Stating 10 gallon nano reef; need some help

Z

zmazza

nano r33f 4 u
Feb 21, 2006
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I've got a 29 gallon reef tank now and my wife and I really enjoy having it, however, the other day we thorougly cleaned the tank out, and I must have had about 70-80 lbs of live rock in the tank. It's been set up for about 9 months or so now. We decided to remove about 15-20 lbs of the live rock to make the tank actually look like we we're keeping fish, instead of rocks, haha!

Needless to say, I'm wanting to start a 10 gallon nano with the leftover live rock, however I'm not sure of a good amount to use, and I'm lost on what substrate to use. I'm using crushed aragonite in my 29 gallon, but only have 20 lbs. Would play sand work for a saltwater tank? I've used pool filter sand for my freshwater ones and it worked OK. I'm worried about the silicates it might have, though.

I'm wanting to keep button polyps in the tank, so I know I don't need a LOT of lighting, but that may be a month down the road or so. It's going to have a single powerhead and heater, no external filter, live rock only. The only powerhead I've got right now is a Maxijet 1000. I think it's got about 200 something gallons per hour. Will that be too much? I've got a MJ600 in my 29 gallon now, coupled with a rena xp2 (using the spraybar for flow). Should I switch the powerheads around?

As far as fish, I'm wanting to go with a purple firefish goby or some other type of goby (These have to be my favorite fish), and an ornamental shrimp of some kind. Probably a cleaner shrimp. The rest of the tank will be button polyps.

Am I missing anything? Does this sound like something that's do-able? I've kept fish for a LONG time. Saltwater for the past 9 months, and it's been all reef. I know 10 gallons can be tough, but I like a good challenge. Plus, I'll be getting a much bigger tank here soon (maybe the next few months) and will be moving all the saltwater fish to it.

Let me know what you think.

Sorry for the long post!

- Zac
 
Hello there..Am glad your going to start another tank rather than just selling the rock off..

How much rock to use - Well, about 1 to 1.5Lbs per gallon.
Sand - Playsand from Home Depot is going to be fine, add a couple of cups of the sand from your other tank to seed the sand in this one.
Powerheads - Yes, i would swap them around to be honest..the other tank could prob do better with a more powerfull water circulation, and i would of thought a MJ1000 would be a little excessive for the nano.
Fish choice - Your fish choice is fine..

Good luck, i hope the new tank starts up well and is as enjoyable as your main bigger tank

Niko
 
I know it will be. It's been such a long time since I've set up a new tank, but rearranging the main s/w tank last night brought back good memories. Setting up tanks are great fun. Sometimes it looks like the fish can barely move around. I was afraid of too much circulation, but I can see that the Mj1000 would be a bit more suited to the bigger tank.

How much sand would you use in the 10 gallon? I thought about trying a DSB, but 6 inches deep in a 12 inch deep tank isn't going to work, haha!

Just to clarify, it's true that live rock doesn't need lighting, right? I just have some stock bulbs until I can get a better ballast. The lighting is mainly for the coralline algae, right? No big deal at the moment to me. My 29 gallon puts out more coralline that I can handle. My wife and I are constantly having to scrape it off the glass. We've got a 192 watt fixture over the tank right now, so it works pretty well to say the least.
 
Hey there..Glad your looking forward to it..

personally, i would just have a shallow sand bed of about an 1 to 1.5 inches..A DSB in a tank that high will be a waist of the volume space i think..

On your lighting, it does really depend on what you want to keep in there..For FOWLR systems, normal stock bulbs are just fine. My fish only on has standard T8 actinics and white and my tank has done very well indeed..But, if you want to start to keep corals etc in there, your stock lights will probably not be up to the challenge..

Niko
 
I know the zoanthids really don't require much in terms of lighting. I think I could pull it off with some upgraded bulbs. Those would be the only corals I'd keep before I upgraded lighting, though. I'd probably upgrade anyway.

I found this at Lowe's.... It's Quikcrete Play Sand (50 lbs). Will that work? Quikcrete reminds me of their concrete, so hopefully this play sand won't harden up, haha!
 
i suggest useing live sand.. you wont have to worry about weather its safe or not..
i would leave the play sand up t the pros >.<.... just buy a 10 lbs bag of live sand in your choice

i suggest going with 20 lbs of live rock.. it gives you alot more bacteria to keep your tank stable

bring it up to speed with some hermit crabs.. and then you can start stocking in about a week or 2 if you test come out good

buttons and soes actually need suffiscent amount of light, i recommend mushrooms.. as the multiply rapidly and come in a variety... and why not get a watchman goby and a pistol shrimp?.. they pair up and hang out together :]
 
Sounds good to me. Our local pet store went out of business, so I can't get any from there. I can always pull some crushed aragonite out of my main tank and seed the sand I put in there. I've got 20+ lbs in a big bucket that I pulled out the other day. It's in an unheated rubbermaid bin with a powerhead.

The sand I bought at the pool supply store worked alright. It was a heavier grain, so it didn't get blown around as much. It looked great. The only reason I swapped it out was because I got some eco-complete.

I've heard a lot of people have great luck out of play sand from Home Depot, but we don't have one locally. I'm looking to pick this stuff up tonight so i can get the tank started.

I'll be putting in a 100 watt HOB heater that I had laying around... I don't think that will cause a problem, unless of course it goes bad. I have a smaller 50 watt, but it's just a tetra. The house stays warm enough for my cichlid that I don't even use it. He seems to love it at the temperature it's at.
 
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Yes, sounds like your good to go then really mate..100w heater should be fine in the cube..I would be tempted to buy the new sand, and just use a cup full or two from the existing tank to seed the new...

Can you post some pictures of your current setup aswell as the nano your about to do..I enjoy admiring other peoples tanks..

Niko
 
Is there an easy way to clean sand? I have been pouring a bit in a bucket, running water into the bucket, mixing everything up, and pouring out the dirty water. I usually do that a few times, but it's a bit time consuming if you are doing a lot of sand. Does anyone know of an easier way?

PS I'll post some pics here in just a second. This tank has gone through quite a few changes. It started out as a FOWLR and then went to Reef shortly after.
 
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