Does this sound ok??

[Rebecca]

I am going to set up a 10g nano. I was wondering how this sounded, I am going to use a aquaclear hangon filter, L/S, L/R, some coral I have not decided what kind yet though (I like the ones that are long and flowy type not sure if it'll work though) I'm going to keep 1 maybe 2 clown fish. Also I would like a starfish but I can't find anything about them being in a 10g, being reefsafe and getting along with clowns. I am totally lost on lighting as well. Of course I plan on reasearching everything before I buy. I'm just looking for a little guiding from the more experienced people here.

[ross76053]

Rebecca,

 

Welcome to the addiction! I can just picture you two years from now, standing in front of a crowded room saying, "Hi, I'm Rebecca, and I'm a reefaholic".

 

Two clown fish, in my opinion, would be fine - just try to get very small ones. Just realize that two fish is all you should keep in a 10-gal (I like the 1 fish per 5-gal rule).

 

I'm not familiar with any stars that will do well in a nano-reef, so not sure that's your best choice. They just required a much larger environment.

 

Lost in lighting? Been there. Sorta depends on what ya wanna raise. I opted for a 2x36 white/actinic PC kit from hellolights.com - I think I paid around $100 for the kit, & mounted it in my custom hood. Read articles in the lighting forum as well - good stuff in there.

 

Good deal on the research thing...you'll be glad you did.

 

Good luck & keep us posted,

Ross

[Rebecca]

I don't know much about coral (yet , doing reserach) I found some coral that I like the looks of and are suposed to be for new-be's.

-Green Button Polyps, Zooanthus pulchellus

-Metalic Mushrooms, Discosoma Sp.

-Green Star Polyps, Clavularia (briareum) virids

-Silver Star Polyps, Clavularia (Briareum)

-Orange, Pink sea mats, Palythoa Sp.

 

Those are ones I found on different sites and I would like to have them in my tank. Are they all ok together or not?? I don't even know if I can get ahold of these for my tank or not but they are very pretty and what I would like for looks in my tank. It said that they all seem to like mild to no current and all like normal to strong lighting, so based on that they should be fine together right?? I know about the fish rule I usually go with 1g per inch (freshwater) so I think they should be fine. Will the persula clown out grow the 10g??

[Ekawaguchi]

FYI~ A percula can get up to 3" big - although depending on the size of the tank & how often you feed it, it may take a while...

[Phish]

NO, NO, NO..... The Freshwater 1g per 1" is no good in Salt Water, Ross told you 1 fish per 5g because thats how it goes in salt water.... that rule also has many many stipulations...

 

Have you ever seen a Yellow Tang? They can grow up to 8" in the wild and usually 5-6" in a fish tank... would you say that they are fine in a 5-6g tank? (using your 1" per 1g rule)......... HELL NO is the answer, a (one) yellow tang REQUIRES at LEAST (not most but least, like you need at least 3 meals a week to survive) 75g, at LEAST I personally wouldnt put one in less than a 100g...

 

I dont want to sound rude but we are here to educate you because we want you to succeed and not kill poor little animals...

and 2 clowns per 10g in normal, NOT ONE MORE FISH can go in that tank, if you ask us an answer dont correct us, most of us (exept some Newbies) know a lot more than you and thats why you asked US...

 

(I hope this dosent come off rude because that was not my intention X) :) ) Good Luck!!!

[Phish]

Plus the Bio-load, man we didnt even get into that!!! Thats where half of the problem lies... a 10g with 2 fish is a normal (semi-high) bioload, you will also need about 10 snails and 10 Hermit crabs to keep things clean (cleanup crew) they eat algae and 'fish waste' they will eat all day long keeping the substrate and Live Rock clean.

 

Ohh, yeah Live Rock (LR) and Live Sand (LS) you will need 15lbs of LS, and 15lbs of LR, or you could get 'dead' sand and sprinke like 2 cups of LS on top and it will all turn live (and cut the cost a lot) with LR you could do a 60/40 mix, say you wanted 10lbs... 6lbs 'Dead' or 'base' rock and 4lbs LR and eventually it will seed the other rock and turn live.

 

If you have any questions just ask us, we can help

[Rebecca]

Thank you for the help. Will the hemit crabs bother my coal at all??

 

Phish I do know a bit about general fish keeping. And I was not trying to correct. I was just saying I'm not going to over load the tank. Also they said they like 1 per 5g, they never stated that was what you always had to go by. I thank you for helping but please don't talk to me like I'm dumb. I know you did not mean to be rude but it came across very rude. I don't want to start a fight or anything and I still need some help setting everything up, but once agian please don't talk to me like I'm dumb. Also with the 1" 1g rule you always added more room on depending on the size of the fish.

[surfy]

I have two 2-3" fish in my 7g with no problems. Just keep the salinity a little lower like around 1.021- 1.023 so the fish have more oxygen since it's lower in saltwater than in fresh.

Your corals you want will go together and hermit crabs won't bother the colt. Colt gets big quick.

For the HOB filter get the Aqua Clear 300. Also atleast 1 pound of rock per gallon of water minimum.

For the amount of sand you will need use this ...

 

L x W of tank X sand bed depth desired

Divide the answer by 1,728 x 70= Total pounds needed.

 

I have about 3-4 " of Oolitic sand in my 7.

Oolitic sand is better in my opinion in smaller tanks.

Oolitic sand is a very fine almost powder like sand. I put a 1/2" of regular sand over this so the water flow dosn't blow it all over the place.

For lighting you will want a bulb(s) with a color temp of 6,500K or higher.

6,500K is a bit yellow so I would go with bulbs 10,000K and up. The 10,000K is white light and the higher you go after that will be more on the blue end of the spectrum. 20,000K is blue.

I would go with a retro kit since they are alot cheaper, but you will have to build a hood or canopy to attatch them to.

I have two 32w 50/50 bulbs on my 7g. The 50/50 disperses the blue and white light evenly through out the tank.

[Chupacabras]

3" to 4" of oolitic in a 7 Surfy? Damn! I have forty pounds of oolitic in my 20L and have about 2.5" using drunken logic!

 

Fish inch-math is very different between fresh and salt, especially when you're talking a reef tank. You have to remember that a SW reef tank is set up to handle ammonia, nitrite and nitrate output as opposed to a FW tank that only has to deal with the ammonia and nitrite load. SW fish and corals are much more intolerant of nitrates than a FW tank that can handle a trate level of 40 without a boggle. 1" per five gallons is pretty much a standard rule of thumb when you're talking salt... my 29g FW has seven tiger barbs, two dojo loaches, four zebra danios, one pearl gourami and a bushy nose pleco... I wouldn't dream of trying to run that kind of bio-load in a salt water tank even though it comes pretty close to the 1" per gallon ruling.

 

When it comes to a reef tank, you have to take alot of things into account when choosing your fish. Some fish are messier than others (clowns), some are tiny and efficient (neon gobies). In general though, two small fish (3 inches) is the limit on a 10 gallon tank (unless you want to do water changes every other day). You have enough room for a percula clown, probably even two if they're mated but that's it IMHO.

 

As far as LR/LS go... do what looks good to you but I figure you'd need about 15lbs live rock, 10 to 15lbs (whichever looks best) of aragonite sand or 20lbs of oolitic to get a nice tank going.

 

Surfy hit on the lights plenty well enough .

 

HTH

[surfy]

3-4" in most spots of the tank some spots only 1-2". I like the deeper sand look IMO it looks more natural. Plus it helps alot more with the nitrogen cycle.

Plus I have some base rock under the sand so it is only a ruff estimate.

[Rebecca]

Ok so I need 10-15lbs of L/R and same with L/S. I'm going to have 2 clowns. What is HOB?? And also I don't need the lights untill I get the coral and fish right?? Once I have cycled my tank and have it stable do I add the coral or the fish first or does it matter?? Also I have read alot about glueing coral and rocks and that, I understand glueing the rocks so they don't fall and crush some poor fish or expencive coral, but why glue the coral?? Surfy what were about talking about with colt??

[Iphantom]

somthing you should know:

you WILL go trough hard times

with any nano reef

I almost quit

there was one point where my tank looked like trash

no matter what I did it was coverd in alge and everything else

balencing salinity is somthing that you will have to figure out the hard way with a nano

 

basicly I just want you to know dont give up just

expect that it will be hard until you get the hang of it then you will have one of the coolest possible fish tanks ever

 

and we are all really happy to anser your questions

 

sorry if this is a little spuratic Its like 4 o clock in the morning

 

ok well good luck

-Matt

[surfy]

Oops, I thought you said colt coral but you said coal. What do you mean with the hermits bothering your coal?

A HOB is hang on back filter, Aqua Clear etc.

The lights can wait until the tank is cycled.

I would wait a few weeks after the cycle to put a fish or corals in that way it has some time to stabelize. After that I don't think it will matter if the fish goes in first before the coral(s)

I have never used glue in my tank. The rocks are stacked pretty sturdy so they won't fall. Certain corals need to be glued to the rock work so they don't keep falling off, mostly small frags.

Don't worrie about the whole glueing thing because you probably won't need to do it.

I would put the rocks in first and then dump sand around them so it helps to stabelize the rock work.

[Rebecca]

I ment corals. I guess I just missed typing the r. With the corals I have choosen will I have to "trim" them at all?? Like they won't grow too much for my tank would they??

[Rebecca]

What brand is the best for the salt?? Reef crytals or intstant ocean or there is also tropic marin?? Also what is with all the marine supplements?? Do I have to have anything special?? I found CARIB SEA ARAGONITE-ALIVE SAND 20LB from bigalsonline.com. That should work for my tank right?? I can't seem to find any other live sand anywhere in canada online.

[Phish]

I like Instant Ocean my self.

 

You need supplements if you require them... pretty simple, like if you have filter feaders like Feather Dusters, you would want to buy Marine Snow or something like that, so it can eat.

 

That sand would be ok, but if you buy that, go to your LFS and get a cup or two of LS from one of there established tanks, put it on top and it will all turn into LS or time.

 

And I wasnt talking to you like you were dumb, or at least I didnt mean to, Yes, I am kinda mean, I cant help it, its my fault, I answer questions all day long, just like this one. I always tell everyone, "Why are you asking this, I just answered it in another post" (Yes I am quite insane.... really) and have mild crazy days and crazy crazy days... :*( :x

[Rebecca]

The closest FS that has salt water tanks would be Edmonton (I think) and Vancouver. Ones about a full day or so away the other 6 hours! It's the same with L/R. So the net is basicly my only choice. I live in a small town we only have on pet store and basicly I'm smarter and know more about everything they sell then they do. Getting in newts is a special order thing, let alone saltwater fish or lizards.

[Phish]

Then after you buy the 20lbs bag, go to www.exoticfish.com and buy one or two lbs of LS and substatute that for a couple of lbs from the 20lbs bag... I hope that makes sense...

 

That sucks, I live in Westminster, I have around 7 GREAT LFS's around me, some of them do online buisness with people all over the us, and I have access to them, they are like half an hour away.

 

Jeff's exotic fish is one of them. ( www.exoticfish.com )

and Marine Depot is another ( www.marinedepot.com )

 

I can get there in like 20-45 min... So I never had a problem with finding a good LFS, but buy like 1lbs of LS from jeff's that will do fine.

[Rebecca]

Keep in mind I live in Canada. We don't have as meny fancy stores like you guys I wish I lived closer to a big city but my parents decided to live in a small town. Oh well. Thanks for the help.