10 gallon reef build thread

thenanoreef · Apr 29, 2016

I know your already laughing but yes, this is really a build thread for a 10 gallon aquarium, well sorta.

Anyways, as any good build thread starts, I should start by giving you my background with reefing. 2 years ago I bought a Innovative Marine Nuvo 24. I was 14 at the time, and a 24 gallon seemed like something I could handle. Unfortunately I was wrong. That tank always had an issue, fish deaths, coral deaths, far to much algae, etc. The worst part however what that the tank never looked "full"(I blame the award tank dimensions, and my limited monetary resources which prevented me from buying a ton of coral.) It has turned into a unsatisfying money pit which I really don't have the time to care for anymore.

Nuvo 24 in its prime:

Nuvo 24 now:

The good news is that I still love reefing. It has proved to be the most interesting hobby I have ever found. It is also the most education, rewarding, and, in a good way, challenging. So I have decided to down grade to a ten gallon tank. Less rock for algae to grow on, less glass to clean, and a whole lot easier to fill up. I am going to be using almost all of the equipment off the 24 gallon including:

Apex Jr.
Hydor ATO
RW-4
Zen Reef Prob holder

The current light is too long (Current USA Orbit Marine) so it will be replaced by a wave point blue/white light of about the same strength. Also I have multiple heaters lying around to the 10 gallon gets one of those, not the existing. New sand will be used, and I will hide my equipment with a custom corner piece from zen-reef (you guys should go check her out zen-reef.com)

So here are a few pictures from the past few nights
Empty tank next to Nuvo 24:

Half filled with fresh saltwater:

Completely filled with half and half cycled water from the Nuvo 24 and half fresh water. It really cloudy because its super fine sand. Hopefully in a few days it will have settled. I have the new light over the ZOA rock I will be transferring over to the ten gallon.

Thats it so far. I have a shipment of some acans coming from @AquaSD on Wednesday which will be the first corals in the tank. Now all I can do is wait, cross my fingers, and study for my AP tests next week.

Thanks checking out my thread,
thenanoreef

Rob.D · Apr 29, 2016

I won't laugh, one of my favorite tanks I ever had was a 20 long......and @Dowtish has the most awesome 10 gallon xenia garden ever! I'm following this build for sure, good luck and keep us updated!

ScottMyers123 · Apr 29, 2016

Hopefully your tank will be successful and you will get to enjoy it this time. Good luck!

Surfandturf · Apr 30, 2016

I definitely will not laugh as I currently run a 10g reef tank! Will follow to see how you progress. A question that I have for you is did you ever figure out what you were doing wrong with your larger tank? This 10g will probably have a little over 8 g of water after you put rock in it. That means that there is a lot less room for error. My advice to you is take it super slow. When you think that this tank is done cycling, wait another week just incase. Stock it super slow, see how each new addition affects your water quality and test , test, test! I have a lot of corals in my tank and had to start dosing every two days for kh. I test every other day unless something looks or feels off. Get a good heater that will not fail on you! If it goes turbo and just starts heating up beyond what you want, it will affect your whole tank within about 30 mins, maybe less. Same applies if it just stops working. I will follow this and help you out as I am sure others will. I'm not trying to scare you, only relay issues that I have had or have seen from friends with such small tanks. Happy Reefing!

Surfandturf · Apr 30, 2016

Oh yea, try bare bottom with this small tank. I have had wayyyyy less problems when compared to using sand. If you want.

thenanoreef · Apr 30, 2016

@Surfandturf Thanks you so much for your advice, it is greatly appreciated. To answer your question, I think it was some beginner mistakes coupled with the fact that it was just one problem after another. For example, recently, i lost all my Euphphylia to BJD, nothing new was introduced into the tank, it just happened. So after some rotten luck and some mistakes, I think I need a fresh start. I agree with the testing, and will be invention some more money into testing equipment. As far as the sand goes, the blowing sand is really making me made, but I want to put some/ most of my corals on the sand bed. Its a necessary evil I guess, I just don't know if I can leave the tank with absolutely no flow until it starts to clump together.

Thanks,
thenanoreef

CoralManz · Apr 30, 2016

what are you doing with the extra tank?

thenanoreef · Apr 30, 2016

@Narzyzz_12 I don't know right now. Maybe selling it, problably keeping it, we will see. It would make a decent college tank, even a neat live plant fresh water

thenanoreef

DustyXB9Reefer · Apr 30, 2016

No laughing here either. I have a BC14 and I just picked up a 5 gallon Fluval. That's a real bummer what happened to your first tank. I would say learn what you can from both tanks and see if you can get your first one turned around. In it's prime it looked killer!

edit: I just went to zen-reef.com. They do have some nice stuff but I didn't see that little corner piece you were talking about.

thenanoreef · Apr 30, 2016

@DustyXB9Reefer They do custom acrylic work too.

Surfandturf · Apr 30, 2016

thenanoreef said:
@Surfandturf Thanks you so much for your advice, it is greatly appreciated. To answer your question, I think it was some beginner mistakes coupled with the fact that it was just one problem after another. For example, recently, i lost all my Euphphylia to BJD, nothing new was introduced into the tank, it just happened. So after some rotten luck and some mistakes, I think I need a fresh start. I agree with the testing, and will be invention some more money into testing equipment. As far as the sand goes, the blowing sand is really making me made, but I want to put some/ most of my corals on the sand bed. Its a necessary evil I guess, I just don't know if I can leave the tank with absolutely no flow until it starts to clump together.

Thanks,
thenanoreef

Not sure by what you mean by blowing sand. Is it that you have some small amount of sand in it currently and it is blowing around? If that's the case just syphon it out. As far as sand be necessary, I am definitely not in that camp. Too many problems for me. Lots of stuff lives in it. You also have to make sure you stir it up often so it doesn't get pockets of nasty stuff * not the technical name growing in it. If you wait too long and you accidentally stir it up or something else does, you could suffer some bad consequences in such a small volume of water. Just think about it before you add it to your tank or anything else.

thenanoreef · Apr 30, 2016

@Surfandturf No, I see where your coming from. I have ten pounds of sand in right now, and if I turn even a single nano Koralia on, it starts to kick up and gelt cloudy. I do really want to keep the sand, and I'll make sure to stir it occasionally, so I don't get those gas bubbles your talking about.

Surfandturf · Apr 30, 2016

I really wanted to start this tank with black sand. I just thought that it looked super cool but alas, my LFS was out. I started BB and never looked back. My Yellow Tang sure is happy though! (sarcasm) Please don't flame me lol.

CoralManz · Apr 30, 2016

thenanoreef said:
@Narzyzz_12 I don't know right now. Maybe selling it, problably keeping it, we will see. It would make a decent college tank, even a neat live plant fresh water

thenanoreef

haha

thenanoreef said:
@Narzyzz_12 I don't know right now. Maybe selling it, problably keeping it, we will see. It would make a decent college tank, even a neat live plant fresh water

thenanoreef

haha that's true you can never have just one system

Regikier89 · May 2, 2016

@thenanoreef what light set up are you using for the 10 gallon?

thenanoreef · May 2, 2016

@Regikier89 I am using a wave point 12in super blue and daylightmicrosun led fixture

Regikier89 · May 4, 2016

@thenanoreef oh okay. I myself is starting a 10 gallon reef.

thenanoreef · May 8, 2016

Two week update.

Ive got some awesome looking acan frags from @AquaSD in the ten, as well as my prized zoa rock. Everything is looking good at the moment. They sand has settled down and I'm starting to see some diatoms.

Here's the pictures: