Newbie Nano 10g

[joshvito]

Water has cleared a bit.

SG= 1.0245
PH= 7.5-8.0


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[illdoya]

looks great so far! I love the LEDs - I want for my 10g too but cant seem to pull the trigger on a DIY kit yet.

I like the column look in your scape!

That Whisper filter looks lo-profile on the side - i like that - does it add to gph significantly? My AC20 is about 1/4 of the total flow

stocking plans?

 

[Nemoose]

My first salt tank was a 10 gallon nano also. Within 3 months I had upgraded to a 30 gallon. The water chemistry flucuations were just too much for me too keep up with since I don't always have time to work with it daily. I also, realized there were lots of corals and fish i wanted that just won't work in a nano. Sounds like you have a lot of freshwater experience like I did. So, if you have the time to maintain it then go for it. Otherwise, you might consider starting bigger. Good Luck and post some pics.

 

[joshvito]

looks great so far! I love the LEDs - I want for my 10g too but cant seem to pull the trigger on a DIY kit yet.

I like the column look in your scape!

That Whisper filter looks lo-profile on the side - i like that - does it add to gph significantly? My AC20 is about 1/4 of the total flow

stocking plans?

I threw this together because I won the light and had the rest of the equipment. I'm not sure about the gph of the whisper, but it allows me a place to keep a heater. I'll probably switch the Koralia 240 for a 430 I have in another tank once I decide what I am going to put in the tank.

I'm not sure what the stock list will be. I was going to ask the reef2reef community. What are the easiest least demanding things I could keep?


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[joshvito]

My first salt tank was a 10 gallon nano also. Within 3 months I had upgraded to a 30 gallon. The water chemistry flucuations were just too much for me too keep up with since I don't always have time to work with it daily. I also, realized there were lots of corals and fish i wanted that just won't work in a nano. Sounds like you have a lot of freshwater experience like I did. So, if you have the time to maintain it then go for it. Otherwise, you might consider starting bigger. Good Luck and post some pics.

I'm not sure where this will go, I'm just enjoying the ride at the moment. I've always wanted a 100+ gallon reef to keep a powder blue tang. Someday.


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[illdoya]

I threw this together because I won the light and had the rest of the equipment. I'm not sure about the gph of the whisper, but it allows me a place to keep a heater. I'll probably switch the Koralia 240 for a 430 I have in another tank once I decide what I am going to put in the tank.

I'm not sure what the stock list will be. I was going to ask the reef2reef community. What are the easiest least demanding things I can keep?

I have the 240 in mine w/ a rio 60gph + the filter and i seem to have good mix of low/mod/high area w/ seemingly no dead spots. I've tried larger pumps but they were too strong i needed to break up the flow thru the tank a bit.

for stocking - fish and corals? for fish i guess it would depend what you want - swimmers or perchers or hiders (scientific sounding huh??) Clowns are super active! I was turned off by them b/c i thought everyone had them, but i broke and got one and he's my favorite now lol. They seem pretty hardy to me, never had any issues

My first salt tank was a 10 gallon nano also. Within 3 months I had upgraded to a 30 gallon. The water chemistry flucuations were just too much for me too keep up with since I don't always have time to work with it daily. I also, realized there were lots of corals and fish i wanted that just won't work in a nano. Sounds like you have a lot of freshwater experience like I did. So, if you have the time to maintain it then go for it. Otherwise, you might consider starting bigger. Good Luck and post some pics.

+1

I went from a 4g pico to the 10g and have been secretly amassing the equipment for a 30g build :) I dont have trouble with fluctuations in water chemistry so much but i equate some of that to luck. I'm religious about water changes and only feed every other day but my water params (fingers crossed) don't really swing.

either way - i think 10g is a good way to give this a go. lots of options at this size (they just get exponentially greater the bigger you go lol). your tank looks great so far and new pics?

 

[joshvito]

I switched out the koralia 240 for a 425 today. The tank hasn't changed, and I plan on doing my first water change this coming weekend. 50% planned.

How long do you wait to add live rock or fish or corals. This weekend will be 2 weeks? I started with bacteria laden sand and used some Seachem Stabilize at day 1.


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[illdoya]

have you tested the water to see where you are at in a cycle? I started mine with water from the LFS's display tank, live sand and a 7lb piece of live rock. After about 8 days I threw in a zoa frag to see how they'd do.. and they were fine, i slowly started adding on the 14th day and things have been good since. I've read that some people wait a lot longer than that to add livestock though.

What water did you start with? do you have a test kit to see where you're at?

 

[joshvito]

have you tested the water to see where you are at in a cycle? I started mine with water from the LFS's display tank, live sand and a 7lb piece of live rock. After about 8 days I threw in a zoa frag to see how they'd do.. and they were fine, i slowly started adding on the 14th day and things have been good since. I've read that some people wait a lot longer than that to add livestock though.

What water did you start with? do you have a test kit to see where you're at?

I have pH test kit at the moment, and a hygrometer; working/looking on getting the a master salt test kit (any suggestions?).
I used new water and dead rock, but Carib sea 'live' sand, so it sounds like I should wait longer.

 

[illdoya]

Yea maybe a little longer to be safe but if it's been 2 weeks I'd think your getting close! I have the API reef test kit and it works for me. There are more expensive kits but I havent had any trouble with it

 

[joshvito]

Added a 1# piece of live rock from the lfs today.

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[Cooper32803]

I really like the clean lines in your tank! Looks great! One thing I would say is the column on the left looks like it gets alot of indirect light/shade, so keep that in mind when you get to coral placement...

 

[joshvito]

I really like the clean lines in your tank! Looks great! One thing I would say is the column on the left looks like it gets alot of indirect light/shade, so keep that in mind when you get to coral placement...

I didn't notice this, TY! Maybe leaning the larger rock structure on the left towards the back a bit more will expose a bit more of the rock surface to the light?

Thank you for the heads up.

 

[illdoya]

great point! lol it made me check my tank :)

take a pic after you lean the rock if you do it!

 

[markkazdad]

It looks to me like anything you put on top of the tall piece would be sticking out of the tank or very close to the surface. That may be what you're going for.

You might try putting the LFS live rock where the tall piece is and then laying the tall piece across the top of the two smaller pieces to form an inverted U / archway shape. I'm just a beginner though, and often accused of bad home decorating because I tend to just line up pieces of furniture around the perimeter of a room.

 

[joshvito]

Moved the left rock a bit. I think it's getting more even light now. Main light hasn't come on yet, but I have the white on.

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[FisheriesOmen]

love your rockwork so far. I would always recommend Mushroom corals to anyone, beginner or expert....maybe keep them on the shaded side of that left rock?
Fish I would recommend either a small goby or a six-line wrasse not much else does well in a 10g. You can always do what I do though which is dedicate it to Inverts :) Plan on breeding Sexy Shrimp in the future.
Good Luck with the tank!

 

[mgdmirage]

Looks great so far :)

 

[Cooper32803]

Looks like your rock will get more light now :)

 

[illdoya]

looks good - def more light on that left column now! will you be able to clean the glass on that side of the tank near it? prob not a big deal but i like having enough room to get a magfloat or something by it to clean it off.

tested water recently? tank's been up for a bit now ya?