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New 10G nano - am i on the right track?


mindblaze

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Dear internets,

 

After much debate and consideration I turned my 10g freshwater setup into a marine tank. My goal is to do a reef tank, here's what I have so far...

 

Penguin mini biowheel filter

-50 watt heater

-Coralife light over glass top (I think it's a 25 watt 50/50), forget the exact type

-air pump with an air curtain

-1 bag of live sand

-a few small live rocks

-1 package of bacteria stuff (supposed reduce the need to cycle for weeks)

 

I put in the sand, dechorlinated water and salt, then added the live rock and equiptment. I figure in a day or so I can have the water checked at the LFS and got a small critter to start the cycling, as well as fill out the rest of the tank with live rock.

 

Here are my core questions...

 

-Do I need a powerhead, or should the filter create sufficient circulation?

 

-Should I use the pump and air curtain? I haven't seen any mention of these on web sites outlining nano reef tank set ups. Are they used at all in salt set ups? It's pretty powerful pump for such a small tank - can these bubbles be harmful at all?

 

-The light sits on the frame of the tank, about an inch over the glass top of the tank, not flush with the glass top. It seems like there is a fair amount of light leaking out of the front, given the space in between. Is this by design to keep heat down or is this light leakage a concern?

 

Anything else I should be doing or consider (will buy a book today, so besides that)?

 

Thanks!

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I know there are more newbs than pros on this forum, but any thoughts on the above greatly appreciated. How about a little love for the clueless...

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Check the web for the "Fishless cycle method" ... much more humane and you won't have the tedious task of catching a damsel! Unless you were planning on using something else to cycle, either way ... throw a raw shrimp from your grocery store in there and you'll have instant cycle!

 

Don't use the bubbler, some corals that you may want down the road will be irritated by the bubbles! they are not really needed in a SW setup anyway!

 

as for the light ... I'm clueless as well, maybe someone else will chime in!

 

Good luck and Happy Reefing!

Jermz

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Your light leaking is fine. With the light you have, you can only keep corals like zoanthids and mushrooms. Don't use the bubbler. Also, ditch the AquaClear mini and order yourself an AquaClear 300. You can put your heater inside it and this will provide all the circulation you need.

 

Note: No matter what filter you end up using, remove the stock filter media. It's ok to run carbon from time to time but the sponges will accumulate lots of nitrate.

 

AC 300 can be ordered for cheap from PetsMart.com

 

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_det...D=1122943136386

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are you just using tap water? if so you should switch that out with RO/DI water. you can get this cheap at the lfs, usually like 50cents a gallon.

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For real - I should empty the tank and swap it out with RO/DI water? Clearly this would have been better had I known from the get go, but is it worth doing at this point? I declorinated it. It's a little high in salt, figured i'll try to fix that tonight.

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Go for the distilled water. You will hav less problems with algae.

I'd ditch all the water, and refill it. If you have nothing in the tank, the rock will be fine at 1.021 salinity. Measure your ph and calcium. The ph needs to be at 7.8 minimum to start. Your calcium will probably be low and you'll need to add calcium bit by bit until its 400 to 500 mg/l. Add a market shrimp. Let it rot till nothing remains. Afte a week, check amonia, nitrites. Nitrites will remain high for up to 2-3 weeks and then begin to fall. After they are at 0.3 or less for a week, you can add a fish or some crustaceons. Stock slowly, checking nitrites and nitrates as you go. Partial water changes of 10 to 15 % per week. Late, get a skimmer. Which is where I'm at now.

Beware the nitrites however, I thought mine were low, then I rearranged the tank and caused a spike. As a result, I lost a blue-green chromis (he got ich!).

Go sensibley, and you'll be ok. Find a grocery store that has a distilled water dispensing machine. Its cheapest. I go once a week and buy 2 x 11 litre refills. 4.00$ with tax. Lasts me a few weeks for top off and changes.

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