new nano-reef

[nbarbier]

I just set up my first nano-reef this week and here are the tank and equipment specs:

 

Tank: 29g

40 lbs of live rock

1" of crushed coral substrate

Lighting: (2) 75 watt URI 50/50 VHO bulbs.

Millenium 3000 back filter

Sea Clone 100 protein skimmer

(2) Penquin 550 power heads

Maxi-Jet 400 power head

 

Is the Sea Clone 100 and Millenium 3000 really necessary?

 

I plan on only keeping soft corals mostly and maybe a few LPS corals.

 

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

[pyrrhus]

if you are keeping softies the skimmer and the carbon in the millenium will help to keep the chemical warfare down. this is especially important if you are going to keep any type of stony coral as the allelopathic warfare can inhibit calcification.

[Aiptasia]

Run the carbon intermittantly. Carbon used 24/7 is a perfect bed for bacteria and will eventually become a nitrate trap. I'd use it one or two days a week max, or not at all.

 

IMHO Re: Your setup,

 

Your substrate is the wrong type and not thick enough. The problem is, unless you use a deeper sand bed, you'll never develop a dentrification zone for eliminating nitrate, so your sandbed actually will work against you (becoming a nitrate trap) and become a source of high nitrates. You can completely remove the crushed coral (berlin style) or do a little research on Deep Sand Beds (Monaco/Jaubert style) and how to set them up (search for articles here).

 

The OPF (mellinnium) filter isn't necessary, and once the filter pads are colonized by bacterial colonies, will become a nitrate trap. Remove it and let your Liverock do the work for you.

 

Seaclone skimmers suck. Invest in something that will do a better skimming job, such as an Aqua-C remora, CPR Bakpak II or Prizm Pro Deluxe (all hang on models). The aqua-c with the surface overflow cup is an ideal choice (note, their overflow cups are different depending on the powerhead you select for the skimmer. Make sure the powerhead/cup match.).

 

150 watts of 50/50 light should be fine for softies and deep/mid water LPS and SPS corals. This is fine, but you should know that the VHO bulbs will need to be replaced every six months because of the color shifting and reduced output as the tubes age. Some aquarists replace them every three months.

 

Can you keep neon colored SPS corals under them? Can you keep bright blue maxxima clams under them? No. If you do and get them to adapt, they will brown out on you by adding larger concentrations of zooxanthellae in their tissues.

 

But, for everything else, you should be fine.

[nbarbier]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Looks like I will definately have to make some changes to my tank in both equipment and subtrate type/depth. I've heard nothing but bad things about SeaClones but unfortunately I had already bought one by that time. The LFS in my area doesn't carry a good selection of skimmers. Any suggestions on where I can buy a good hang-on skimmer on-line? And since I already have the live rock arranged in the tank, would it be better to just take the crushed coral out and not use any substrate or replace the current substrate with a deep sand bed (how deep)? Once again, thanks for all the help and advice!

[EtOH_is_good]

i got my aqua c remora off of ebay, but i think NR sponsers also carry them.

 

substrate is a matter of choice and availability (take a look at this poll http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=26275). another option is to cover the crushed coral with sand, but the larger stuff will eventually get to the top. i'm not planning to have a DSB, so haven't done enough of the homework, but i believe that the min depth is 4". i'm going to have a 20L which is 12" high so no DSB, more like 2".

[nbarbier]

Thanks Etoh for the info, it's nice to be able to compare notes on nano-reefs. Good luck on your 20g!