10 Gallon Upgrade!

[Andrewalex11]

Alright so I had another thread documenting my makeshift Nano since January I believe. So much has changed and so much has gone on since then that the tank is completely un-recognizable compared to what it once was. So I wanted to start a new build thread that documents the overhaul of this 10 Gallon reef.

For equiptment we have:

Hydor Korallia: 240GPH Powerhead connected to a custom Atmega EEPROM based relay board to create wave patterns that I can custom program (Using C/C++)

Heater: Still got my preset Tetra 25w heater ! But now is monitored by a separate temperature probe that acts as a backup thermostat so we can avoid overheating. Again programmable and connected to the EEPROM. 78 degrees +/- 0.2 degrees

Filtration: AquaClear 50 running at the lowest speed, with Sponge, Bio-media, and Chemi-pure Blue.

Lighting: Echotech Radion XR30 Pro 9in. Above water surface running at 35% intensity.

For livestock there are:

2 Ocellaris clownfish (basic orange type) I didn't want to go that hardcore on fish as the focus is going to be coral!

Clean up crew is 1 nassirus snail, 1 blue legged hermit, and skunk cleaner shrimp.

And last but not least our corals:

BamBam Zoas
Torch Coral (that is ready to split soon)
Acid wash frogspawn
Cherry Blastomussa
Another random Blasto that I have no idea the ID
Electric green Clove polyps
Some massive paly's that I don't know the ID
Green star polyps
Mushroom (possibly orange crush?)
Rainbow Acans from WWC

Dosing just Alk/calcium right now using b-ionic 2 Part.

I plan on putting some SPS in this tank within the next month or two so stay tuned for some Acro to complete this mixed reef masterpiece!

 

[Fishfinder]

Very nice

 

[Andrewalex11]

In case anyone was wondering or didn't want to do the digging this is how the tank looked in January.

 

[Fishfinder]

Huge difference

 

[Andrewalex11]

Huge difference

It's funny because out of everything the cheap $9 tetra heater was the only piece of equiptment to make it to the end

 

[Andrewalex11]

I forgot my rainbow Acans in the coral list! They are my favorite I don't know how I forgot.

From WWC Rainbow Acans:

 

[brett_schn]

Is the powerhead going to be enough for sps I have a 10 and I’m going sps dom. And im looking for a good powerhead

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Nice little tank.

 

[Andrewalex11]

Is the powerhead going to be enough for sps I have a 10 and I’m going sps dom. And im looking for a good powerhead

The rock structure on the left side of the tank will be the home to the SPS colonies. That Area has the return from the filter (about 100GPH) and the direct hit of the Korallia (about 240GPH) hitting in two different directions, that should be more than enough for some flow-demanding SPS especially with the custom programmed waves with the korallia.

I'm definitely upgrading to the MP10 here soon. So If I were you I'd either go with this set up, grab yourself 2 Korallias with the wave Controller, or grab an MP10 (depending on tank size)

 

[Andrewalex11]

Nice little tank.

Thank you! My apartment didn't allow amounting 10 Gallons+ so I played the system a bit rocks + sand + equiptment + livestock in holding about 9 gallons! I cherish my little reef it's all I got / am allowed to have so I put my heat and soul into it.

 

[brett_schn]

The rock structure on the left side of the tank will be the home to the SPS colonies. That Area has the return from the filter (about 100GPH) and the direct hit of the Korallia (about 240GPH) hitting in two different directions, that should be more than enough for some flow-demanding SPS especially with the custom programmed waves with the korallia.

I'm definitely upgrading to the MP10 here soon. So If I were you I'd either go with this set up, grab yourself 2 Korallias with the wave Controller, or grab an MP10 (depending on tank size)

Same tank size as urs. I’m thinking an old mp10es would work and I could upgrade to qd if I want

 

[Andrewalex11]

Same tank size as urs. I’m thinking an old mp10es would work and I could upgrade to qd if I want

That would be more than enough the water is a little too easy to keep moving in this sized tank. It's actually harder in my opinion to keep low flow corals because of this. Acclimation is key I actually have a spot off to the side of the torch coral that has the lowest flow in the tank and I acclimate my new comers on plugs in that area until they can handle the higher current.

 

[Andrewalex11]

Soft for the terrible picture but the torch coral has finally split and I'm so excited! It's mouth elongated until it just eventually turned into two mouths I'm wondering if it will split anymore.

Big update: My wife is a greeting to upgrading our Nano to 20 gallons so we can get more swimming livestock in there ! Stay tuned for that big time upgrade!

 

[brett_schn]

Soft for the terrible picture but the torch coral has finally split and I'm so excited! It's mouth elongated until it just eventually turned into two mouths I'm wondering if it will split anymore.

Big update: My wife is a greeting to upgrading our Nano to 20 gallons so we can get more swimming livestock in there ! Stay tuned for that big time upgrade!

Convince her to get a 40b so u can do even more. Get a sump too. The tank is only $50 right now.