My Filterless, Skimmerless 10G

[CatfishSoupFTW]

i did this too when I started. Ran nothing but the tank and a wave maker. not even a heater as room temp was good. Had no issues. Nitrates couldnt get any lower than what they were, but never had issues with them either. Easy to do, and I did daily 1 cup water changes.

[Nano sapiens]

I was too scared to vacuum the sand in fear of sucking lots out accidentally lol.

So I didn't vacuum it at all ever.

Until last week when I needed some sand to seed some new dry rock. Man, the part I vacuumed got soo white and clean haha.

 

Typically what happens in small tanks (even with mechanical and chemical filtration) is that the sand bed becomes less and less efficient/effective over time due to detritus blocking advective flow to the bacteria as well as a buildup of organic residue. This will cause nitrate and phosphate to rise over time.

 

To counteract this effect, simply pick a small section of sand bed to vacuum each time you do a water change. You can use a simple siphon hose and pinch it to control flow or opt for a commercial 'gravel vac' (you can get fancy and add a valve to it so that you can control the flow).

 

After seeing so many nano tanks go belly-up within a year or two, I wrote this up a while back and it's still the process that I use today:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/327364-maintenance-and-the-nano-reef-tank/

 

It might seem a bit much at first, but after a while it just becomes part of the routine.

[jabeuy]

i did this too when I started. Ran nothing but the tank and a wave maker. not even a heater as room temp was good. Had no issues. Nitrates couldnt get any lower than what they were, but never had issues with them either. Easy to do, and I did daily 1 cup water changes.

Hey are you on gtaaquaria? Lol that username looks familiar from somewhere

 

Typically what happens in small tanks (even with mechanical and chemical filtration) is that the sand bed becomes less and less efficient/effective over time due to detritus blocking advective flow to the bacteria as well as a buildup of organic residue. This will cause nitrate and phosphate to rise over time. To counteract this effect, simply pick a small section of sand bed to vacuum each time you do a water change. You can use a simple siphon hose and pinch it to control flow or opt for a commercial 'gravel vac' (you can get fancy and add a valve to it so that you can control the flow). After seeing so many nano tanks go belly-up within a year or two, I wrote this up a while back and it's still the process that I use today: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/327364-maintenance-and-the-nano-reef-tank/'>http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/327364-maintenance-and-the-nano-reef-tank/ It might seem a bit much at first, but after a while it just becomes part of the routine.

Gonna give that a read later.I just did a water change, and it's really not any more work to vaccum and pinch the hose. But I vacuumed probably half the tank, not just a small section. Hopefully that didn't unleash anything bad into the tank after not cleaning for 4 months haha.

[Nano sapiens]

The good news is that your tank is not years old with an unvacuumed, dirty sand bed.

 

If you don't see any negative results, then you can certainly vacuum a larger portion with each water change.

[markalot]

More SPS are killed by water stripped of all nutrients than "dirty" water. I am not surprised and it's a good lesson for a larger tank with more equipment. clean water leads to better colors but only if sps are kept well fed. IMO.

[jabeuy]

More SPS are killed by water stripped of all nutrients than "dirty" water. I am not surprised and it's a good lesson for a larger tank with more equipment. clean water leads to better colors but only if sps are kept well fed. IMO.

 

I got my sps from a LFS that was having them on sale for being browned out by too much feeding.

I'm gonna have to read more into what causes browning and bleaching before I dive into more sps.

[markalot]

Low light and higher than ideal parameters or unstable parameters can lead to dark browning. Dark brown corals tend to still grow pretty fast in spite of the color. It looks like what you have is corals that were living in way too low a light or a tank that actually had too high a light and not enough nutrients, or a tank with unstable parameters that put the corals under stress.

 

I see what I think is a Bird of Paradise birdsnest, an Acro of some sort (the one with the most color), and I'm not sure of the pale pinkish one. Could be German Blue polyp digitata, some other kind of Montipora digitata, or even a Stylophora of some sort. Order (after the text a day after) is Montipora digitata(?), birdsnest, acro.

[jabeuy]

Low light and higher than ideal parameters or unstable parameters can lead to dark browning. Dark brown corals tend to still grow pretty fast in spite of the color. It looks like what you have is corals that were living in way too low a light or a tank that actually had too high a light and not enough nutrients, or a tank with unstable parameters that put the corals under stress.

 

I see what I think is a Bird of Paradise birdsnest, an Acro of some sort (the one with the most color), and I'm not sure of the pale pinkish one. Could be German Blue polyp digitata, some other kind of Montipora digitata, or even a Stylophora of some sort. Order (after the text a day after) is Montipora digitata(?), birdsnest, acro.

It's too bad my tank is small, they had some really big softball sized SPS colonies for $10. Would've been cool to see if I could nurse them back to their proper colors haha.

 

In this image, according to the LFS:

- bottom one: blue monti digitata

- top 2: some kind of pocillopra and "slider". Forgot which was which lol.

[markalot]

I stand by my guesses. At least I can recognize the german blue polyp monti now. The one in the back is certainly not a poci. The top is an Acropora and it may be a Green Slimer, if that's what they meant. Easiest acro to grow.

 

Poci images: https://www.google.com/search?q=pocillopora&num=30&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=fm09VLKKDIeyyASgtoCQCw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1349&bih=895

 

Bird of Paradise or similar birdsnest.

 

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1349&bih=895&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=bird+of+paradise+coral&oq=bird+of+paradise+coral&gs_l=img.3..0j0i5l2j0i24.32965.36018.0.36255.22.16.0.6.6.0.135.1385.9j7.16.0....0...1c.1.55.img..0.22.1396.ZMcIB9XvirQ

 

It may be a green birdsnest as well, hard to tell. In any case a good deal.

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Hey are you on gtaaquaria? Lol that username looks familiar from somewhere

 

Gonna give that a read later. I just did a water change, and it's really not any more work to vaccum and pinch the hose. But I vacuumed probably half the tank, not just a small section. Hopefully that didn't unleash anything bad into the tank after not cleaning for 4 months haha.

 

 

 

haha yeah im an active member on GTAA. Basically anything internet related this is my go to name. XD good to see more members on this forum as well. Where have you been picking up your corals lately?

[jabeuy]

 

 

 

haha yeah im an active member on GTAA. Basically anything internet related this is my go to name. XD good to see more members on this forum as well. Where have you been picking up your corals lately?

Haha nice!

Lately from CanadaCorals. But the majority is from a mish mash of vendors at the frag meet last summer, and a bunch from a buddy of mine.

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Haha nice!

Lately from CanadaCorals. But the majority is from a mish mash of vendors at the frag meet last summer, and a bunch from a buddy of mine.

Canada corals, coral reef shop, and fragbox I find are my favs. big als is weak, and AK in sauga, I find that they have weak corals as well... literally. All the zoas I have boughten from them slowly die or dont do well. All my other ones are growing very well.

 

I havent done any local stuff yet - upgrading to a 22 with sump soon, so its only a matter of time lol

[jabeuy]

Canada corals, coral reef shop, and fragbox I find are my favs. big als is weak, and AK in sauga, I find that they have weak corals as well... literally. All the zoas I have boughten from them slowly die or dont do well. All my other ones are growing very well.

 

I havent done any local stuff yet - upgrading to a 22 with sump soon, so its only a matter of time lol

Haha yeah, fragbox is great. He was one of the vendors I bought from at the frag meet. Haven't been to the store yet though as I'm closer to the stores in Missisauga. Found the AK corals weak as well haha, but they do have a lot of other livestock. I always drive down Dundas and check out all the fish stores, but end up buying at Canada corals lol.

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Haha yeah, fragbox is great. He was one of the vendors I bought from at the frag meet. Haven't been to the store yet though as I'm closer to the stores in Missisauga. Found the AK corals weak as well haha, but they do have a lot of other livestock. I always drive down Dundas and check out all the fish stores, but end up buying at Canada corals lol.

I live in Oakville for my studies ( from Toronaaa originally) so its like being stuck between a rock and a hardplace. Everything is so far. Marcelos store is pretty neat. He runs it in a garage sort of thing. haha, I usually call him prior so that he makes his way to the store and opens up. kind of nice as its almost like you can go in any time of the day. AK and the burlington store are great for fish I find. CC I noticed are making their way into live stock as well so im excited to see who becomes top dog. Not too sure about advanced reef aquatics in milton. Went their once for my par38.

 

how do you find having sps so far in the small tank? I have all LPS, and two sps, just generic acros, and they went white on me. All my params are beyond wonderful, including lighting and flow, but I think those 10-15 ppm range im sitting in with my nitrates is killing them. And I cant get it down.

[jabeuy]

I live in Oakville for my studies ( from Toronaaa originally) so its like being stuck between a rock and a hardplace. Everything is so far. Marcelos store is pretty neat. He runs it in a garage sort of thing. haha, I usually call him prior so that he makes his way to the store and opens up. kind of nice as its almost like you can go in any time of the day. AK and the burlington store are great for fish I find. CC I noticed are making their way into live stock as well so im excited to see who becomes top dog. Not too sure about advanced reef aquatics in milton. Went their once for my par38.

 

how do you find having sps so far in the small tank? I have all LPS, and two sps, just generic acros, and they went white on me. All my params are beyond wonderful, including lighting and flow, but I think those 10-15 ppm range im sitting in with my nitrates is killing them. And I cant get it down.

I've only had them for a little under 2 weeks, so I can't say for sure yet. But so far, they're looking good, polyps out, all fuzzy lol.

 

 

I think flow is good enough in my tank, but lighting is weak. The lights I have only put out 0.25 watts per LED, and aren't rated well for keeping SPS (though I know some others on this forum keep SPS successfully with them). I'm upgrading tanks really soon though (about 35 or so gallons), much bigger than this tank and with better lighting. So I don't think I'll be able to comment much on keeping SPS in a small tank...unless 35G is still considered small (relatively speaking).

[Smurf]

Love the idea of the tank! everything looks beautiful!

[acrab78]

Hey are you on gtaaquaria? Lol that username looks familiar from somewhere

 

Gonna give that a read later.I just did a water change, and it's really not any more work to vaccum and pinch the hose. But I vacuumed probably half the tank, not just a small section. Hopefully that didn't unleash anything bad into the tank after not cleaning for 4 months haha.

I pinch my hose...

[jabeuy]

Oh boy!

My new tank is coming tomorrow

Here it is if you wanna check it out: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.767563649957148.1073741931.512175312162651&type=1

[rockryno]

what are your thoughts on the smart ato?

[jabeuy]

what are your thoughts on the smart ato?

It's good and seems really sensitive. My only issue with it is having to realign everytime I turn it off from doing a water change. If I were to get another, I'd fo with the full sized tunze.

[CatfishSoupFTW]

ah lucky you! i have had no extension. nada. Hopefully in the new tank things will open up.

 

why did you decide to upgrade?

[jabeuy]

ah lucky you! i have had no extension. nada. Hopefully in the new tank things will open up.

 

why did you decide to upgrade?

This 10G was supposed to be for just testing the waters, see what saltwater was all about. And a simple filterless tank is nice, but I have to be really diligent about water changes and can't feed as much and as often as I'd like.

But mostly I just wanted a bigger tank for more fish and corals lol.

[vlangel]

This 10G was supposed to be for just testing the waters, see what saltwater was all about. And a simple filterless tank is nice, but I have to be really diligent about water changes and can't feed as much and as often as I'd like.But mostly I just wanted a bigger tank for more fish and corals lol.

Alas, you have fallen into the trap with the rest of us!

[Cameron6796]

Wow this is very interesting how stable is the tank, what are you doing for nutrient export

[CatfishSoupFTW]

This 10G was supposed to be for just testing the waters, see what saltwater was all about. And a simple filterless tank is nice, but I have to be really diligent about water changes and can't feed as much and as often as I'd like.

But mostly I just wanted a bigger tank for more fish and corals lol.

 

 

 

this is exactly the same route I took....

 

I are now a reef addicted. all about that coral real estate !