e12pilot Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Hi All, I am new to these forums, but have already found them very very helpful. Here is my predicament: I am a Junior in college who used to have a 55 gallon reef when he was in high school. I feel in love with the hobby, and now am yearning another reef. Obviously, in college space and money is very very limited. So, I decided to go nano. I already have a great deal of reef experience, but with larger tanks. So here are my questions: 1) I am thinking about getting a 10 gallon glass tank, due to its: A) Inexpensive nature Resistence to scratching 2) Now, I need a hood for it, I have seen several posts regarding the Eclipse hoods, and people basically just using them as a powerhead. A little pricey, at ~$70, but if it looks good and works, why not? Any other lower cost alternatives that someone could point me to online? 3) Lighting: I was thinking about going the PC route. What would be the ideal setup with the hood you recommend above? I want to keep most soft corals, but nothing THAT light demanding. Price once again, is key here, but so is quality. 4) Flitration: Was going to go the power head/life rock route for the bio filtration. Is this the best/most economical route? Obviously regular water changes would occur. Anything else needed here? Ok, so now I have the basics down, here is the BIG question: I would like to order all this stuff online, as the LFS here is quite rude, and I don't want to deal with them with hardgoods. Also, I think I can probably get a better deal online?????? So, if you guys could provide some good internet resources with the products above that would be spectacular. Thank you so much for all your help, Peter Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Welcome to Nano-Reef.com Peter! As far as cost of the hood...it will cost a lot less to build a canopy out of wood, or pay someone to make it. (I have a nice solid oak canopy for a 10 gal if you're interested ) Then just mount your lighting into the canopy. If you get an eclipse hood, you're just going to have to replace the lights on it anyways, and besides that it's kind of limiting. As far as the circulation it provides...you can get a powerhead of comparable flow for about $15. Thus, not using the eclipse hood is a better choice IMO... The most cost effective lighting kit for a 10 gallon nano reef, that is good enough to keep soft corals and most LPS, is a CSL 32w smartlite, or similar. (I could install one of my extra ones in this canopy for you too if you wanted ) I think most stores sell them for around $50. Everything else on your plan sounds good. Link to comment
cjm033 Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 as far as corals go cant you just frag stuff out of your 55??? Link to comment
e12pilot Posted October 9, 2002 Author Share Posted October 9, 2002 I no longer have the 55, that was many moons ago :-) Peter P.S. Christopher, you have a PM now :-) Link to comment
jburke30 Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Greetings e12pilot, I'm a bit skittish about DIY canopy building since I accidentally poisoned my tank and killed off half my livestock with my attempt, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you enjoy such things and have all the tools and bits to pull it off (though I would recommend buying Mr. Marks hood and smartlight combo ) However, another alternative is to retrofit a standard plastic hood. AH Supply (www.ahsupply.com) has a great selection of kits for this purpose as well as the 32 watt CSL smartlight which can be purchased online for a reasonable price (my LFS sells them for $75 which is a bit high IMO, which is why I went with AH Supply for my 20L tank - still gotta find a good canopy though X)). Good luck, Jason Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 If you want to go very budget, stick with the eclipse 1-twinlight hood. If you rearm it with two good bulbs, you've got 30 watts of lighting and that's going to work for quite a few different corals. Good bulbs for that project without being hard to find or expensive would be 1 triton (white) and one triton blue moon (blue) If you want to go for PC light, get a cheap 10 gallon tank incandescent hood. Immediately junk the electrical parts inside the hood, and put in a Customsealife 32-watt smartlight retrofit. You still have a nice finished look but with better lighting. For pumps/powerheads, get a Hagen Aquaclear MINI or 150 HOB filter (nice for adding media) and an Aquarium Systems Micro-Jet pump. Don't get the cheapest heater in the world, go for a 50 or 75 watt Ebo Jager. Link to comment
e12pilot Posted October 9, 2002 Author Share Posted October 9, 2002 Sells the 2x13 kit for $100 . I said, no thanks.... and walked out. Ohh well, thanks for the suggestions. I am looking to buy Mark's kit, as it would require less end work on my part. This site rocks! Peter Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 You should order over the web. You can get a nice 2x13 watt kit from ahsupply.com for 53.22 including shipping! They're totally safe to order from and very nice to deal with. This would include: their 2x13 watt deluxe kit (with great MIRO4 reflector) two 13 watt combo bulbs (half 10K white and half actinic blue) all hardware, ballasts, etc. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Or Mark's kit, I haven't seen it but he knows what he's doing! Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Another suggestion if you'd rather not use my canopy, www.petsupplyliquidator.com has some pretty nice hoods available if you like the 'open top' look of tanks. And they have great prices...and will even make a custom kit for you if needed. Link to comment
Smokey Joe Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 I have two nanos, a 10g and 20g, and found that I was able to build the 10 much cheaper (some would even argue it looks better). I'll describe my setup and costs below: I bought a 10g AGA and using silicone built a false back out of a piece of black acrylic. This hides the equipment and provides many of the other benefits of a sump. I have two powerheads, a maxijet 400 which injects water into the tank, and a minijet 404 which just kind of sprays water around, you can never have too much water movement in my opinion. Behind the acrylic, in the "sump" area, I have a 50w ebo-jager and an aquaclear mini that I run with just a sponge for water movement and large particle filtration. I built my own hood and installed a 32W smartlite like people are suggesting. Thats about it for the hardware, as the main component of filtration is done in the live rock. I think my total cost was <$200 before the livestock/liverock. The only real problem with my setup is food particulate tends to get swept back into the sump and unless the filter catches it (unlikely) it gets stuck in the bottom. I get around this by siphoning off the bottom during water changes. Algae growth in the back is of biblical proportions but it can't be seen. I guess if I ever felt like it I could install a clamp lite and put a few snals or something back there (even a refugum I suppose). If you really like coralline growth I'd opt for 64W, as my one smartlite doesn't really do it. Link to comment
ross76053 Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 1) I am thinking about getting a 10 gallon glass tank, due to its: A) Inexpensive Nature First of all, welcome back to the hobby, Peter! But keep in mind that a 10-gallon will still cost you hundreds. After two months, I've spent $600 on my 10-gal, and it's nowhere near being stocked. X) Ross Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 WOOO HOOO!!! I'm a Jr. in college, and I too used to have a 55 in highschool!! LOL- seriously! I got into the hobby when I was a tiny little tot (no joke, I've been in it for like 12 years, and I'm only 20... yeah, that young). Don't let anyone lead you astray... Eveyone told me that it would end up being JUST as expensive as my 55, B.S.!!!!!! You replace 2 bulbs on a 55 and you could have purchased a whole lighting system on a 10 gallon . I run an Eclipse 1 hood (on a 12 gallon, it is just deeper than the 10). I actually use the bio-wheel and the carbon. Some people like to remove the wheel (I won't go into details) but I would def advocate using the activated carbon packets. I use mine most of the time (almost all, but not quite). If you do go with this set-up, you could easily pop in a 32W CSL retro (just bought one from ffexpress.com for $40 + shipping. This is enough light for just about any softie that I can think of, and quite a few LPS corals... You will also probably want to add either a Rio 50 or Rio 90 (or anything comperable). If you decide to go with a custom hood, I would use a HOB filter and a Rio 90... Make sure your surface is "moving" -I can't stress this enough! If you were able to keep a 55 you can keep a nano... I thought it would be a lot harder to keep balanced, but so far (one year later) no problems... PM me if you have any questions about my set-up. p.s. what college do you go to?? -I'm at San Diego State (CA)... Link to comment
NaNO ReeFiN Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Originally posted by ross76053 First of all, welcome back to the hobby, Peter! But keep in mind that a 10-gallon will still cost you hundreds. After two months, I've spent $600 on my 10-gal, and it's nowhere near being stocked. X) Ross Whoa... ??? That's a lot!! Link to comment
e12pilot Posted October 10, 2002 Author Share Posted October 10, 2002 printerdown - I go to the University of Oregon. Yeah, I was sorta taken aback by the lack of filtration everyone here seems to advocate. Definitly a different setup than my 55. Hey, I am 20 too! Can't wait till the big 21er. Thanks for the info, do you know if ffexpress has anymore 32watt setups left? Thanks. Peter Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 WOW, I was going to say of course they have 32W CSLs left... but I don't see them hmmm... you might want to send them an e-mail... They have 2x32 for $100... LOL, but that is probably more than you want to spend. Another $$ saving tip, get dry sand (I prefer aragonite... actually I prefer Oolite for nanos now , I'm getting picky). This sand is a really fine aragonite -killer stuff! Either seed the sand with sand from an estabished tank, wait for your LR to seed the tank, ooor... my cheap easy way to live sand: Get your LFS to let you suck the "gunk/crap" off the bottom of their LR tank with a turkey baster -this is such an odd request they almost never say no (especially if you are buying LR at the time). Wash your dry sand, put it in the tank, then add the "gunk" and mix it into the sand... Makes the water cloudy for a while (but that happens when you add sand anyway). It will also help kick off your cycle (die-off). -Instant LS, the gunk contains LOTS of bacteria, bits of coralline algae, eggs of god knows what, mini brittle stars, pods, and tons of other stuff! Does anyone else know of a decent supplier of 32W CSL (sorry but I trust the brand!) PCs on the net, since ffexpress seems to be out of them?? btw, I know a girl who just graduated from U of Oregon: Jessica Stern (I think your campus is small, so I mentioned the name... we have 32,000 undergrad students here ??? ). Link to comment
e12pilot Posted October 10, 2002 Author Share Posted October 10, 2002 UofO has like 22,000 undergrad this year, but damn 32,000 is quite a bit. Well, I guess for the time being one 32CSL would be ok for most corals, but eventually I will probably add another 32. With the live sand I was planning on making an order with gulf-view.com and asked Dale how much it would be to throw in around 6-8lbs of sand. It turns out to be around $19 more, so I think I will just go that route. Any opinions? Thanks everyone for all the help. Peter Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 ghetto alert ! GHETTO ALERT ! WOOP WOOP WOOPP ! hehhe J/K. cost effective reefing is good. I have to do it at times too. just dont be a cheep bast'rd and use inferior stuff. A SPARSE tanks done correctly is better than a FILLED TO THE GILL cutting corners and penny grubbing ghetto tank anyday. Have an idea game plan and stick with it. If yer creative, ya could try to present a proposal to the school or an administrator in student activities and create a reefing club. Im part of one at RPI in troy NY. ill look fer the link. Link to comment
anthony812 Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 welcome back ! If you want, i have a retrofit kit by AH supply 2x36W with Spider Reflctor for you $60 shipped through regular mail or if you want priority..u pay the difference. It is only 2-3 months old, 1x10K and 1x actinic blue. I have wired everything already, you just have to fit it in your hood. i am in Ca, and you are in Or, the shipping won't be much. let me know.. Link to comment
e12pilot Posted October 10, 2002 Author Share Posted October 10, 2002 I am already buying Chris M's canopy and CSL 32watt setup, b ut thank you very much for the offer. BTW: If anyone has another 32watt retrofit kit that they want to get rid of I am interested Thanks though Link to comment
J-Bass Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Damn, $60 bucks. That's a deal! If I had a smaller tank sitting around I'd take that retro off your hands for minus the shipping since I live like a city next to you. Sh*t, maybe I should go buy a $10 ten gal tank! Nah, my girlfriend would sh*t if I brought home another tank! This brother is WHIPPED! Link to comment
anthony812 Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 J-Bass - Hey..buy it for $60 i will even throw in a 15 gallon AGA for free! now that should be an offer you can't refuse. the 15 galon dimension: 24"x12"x12"..let me know.. Link to comment
J-Bass Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Hah, If I was just starting out I'd buy it but right now I can only afford and handle just my 20gal. Anyone who is in orange county or so.cal who plans to start a nano should buy that setup from you. To me anything smaller than 15 just wouldn't cut it! Something bout seeing clown fish in tanks any smaller just irks me, lol! Hey I noticed you use a Prizm skimmer.... didn't you have a CPR bak pak? Or was that someone else. If it was you, why'd you switch? Usually isn't it the other way around? Link to comment
anthony812 Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 I sold the CPR as a package with my 55 gallon setup...can you belive i sold my whole tank setup w/2x250W MH, with fish and refugium all for $300??? I changed to a smaller tank, and the prizm came with that tank setup already. but thanks for the advertisment.. Link to comment
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