RennjiDK Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) I tried to shop around for a decently sized low iron rimless tank. Everything I could find under $800 was in the 24", 12-20 gallon range. I have my old IM Nuvo 30l reef tank which I've been trying to sell forever and decided to just go with it. The dimensions are great, but as an AIO, It's only 9" deep, so out come the razor blades. Cutting out this false wall and half wall was the majority of the work. These parts were very seriously sealed in. I broke several utility knives trying to get through all the silicone. The baffles were much easier, as they were basically free floating on the back wall afterwards. A few scores and some generous thrashing got them free. Here's what I'm left with, a 36"x15"x13" low iron rimless for about $300 ($450 retail). I still have a good bit of clean up and painting to do (see the refugium light cutout in the back coating). I'll be updating this thread regularly as the build progresses, if you'd like to follow along. In the next few weeks, I'm building a solid pine dresser/bedroom stand, setting up a diy Co2 system using commercial welding equipment, and may or may not be adding a custom acrylic corner sump. As for right now, I'd love some stocking ideas. I want to do a single species schooling/shoaling tank with some ottos and shrimp for clean up. The original tank from the thumbnail Edited January 25, 2023 by RennjiDK More photos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 Since it’s only 13” high I’d go with some kind of schooling fish, or (brainwave!) a colony of shell dwellers. What kind of water do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 (edited) On 1/14/2023 at 2:41 AM, TheSwissAquarist said: Since it’s only 13” high I’d go with some kind of schooling fish, or (brainwave!) a colony of shell dwellers. What kind of water do you have? HARD. TDS are around 650 and PH 7.4-7.6. I was thinking of a big group of neon tetras (25-30) and then 6-8 otos plus shrimp. Edited January 14, 2023 by RennjiDK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 I feel like as long as you get local tank bred fish that are used to your parameters, I think it is unlikely to cause any issues. I am personally keeping rummy noses, cories, honey gourami at 8.0 ph and hard water without any issues. But if they were wild caught, or grown up in very different parameters, that would be very likely cause some problems for sure. Your tank is roughly 30g, I have a 29. I personally like keeping at least one centerpiece fish in my tanks where I see some puppy behavior >:D Tetras,Danios,Barbs etc are great, and considering you have a long tank, they would enjoy the lenght of the swimming space for sure. I still think you can add one centerpiece fish there. Don't get me wrong, schooling fish provide an amazing display and activity especially in a planted tank! But puppies!! 😄 If I would like to keep a schoaling fish only tank and had a big enough tank available, Tiger barbs are on the top of my list. Amazing coloring and display. Crazy, energetic and hardy. But they usually do better in minimum of 12+more groups to lessen the potential agressive behavior. Also 50g+ could be an ideal minimum choice there I guess as they get kinda big and tend to become more agressive in smaller tanks! Hoping to keep them one day myself. Agressive behavior may kill the joy you get from the fishies sadly. If you are only planning to keep a specific shoaling fish, I would go to the store and check what you would like to see in your tank. I personally like the idea of building a tank around what you wanna keep the most. Neons are classic and would look good. If you have asked my mom, she would love neons over my rummy noses any day 😄but I am the opposite. I personally like the behavior of pygmy cories more than any other schooling fish in nano tanks. They sleep on anubias leaves as a group all the time. I don't need to explain much. Would love to see more about the tank in the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/14/2023 at 5:50 PM, Lennie said: I feel like as long as you get local tank bred fish that are used to your parameters, I think it is unlikely to cause any issues. I am personally keeping rummy noses, cories, honey gourami at 8.0 ph and hard water without any issues. But if they were wild caught, or grown up in very different parameters, that would be very likely cause some problems for sure. Your tank is roughly 30g, I have a 29. I personally like keeping at least one centerpiece fish in my tanks where I see some puppy behavior >:D Tetras,Danios,Barbs etc are great, and considering you have a long tank, they would enjoy the lenght of the swimming space for sure. I still think you can add one centerpiece fish there. Don't get me wrong, schooling fish provide an amazing display and activity especially in a planted tank! But puppies!! 😄 If I would like to keep a schoaling fish only tank and had a big enough tank available, Tiger barbs are on the top of my list. Amazing coloring and display. Crazy, energetic and hardy. But they usually do better in minimum of 12+more groups to lessen the potential agressive behavior. Also 50g+ could be an ideal minimum choice there I guess as they get kinda big and tend to become more agressive in smaller tanks! Hoping to keep them one day myself. Agressive behavior may kill the joy you get from the fishies sadly. If you are only planning to keep a specific shoaling fish, I would go to the store and check what you would like to see in your tank. I personally like the idea of building a tank around what you wanna keep the most. Neons are classic and would look good. If you have asked my mom, she would love neons over my rummy noses any day 😄but I am the opposite. I personally like the behavior of pygmy cories more than any other schooling fish in nano tanks. They sleep on anubias leaves as a group all the time. I don't need to explain much. Would love to see more about the tank in the future! Thanks for the advice. I'm not a fan of "center piece" fish, as I feel like they through off the sense of scape. I'm a big fan of single species, small shoaling/schooling fish. I will be adding more to this thread in the near future. My next step is building the aio corner sump. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 The otos were chosen specifically for algae clean up. Would a single SAE perform this task better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannon Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/12/2023 at 6:44 PM, RennjiDK said: I tried to shop around for a decently sized low iron rimless tank. Everything I could find under $800 was in the 24", 12-20 gallon range. I have my old IM Nuvo 30l reef tank which I've been trying to sell forever and decided to just go with it. The dimensions are great, but as an AIO, It's only 9" deep, so out come the razor blades. Cutting out this false wall and half wall was the majority of the work. These parts were very seriously sealed in. I broke several utility knives trying to get through all the silicone. The baffles were much easier, as they were basically free floating on the back wall afterwards. A few scores and some generous thrashing got them free. Here's what I'm left with, a 36"x15"x13" low iron rimless for about $300 ($450 retail). I still have a good bit of clean up and painting to do (see the refugium light cutout in the back coating). I'll be updating this thread regularly as the build progresses, if you'd like to follow along. In the next few weeks, I'm building a solid pine dresser/bedroom stand, setting up a diy Co2 system using commercial welding equipment, and may or may not be adding a custom acrylic corner sump. As for right now, I'd love some stocking ideas. I want to do a single species schooling/shoaling tank with some ottos and shrimp for clean up. The original tank from the thumbnail that looks anazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 (edited) On 1/15/2023 at 4:33 AM, RennjiDK said: The otos were chosen specifically for algae clean up. Would a single SAE perform this task better? SAE are more commonly advised to be kept in groups, generally 5 or more to prevent territory and agression related behaviors. Meanwhile some people keep them alone, I've read they don't like to be kept alone. I remember reading they can have issues if kept in numbers between 1-5, especially as 2. I used to search a lot about them when I was setting up my 29g. They do get big tho, and a group of 5 in 30g sounds way too much. That is the reason why I personally never went for them, they seem to be a great part of clean up crew but in much bigger tank sizes. Otos are adorable but I personally don't like wild caught fish keeping, as they seem to be super sensetive and very commonly not doing well being introduced to tanks. It is hard but possible to find tank bred ones, but I don't have any here available locally. Up to you! If you are planning to add woods to your tank, what do you think of Clown Plecos? They are on my list for my new tank! Also they will tend to hide during the day and let you visually enjoy your schooling fish display. And whenever you have a chance to see the lil fella, you will enjoy the beauty. I'm very likely to add one in my next 33g!! They stay pretty small in size too. With the addition of snails and shrimps as you've mentioned, they would make a great crew together 🙂 Edited January 15, 2023 by Lennie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/15/2023 at 4:05 AM, Lennie said: Otos are adorable but I personally don't like wild caught fish keeping, as they seem to be super sensetive and very commonly not doing well being introduced to tanks. It is hard but possible to find tank bred ones, but I don't have any here available locally. Up to you!🙂 There's a bunch of captive bred ones sold online now. I try to avoid wild caught fish as well, whenever possible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 So today I managed to cut the false wall for the aio corner sump. I was able to reuse the acrylic overflow from the original tank by clamping to a table with some bar clamps and a square, and scoring/snapping it into the correct sizes. Here's the end result im looking to achieve. There will be 2 chambers. One at the overflow with a media basket, a single bottom transfer glass baffle, then the return chamber which will house the pump, heater, and ATO. Unfortunately, I could not find any black silicone locally, so I'll have to wait until Monday to continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 I was able to silicone in the baffle and get the false wall assembled today. Once it cures overnight, and I'm able to handle it, I'm going to get it cleaned up and siliconed into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 Here she is, all glued up and curing now. I can't wait to start installing equipment and scapeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 Scraped glass and cleaned up the tank today. Finally got to add the return pump, fish guard, and VCA random flow generator. It finally looks like a tank. I just need to add the co2 diffuser and ato. I also attached a diagram of the sump layout 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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