LPS Dominant Nano Reef - 10 Gallon Build

[Glass.Reef]

Background :
The setup was initially built as a Frag grow out /quarantine tank for my main display tank but I got bored of looking at a frag rack. Rocks and sand were pre-cycled on the main display tank which is around 3-4 months old now. I've been a member of R2R for a long time but never posted a built thread before. Due to the small size of the tank I would need a lot of input to make this work so I decided to start one. I've been in the hobby on and off for around 15 years now.

Due to the size I won't be keeping SPS long term in the tank - maybe just in a couple of spots. Main target is to have a LPS dominant reef.

Tank :
● 12"X24"X10" peninsula style custom AIO tank - Roughly 10 Gallons

Filteration :
● 3D Printed Filter Cup with Aquaforest Life Biofil
● Filter floss for main Mechanical filteration
● RedSea Carbon
● BubbleMagus MiniQ Protein Skimmer

Light :
● Zetlight Q9

Flow :
● Jebao EP-1000 Return Pump
● Jebao DLW-5 Wavemaker

Cooling :
● Hailea HS-28A Chiller

Livestock :
Coral is the main focus of the tank. The tank is also a place to have small inverts that would otherwise get lost in a bigger tank.

Corals :
● Duncan (Duncanopsammia axifuga)
● Candy Cane (Caulastrea furcata)
● Fireworks Clove Polyps (Clavularia sp.)
● Green Star Polyps (Pachyclavularia violacea)
● Ricordea Yuma - 3 types
● Red Discosoma
● Green Rodactis
● Zoanthids - 5 types

Inverts :
● Trochus Snails (Trochus radiatus) x 3
● Nassarius Snail (Nassarius sp.) X 2
● Pink Lady Urchin (Salmacis sp.) X 1
● Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) X 1

Maintenance :
● Water Changes - 2 Liters per day ( Currently doing it manually, will be automating it in the future )
● Top-ups - Daily ( Currently doing it manually, will be automating it in the future )
● Dosing - Not dosing anything yet.. Will be doing All-for-Reef in the future.
● Feeding - Twice a week using a mix of Reef-Roids, Aquaforest Power Elixir, Aquaforest Plankton Elixir & Aquaforest LPS Pellets.
● Water Testing - Twice a week using Salifert test kits.

Parameters (Current) :
● Salinity - 35ppm
● Nitrates - 5-10
● Phosphates - 0.05-0.1
● PH - 8.0-8.3
● Alkalinity - 8.3

Future Plans :

Equipment​

• RedSea NanoMat Filter Roller for Mechanical Filteration
• Orphek OR4 12" for additional Light or use multiples as the Main Light
• Kamoer KWC Auto water changer + ATO
• Kamoer X1 Pro Doser to dose AFR
• External UV

Coral​

• Multiple Hammer Corals
• Cyphastrea
• Favia
• Plating Montipora
• More Zoanthids
• Chalices

Inverts​

• Porcelain Crab
• Anemone Shrimp
• Sexy Shimps
• Pom Pom Crab

Fish​

• Small Goby or Blenny

FTS - 04.04.2025 - Initial Setup

I would love to hear your input for any additions and changes !!

Happy Reefing

 

[Familyof3]

Very nice this comment only fits as it’s your first build thread and my first comment ever!! Looking forward to following along and seeing how it progresses for you!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Your tank looks great!

 

[Glass.Reef]

Thanks for the replies. Added Maintenance and Parameters section to the initial post.

I'm a firm believer of Water Changes. And daily water changes. For now I'm changing 2 liters of water every day. It will be automated in the future. Water changes are keeping up with the Alk demand for now but I'm seeing a small drop in the last Alk test so I will have to start dosing soon. Due to the size I'm planning to dose All for Reef (or Aquaforest 3in1 if I can find it). It has been a couple of days since I've added the initial set of Corals and almost everything is doing fine with the light and flow. Only a couple of Zoas are closed probably due to higher light levels.
I was afraid the flow will be too much due to the size of the tank but using only the return pump was not giving me the turbulent flow I was looking for. The wavemaker is set at the lowest power and visually, the flow looks ok.

 

[Steven Garland]

Amazing looking tank !! Now please don't post an amazing tank then leave us with 8 months of silence lol,I wanna see more of this.

Nano tanks are not hard,at all. I have been in the hobby for almost 20 years,never kept a tank bigger than 10 gallons. This is my Waterbox 10g as of tonight. Its been going fot almost a year. Mainly zoa's,couple chalice's,a few favia and a bunch of acan's.

The picture is dark because the light was about to shut off.