10g AIO Reef Build/Advice

[KantGetRite0625]

Good Afternoon,

I've been out of the hobby for about 5 years and recently decided to get back into the hobby. I wanted to go for a nano tank and settled on Waterbox AIO Cube 10. I'm currently doing a fishless cycling. I'd like advice on what to put in the back chamber that would be beneficial. If you have any stocking advice or equipment advice please feel free to add your suggestions. I'm sure I'm overlooking something but wanted to get the thread started as I continue to plan.


Equipment:
10g AIO Waterbox Cube
1.5" deep sand bed
10.5 lbs of dry reef rock
Stock pump (600 lph)
Lominie LED aquarium Light S20 (Amazon Link)
75W Freesea heater (Amazon Link)
Reef Crystals reef salt

Livestock (Fish):
I would like to house 2 or 3 of the following fish are my preference. I'm looking for advice on stocking tips if these don't work.

Clownfish (1 or 2)
Royal Grama Basslet
Firefish (Purple)

Livestock (Corals):
I'd like to be able to grow anything but mainly hammers and zoas.

Livestock (Other inverts
12 Dwarf Ceriths
5 Florida Ceriths
4 Nassarius
3 Nerites
4 Hermits

 

[Edp251]

Hi,

Welcome back to the hobby! Your plans all look good. In my nano tanks, I have often used some porous Filter media balls to increase the biological filtration.

mine stocking suggestion would be a tailspot Blenniiformes. Funny, cute and a productive algae eater which can be hard to come my in nano tanks

best of luck!

 

[Easy Reefing]

I have a 13.5 gallon all in one and I put filter floss, activated carbon , marinepure ceramic media , chemipure blue and seachem purigen .

 

[lagoon360]

I got back into the hobby after a long hiatus also. I set up my AIO with a media caddy starting with filter floss, then carbon, and purigen. Next chamber filled with Marine Pure balls. I don't run a skimmer. Tank is mainly fish with live rock and sea grasses although I've had some zoas in there.

 

[KantGetRite0625]

Thanks so far everyone!

 

[KantGetRite0625]

Here are the beginning pictures. Hope to update them regularly.

 

[KantGetRite0625]

Okay, so I'm testing the water for the first time. I'm including pictures to see if you guys see what I see.

Ammonia: 1.0ppm
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm

Is that what you guys see?

 

[Bryknicks]

I'm running filter floss, occasional carbon, marine bio balls, and a skimmer on my waterbox 10. I also upgraded the stock return pump to the might jet but that may not be necessary for you. I wanted more flow so I only needed one wavemaker to not get any deadspots.

 

[KantGetRite0625]

I'm running filter floss, occasional carbon, marine bio balls, and a skimmer on my waterbox 10. I also upgraded the stock return pump to the might jet but that may not be necessary for you. I wanted more flow so I only needed one wavemaker to not get any deadspots.

What skimmer are you using? I think I'm going to take out the filter sock and put chemipure on the shelf in the first chamber. I have my heater in the third chamber. Right now I have the bioballs that came with the aquarium with the two filters in the middle chamber while its cycling.

I also bought a wavemaker from amazon (Amazon Link) for additional flow. I'm going to put in on the left side glass.

 

[Bryknicks]

Yes I removed the filter sock and got an "in tank media rack" for the first chamber. I have used chemipure (forget the name but the one with GFO) but it stripped my tank and cause dino's. Since then I only use carbon periodically to polish the water.

I'm using the icecap k1 nano skimmer and love it. I switched from the innovative marine nuvoskim which I wasn't a fan of.

Another piece of advise is to remove the sponge filter in the middle chamber if you are running it. Mine would get clogged up with debris and would restrict the water flow and back up into the tank.

 

[KantGetRite0625]

Yes I removed the filter sock and got an "in tank media rack" for the first chamber. I have used chemipure (forget the name but the one with GFO) but it stripped my tank and cause dino's. Since then I only use carbon periodically to polish the water.

I'm using the icecap k1 nano skimmer and love it. I switched from the innovative marine nuvoskim which I wasn't a fan of.

Another piece of advise is to remove the sponge filter in the middle chamber if you are running it. Mine would get clogged up with debris and would restrict the water flow and back up into the tank.

Okay, good to know. Thanks for the advice.

 

[punziracing]

If you plan on doing weekly water changes you should not need any additional media other then some sachem pond matrix and filter floss, also, My 10G nano has been running for over 2yrs with a simple HOB and no skimmer, I do 30% WC every week to 10 days religiously with RODI water from my RODI station in the celler.


This is my 10g over stuffed nano still thriving after 2yrs. I do dose 2 part due to the amount of SPS and LPS in such a small system.

I like the tailspot blenny to replace the royal gramma with and I like tropic marin classic for salt mix


Good luck. your off to a solid start.

 

[KantGetRite0625]

Got my light in and the wavemaker. Watched a video and BRS recommended leaving lights off for the first 4 months to help avoid the algae blooms while tank ecosystems establishes itself. Thoughts? I'd prefer to get corals sooner rather than later.