Too basic a nano?

[nut.meg]

Hi all

 

I just set up my little 10gal as a nano reef - and I'm wondering if I've been too skimpy with the fixings. Here's the setup. I'm hoping to keep mostly mushrooms and hopefully some SPS if I can.. but starting small - if it will all cope with the following setup:

 

10gal glass tank

36W JBJ Combo 10K/Actinic (the ballast is remote, but I still seem to be getting a LOT of heat)

50W Rena Heater

PH 201

12lbs LR

15lbs aragonite (is this the same as LS - once it gets seeded with bacteria?)

Penguin Biowheel Mini Filter (should I run this or my Aquaclear Mini, and should I be removing the carbon?)

 

I will be adding a glass top in the next week to prevent water from splashing my light - which sits about 6" off the water line.

 

Please offer any advice or changes!

 

Thanks a lot - everybody has been really supportive and nice so far - thanks so much for the help! =^-^=

 

Meg

[nut.meg]

And since a picture is worth a thousand words - here is the setup thus far

 

http://www.petony.com/hans/meg.jpg

[Acoustic]

I would not try any sps with that light setup. I think that mushrooms and gsp and xenia will do great. You might have trouble with good coloration if you get lps corals but they will live and grow.

[nut.meg]

Thanks! Those are all beautiful animals too - I'm just glad to know what some good starters are. I won't have any corals for a couple of months, I want to make sure the tank is nice and stable before adding that stuff.

 

Do you have to increase your tank's bioload as slowly with inverts as you would with fish?

 

Cheers

Meg

[donkeykong]

Depending on what invert you are talking about, most dont add as much strain on your bioload as fish do. But you still dont want to add to many things at a time.

[Raise]

ive never done a slow addition of say a cleanup crew.

If you dont already have em, gettya sum!

Carbon: This is a very wishy washy subject, but here is my opinion: Run Carbon. I run carbon all the time. Every week I take the carbon out and rinse it clean. I then let the system run filter/carbon less for a day or two and then add teh carbon back into the equation. Then 5-7 days later the process repeats itself... I have had no issues with this technique and I see it as the best of both worlds. I think the only way that runnind media/carbon is a bad thing is if you let it stay in there FOREVER and neverever clean it. Hope that helps

[coralreefengr]

You can be even *more* basic than that by pitching the additional filter. IMO you don't need it. It looks like you have enough live rock and live sand to take care of your filtering needs sufficiently. I haven't needed a mechanical filter on my 10 gal for the past 2 years (since I set it up). Ultimately, it's up to you, but you could get by without it.

 

CRE

[nut.meg]

Hmm - all good advice. I pitched in a couple of hermit crabs, despite the fact that my tank is a toxic wasteland of ammonia. Would the shrimp fare ok too?

 

As I said in another post, no fish or corals are going in there for at least 3 months (due to the fact that I'll be working at a girl guide camp during the week). Starting the tank now so that it will be full off the good stuff when I get back.

 

As far as no mechanical filter at all - that's interesting... I would love to try that - the less hanging off the tank the better. I'll see how it goes by putting a molly in there in about 6 weeks (roommates will be instructed to remove any floaters) - and if the levels are fine after a week I'll explore that option. I may try the 5 on 2 off technique first, and then move towards no filter at all beyond the LR/LS.

 

So when you say adding a cleanup crew quickly, would this be right at the beginning of the setup, or once the tank is cycled I add them all at once?

 

Cheers

Meg

[Raise]

I added mine in shortly after setup. Hermits are tough as hell, and snails are 90% of the time aswell.

Something else you might wanna look into is an auto top off, sinc eyou will be working alot. Evaporation is a good thing and you have be willing to compensate for the water that has evaporated. Even a little bit of evaporation can throw water params off.... just an idea.

[nut.meg]

Thanks for the tip. I call my auto-top off system "a roommate with a bucket of RO water" =^-~= yeah I trust him.

 

But if I were to go for an actual unit, what are some product names, and what's the price range?

 

Cheers

Meg

[SLOreefer]

if you want to see pics of a tank that was about the exact setup as yours that kept everything other than sps check in members section for my tank. its pretty old and i no longer have a tank but yeah its about the same setup with slightly different lights. add another 32 watt down the road and you might be able to keep som eeasy sps