About to set up

[me03]

I'm about to change from a 10g planted tank to a 10g nano reef, and I'm trying to get as much info as I can. So far I have a 10g tank, a brand new unused marineland 280 power filter, Mini thermal heater. I'm planning on purchasing 10lbs of live sand, 15lbs of live rock and 10g of cycled water. I have a diy hood from my planted tank and am currently running 3 15 watt flourescents. I plan on switching bulbs to Marine-glo and Power-glo bulbs.

 

Does this make any sense? Anyone have some constructive advise?

[ajroahkni]

Hi me

 

 

You've got a good base of things to start on, so good luck. My best advice to you would be to peruse the "Member Tanks" area and see what others are using/equipped with for their 10 gallon tanks. It'll make you an expert in no time on what you do and don't need. Also, searching for specific items that you have/want should be done as well. Chances are, there are 1000s of threads concerning them on the n-r.com site.

 

You may want to consider changing the flourescents to power compacts, but since you've got'em, may as well use 'em for now.

 

Search, Research and then re-search. You'll enjoy it a whole lot more, AND get a feel for some of the users of the board.

 

Welcome to n-r.com.

[gobies]

Purchasing 10g of "cycled water"?? Skip that. You'd do just as well to get a 5g bucket and mix fresh sw in that for a day or two before adding your live sand and live rock.

 

That Marineland power filter is going to be too much circulation for 'shrooms (which is a good coral to start out with, given your lighting setup). You'd be better off with a pair of MiniJet powerheads. What kind of filter were you using for the plants?

 

Also, look for bulbs with internal reflectors. They make a BIG difference with normal output fluorescents. The Marine-glo and Power-glo don't have them. Look for the Coralife Magtinic with reflector, or get the URI bulbs.

[Fishobob]

Be very careful if you have used any copper based medications in that 10 gallon tank. There may be traces still in the tank if you have and copper is very bad for reef tanks

 

Cheers Fishobob:P

[gobies]

Check the components of any snailicide you might have used in the tank.

 

If you've used anything with copper in the tank, I'd suggest running straight water with a copper-removing media in your filter until the media no longer changes color.

[SteveC]

The Marineland 280 is a little bit on the overkill side, but if you position the outflow over a big piece of LR to deflect the flow a bit it might be OK. Does it have a flow adjustment like the Aquaclears do? If it's still too much I guess you could grind down the impeller blades (I think this voids your warranty ).

 

I would avoid any This-Glo or That-Glo bulbs, which are basically cheapass bulbs made by Hagen. If you're going to use normal output flourescents, consider a 50/50 actinic/daylight (I think Coralife makes an 18" one) and another daylight bulb (by daylight I mean 10,000K or maybe 6500K--none of that 4000K planted tank stuff!). Personally I think a $6 GE Sunlight bulb from Home Despot (5000K, over 90 CRI) will serve you better than a Money-Glo or whatever. And stay away from GE AquaRays unless you like looking at pink-tinted shop lights.

 

In fact, the cheaper Sunlight bulbs might be your best bet, since I'll give you two months max before you chuck your NO lights for PCs or MHs.

[me03]

Thanks everyone for your advise! I have thought about power compacts, but I'm kinda doing this under my wife's radar, so I have to keep my splurging to a minimum. Anyone know where I can get pc with enough light to do this realatively cheap? I read some of the other threads out there about small budgets. I don't want to get ripped, but I kinda gotta take things slow. Right now I'm putting money aside weekly to finance the initial live sand and rock. After the initial set up, it will be a matter of what else to put in the tank and establishing monthly running costs. Then I can start planning more involved projects like pc's or sumps.

 

So, I guess what I'm asking is, can I do this slowly and what do you all think is the best plan of attack?

[printerdown01]

I would look for a 27W a 28W or a 32W if you are trying to do it on the cheap. That way later on down the road you can simply double it (when you want to keep LPS, SPS, and clams -note you can still keep most LPS corals as far as I'm aware with the 3 stated above). As long as you tank has NEVER had copper treatments you should be fine. But I cannot stress the word NEVER enough... To save $$ don't pay for LS . Seriously! Get dry sand (the finer the better) at a LFS. Then when you buy the LR, bring a turkey baster with you. Ask them if you can suck the "gunk" from the bottom of their LR tank (there should be a bunch of "crap" on the bottom of the tank). This stuff is teaming with life -worms, pods, eggs of god knows what, coralline algae shavings, tiny snails, ect. When you add the sand, simply "mix" in the gunk. Your sand will totally seed, just as well as if you had purchased LS. Not to mention your LR will help seed your sand as well. Also make sure you have like a 50+ Watt heater! Nanos are pretty touchy when it comes to temp swings. You can totally find a brand name PC ballast/endcap with a 50/50 bulb included for under $50. -not cheap, but it won't cost you a fortune. You def won't need the PCs for cycling, just regular low aquarium light will do. An actinic (if you have one laying around) will work REALLY well for cycle. That should by you another good 6 weeks for savings purposes . -I have lots of "do it on the cheap" tricks (but I never go ghetto).

[me03]

Thanks for the input. I've found this to be a great website where people give lots of good advise. I don't want to go getto either, so I'm going to go slow and save for a 2-36watt pc when I can afford it.

 

I just broke down my planted tank. I'm going to clean it out, let it dry and retool my canopy. I don't plan on buying LR or LS until the end of Janurary. Then I'll set up with what I've got and let the tank cycle. I figure I could save up enough to get the PC a couple of months later.

 

Question: After the tank cycles for awhile, with my existing hood lights + an actinic, should I start with cleaner inverts or hardy corals?