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Coral Vue Hydros

"Why don't you just get a bigger tank?"


Sam_Sushiro

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Sam_Sushiro

I am so sick of hearing that. After a very unwelcome attitude at ReefCentral.com for not having a big enough tank and actually having a sense of humor, I have landed here by direction of my pal who is doing GREAT with a 10G FW conversion.

 

Here's the details:

 

29G FW conversion. Originally purchased for fun for my kids who have since lost interest. Now several of my friends have converted to SW and their tanks are great. Even greater are the stories of the meticulous attention to detail and the pride that they take in all aspects of the SW way of life. My closest friend converted his 10G and hasn't looked back since. It has been a lot of learning for him that he has passed to me. I also have a friend with a 55G tank who has recently had some big problems that I will learn from as well.

 

My plan is rough right now but here it is so far:

 

>Get some good lights. Lights that will support some good invertebrates but not break the bank (ie metal halides). I can mark this one done. I got my very first shipment from Drs. Foster & Smith. After much research I decided on the Orbit Compact Fluorescent Lunar Lights $169.99. These have Actintic, Daylight, and Moonlight in one enclosure. I think 130W should be sufficient for my needs.

 

>Get the right tests. Tests seem to be key in this hobby. Rather than going cheap first and then spending money on the goods anyway down the road, I have taken my friend's advice and just gotten it out of the way before my wife gets the bank statement. My second shipment is due on 04/12 from Drs. Foster & Smith. I ordered a Portable Refractometer $34.99 and a Hagen Master Test Kit $59.99.

 

>Get some live rock. Live Rock can make or break your tank from what I understand especially for us nanos. I plan to purchase "The Package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Now some question comes up here about aquascaping. Is there a good way to make sure that the beautiful structure that you create with your rock will stay in place. I have heard that there is nothing more frustrating than having your best ricordia frag falling face down every morning and having to thrust your had to the bottom of the tank while the peppermint shrimp pics dead skin from the back of your arm. Can anyone chime in here... I'm lost so far.

 

>Now comes the wait. Got the lights, the live rock and the live sand and hopefully by now I will have figured out some kind of way to secure my beatiful aquascape. So check up on my numbers and do weekly water changes with only the best RO water from my filter. Once I have seen the spikes and the algae bloom then its time to investigate the livestock possibilities.

 

>I gotta get a pair of Clown Fish for my kids (hey who doesn't -nemo). Then I'd like something like a Blenny or a Gramma to start.

 

>After the fish are swimming along and the numbers keep inline then it will be time to invest some money in the invertebrates. I have been to the local reefkeepers meeting and the sell frags there. My buddy bought a few zoos there. He has some that may be ready to frag for me by then. Then its time for my ultimate dream, the Pulsing Xenia. Once I have secured one of these and it is thriving I will know that I have arrived.

 

>One think I haven't mentioned is filtration. I have seen everything froma guy with nothing but live rock and live sand with some powerheads to the extreme homemade sump setup with 100G of volume displacement on a 10G show tank. I am undecided here and again, any advice is welcome.

 

I have enjoyed following along with others as they have built their tanks and documented their successes and failures. This site is the best I've seen. I hope I can do the same here for the next guy.

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Sam_Sushiro

Fist of all here is a pic of the tank as it sits now in all it's heavenly glory.

 

19229942-M.jpg

 

Yes, it is only 3/4 full and has completely gone to waste. Don't lose faith in me yet. I only let it go once I had surrendered to the hypnotic powers of saltwater.

 

The lights came FedEx on 04/08/05. Yeah, I'm the geek who took a pic of the box:

 

19229943-M.jpg

 

Wow, these lights are much bigger than I had expected but I am excited. They are going to work out great!

 

19229948-M.jpg

 

Actintics only:

 

19229949-M.jpg

 

Daylights only:

 

19229951-M.jpg

 

Full on:

 

19229950-M.jpg

 

From the top:

 

19229955-M.jpg

 

3/4 from the side. Two switches control the separate bulbs. Moonlights seem to be on all the time from what I can tell.

 

19229939-M.jpg

 

Well that's the update for today. Stay tuned.

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goodluck with the conversion. SW is great! if you have another FW tank, just chuck it right now, you'll start neglecting it sooooo much after you get ur sw tank up ;)

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So here's my take on the filtration.

1. You can just go with Live Rock and a couple of powerheads to move water around. This utilizes strictly biological filtration.

 

2. Keep Live Rock and powerheads and add a HOB protein skimmer. Prizm makes some nice models for smaller tanks (here is a link to the deluxe model which includes a compartment for running carbon......sweet!): http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc..._id=3203&pcid1=

 

3. DIY refugium. You can buy a HOB refugium from cpraquatics, but they are really expensive. I made a 1 gallon HOB refugium using an AquaClear 110 filter. There are lots of good threads on how to do it here on nano-reef.

 

Just my three top options. I am sure others will have some good suggestions that I neglected to include.

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It sounds like you've really done your homework :)

 

TBS rock is great, it always comes full of life, I think you'll enjoy it.

 

As far as filtration goes, live rock is the bare minimum, and would work fine provided that you do weekly water changes and don't overfeed, but I would suggest adding a protein skimmer that could hang on the back of your tank. These will help you out tremendously as a beginner, since they remove any disolved organics from the water (from a dead fish that can't be found to overfeeding, etc), and will act as a buffer to help keep your tank (and algae problems) in check until you get your feet wet.

 

Naturally there's other options out there, people will probably recommend using a refugium too. There's lots of ways to run a successful tank, and no one way is necessarily better than the rest.

 

Jason

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Sam, all above suggestions are great.

 

in my opinion if you can afford to, invest initially on good equipment bec it will make your SW experience alot better with less time. id go with the new CPR BAK PAC protein skimmer and refugium in one. it will hang on the back of your tank perfectly. it incorporates a protein skimmer and refugium in one compact unit. it sells for around 180 i belive but its worth the investment. also if you decide donw the road you dont want it. you could resell it easily to recover most of your money. if i was starting again thast what i would go with.

 

good luck on your SW adventure. it looks like you ve done alot of research already so i have confidence you ll be successful. research is the key.

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I'm glad you found a place where you feel welcome. RC can be a bit scrutinizing sometimes, as can this site. Make sure you do your research and ask tons of questions. My ten was converted from a freshwater puffer tank.

 

*Don't forget to keep us updated

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