Kessil

Black Hawaii Office Aquarium

Matthew Meyer

Matthew Meyer

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Black Hawaii is going to be my second aquarium. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with this tank but I have decided I want love rock and black sand. I know it's gonna be a pain to clean without magnets, but I really wanted to make this yes unique. Maybe just some zoas and clowns. I wonder what I can get away with a stock light.
 

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My mom has half of this tank filled with a single frogspawn on the stock light. It is a great system stock and even better when you upgrade the pump after this one breaks in a year plus. Looks like you ditched the lid, which will mean a small ato will be a nice add on. One of my favorite all in one's out there!
 
Does that thing come on that elevated pedestal like that?
Wish you luck with the black sand. Turns in to salt and pepper sand prepper sand pretty darn quick. Is there any out there that are more like pebbles that you can rip the flow on and keep it clean? Seen something not natural in FW tanks, but not SW.
 
@H20playar Still have the lid on. Probably will just top off by had day to day.

@Qwiv I do have a fear about this sand, but we will give it a shot for now or go bottom
 
Qwiv said:
Does that thing come on that elevated pedestal like that?
Wish you luck with the black sand. Turns in to salt and pepper sand prepper sand pretty darn quick. Is there any out there that are more like pebbles that you can rip the flow on and keep it clean? Seen something not natural in FW tanks, but not SW.
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Yes. It comes like that. Its very very neat.
 
Matthew Meyer said:
Black Hawaii is going to be my second aquarium. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with this tank but I have decided I want love rock and black sand. I know it's gonna be a pain to clean without magnets, but I really wanted to make this yes unique. Maybe just some zoas and clowns. I wonder what I can get away with a stock light.
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I have one too. They're nice. You'll likely want to upgrade the pump, and/or add a powerhead. I went with the smallest jebao dcw and it fits on an angle with the cover off.

The intank media basket for the overflow is nice too.

I think the cover is nice. It loses very little evap with it. I've read it gets a bit hot though with it on and the light on.

The light is pretty good. I measured the par, though I can't find the data right now. Definitely wasn't sps at the sand high, but certainly enough for softies and lps.

There's tons of threads and forums about that tank online. Lots of ideas.
 
Matthew Meyer said:
Black Hawaii is going to be my second aquarium. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with this tank but I have decided I want love rock and black sand. I know it's gonna be a pain to clean without magnets, but I really wanted to make this yes unique. Maybe just some zoas and clowns. I wonder what I can get away with a stock light.
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Best tank ever! But I'm biased. :p

@richiev nailed it on the upgrades to consider.

Here are my unsolicited $0.02:
  1. If you don't want to spend $100 for the two intank media baskets, you can easily make them from egg crate and zip ties. See image below.
  2. If you do buy the media basket, I'd just buy the chamber 1 basket, and skip the chamber 2 basket altogether. Just add some bio media in a mesh bag.
    This is of course not as critical if you have sand and rocks in your tank.
  3. Skip the stock lid - you can the water off manually, a couple of times a day. I've been doing that for 2+ years now.
    Make a mesh lid with a window screen kit. Tales about an hour, plus helps maintain tank temperature and gas exchange.
  4. I would strongly consider getting a good light. Ai Prime 16/16HD work wonders!
Also, if you have time to kill, check out my tank journal for random stuff I've DIY'ed.
Looking forward to reading the tank journal for this tank!

IMG_9976.jpg
 
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We have water in the tank. The black sand is very coarse. Not what I was expecting. I did want something different. Lets do the cycle and see if its worth keeping. I will not be using magnets in this aquarium.
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richiev said:
I have one too. They're nice. You'll likely want to upgrade the pump, and/or add a powerhead. I went with the smallest jebao dcw and it fits on an angle with the cover off.

The intank media basket for the overflow is nice too.

I think the cover is nice. It loses very little evap with it. I've read it gets a bit hot though with it on and the light on.

The light is pretty good. I measured the par, though I can't find the data right now. Definitely wasn't sps at the sand high, but certainly enough for softies and lps.

There's tons of threads and forums about that tank online. Lots of ideas.
Click to expand...
The Jebao MDP (2021/purple gen with wifi) are pretty nice. I wouldn't recommend the older generations over it.
 
Your magnets on the pump will likely trap some magnetic filings, consider preemptively getting some of the ferrous material out with a magnet through the substrate with the pump tuned off.

I really like the look of this tank and will be happily following along.
 
Well, without air conditioning the the tank hit 88 degrees today. I am glad I added the chiller to my other tank, but this one will be a challenge. It looks like I may have to give up on using the stock lid and light. Its looking like I will definitely need to go lidless and run a fan. That, or keep the AC on to at least 80. @H2OPlayar any recommendations?
 
I think I actually have some calcite black sand from years ago that I used in my first nano tank if you need any more or want to "refresh" after some white bits or coral scatter into it.
 
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