Back at it 10 Gal AIO setup advice

[Vsquad]

Hello all,

i finally have a career where I can be home daily to monitor a tank and give proper care so I figured I’d do it right this time and be patient and get all equipment ahead of time. Had a biocube 29 that had descent success but I’m gonna go smaller this time. Here are my thoughts on my new setup. Tell me your thoughts.

 

Equipment I already have:

 

10 Gal Fijicube AIO acrylic

AI Nano LEDs

jebao WP 10 

Reef Keeper Lite

BRS 4 stage RODI

Marine test kit (basic)

refractometer

 

Here is what I’m on the hunt for next and suggestions would be welcomed:

 

ATO (thinking of autotopoff.com)

Skimmer or DIY ATS (on the fence not sure I even need since water changes should cover)

50 Watt Heater x2 (for WC)

Sand (non live- gonna use turbo start 900)

Rock (thinking a bonsai from west mariculture) or a pedestal structure.

Salt (thinking Fritz or Red Sea Pro Coral)

 

Livestock:

pair of Clownfish

LPS

Zoas

Do I use a Clean up Crew?? I’m concerned on snails scratching the acrylic which they did on my biocube so I’m hesitant.

 

Well that’s all I can think of for now- I’ve attached a pic of the Cube with the AI Nano lighting. It still has the plastic wrap on it I was just checking to see how it would look with lights on. Don’t wanna unwrap until all equipment is acquired. Please let me know your thoughts. I hope I’m headed in the right direction. Cheers

 

 

[Nart]

Nice looking tank and love the light.

 

I have an IM 10 so it's a similar set-up and I can offer some recommendations in terms of gear.

 

ATO - Smart Micro ATO

Heater - 50W Cobalt Neo-therm

Salt - I use Fritz RPM. Red Sea mixes the Alk a little too high for me.

 

Those pedestal/bonsai tree rock scape is perfect for a tank that size in my opinion. Leaves the open scape and plenty of highs and low for coral placement.

 

Return pump? Sicce Syncra 0.5 or Sicce Micraplus. I have both and used it in the tank. The Sicce 0.5 was too much flow for the RBTAs I have in it, so I decided to swap out to a lower flow return pump.

 

Hope this helps.

[Vsquad]

Thanks for the recommendations  Nart. As far as the return pump the Fijicube stock one is rated at 115 GPH.  Is this enough flow combined withe the Jebao? I have an MJ1200 laying around but I’m guessing that is way too much flow since the Sicce .5 was too much for you. 

[Nart]

MJ1200 is definitely way too much. It's what I use in my IM25 gallon.

 

115 gph should be okay combined with a power-head in the display. All depends what you are keeping.

If the stock pump gets too loud, then you can consider upgrading. Try it out first and see how you like it along with how the corals like it.

 

I think in that size tank, with the Sicce Syncra 0.5, that flow is perfect for medium to higher flow corals.

But for corals like enjoy the lower flow - yeah 115 to 150'ish gph max is what you should go for.

I use the Sicce Micra plus and that's rated at 158gph, but I also have it dialed down half way.

 

 

[Vsquad]

Well, finally started getting this thing up and running. I couldn’t find any pedestal rocks locally but I ran into some fine pieces of LR that I thought were nice. Tank is in the middle of cycling. Using the raw shrimp method. 

    Also I am thinking of going Bare Bottom. I was originally gonna use a thin sand bed but I remember it was a pain to keep clean on my old biocube. I kinda like the clean asthetic look, plus it will be so easy to keep clean during water changes.

 

[Vsquad]

It’s been a month and a half. Tank has cycled and I’ve added a pair of clowns and a few corals 

[Clown79]

Looks good

[Nart]

Awesome job! How are you cleaning your acrylic tank? Looks spotless