Rock Bottom

TooMuchAtOnce · Aug 30, 2023

Hello, I am fairly new to reefing. I have been lurking on reef2reef for about a year and a half now, as well as other reef related websites. I have some knowledge on what I want now.
Due to space I want to try a 10-gallon waterbox. I will pretty much be replicating some of the better tanks in this competition. Similar livestock, same lighting etc. If space was not an issue for a while I would wait until I could get a bigger tank but that would be a long time from now and you can't learn to ride a bike by watching videos all day.

That being said....
I saw this tank on a WWC completion from 3 years ago and it has really inspired me. I have researched but have not been able to find what media is used on this particular tank.
Can anyone help identify what was used? Also, what are some pros and cons as opposed to sand.
Thanks in advanced.

Tank name is Roots Rock Ricordea

You can see the media here. Some sort of porous rock but would like specifics.

Link to the video. It's so awesome. :)

littlefoxx · Aug 30, 2023

Well I have no idea what rocks and sand (if thats what youre refering to)? They used. I would start with some sand and live rock, cycle your tank and go from there! One thing I found when I started is the more you try to replicate someone elses’ tank the more disappointed you are. The reason that tank is so pretty is the corals in my opinion!

Gill the 3rd · Aug 30, 2023

Not sure what kind of rock that is, but another thing to consider is that it will probably get encrusted with coralline algae at some point. Not sure if you want that or not.

7of9 · Aug 30, 2023

I'm not sure what kind of rock that is, but you're probably going to want to go with live rock. With a tank that small, you should only need 10lbs or so and that won't be as expensive to ship. Tampa Bay Saltwater is a source I've used in the past and they have packages for nano tanks.

The tank in the picture looks to be mostly softies, so you probably won't need to go too crazy for lights. You will not need lights until you start adding corals anyway, so you have some time to think that over. You will need basics like salt mix, a heater, a pump, etc. I have a spreadsheet of what I purchased to get started in my build thread, if that helps.

Start out slowly and basic. Once you're cycled you can start trying easy corals like mushrooms, which are a lot of what is in the tank you have in the picture. You'll learn a lot along the way. Enjoy the journey!