10 Gallon Mixed Reef

egkid

egkid

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Jul 28, 2007
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Here we go again...

This tank was originally set up as a hospital/quarantine tank when I started my 29 gallon seen herehttp://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161041. (luckily never had to use it) Now that I'm done adding fish to that tank I'm gonna turn this into a sps/lps reef tank. I haven't decided if I'm gonna add any fish to this tank or not , if I do It'll probably be a six line wrasse and that's it.

I'm waiting for my tax return to come into to order the lights, right now I'm aiming for the nova extreme 4x24 24" fixture or if I find a good deal on a metal halide pendant I'll pick that up. As far as other equipment goes I have an aqua c remora w/ MJ1200, a mj1200 and 900 for flow and the little hob filter as a refuge/grow out for the mangroves.

The plan for this tank is to have a natural look with the least amount of equipment showing inside the tank, I'd also like to grow a mangrove tree out of the display.
Enough talk now onto the pictures.

This is how the tank sat for about two months, no aquascaping done just the rock thrown in there and the stock pump from an ap12.
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This is how the tank looks now, I don't know how much live rock is in there because I took some out another tank but I know there's more than 20lbs.
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And the FTS. The tank will be moved from in front of the window as soon as my 45 gallon sells
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Powerhead placement, I have the mj1200 directed behind the rock so keep any waste from settling there, and a mj900 directed across the tank for flow.
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For $80 I couldn't resist, I have the pre skimmer box but as you might guess it was a little overwhelming for the tank.

And this time I didn't start the tank with tap water so there should* be no green hair algae problems. And the plan is to not dose anything, I think 2 gallon water changes a week will be enough to replenish any trace elements.
 
Tomorrow I'm ordering a light fixture, the only problem is I can't decide which one. It's either the 4x24 nova extreme or the 150watt mh solana pendant. I think the solana pendant will look a lot cleaner versus the t5 fixture, but the whole heat issues are making me have second thoughts. I think adding a fan will take away from the look of the set up and then I'll have to be really careful on the evaporation especially since it's only a 10 gallon. I'm ordering from my LFS so I'll make up my mind while I'm there, unless someone make a really good argument one why I should get one intsead of the other.
 
And then there was light... and heat
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When I move the tank to it's permanent location I'm going to have to raise the light and add a fan, metal halides definately kick out some heat. The tank has got up to 90 degrees, so no livestock will be added until the temp issues are dealt with. For some reason if I can't get the temps down to atleast 84 degrees with out a chiller I'll have to trade this light for t5's because there's no way I'm going to run a chiller on this thing.
 
egkid, the fan will definitely do it, especially if the outside temp (of the room) isn't very warm. It'll blow heat away and increase evaporation, which will also do so.
 
ooo, this is gunna be cool. theres only one place in the world where coral and mangroves grow side by side, i forget where that is but it looks incredible :D
 
I can't wait till the mangrove matures and grows out. Hopefully it'll look how I have it pictured in my head.

On another note I started the stand today I'll have the frame finished tomorrow, then I 'll paint/seal it and skin it next week after pay day.
 
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