem going. They're hardy little fish, I've been told, so maybe he/she won't be so sacrificial in the end (which would be nice).

After the aquarium is all set up and able to support life I'll add some nice fish that shouldn't die =D I'm also very aware that this may become addictive xD

Von Rakohund D Parker

Meet Parker (her full name being Von Rakohund D Parker) who is my new 10 week old purebred working line German Shepherd Dog. She is from the D litter of Von Forell Rako x Paskarla Kolby and was bred by Scott and Elaine Edwards of Von Rako Kennels, who breed and supply to the police and other law enforcement agencies as well as train them. Von Forell Rako, as the name suggests, was bred by Kris Kotsopoulos of Von Forell Kennels who breed some beautiful dogs.

She is growing by the day and is already bigger than she is in the video, at nine weeks. She was born on the 18th of June 2012 and I first saw the litter when all the pups were six weeks old. Now, you don't pick the pup that you want. Nope, none of that "Pick the puppy that comes up to and licks your hand" stuff. The breeders, Scott and Elaine, pick a pup suited to what you want from it.

In my case Parker is going to be somewhat of a personal protection dog, and hopefully a good contender in Schutzhund. She has a very good prey drive and is already beginning to become a quite solid dog.

They are all registered with the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC) on the limited register so as you can't breed from them with mongrels etc... and sell them with papers), through the respective State institution (Dogs NSW in my case).

If you are looking for a working line German Shepherd companion and protector I can highly recommend Von Rako Kennels.