# 2LM's 18 Gallon Nano Reef!



## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

*2LM's 18 Gallon Nano Reef! (NEW Platinum Designer Clowns Added!)*

Alright so after much anticipation my 18 gallon CAD light nano set up came in! I am super happy with the build quality of this tank, and can't wait to get my cycle done with and get on to the fun stuff! Humungous thanks to Don @ Crazy4Coral for hooking me up with this thing and personally picking it up in Ottawa for me. I believe he is receiving more of these bad boys in soon so check them out!

Picked up 18 lbs of uncultured Tatoka and 3 lbs of rubble to fill the back filter compartment as well from Don. Eventually I will run a nano skimmer and about half the current amount of rubble back there but for now this will work great. Took about 10 gallons of water from my main DP to seed it and 8 gallons of freshly mixed saltwater from the night before.

Here is what the tank looks like dry, with one of the LED light fixtures sitting next to it on it's side....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

As you can see the unit is nicely sectioned off into an overflow/sump system for you with three compartments. The overflow runs into the sponge to remove large particle matter. After that it is pushed through about two and a half pounds of rock rubble. Under the seperator and out the 250gph pump running the tanks flow system. I will be opting for the "wave making" power head adapter you can add to the spout in the tank...

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Sexy.....I love how it looks with the rest of the room, and almost matches the SOL units over my main DP tank.

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

An overhead shot of the LED units....blown out lighting, sorry guys did these all quick.

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Rinsed the 10 lbs of new argonite i purchased for about 40 minutes till the water was asclear as possible, then rinsed with RO water for another 20 to reduce diatom bloom as much as possible

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

In goes the sand bed....about 2.5-3"

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Fillerup...and a rouch idea of the aquscape. Went for a cavernous space in the middle of the tank with higher ridges on the outsides slightly. I am going to change up the front right portion though tomorrow...

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

At night....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Better shot of the aquascape at the end of it....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Let the cycle begin! Stay tuned on the build up of this one 

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

(Posted this same post in my 75g build thread just for good measure. Sorry for the double read guys!)


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

that looks awsome bro, i really want to set one up on my desk at work but i don't know if they would let me being a hospital and all....and water changes would be a bitch..lol


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

Ok so picked up another 3lbs of rock for the nano today as well as another 2 lbs of rubble for the sump. That brings me to a total of 23lbs of live rock and 10 lbs of sand...more than enough to run an 18 with no skimmer I think with regular water changes. Also picked up a ReefKeeper Lite as well for the nano that I have everything all plugged into now. Still need to program the unit and possibly grab the SL1 PH probe attachment also. Going to be placing an order on the RKL Moonlight Module for some cool red and blue tones for night!

RKL Unit 

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

More rock!

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I ran the head unit in a very sleek way under the table surface and on the front of the table area, looks awesome and super accessible to scroll through options and check everything out! I actually almost prefer this head unit to my ReefKeeper Elite on my main DP tank. 

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so originally when picking up more rock today the intention was to replace the awkwardly placed chunk I had before at the front right of the tank. I'm not sure what happened but I not only left that rock in there but after adding the other two large chunks I am extatic about the turnout! I tried to go for an arching tunnel into an "endless" cave type of look which works nicely with the black backdrop!

Here are some shots from all three sides of the new scaping!

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Tons of tunnels everywhere!

More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Anyways that's about it for this tank for another two weeks or so when the cycle is really hitting home. I will keep updating with photos as things happen though and hopefully as things start crawling out of all the rock!


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

The nano is finally cycled! Here are some shots from this weekend (you can't see how grimey and grungy it looks now) but its on it's way down from the algea bloom and what not and is really starting to clear back up.

I now have a clean up crew of 7 hermits and 3 snails and a shrimp and goby pair hanging out. I will keep this the contents of the tank for another two weeks and beging adding some frags just to make sure it's totally good to go. Ammonia is at 0ppm no nitrites, and onlys 20ppm nitrates which is actually better then I was thinking with the amount of freshly picked uncultured live rock I used.

Anyways here are a couple photos, I'll try to catch some of the CUP and shrimp and goby during the day. Also finally fully set up the RKL unit to monitor my temp, control my heater, and set a light cycle now that there are some inhabitants.


New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

You can really see the film on the glass in this photos, ewwww.

New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

More photos soon!


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

sexxxxxyyyyyyy..... I wish my 10gallon nano could look half as good lol. But it wasn't designed for coral lol


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

The tank and lights look very clean and modern. The rock texture is very interesting and looks small tank friendly. Personally i would use less rock and give more negative space to the tank. It would make the tank look bigger than it is too.


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

Ryan.Wilton said:


> sexxxxxyyyyyyy..... I wish my 10gallon nano could look half as good lol. But it wasn't designed for coral lol


These CAD light units are great!



TypeZERO said:


> The tank and lights look very clean and modern. The rock texture is very interesting and looks small tank friendly. Personally i would use less rock and give more negative space to the tank. It would make the tank look bigger than it is too.


Thanks for the advice for sure, and I surely considered the option of removing rock when I was starting but here is the problem. Due to the size of this unit and the way I want it to look in my basement things like a skimmer, biopellets, or any reactor at all really wasn't an option so as much LR as possible was the solution. I believe I mentioned somewhere earlier that it's about 23lbs of LR in a 18 gallon tank and without a skimmer that is almost minimum.

We'll see how things go with my parameters in the first two months with some live going on in there, If I find my numbers are looking great I may take a bit of the rock out as I agree it would look much bigger for sure.


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

Quick updated on the nano as promised....

Here are some shots of the clean up crew newly added yesterday!

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

7 hermits and 3 snails to start with for now....

Also picked up this sweet blood shrimp today for the nano as well! I love the colour of these guys 


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

That's all for now, more as things progress! RKL keeping my temp at a perfect 78 now that I finally programmed the unit the other day for my temp probe and heater, as well as finally adding the light cycle now that things are alive in there.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

Looking awesome and inspiring. Coudos!


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## bmc (Jun 3, 2011)

How do I get my hands on one of these units? I want one!!!


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

You need to do horribly, unspeakable things for 2LM... horrible things...


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## bmc (Jun 3, 2011)

im in! now what?


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

Ryan.Wilton said:


> Looking awesome and inspiring. Coudos!


Thanks! Boring right now but much more to come soon!



bmc said:


> How do I get my hands on one of these units? I want one!!!


CAD Light is the company, any authorized dealer should be able to hook you up! Maybe contact them and see who would be closest to you I think?



Ryan.Wilton said:


> You need to do horribly, unspeakable things for 2LM... horrible things...


That too....many fairies were killed in the acquisition of this tank....



bmc said:


> im in! now what?


Soon soon! I have been REALLY focusing on my 72 Gallon main DT the past week or so, but I think I have capped it out almost now! My focus will soon shift to this little bad boy. As soon as something interesting happens I will update!


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

Well give us your 72 updates lol


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

So I have made an official "gameplan" if you will for this tank. Basically the idea is that I want to keep it to only really rare/wild looking Yuma/Ricordia/Mushrooms. 

Already have the first one picked out to be put in sometime next week, super wild looking!

The live stock will include and will not exceed:

Shrimp + Goby Pair (Already in the Tank) 
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 or Clown (Already in the Tank)
1 Sixline
1 Purple/Yellow Dottyback

Photos of the new clown tomorrow. Still have not seen the shrimp and goby to take a photo of them since dropping them in!


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

Ok so small updated on this baby as I have basically maxed out my 72 gallon main DT, grabbed a couple of adds and new pics!

Here is the first VISIBLE fish in here as I still have not seen the goby I bought with the paired shrimp. I know they're there, just under all the flat base rock.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Blood Shrimp!

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Full Tank Shot

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The GF marveling at our little creation 

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

That's all for now!


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

great little setup and very nice pictures too


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

kamal said:


> great little setup and very nice pictures too


Thanks man!


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

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 found a great way to set them up by using the stock hardware on the light unit itslef 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 prick 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!


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## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

very nice. I've always wanted a nano but when I have tried in the past I failed miserably.


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

wildexpressions said:


> very nice. I've always wanted a nano but when I have tried in the past I failed miserably.


With the advancements in nano lighting/skimming/filtration now it seems to be a lot easier as I have heard this from a few veteran fish keepers. I think the main thing is if your used to doing weekly water changes than it's no problem as they are required with a nano essentially. If you are not, slacking even for a week can turn disastrous much more quickly than a large volume tank.

Often people will sump they're 20g nano to make it up to 50 but I find it hard to justify when you can get units with built in sumps like this and a sump larger than the DT is crazy IMO. If you got a nano generally it's to save some space and enjoy another tank in my opinion. For me it was to subdue the urge to start another larger tank after just starting my 72g 

Just out of curiosity, do you mind sharing reasons as to why you failed in the past? I'm always curious to know....I have heard a million things from accidentally spilled some (____insert random chemical_____) to frying live stock with over powered PAR ratings from lighting systems


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

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.


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

Superrrrrrrrrrrrrr excited about this post!

So for the past three or so weeks I have been patiently waiting to pull the trigger on a rare ass pair of clown fish for my nano to really set it off and make it unique. Yesterday was that day!

I got the text from Don @ Crazy4Corals with two photos, one of a pair of black ice snowflakes, and one of a pair of platinums. The funny thing is the snowflakes were my original choice when shopping around, but after seeing the platinums I couldn't say no. I come from the automotive culture where rarity of an item or part trumps almost everything else when putting value to it and I feel as though fish husbandry follows suit quite well.

I have to assume I am the only person in Kingston, and potentially the surroung 100km square region around it that has a pair of platinums like this! (Please if you live in this area, and can prove me wrong send a pic, I want to see more platinums!)

Anyways on to the photos....they're still a bit shy hiding in the corner somewhat so I will get more photos of when they start swimming around a bit more.

Insulated Box, exciting!

Platinum Clowns, woh! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Heyooooooooo

Platinum Clowns, woh! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

This guy is my faveorit of the two with the little black spots by his head, the other one has no spots at all (Which Im assuming is actually the more sought after thing, but I like some specificity to my fish pairs)

Platinum Clowns, woh! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Love the classic clown colouration on the fins and faces!

Platinum Clowns, woh! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I won't even mention what I paid for these guys but let's just say that immediately when they were dropped in the glass top which I had kept off for a while, went right back on the nano!


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Ive lost 3 black osc clowns to the carpet. I keep a glass top on now too, but I have problems with excess co2 because of it and have ph and dkh stability issues. I'm sure that's why 90% of people don't keep glass lids on there tanks. But I've spent like 350.00 on fish, what do you do?


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Awesome clowns! I want a couple, mind PMing me the the details? ie how much?


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## TWOLITREmedia (Dec 24, 2012)

cablemike said:


> Ive lost 3 black osc clowns to the carpet. I keep a glass top on now too, but I have problems with excess co2 because of it and have ph and dkh stability issues. I'm sure that's why 90% of people don't keep glass lids on there tanks. But I've spent like 350.00 on fish, what do you do?


Yeh I have considered this but for two reasons I'm not too concerned. The first being that the cad light glass allows for space all around the edge, as well as it comes in a two piece system that usually covers the built in rear sump as well as the tank. Because I have the bio pellet reactor installed now essentially I stack the back half of the glass on top of the front creating a large gap to allow air exchange. On top of this the sump design is fully exposed so I think it will allow for oxygenation in the water quite well as it passes through the filtration. I am surely keeping an eye on the ph probe on my rkl, allows for accurate readings since I have calibrated it using their fluid. I really hope these guys do well, they cost me just over what you lost in three fish :-\

They both ate really well today though and are slowly beginning to venture around the tank timidly which is generally a good sign for day one. We'll see how it goes !


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