DSB and nano questions

R

Richer

AC Members
Aug 7, 2002
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Edmonton, AB
I was looking at my spare equipement, and just realize that I have nearly enough stuff to start up a SW nano... so I thought I might fiddle around with that idea.

I plan on plumping a 15 gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump... with probably around 20-30lbs of liverock. Since these tanks aren't exactly tall, I was going to dedicate the sump to denitrification with a 6 inch DSB and leave the 15 gallon tank with a thin layer of sand. This nano will be dedicated to a couple of shrimps, crabs, snails and a few mushrooms... no fish, no fancy corals and such.

My questions are:

Do DSBs need sand stirrers? Living where I do... the only things I can easily get in terms of a cleanup crew are hermit crabs, snails and the occasional starfish (which I assume will get too large for a 10 gallon sump?). Ordering things from the States is currently _not_ an option. Shipping rates are just too high for someone on my budget. I can get LR cheap enough from my LFS (ranging from 7 bucks/lbs for fiji, to 10bucks/lbs for completely cured tando (?) LR).
Do I need to get live sand for a DSB? Or could I just add a few pieces of LR to the surface of the DSB and hope that the sand will turn live? I have not seen any LS for sale up here yet.
I have a couple of buckets full of pool filter sand, is this stuff fine enough for a DSB? I can take a picture of the stuff if you need a comparision.
Do I need a skimmer for such a setup? If yes, do I need to put one on right from the beginning? Or can I put one on later down the road?
What kind of lighting will I need for mushrooms? Since I am on a budget, I will most likely be using normal flourescent lighting... maybe upgrading to CF lighting further down the road. I assume the sump will do just fine on normal floursecents right?

Sorry for the bombardments of questions, thanks for any help you all can give me =)

-Richer
 
Similar to my setup--a 10 gallon tank with a 15 glalon sump. I have about 1/2-1 inch of sand in the tank, none in the sump, but lots of rock. The stuff in the sump doesn't need to be 'live' rock--get some lace rock, and it will become biologically active shortly, and not need any lighting unless you want to grow macro algaes in there as well. For lighting, if you can put CF on them, that'd be enough for mushrooms, and many corals, just no clams. I have an incandescent ballast with the screw in CF, and my polyps were doing swimmingly until I added a pair of camel shrimp (dirty buggers--they are lucky they are cute).

A skimmer is good, but not required. Just plan on doing a small weekly change, and you should be fine. I have a cheap skimmer on mine right now, but there's very little coming out of it, just because the bio-load on the tank is so low.

For critters--there will be little stars and bristleworms come in with good live rock, and these will spread and work the sand. I'm a huge fan of the cerith and nasarrius snails--they dig better than anything else I've had.

For sand--pool sand will work just dandy.
 
For extra nutrient export, and to provide a home for little detritivores, I love chaetomorpha (AKA spaghetti macroalgae). Grows fast, and my amphipods love it. You might be able to find some locally. These days, local reefers are giving it away to get each other started.
 
So I don't need a DSB for nitrate export? Swell, more room for rocks then =)

If I get a skimmer, could I get by on monthly water changes?

-Richer
 
Not much Richer. They would do ok with a 60 wat on the small of a tank and be in hog heaven with a 120. They really just don't need as much light as a lot of the corals and can take a variety of water conditions. Don't get many either they seem to be a bit prolific IMO.
hth
Chris
 
My mind has been doing nothing but thinking about this project.

I just found out that my GF's father used to be a SW keeper... but he shut down his tanks years ago. He did keep all of his tanks, and LR (which is obviously not live anymore) though (free tanks everywhere... but no where to put them :( ).
So this is what I plan to do:
Plumb the 15 gallon tank to a 10 gallon sump, doing something like this. I'll have 1/2 inch to an inch worth of sand on the bottom of the 15 gallon tank, and put in about 10-20 lbs of LFS bought LR. My sump will receive about 10-15 lbs of dead LR. The sump will also have a skimmer on it. I'm thinking about getting a Aquarium Systems Visi-Jet skimmer... any comments on that? I wanted something inexpensive... and since this tank will be very lightly stocked with only a couple of shrimp, some hermit crabs and snails, I don't need anything too spectacular.
I will be getting a 2x55 CF setup (from www.ahsupply) over the 15 gallon tank. After the tank matures, I'll be adding easy to keep things, like mushrooms. Which brings me to another question... what other easy to keep things can I try?

Does that sound ok?

-Richer
 
With that much light, most soft corals, zoanthids, mushrooms, and even some stony corals will do very well. Your biggest limitation will be space.

Big leathers, like sarcophyton, will have to be pruned regularly. LPS corals, like bubble coral, should probably be avoided because their sweeper tentacles will bother anyone within 6 inches. Stoloniferans like green star polyps need to be placed judiciously, because they will overrun and sting almost any other corals to death.

I have seen some beautiful nano reefs done with just zoanthids. Others like ricordia.

You might have a look at the galleries at reef central and nano-reef.com to get some ideas.
 
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