A bit of an Introduction

[DH Freewheeler]

Hey!

 

I have been a member of this site for quite some time now, not only on this username, but also on another username that I have either forgotten the username, or the password, but anyway........... I wish to set up an extremely small nano (or in this case - micro) reef. Problemo is - im new to the reef aquarium hobby. Im expecting to be flamed right now, but before you do, I have owned a plastic carrycase aquarium, full of stuff I have picked up from a local beach, and to my astonishment kept all the invertabraes I had collected alive for a long amount of time (occupants were some nudibranch, snails and a small crab that I have failed to destinguish). I used a plastic DIY skimmer, that worked rather well, and did water changes bi-weekly using water that i kept circulating in a large esky.

 

Past aquarium experience has mainly been freshwater. I've owned many a tank, and bred many species of fish, however I would like to run my hand at something that is

a)more challenging &

b)more fascinating (and IMHO, more beautiful)

 

I have been studying the biological nature of a reef aquarium for a long period of time. I basically know many of the vital guidelines and what is needed for reef establishment. Coming from Australia, we have different means of running a reef aquarium (plenums, mechanical filtration etc) so upon mentioning many of the systems that the members of this board have adopted, LFS workers/owners either laugh at me, or think that I am completely nuts. This is not going to discourage me, but rather my past experience with these people has made my passion for an "unconventional" aquarium burn greater.

 

The aquarium that I am willing to establish will be 2.5 gallons. I will utilise a small powerhead that will be positioned to point upwards, breaking the surface and create enough current to help circulate the water within the tank. I will use a DSB (or plenum????? - there has been no definite answer to my querry) and a substantial amount of live rock. In the preliminary stage of the establishment I will use NO lights (I would use PC, but they are unavailable in Australia) with a remote ballast. I will use 1 Actinic light and another 8,000k globe). Before introducing any fish, invertabrae or coral, I will wait for the aquarium to cycle (Im expecting 2 months?). Once the cycling stage has completed I will add mushrooms, polyps, and gradually, as my light levels increase, I wish to add more light intensive corals such as sps corals (I am still doing research regarding water paramaters and nutrients).

 

Eventually, I will purchase a HOB filter or construct my own devie that will allow me to have room for a micro-chilling device, and in a seprate compartment, a refugium, that will house caulerpa (grapevine) algae.

 

I would appreciate any critical response.

[SLOreefer]

ok...no flaming from me....first off in this size tank and under no lights no sps!!!no hob for this tank either because of no space for it. i would do the refugium and forget about the hob. do water changes weekly. i also do not like dsb or plenum. in this small of a tank t is pointless. there is not enough surface area for it to really help. just do like 2 or so inches of sand. with no lamps i owuld recommend to stay with lowlight corals. good luck....

[SLOreefer]

ok...no flaming from me....first off in this size tank and under no lights no sps!!!no hob for this tank either because of no space for it. i would do the refugium and forget about the hob. do water changes weekly. i also do not like dsb or plenum. in this small of a tank t is pointless. there is not enough surface area for it to really help. just do like 2 or so inches of sand. with no lamps i owuld recommend to stay with lowlight corals. good luck....

[DH Freewheeler]

by NO I mean normal output.

[cjm033]

for water changes youu might wanna do a cup a day and at the end  of the week maby a little more like a half gallon or sumthing like that good luck with ur new tank,Chris:)

[Sahin]

SLO did understand that you mean NO=Normal Output.

What he meant was that with NO lights, you cant keep sps corals as the intensity is just not enough.

 

You have a good setup planned.

I rather like the idea of a DSB.  I would go for 2-3 inches depending on how much it will take away from the overall tank height.  Even though a DSB may not perform very well in a small tank, it does provide a home for the various critters.  I am already begiging to see this in my tank.

Foret about adding a plenum to the sand bed.  Just go for 2-3 inches of fine sand. Go with very fine sand if possible.

 

I expect you with the normal output fluoroscents you should be able to keep variuos polyps, muchrooms and other softies.  

 

The tank will only take 2-3 weeks to cycle, depends on the live rock. You can wait longer, though not absoluitely necessary.

I should think you will be fine with the setup planned.

 

When it comes to buying corals, just buy tiny frags or tiny ones to cut down on cost which also means that if the coral frag didnt stay alive in your tank under your propsoed method of lighting, at least you dont loose a whole coral and waste a lot of money.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

Post us some pics when its all setup.

Good luck.

 

(Edited by Sahin at 7:57 am on June 12, 2002)

[DH Freewheeler]

I would LOVE to have VHO available in Australia, this would EASILY rule out the lighting problemo for the SPS. The next step up in lighting would be a hanging 75 watt MH pendant, and this is rather impractial for a tiny aquarium that I would like to have because of its small package.So Im planning to have about 4 NO fluoros,  which will easily be suffice for soft corals, leathers, shrooms and polyps.

 

I was wondering, for a system this small, can i use a heater? My home has no heating supply, and it does get rather chilly in the colder months.

[Satchmo]

Have you tried www.ahsupply.com?  They won't ship internationally?  You could get a small PC fixture, would probably save you in bulb replacement $$$ in the long term... would also widen your options in terms of livestock.  

 

If they won't ship to you, you can send it to my house.  I'd be happy to relay it to Australia for you if you paid the shipping, of course.  Email me if interested.

[printerdown01]

I would venture to guess that AH Supply and Hello lights both ship to Australia (for a price of course). Honestly, I think this would be the smartest move... Be sure to order a bunch of lights at once (like 3, which would last you almost 3 years) to save on shipping. It is possible to set-up a successful nano using NO bulbs. I myself have taken both routes, and I def encourage people to go for the PC. I too would go with a refugium (either a 1, 2.5, or 5 gallon refugium would work).

*as for the heater, honestly I wouldn't even think about having a 2.5 with out a heater! The smaller the tank the harder it is for the tank to retain heat or stay cool. Thus, the need for a heater would be greater in a 2.5 than a larger tank! I def think you can make this happen, even if you have different supplies in Australia!! Good luck