10 Gallon nano reef

[puffyboy]

Hi All,

I 've been into freshwater setups for a while now, and i just decided to jump into a Nano-Reef project.

I have a 10 gallon with 8 pounds of live rock and crushed coral.

My question(s) are

1. Do i need good lighting to cycle the tank?
2. How many watts show i get to support Corals in the future.
3. Any suggestions on a Power Compact i could use on a 10 Gallon?

 

[Fishieness]

hey there! and welcome into the world o salt water!
1. you dont need good lighting until you have corals silly! haha
2.the number of watts and the type of lighting depends on what types of corals you want to keep. so id suggest telling us what type of at least sstating a few you want and we could help you out.
3. see above.


good luck and have fun! :dance2:

 

[puffyboy]

I not sure what type of corals yet .
I was thinking of getting a 20" 96watt Coralife aqualight. Is this too strong for Corals in general?

Also do i need light at all to cycle the tank?

One more thing it is preferable to have 2 powerheads running or just 1 for 10 gallon?

 

[Fishieness]

the pwer quad will provide enough lighting for softies, zoos, mushrooms, most LPS, but not enough for sps and clams, but you would have to wait a while longer before your tank is established enough for them.
as far as powerheads, mroe is better, but it depends how big they are, you dont want TOO much flow coming from one place.
also, tell us your equptment so we can maybe comment or critique on that?

 

[dorkfish]

96 watts will give you enough light for almost any coral available in the hobby.

Light will have little to no affect on the cycle, with thae affect being on algaes wich you don't need for the nitrogen cycle. You need bacteria wich feed off of amonia and nitrites and O2 in the water collomn.

You can never have too much water movement in a marine aquarium, as long as the fish can find a way to push them selves through the current, it's all good.

Darn, fishy beat me to it.

 

[born2lovefish]

Let me know how your 10 gallon does. So many people have told me that any small tank is basically impossible to keep up. I been wanting to do a 2.5 gallon nano....Any comments would be great.

 

[Fishieness]

Let me know how your 10 gallon does. So many people have told me that any small tank is basically impossible to keep up. I been wanting to do a 2.5 gallon nano....Any comments would be great.

a 2.5 gallon would be harder, esspecialy if you kept corals because the heat form the lights would cause more evaporation. With the smaller tanks, losing even a small amount of water can greatly affect the salinity. also you realy ahve to be on top of water changes. because things can go wrong quickly.