I’ve been thinking about starting a nano tank. I don’t have much marine experience; I just started my 1st tank about 4 months ago (it’s a 29g seahorse tank).

I found a good deal on a used 10g custom tank from my local aquarium club and decided to get it. Then I saw this contest and thought it’d be fun to join in. I just have a couple of problems: 1) I’m a newb so the learning curve may be a bit steeper for me and 2) $$$. I spent enough getting my seahorses so I don’t have much to spend on this tank.

So I decided that I’m setting a budget of $500 for this tank (that's my spending limit for hte duration of the contest). I already have some basic suplies but I decided that I'm going to treat this as if I'm starting from scratch. Everything I use for this tank is going to be included in the budget. So follow along and see if a newbie can create a nice looking nano without spending a fortune.

Tank
This tank has a disply area of 15” long, 10” wide, and 12” tall. It has a false back with an additional 3” behind the display area. This tank was purchased used and I believe it may be a custom tank.

Lighting
Lighting is Solar Lighting PC system. It has two 27 watt 10k daylight bulbs right now but I’m planning on replacing the bulbs. I got this used and the last owner hadn’t replaced the bulb in quite a while.

Substrate
Substrate is oolithic sand, 2-3” deep. Most was dry sand (Marine Life brand) and a cup of live to seed it.

Filtration
My filtration is just the live rock and macros in the ‘built in’ fuge behind the false back.
Water is pumped through the system using a Rio 50 (69 gph). I don’t plan to use a skimmer.

Additional water flow
I may add another small powerhead to increase flow in the future. I’m not sure exactly what this may be yet.

Temperature
AGA 50 watt heater

Water
Instant Ocean mix with RO water.

Stocking
I’m not sure on this yet. I have several zoa and paly frags destined for this tank. Since this tank just has PC lights it’ll likely be mostly softies. I’m planning to mostly start with small frags that I get through trading with other reefers. I’ll likely add a small barnacle blenny and maybe a clown goby or some other small goby.

Looking good so far. I think your tank is a modded AGA 10.
Alex

Thanks for the info.
Here's the sand going in yesterday and the rockwork. I may rearrange some more later. I have several dead, dry coral peices that I may add to the rockwork.

Holy crap! That's one of my aquariums! I used to sell custom nano reefs from 02-03 under the brand Nano Reef Aquaria. That's a rare aquarium, hand made by yours truly.

Bias! I call shenanigans!

OMG ONE OF THE CHRIS MARKS SPECIAL

LOL! What are the chances?

I'll try to do the fine craftsmanship of this rare aquarium justice.

So since I said this tank was going to be a tank on a budget I thought I’d share what I’ve spend so far.

Tank, light, rio, live rock $80.00
Sand $11.99
Heater $28.99

Supplies:
IO Salt $11.98
Hydrometer $ 7.99
Test Kit $15.99
Calc test kit $ 7.99
Alk test kit $ 6.49

Total Supplies $171.42

And here’s a pic of the tank ready to stock:

Pics of some of my stock...

I made out at my local club's (WAMAS) meeting this past weekend. I spend $50 for about 30 polyps of some nice blues, pinks, and green star zoas. I also cme away with a much of free frags of zoas, mushrooms, kenya, monti cap, galexia, and macros. Below is just a sampling.....

Deffinatly shenanigans!!!

BTW bravo on spelling shenanigans

yellow polyps or SUPER COOL ZOOS?

I'm not sure. Traded some macro for them... owner just said they were yellow polyps. I was expecting to get yellow button polyps (like those mixed in with the zoas). Instead I got these. I've had them about 2 months now with no change, but they were in a QT with almost no lighting (there was a bunch of bryopsis on the rock with them; algea is dead these guys made it).

I'm hoping they stay just like they are! And grow and make babies of course.

those are freakin sweet zoas! if they grow, you are a lucky person!

Wow, those are beautiful. I need to get me some of those purple ones.

Gorgeous. I cannot wait to see how this tank progresses.

Time to go shopping for some CUC. My tank has that nice rusty diatom bloom.

I'm thinking a couple of nassarius snails or bubble bee snails, a couple of Cerith, and maybe 1 astrea. I'm considering a Porcelain Crab as well. Not quite decided on that yet. I'll be making the rounds at my LFSs this weekend and I'll see what I find.


I need to get some more flow in here too.

Trying to decide what I want to do for more flow. Has anyone used the Hydor FLO Rotating Deflector? How did you like it? How does it work on a smaller pump?

In the mean time here are some more pics.

So I got some of my CUC. 1 Astraea, 2 Ceriths, 2 Nassi, snails and a Stomatella. I plan to still add a couple of Porcelain Crabs.

My LFS got in some Trimma Gobies. They had 6 yesterday and only one was left today. I just had to bring it home. It’s so cute and tiny, barely an inch. Here’s a pic while it was acclimating and getting a FW dip. I haven’t seen it since I put it in my tank this morning but I’m hoping it’ll come out more when it gets settled in.

Well not much to report right now. My tank went through the diatom stage and now is going through a cyano outbreak along with a bit of hear algae. I might need to beef up my CUC. I’ve been doing weekly water changes and water parameters are good. Am-0, Ni-0, Na-0, pH 8.0-8.2. This tank only has one small goby so not much bioload.

I know it’s common for new tanks to have cyano…I just need to be patient and let it right itself. In the mean time I’m doing water changes and vacuuming up patches of cyano as they appear.

I bought a few more corals so once they get here I’ll be doing some aquascaping and I’ll post some pics.


Here’s how my budget is fairing so far:

Tanks and Supplies 171.42
Clean up Crew 8.94
Corals (Zoas and Softies) 130.00
Fish (Trimma Goby) 24.95
Total at end of Oct. 335.31

That leaves about $165 left of my original $500 budget.

I spent yesterday afternoon aquascaping and tying to figure out how to fit in some new stock. The tank is pretty full now. I may have to remove some as they grow...we'll see. Here's the final results.

I'm getting some nice growth on some of my corals. Seveal of the zoas have been adding new polyps. My red and green frogspawn split heads and the green and pink frogspawn is in the process of splitting. My hairy mushroom split. My Galaxia was just a couple of small broken heads...now it's encrusting all around the older mouths and starting to grow some new ones.

Hey, that aquascaping not bad...good effort for your 1st nano.
Looks like you're pretty well stocked.
Those pink zoas are sweet.



Thanks...I like those zoas myself.

I know aquascaping is tough...but I think this turned out ok. I'll have to see how it looks when everythig grows in.




Hello!!!!!!!

Why do I feel like I'm talking to myself here?

I usually take a knife and remove the frags from the prop discs, but I do like it.

impressive first tank...... reminds me of mine somewhat when i started! Cept I tried to keep it under 500 and couldnt........ but i tried! keep us posted on how its going!

I really dig this tank! I love the aquascaping, and the livestock. Bro, when they all start growing, this is going to look absolutely gorgeous!

Keep the pics coming, this is one thread I'm watching

This is your first tank????

Thanks guys.

This nano it my 1st effort at a reef tank.

I have a seahorse tank that I've had going for about 6 months. It's moslty all macros with a suncoral, leather, and a few polyps.


I'm hoping it'll grow in well. Some of the zoas are doing great and reproducing. A couple of the most colorful ones are looking a bit light stresses. They're elongating and colors are dimming. I'm trying to figure out how to add a bit more lighting without adding too much to the cost. I'm thinking I might add one or two of those corkscrew type screw in PC bulbs. But then I'd need to figure out some type of hood. Any suggestions?


I'm thinking about ditching the kenya tree. I'm already sick of it dropping stems all the time...plus it seems like it's too tall for this tank. Any ideas for a replacement? I like the vertical height but maybe just need something a bit smaller the won't outgrow this tank quite so fast.

I thought I should get another update and some tank pics up before Christmas. My Trimma goby didn’t make it. It had ich and didn’t survive. As I had already introduced it to the tank (no QT…stupid move) I was tying to treat with Kick-Ich so I didn’t have to try to catch it. One day it was eating fine, some spots but no too bad. Then it disappeared never to be seen again. So now the tank is running without fish for 6 weeks to kill the ich. Then I might try to restock with some more gobies. I liked the little trimmas but I may go with some barnacle blennies, or I also like the green-barred gobies. This time I'll QT them.
I’ll have to look around and see what I can find for small gobies or bennies.

I bought two Tunze minis to get some additional flow in the tank. So far I’ve only added one of them to the tank. I really like the small profile! I also picked up a Fission nano-skimmer in a trade. The skimmer has been in the tank just two days so I’m still working out the flow and trying to cut down on the micro-bubbles. This is the 1st skimmer I’ve tried to set up so I imagine it’ll take some playing with to get it figured out and running correctly.

Here’s the latest breakdown of my budget:

Tanks and Supplies 195.66
Clean up Crew 17.93
Corals (Zoas and Softies) 240.00
Fish (Trimma Goby) 24.95
Total at end of Dec. 478.54

So I’m real close to my $500 limit. If I stock some more fish this will likely but me over my limit. Hummmm…should I count a Christmas present in my budget?

And here's some pics. Not the greatest pics but you get the idea. I was excited to see my porcelain crab out tonight. I almost never see him so it was nice that he cooperated with some picture taking. The full tank shot is a little fuzzy and the microbubbles aren't helping.

Some new additions.....

Tank is looking good man. Top down shot is pretty.

I second that! Awesome job Chris...I just subscribed to your thread to tag along.

Thanks guys.

I'm really enjoying how this tank has shaped up over the last moth. Here's some more eye candy.

I ordered some moonlights for my tank a few weeks ago and finally got around to taking some pics. This are quite bright...more than I expected. The zoas even stay open under them. These are 8 blue LED lights in a strip I bought off ebay. I'm enjoying the glow of my corals under them. Here are a few pics.







Not much else to report. The tank has pretty much been taking care of itself lately. Just top off the FW and an occassional WC.

Hi all,

I got too busy with real life and didn't get the Feb pics posted so I guess I'm out. I've had fun putting together this nano and I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy it. I'm off to frag some of the zoas and remove some of the softies for my clubs frag swap. Since I'm out now I can play around a bit more with my stock and get some new frags.

Good luck to everyone who's still in!

Looks great though!

What are some of the rics you're keeping in the tank?

You find that the coloration on the zoos are pretty good even though there's ~40-50 watts of PC lighting?

I plan to have 108w (3x36w) PC lighting over my 10 gallon tank and I'm afraid the zoos will lose their great colors.