10 Gallon Nano, first reef tank

[TheSun126]

Nearing three weeks into the cycle on my 10 Gallon Nano. Figured I'd start a build thread early so I (and all of you) can see where this started and how it's going.

This picture is from the day after I set it up. I bought about 14 pounds of live rock from my LFS (It was sitting in one of their sumps) and a bag of caribsea ocean direct sand. As you can see I went pretty simple with the scape, but I like the way it looks. I might add a couple small rocks to put some soft corals on an island instead of the main piece down the line. In terms of equipment I have a cheap heater on a controller, an old tetra filter, and a hygger light and powerhead.

Last weekend I woke up to find my filter making loud grinding noises and spilling water onto my floor, that's what I get for using old stuff I guess. I did some research and found that I could modify an Aquaclear 70 into a refugium, so I ended up doing that. I split it into two sections. In the first I have some filter floss and a bag of carbon and the second will be my refugium once the tank finishes cycling. During the last couple weeks I also assembled a mesh lid which I will probably redo to accommodate the new filter a bit better. Parameter wise the tank is sitting at 0 ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, about 20 ppm nitrate, 8.2 ph, and 1.023 specific gravity salinity. Water temperature is steady around 77.8-78 degrees. Attached a couple more pictures below showing the tank in its current state. I removed the powerhead as the new filter provides way more flow than the old one. May add it back in the future if I see the need for it.

If anyone has suggestions on stocking I am open to hearing them. Definitely would like to get a goby/shrimp pair. Also open to any other suggestions you might have. I'll be sure to update this thread as changes happen. Thanks for reading.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

Looking good so far.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Nearing three weeks into the cycle on my 10 Gallon Nano. Figured I'd start a build thread early so I (and all of you) can see where this started and how it's going.

This picture is from the day after I set it up. I bought about 14 pounds of live rock from my LFS (It was sitting in one of their sumps) and a bag of caribsea ocean direct sand. As you can see I went pretty simple with the scape, but I like the way it looks. I might add a couple small rocks to put some soft corals on an island instead of the main piece down the line. In terms of equipment I have a cheap heater on a controller, an old tetra filter, and a hygger light and powerhead.

Last weekend I woke up to find my filter making loud grinding noises and spilling water onto my floor, that's what I get for using old stuff I guess. I did some research and found that I could modify an Aquaclear 70 into a refugium, so I ended up doing that. I split it into two sections. In the first I have some filter floss and a bag of carbon and the second will be my refugium once the tank finishes cycling. During the last couple weeks I also assembled a mesh lid which I will probably redo to accommodate the new filter a bit better. Parameter wise the tank is sitting at 0 ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, about 20 ppm nitrate, 8.2 ph, and 1.023 specific gravity salinity. Water temperature is steady around 77.8-78 degrees. Attached a couple more pictures below showing the tank in its current state. I removed the powerhead as the new filter provides way more flow than the old one. May add it back in the future if I see the need for it.

If anyone has suggestions on stocking I am open to hearing them. Definitely would like to get a goby/shrimp pair. Also open to any other suggestions you might have. I'll be sure to update this thread as changes happen. Thanks for reading.

Goby shrimp pair is always a good idea!

 

[TheSun126]

Quite a few updates on the tank. First off, I added an auto top off after realizing how much was evaporating every day. Wound up going with the Red Sea ReefATO+, I like it so far.

I got my macroalgae and pods in from algae barn late last week they seem to be doing well, dosing 2.5 mL of phyto daily.

Shortly after my first update I had a massive outbreak of diatoms, the entire tank was covered, unfortunately didn't think to grab a a picture of it at its peak, but it's now resolved thanks to a couple trochus and cerith snails as well as a tiny pincushion urchin that I bought from Detroit Reef Club, they were a great help with picking out some CUC. Additionally picked up two blue leg hermit crabs and they're pretty cool to watch. I know the urchin will eventually outgrow the tank, but I have a plan in place when that day comes. I started supplement feeding Nori to make sure everything is fed well enough after they decimated the diatom population in 4 days.

I added in a few small pieces of dry white rock after letting them soak for a few days in RODI water as well. I'll eventually be adding in some corals on them, probably some pulsing xenia. Parameters have been incredibly stable, 78 degrees, salinity at 1.026, consistently at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5-6 nitrates, and untraceable phosphates at least on the API kit. I ended up getting some Hanna checkers for ammonia and nitrate, but plan to get more they're expensive, at least they're pretty reliable though. Added the powerhead back in, I turn it on twice a day for about ten minutes to blow debris off of the sand and up into the filter. Other than that I've ordered my first couple fish, a yasha goby and pistol shrimp as well as a percula clownfish so those will be going in once they arrive after acclimating them of course. I'm really enjoying the journey so far.

As always thank you for reading and your feedback is much appreciated.

 

[TheSun126]

Been just about another two weeks, as such another update. This weekend was a major milestone for me, I added my first corals. First up though, parameters. Salinity 1.026, ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrates 12 ppm, Calcium 430 ppm, alkalinity 8.7 dKh and stable with 20% water changes weekly. With the additions I got today I will almost certainly need to start dosing soon or doing more water changes. All my inverts are thriving, snails are looking good, hermits have both molted and switched shells twice, and the urchin that I thought died was found grazing diatoms off the rocks this morning. In the last couple weeks I also switched out the hygger powerhead for a hydor koralia 240 gpm powerhead I previously used to mix salt. This resulted in a nice circular flow pattern that gets everything up into my filter for removal.


Now what you're all here for, the corals. First up, on Saturday I went to Detroit Reef Club and got an amazing deal on five frags, go check them out, they're awesome and very helpful if you're in the Detroit Area. I picked up a frag of Green Star Polyps that I plan to grow up the left glass panel and a Ricordea Mushroom that I think is another good addition for the left side of the tank. Moving on the the main rock structure from left to right is a green and orange Favites, a blue and red Favia, and a purple Pavona. Pictures below of each. Fyi the Favia has been moved away from the pavona since that picture. Its now sitting lower, you can see its current placement in the full tank photo.

Now we come to today, which is also my birthday. My dad has a friend who's had a reef tank for a long time and he hooked me up with some amazing pieces. The first one, a two head two toned hammer which hasn't opened just yet. The second a small frag of orange Montipora Capricornis. And finally, the star of the show, a piece of live rock filled with red and blue Blastomussa and a Toadstool Leather. This is a part of a colony grown over 23 years and I'm honored to have a piece of it in my tank. For everyone's viewing pleasure I present the full coral stocking of my 10 gallon nano tank. Didn't get any pictures of the Monti Cap under blues but you can just see it in the background of the blasto photo.

I know the pictures don't really do it justice, but I have an orange filter coming soon so that will help the camera see it better. Placement isn't final aside from the Blasto, Monti cap and Pavona which are securely glued to the rockwork. I did have a couple issues with my equipment this last week but all is remedied now and I feel confident for the arrival of my fish on Thursday. This tank has quickly become the coolest thing I own by far and I'm happy to have this place to share it.

 

[TheSun126]

Been a month, tank has been through it three times now all stemming from one issue, a palythoa that hitchhiked in on the blasto. I'm not a fan of palythoas or anything that can possibly kill me so I removed it from the tank (Wearing long gloves and a full face respirator, I am not trying to go to the ER for palytoxin poisoning). I must have missed part of it though because once I put the colony back into the tank and went to bed, I woke up to a disaster. My tank had crashed. The blastomussa was completely white, the original hammer was fully retracted and losing tissue, the pavona and montipora were both necrosing, and the ricordea mushroom was dead. I immediately did a large water change and removed the dead/dying corals. The next day I had a massive bacteria bloom and ammonia spike probably since I wasn't able to get out all the decomposing tissue, but I installed a UV sterilizer in the tank and was able to knock most of it back, not before I lost both my trochus snails though. then finally while out of town for fourth of July weekend, one of my cerith snails died along with the smaller of my two hermit crabs, unsure of the cause but my guess is stress from so many issues at once.

What have I learned from this? Don't add so many corals all at once. Could have saved myself some trouble if I hadn't accepted such a large blasto colony so soon. And finally check what exactly you're putting in the tank, could have an unwanted palythoa sneak in if you're not careful.

One thing that surprised me most is the fact that my pincushion urchin, who I now believe to be virtually immortal is still alive after so many issues. They're not supposed to be ridiculously hardy but this guy has survived things that hardy creatures didn't. A salinity swing, a toxin event, and a bacterial bloom. Nothing has stopped him and he still moves around the tank now wearing two "hats" an empty cerith shell and a small half of a scallop shell.

I finally got through correcting the last of the issues this week, my parameters are back to normal and my cleanup crew has been slimmed down to a more proper size for a nano. I have one blue leg hermit, two cerith snails, my unbreakable urchin, and just added a sand conch yesterday. My corals are now down to one favites frag, a stylocoenella frag (I think that's what it is, not a favia, if anyone can ID it for sure that would be appreciated. 3rd picture below), a gsp frag, and a new yellow hammer coral I picked up yesterday as well. I think this is going to be my final coral stocking and hopefully it looks good once it all grows out.

Overall, this tank is teaching me a lot about reefing the hard way and I'm excited to unveil my future plans when I get around to building my next tank. Anyways here a full tank shot from today. I'll see you in the next update.

 

[TheSun126]

So I got my fish today, the only ones that will be in this tank. A pair of Percula clowns. I was going back and forth between a shrimp/goby pair or a clown pair and decided on two bonded percula clowns. Right now they’re acclimating in low light hiding under my rock bridge. My tank has recovered from all the recent stress from last month and I’m starting up August in a really good spot. Salinity is 1.026, ammonia is 0 ppm, nitrate is 15.3 ppm, phosphate has dropped to .07 ppm, calcium is 430 ppm, and alkalinity is 8.2 and dropping enough daily that I have to dose part of my two part. Corals like my favites and stylocoeniella (I think) are staring to encrust and my hammer is looking good. Overall very happy with the progress.

 

[2FUSouls]

Welcome to the nano addiction cant wait too see this grow!

 

[TheSun126]

Another 2 week update on my nano tank. The day after receiving the clownfish I hopped on a plane for a family vacation. Came back five days later and the tank was doing amazing. The tank sitter did a good job feeding the fish and my cleanup crew definitely put in some hours. Copepod population took a bit of a hit though since I didn’t have the sitter dosing phyto, which I have resumed now. Alk was a bit low when I got back but I’ve slowly brought it back to the right levels. Other parameters look good, phosphate is still a bit higher than I’d like it to be though.

The clowns have decided to adopt my heater as their territory, it’s got a good guard on it so it won’t burn them, probably just a good spot in terms of flow for them. They now readily accept the food I put in for them and that’s obvious with how much they’ve grown, especially the female.

I picked up a new trochus snail to help with cleaning my left side glass that I’m unable to fully scrape with the board I’m using to block light spill into my gecko’s enclosure, as well as a beautiful rhodactis mushroom from the Detroit reef club. Also starting to notice amphipods in the tank, unsure where they came from but they’ve been a great help in taking care of the algae around my favites that they live under.

 

[TheSun126]

Major update and the end of this thread. The tank did not crash, I just got an upgrade to an IM 20 Nuvo. The 10 was feeling too cramped and my clowns were growing faster than I expected, so I bit the bullet and dropped a few hundred bucks into the upgrade. Just about to finish the transfer of the last couple corals now. Here’s a pic of the 10 on its last day set up. Very satisfied with everything it taught me and looking forward to the future of this new tank.




Stay tuned for my next thread on my new build, thanks for reading.