A walrus can't live in a 10 gallon

[Odobenus rosmarus]

Finally I have a tank to show in this forum! I started this build around december(ish) gradually getting everything I needed and unfortunately made the mistake of getting a tank smaller than what I wanted (to save cost). Hence the name "A walrus can't live in a 10 gallon" I've started planning the transition of small tank to slightly larger tank lol. I will show my current tank setup then explain my plans for upgrading this little beast of a tank.

 

Very beginning

Got the scape I liked

Added coral

Added a few more corals and moved the flowerpot

 

The last picture was about a week and a half ago and unfortunately in that time things in my tank took a turn for the worst. I will post pictures very soon of the tank once it gets better but in the mean time I will list what this tank is running and livestock.

 

Equipment:

- Standard 10 gallon tank

- Aquaclear 70 and 50

- Fluval PS1 protein skimmer

- Marsaqua 165 watt full spectrum LED

- Titanium heater

- Koralia 425

 

Live stock:

- 2 ocellaris clownfish

- flowerpot

- Galaxy coral

- x3 green candy canes

- purple mushroom leather?

- purple toadstool

- green star polyps

- x2 purple hammer

- green hammer

- torch coral

- x2 watermelon chalice

- kenya tree

- red digitata

 

Filtration:

- Chemi-pure elite in Aquaclear 70

- Carbon in Aquaclear 50

- Live rock rubble mixed with ceramic media and stock sponge in both filters

- Skimmer, which is needed because I'm using the red sea reef care program

 

My plans are to upgrade to a 20 gallon long and change my methods of filtration and dosing. I would like to change lighting as well because my fixture isn't long enough for a 20L so I'm most likely going to go with a coralife T5 fixture. I'm also planning to switch to SPS because I'm having the worst time ever with LPS, it seems like they have more issues than SPS (which I find weird) and SPS look very clean which will look nice in a 20 long. My LPS caught brown jelly and thats why I don't have a completely up to date picture, the last picture was about a week or two ago before the brown jelly infected my tank. I will post pictures once things are looking better and I will also post pictures of what I've done with the tank so far in preparations for this upgrade its a bit of a surprise.

[Odobenus rosmarus]

Continuing with my last post, I've actually done quite a bit for this upgrade. So far I've gotten a 37 gallon high (I decided this instead of the 20L), a 35 gallon sump, 450gph return pump, overflow box, 100gpd RO/DI, and I'm getting a bio pellet reactor either today or tomorrow. I decided for lighting I'm going to use my Marsaqua LED and buy a second one. For the aquascape I'm going to have 2 tall pillars to make use of the hight of this tank, I'm hoping to get the rock, sand, and light in the next few weeks and get the cycle going ASAP. I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow.

[cjm3fl]

Your 10g tank is nice.

The jump from a 20 to 37g tank is a big move! I'm sure you'll be happy with the increased tank space.

 

I'm looking forward to the pictures you'll post.

Chuck

[Odobenus rosmarus]

People say that in the long run it's better to go bigger than smaller, that's why I decided that if I was going to upgrade I would get a big enough tank to last me a long time before I feel I want to upgrade again. I think I'd fill up a 20L pretty fast.

[Odobenus rosmarus]

I'm hopefully getting my biopellet reactor this week. It's a BR-1 Recirculating Conic reactor, I'm also planning on getting the hole saws for drilling the overflow. I'm also going to get the RO/DI working as I finally got the fittings!

 

On another note, lighting is something I'm a little torn on. I've been reading all the TOTM threads and people argue that LED's don't put out the proper spectrum for optimal coral growth. I should say "cheap LED's" because it's proven that people get good growth with the expensive and high quality lights. My tank is 22" tall so I need good lighting to get all the way to the sand bed and I'm pretty sure my 90$ Chinese LED won't do that very well. I'm also pretty convinced by reading other threads on Chinese LED's that the PAR I would be getting isn't very good either. So my first thought is metal halide because of a few reasons, Proven! Proven! Proven! With halides I could rule out lighting as a reason corals aren't growing (as long as I change bulbs regularly and maintain the lights well) and I can essentially keep what ever coral I want without having to worry about lighting because halides are proven! Anyways, any input on lighting is appreciated as I'm not experienced with all types of lighting.

[ml86743]

Loooookin gooooooood!

[ajmckay]

BJS is a bitch... I'm battling it with a nice frogspawn at the moment - think I'm finally winning though it took 3 weeks and a lot of effort to get to this point.

 

The tank looks nice though -

 

Its important to match the lighting with the tank and the types of coral you want to keep. That being said, a halide would be a good choice for a deeper tank and there are plenty of nice looking bulb options. The most important thing with halides is to get a unit with a good polished reflector design. There are several good options fortunately.

 

I think LED can get there, you would just need a pretty large fixture and good optics. Whichever route you go I think you'll find a good light though. Given your stocking list, it's sounding like you are planning to go more SPS - does that mean getting rid of what you currently have that's not SPS? I only ask because with intense lighting you may need to be selective with the placement of lower light corals so that they only receive indirect lighting (in some cases). Good luck though, sounds like it's going to be a cool system.

[Odobenus rosmarus]

Yeah I'm planning on selling and trading off my LPS and soft corals so I can have an SPS dedicated tank. Selling off my current corals is also going to help fund this project, it's a pricey upgrade.

 

Progression: I got the RO/DI hooked up and working! This is my first RO/DI filter and its used so I'm pretty happy it's pumping out 0 TDS water (finally!)

[markalot]

Ah, SPS dedicated. MH or T5 will work well. I went with ATI T5, nice and reliable and the bulbs will last nearly a year. If you can get a cheap used MH then go for it, otherwise I think T5 is a better investment.

 

The main problem with LED is coverage and perceived brightness. Really easy to fry corals while the tank still looks dim to our eyes. IMO. At the proper PAR and coverage LED does fine, it becomes a question of preference since corals, especially acros, will color differently under different lights.

[Odobenus rosmarus]

I agree with you, I believe T5 would be a better investment for this tank. There aren't metal halide fixtures that are 30" long, there are ones that are 24" and 36" but I would prefer a light that goes the length of my tank. I'm open to suggestions for my lighting, it would be a lot easier if my tank was 36" lol.

 

I've been thinking about the aquascape and I'm thinking of making one tall pillar on one end of the tank and doing a shorter arch on the other end of the tank. I want to leave a large amount of the sandbed open so the tank floor looks clean and uncluttered.

[Odobenus rosmarus]

Big Update

 

Recently lots of progress has been made on this build. Today and yesterday were big days for purchases and sales; I bought a Super Reef Octopus XP1000SSS, traded my light for large koralia powerhead and a Phosban 150 that came with a Jebao pump and all the tubing, sold the remaining of my coral (I sold the most of my corals in the last few days), traded some coral for a fluvial marine 24"-34" (this is a temporary light but I got a killer deal on it), bought a paintball CO2 tank for a DIY calcium reactor build, and bought a black acrylic weir (for $25!!!) and a bunch of the plumbing for the Herbie overflow. Oh and I want to add that the used RO/DI I got is doing fantastic! I'm really happy with the deal I got on this filter, I've been working it like crazy!

 

The rest of the things to get for this project: CAD lights BR-2 recirculating biopellet reactor (I have a guy who's going to sell me one for $80), better lighting to support SPS, a diamond hole saw to drill the glass, the rest of the plumbing, the rest of the pieces for the DIY calcium reactor, and lastly I need to get a stronger return pump because the one I have isn't really strong enough.

 

Here is a few pictures to keep things interesting:

 

 

I hope this update will get people more interested in the thread. Things move slow then fast all of a sudden so I might go a little bit without an update but when I do update there will be big progress!