College budget 10 reef tank

[TomerF]

I started a budget college friendly reef tank on December 30th 2022. My goals for this nano reef tank were to be simple and easy to care for yet still get the great results I wanted. My main issues is i’m a college student who works so i don’t have all the time throughout the week to keep a close eye on the little changes that occur. I am a few months in and I seem to have gotten a good rhythm. I feed my fish relatively light and I try to do my best to get a 40 percent water change weekly.

*issues*
- noise can be loud at times but not horrible
- light spread works for now but for more light demanding corals it can be an issue later on
- DIY lid for this nano reef is difficult due to the filter, ATO and light.
- Nassarius snails are too big for this reef (coral has fallen and just go over everything) but do a good job…

*Cycling process*
During this cycling process i took my time as in the past rushing it caused issues that i’d rather not come past again. I used this time to really assess my tank as in a small reef tank changes can occur relatively quick. I began by adding fritz turbo start and putting a few drops of dr. tim’s ammonia. I found that the tank was cycling just fine but a pretty major issue arose. I had made a custom plexiglass lid for this tank which i thought would be perfect due to it being clear and reduce evaporation. Testing the temp of my tank daily i realized it was fluctuating crazy amounts per day, reaching up to 90 degrees fahrenheit. I removed it and replaced to a more stable heater and issue resolved. I replaced the lid with a custom egg crate one until i figure another option.

- i use tap water btw

Live stock
- Yellow watchman goby
- Black storm clownfish
- 3-4 hermit crabs
- 3-4 nassarius snails
- Three bumblebee snails

Corals
- red monti
- green splatter frogspawn
- Toadstool
- GSP
- Green candy cane coral
- Either gsp or green pipe organ coral
- xenia
- Some type of finger leather coral?

equipment
- clear life aqua 70
- standard 10 gallon tank
- aqua knight 1st gen
- heater off of amazon 100 watts
- marine pure spheres
- aragonite
- ATO from amazon $35 on sale

goals
- trying to get coralline algae
- grow beginner sps (birdsnest)
- organize reef differently
- try again to place gsp on wall without it falling
- replace heater to something more compact

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

If that's a 30 watt Chinese black box light i really doubt you'll be growing SPS very well (if at all) with it...

 

[TomerF]

If that's a 30 watt Chinese black box light i really doubt you'll be growing SPS very well (if at all) with it.

If that's a 30 watt Chinese black box light i really doubt you'll be growing SPS very well (if at all) with it...

I have gotten growth with my red monti but curious about birdsnest.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I have gotten growth with my red monti but curious about birdsnest.

I mean maybe you can get away with it with certain species but proper lighting is extremely important...

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I started a budget college friendly reef tank on December 30th 2022. My goals for this nano reef tank were to be simple and easy to care for yet still get the great results I wanted. My main issues is i’m a college student who works so i don’t have all the time throughout the week to keep a close eye on the little changes that occur. I am a few months in and I seem to have gotten a good rhythm. I feed my fish relatively light and I try to do my best to get a 40 percent water change weekly.

*issues*
- noise can be loud at times but not horrible
- light spread works for now but for more light demanding corals it can be an issue later on
- DIY lid for this nano reef is difficult due to the filter, ATO and light.
- Nassarius snails are too big for this reef (coral has fallen and just go over everything) but do a good job…

*Cycling process*
During this cycling process i took my time as in the past rushing it caused issues that i’d rather not come past again. I used this time to really assess my tank as in a small reef tank changes can occur relatively quick. I began by adding fritz turbo start and putting a few drops of dr. tim’s ammonia. I found that the tank was cycling just fine but a pretty major issue arose. I had made a custom plexiglass lid for this tank which i thought would be perfect due to it being clear and reduce evaporation. Testing the temp of my tank daily i realized it was fluctuating crazy amounts per day, reaching up to 90 degrees fahrenheit. I removed it and replaced to a more stable heater and issue resolved. I replaced the lid with a custom egg crate one until i figure another option.

- i use tap water btw

Live stock
- Yellow watchman goby
- Black storm clownfish
- 3-4 hermit crabs
- 3-4 nassarius snails
- Three bumblebee snails

Corals
- red monti
- green splatter frogspawn
- Toadstool
- GSP
- Green candy cane coral
- Either gsp or green pipe organ coral
- xenia
- Some type of finger leather coral?

equipment
- clear life aqua 70
- standard 10 gallon tank
- aqua knight 1st gen
- heater off of amazon 100 watts
- marine pure spheres
- aragonite
- ATO from amazon $35 on sale

goals
- trying to get coralline algae
- grow beginner sps (birdsnest)
- organize reef differently
- try again to place gsp on wall without it falling
- replace heater to something more compact

Nice looking tank!!! Love the aquascape design!!!

 

[TomerF]

Nice looking tank!!! Love the aquascape design!!!

thank you, i appreciate it!

 

[bradreef]

You can grow most sps towards the top and under the center of that light. You need to dose 2 part or similar and you need flow. But it will grow sps. Not the best option though.

 

[TomerF]

You can grow most sps towards the top and under the center of that light. You need to dose 2 part or similar and you need flow. But it will grow sps. Not the best option though.

appreciate the advice. I will probably be adding a nano wave maker relatively soon. I am thinking with weekly large water changes i should be able to replenish the trace elements due to it being such a small system.

 

[bradreef]

Ide buy some 2 part and at least add every 3rd day. A small amount. I think flow and cal/alk stability will be the biggest challenges for growth.

 

[jman4x]

Best of luck on the build, I sure do miss the college days!

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

I mean maybe you can get away with it with certain species but proper lighting is extremely important...

I don’t think he is looking to keep any specieosa or tenuis.

appreciate the advice. I will probably be adding a nano wave maker relatively soon. I am thinking with weekly large water changes i should be able to replenish the trace elements due to it being such a small system.

If you can try and get out to a LFS and buy RO most places sell it for only .50-1.00 a gallon. Your two biggest friends rn are gonna be a ATO to keep salinity stable and possibly dosing two part but as you said you don’t have much time to keep track of the little changes. Do you test your parameters weekly on a schedule and at a certain time? I’m in college aswell and I get it.

 

[DaveyB]

Nice tank. Alex is right. Ya gotta start using RODI water. It will really help your water chemistry.

 

[TomerF]

Best of luck on the build, I sure do miss the college days!

thank you!

 

[TomerF]

I don’t think he is looking to keep any specieosa or tenuis.

If you can try and get out to a LFS and buy RO most places sell it for only .50-1.00 a gallon. Your two biggest friends rn are gonna be a ATO to keep salinity stable and possibly dosing two part but as you said you don’t have much time to keep track of the little changes. Do you test your parameters weekly on a schedule and at a certain time? I’m in college aswell and I get it.

thanks for the response! i definitely will be keeping this tank softy and lps dominated. It will definitely be a bit more of an effort to get ro water but if it’ll be that beneficial i’ll take your word and test it out. I haven’t gotten any issues using tap water but i could see how it might add extra nutrients to the water. I do agree without an ATO this tank would be impossible. I test salinity and have three temp sensors lol. unfortunately i rely on the water changes to keep me close to perfect levels as i don’t test my water as much as i should.

 

[TomerF]

Nice tank. Alex is right. Ya gotta start using RODI water. It will really help your water chemistry

thank you, i will definitely try this and update the forum.

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

thanks for the response! i definitely will be keeping this tank softy and lps dominated. It will definitely be a bit more of an effort to get ro water but if it’ll be that beneficial i’ll take your word and test it out. I haven’t gotten any issues using tap water but i could see how it might add extra nutrients to the water. I do agree without an ATO this tank would be impossible. I test salinity and have three temp sensors lol. unfortunately i rely on the water changes to keep me close to perfect levels as i don’t test my water as much as i should.

Are you living in a dorm or are you just really strapped for cash I’m a little bit older of a college student so I know that maybe 3 years ago I def wouldn’t been able to keep a tank as I could today. Depending on where you live your tap water might be just fine. But you really wanna just focus on creation stability in areas you can like salinity or alk and nutrients. Weekly water changes is a great habit to have/form and I recommend you trying to find some of these 5 gallon jugs that you can use many ways.

 

[jman4x]

I second them jugs they work awesome for so many things!!

 

[TomerF]

Are you living in a dorm or are you just really strapped for cash I’m a little bit older of a college student so I know that maybe 3 years ago I def wouldn’t been able to keep a tank as I could today. Depending on where you live your tap water might be just fine. But you really wanna just focus on creation stability in areas you can like salinity or alk and nutrients. Weekly water changes is a great habit to have/form and I recommend you trying to find some of these 5 gallon jugs that you can use many ways.

yes i can agree with you in that! I use them for my ATO. I am planning to use it to store Ro water in the future.

 

[TomerF]

 

[mgaamorales]

I started a budget college friendly reef tank on December 30th 2022. My goals for this nano reef tank were to be simple and easy to care for yet still get the great results I wanted. My main issues is i’m a college student who works so i don’t have all the time throughout the week to keep a close eye on the little changes that occur. I am a few months in and I seem to have gotten a good rhythm. I feed my fish relatively light and I try to do my best to get a 40 percent water change weekly.

*issues*
- noise can be loud at times but not horrible
- light spread works for now but for more light demanding corals it can be an issue later on
- DIY lid for this nano reef is difficult due to the filter, ATO and light.
- Nassarius snails are too big for this reef (coral has fallen and just go over everything) but do a good job…

*Cycling process*
During this cycling process i took my time as in the past rushing it caused issues that i’d rather not come past again. I used this time to really assess my tank as in a small reef tank changes can occur relatively quick. I began by adding fritz turbo start and putting a few drops of dr. tim’s ammonia. I am very excited about my journey here, by the way, because I missed more time from college I decided to use https://papersowl.com/write-my-research-paper because it is much more convenient and much better done by these guys than doing this independently, these guys are good at write a research paper for me. I think this is normal, because they do this all the time, and I am a beginner in this and in general I hate to do writing, because it seems to me something old and that does not teach you anything. I found that the tank was cycling just fine but a pretty major issue arose. I had made a custom plexiglass lid for this tank which i thought would be perfect due to it being clear and reduce evaporation. Testing the temp of my tank daily i realized it was fluctuating crazy amounts per day, reaching up to 90 degrees fahrenheit. I removed it and replaced to a more stable heater and issue resolved. I replaced the lid with a custom egg crate one until i figure another option.

- i use tap water btw

Live stock
- Yellow watchman goby
- Black storm clownfish
- 3-4 hermit crabs
- 3-4 nassarius snails
- Three bumblebee snails

Corals
- red monti
- green splatter frogspawn
- Toadstool
- GSP
- Green candy cane coral
- Either gsp or green pipe organ coral
- xenia
- Some type of finger leather coral?

equipment
- clear life aqua 70
- standard 10 gallon tank
- aqua knight 1st gen
- heater off of amazon 100 watts
- marine pure spheres
- aragonite
- ATO from amazon $35 on sale

goals
- trying to get coralline algae
- grow beginner sps (birdsnest)
- organize reef differently
- try again to place gsp on wall without it falling
- replace heater to something more compact

This looks like an interesting project, I will also soon be doing something like this and I hope I will also be able to make a post here to show you. Good luck.