Old (dead) live rock

[ODOG]

I had a 10 gallon nano set up a few years ago that I had to tear down. Now I'm thinking of doing a 2.5 gallon and was wondering if there would be anything wrong with taking my old dried up live rock and using in the new tank. I could buy some rubble to re-seed it. Any issues I'm not seeing here?

 

Also, as for light I was thinking about the coralife with 2 x 9 watts. Does everyone agree that this will be sufficient? I'm not going to be keeping anything thats super light dependent. I use one of these lights on my son's 5.5 gallon FW tank and it seems pretty bright.

 

Last question for now...does anyone know if an AC 300 will fit on the back of the AGA 2.5 gallon? I was thinking of putting in a smaller impeller and throwing in some macro and rubble.

 

Thanks

 

--PS it's great to see how much the site has grown...I think when I registered there were like 30 members

[ODOG]

Someone must have some idea

[tinyreef]

shouldn't be any issue on re-using old rock as long as you didn't use any medicines or stuff in the previous tank. i'd cure it all over again tho, just to be sure. desiccated crappie is still crappie. :x

 

2 x 9W is ok. you should be able to replace the 9W with 13W and further increase the output. the ballasts on most of those 9W fixtures can handle up to 15W(?). marinedepot.com

 

not sure on the AC300 sizing. it's the one size i've never had. i don't think you have to change the impeller. just throttle the flow to minimum and shunt/deflect some of the inflow with some rock if you still think it's too much. hth

[ODOG]

Thanks for the info Tiny Reef...anyone else with 2.5 gallon Nanos have any pertinent advice?

[Reefmaniac]

That is how I keep my costs low on ANY tank that I start. I never use all "new" live rock. I use at least half the weight in "dead" rock.

[1fish2fish]

I would definitely recommend an auto top off. I'm using one on my 1 gallon at the moment and it's the cats azz. It allows me to be away for a day or two without having to rely on others and also keeps my salinity more stable than if I were to do it manually.

 

Personally I would check the width of your tank and see just how many and what size of lights you can put over it. As a general rule more is better.

[ODOG]

I wound up getting a 5.5 gallon, I have the coralife aqualight with 2 x 9w (1-10,000k & 1-03 actinic). Put a Aquaclear 300 on the back, using the surface skimmer on it and filled the back with live rock, maybe a 1.5 pounds, aragonite in the tank and filter.

Put a freshwater coralife over the filter for now, has 2 x 9w 6,500k bulbs. Also purchased a light from the Home Depot which has a 19w curly pc in it. Ideally I'd like to put the 19w curly over the fuge and have the 2 coralifes over the main, although they don't fit real well together. I might take one apart and place it in the top I build for it. Any thoughts?