If you can't do a 90... Go NANO!!!

[SeaMountain]

Hey all! I recently purchased a complete 90 gal setup with custom canopy and stand. Lights refugium, skimmers, etc. A pre-drilled tank to boot! Except I have NOWHERE to put it yet!!!

 

Just couldn't pass it up though. It was simply too good - NOT to buy!

 

Anyhow's... I've been involved in FW for a some time and want to do the SW thing now. Been reading 'another' forum which is pretty good, but they have virtually NOTHING on nano's. So here I is!

 

Since I have little room for a large tank in my office, and I will be moving from my apartment within a year or so, I decided to do the nano thing. This is a GREAT site and the pic's of your tanks are #1!!!

 

Here's a rundown of my planned out set up.

 

10 gal tank. (I'll be building a custom base and canopy for it!)

 

SmartLite Retrofit Lights 13" PC with 50/50 8800 Ultra Daylight & Ultra Actinic

 

Ebo Jager Heater 50watt

 

2 - Micro-Jet Powerheads 320's - Adjustable to 32/48/73 GPH

 

Aragonite Sand Bed - 3"

 

13-15 lbs LR

 

The LR will come from a friends 120 Gal setup. And a few cups of sand to seed the bed too.

 

I am getting ready to order the above equipment online, and wanted to see what your thoughts were on my initial plans.

 

Thanks all! I think I am going to enjoy hanging out here!

[Crakeur]

welcome aboard. It's nice to see you've thoroughly researched this.

 

One question tho. What do you plan on keeping in the tank? One thing that I have found, and others have pointed out as well, is that we all end up upgrading along the way and lights are almost always the biggest upgrade. you might want to consider a bit more wattage on the powercompacts, or even go with metal halides, depending on what you want in the tank.

 

Second thing to look at is the sand depth. These tanks are small and a 3 inch bed will take away a nice chunk of volume in the tank, giving you less room for rock, corals, fish etc.

 

my 2 cents.

[SeaMountain]

Thanks for the welcome Crackeur!

 

The lights came recommended to me from a buddy of mine who set up a nice 2.5 Gal nano for his wife. He had a 13 watter which wasn't cutting it so he added additional lighting. He said this was working well for him, but hey, that is HIS tank and they all respond differently I would imagine. Good point!

 

The lights I'm looking at can be seen at http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...d=6&pCatId=3811 and are 32 watts.

 

To begin with I am considering the traditional LR and a clown initially. Then, grow and build the ecosystem and lighting from there.

 

I do agree the 3" depth will take up a bit more space, but I didn't want to have it too little. What is an optimum depth of sand? Too deep and I'm surmising you'll have a dead layer at the bottom. Too little and you are not optimizing the system.

 

I purchased a book entitled The Saltwater Handbook by Barron's and it mentions NOTHING of using a DSB for filtration. It even advocates a UGF system.

 

If the lighting needs beefed up after a bit, there should be plenty of room left to add more.

 

Heck... I feel like a little kid again! You know... The anticipation thing?

 

Do you have pic's of your system somewhere online?

[Crakeur]

I have several threads in the member's tank section where you can see my tank in various stages.

 

As for the sand bed, some will tell you it is unneccesary (ESPI ya hear me?) and others will regale you with tales of the dsb. Personally, I just like the way it looks so I took all the sand in my tank, pushed it to the front and left the rocks sitting directly on the glass.

 

lighting at 32watts should be good and you should be able to grow most corals in a 10 gallon with 32 watts. If you are planning on upgrading down the road, just bite the bullet and do it now. When you change lighting, the animals in the tank are effected by it. Better to start off with the lights you want and not change them down the road.

[Satchmo]

I would do no more than an inch or so of sand. Large tanks stand to benefit much more from a DSB than the little guys do. Welcome to our treehouse. Where in WY are you from?

[SeaMountain]

Yo Satchmo! How-yoo doin'?

 

Right now I'm at the base of the Bighorn Mountains of northeastern Wyoming. It's a BIG difference than my days in Joisey! LOL

 

Heck... I had my graduation ceremonies in the Garden State Arts Center! Spent most my youth... errrrrrrrrr *trashed*... on the 'Party Train' to and from concerts at the OLD Madison Square Garden.

 

Springsteen, Asbury Park, Manasquan, Sandy Hook, Frampton concerts, and the boardwalks... MMMmmmmm... Summer afternoons with Amy C. in Holmdel State Park... Ahhhhhhh.... Yes those were the days!!!

 

I actually grew up in Matawan and later in Old Bridge. My buds and I used to leap off a draw bridge at the mouth of Cheesquake Creek as it entered Raritan Bay. Used to be an old restaurant there named the Robert E. Lee. But hey, this was almost 25 years ago.

 

TWENTY FIVE YEARS!!!! :o

 

Anyhows... Wouldn't trade my mountains and lack of people for anything on the east coast nowadays! We only have maybe 500,000 peeps in the ENTIRE State! You have that in ONE township!

 

Good to meetcha Satchmo!

 

Let's hear i for the Tunnel Rats!!! BOO-YAH!

[Crakeur]

didn't they tear down the old madison square garden in the first half of the 1900's?

[SeaMountain]

First half of the 1900's!?

 

I don't know anything about that... I do know they moved the Garden sometime in the mid-seventies though. Don't know why and never really cared about it... Just knew the concerts rocked, party supplies were cheap, the conductor on the train would tell you where to get off if you gave him a $5 or $10 when you got on, and the street vendors sold a TON of pretzels and hot dogs when we hit town!

 

I'm thinking the old-old Garden was a wooden structure... It might be that you're thinking of???

 

Hey! You had better watch out if you're asking about structures without first doing your research! HA!

 

I hear tell there are those who will BLAST you about that! hehehe

[Satchmo]

Nice, good to meet a NJ escapee. You bring hope to us all. Been to NE Wyoming, spectacular country. Climbed up the rock-rubble "skirt" around Devil's Tower, which was about as high as we could go without climbing gear and skill. Next trip out to your delicious state will be to ski Jackson Hole. Got a glimpse of the place from the Tetons and said, "Oh yeah. I gotta have that."

 

Unfortunately, 25 years ago I was wearing diapers in Brooklyn, so a few of your nostalgic tidbits have sadly gone unappreciated. But the party train is alive and well, and still filled with vomiting teenagers at 5am. I am, however, sad to report that the Garden State Arts Center (which holds a great deal of sentiment for myself as well) has succumbed to the corporate beast and now bears the name "PNC Bank Center." Very sad.

 

Anyhow, good to know ya. If you haven't lost the thick hide and attitude, you'll fit in here just fine. And by the way, stick a second 32 or 36w PC lamp over that tank, you won't regret it. If you've yet to buy them, get the 2x36w retrofit kit from www.ahsupply.com and save yourself a buck.

[SeaMountain]

Getting WAY off topic now but... A few years back I was climbing Devils Tower and was on the second pitch of a route called Direct Southwest, most likely right above the spot you were climbing, and took a 40' whipper!!! YIKES!!!

 

I was maybe 400' above the deck and peeled off the rock... The most *enlightening* experience I've ever had. A nice queit free-fall with the air whooooshing by my ears... All I could hear was the clinking of my climbing gear (I was on the sharp end), and the whizzing of the rope as it picked up speed during my fall.

 

Gotta tell you Satchmo... Gotta belive me buddy... The *BEER* never tasted so sweet after I got off of that rock! LOL. Birds never sounded sweeter either!

 

Jackson Hole ROCKS too! One day I'll tell you about my climb up the North Face of the Grand! BOO-YAH!

 

EDITED: If I did decide to go with the 2x36 from AH, what bulbs would you recommend I purchase from them?

[Satchmo]

Originally posted by SeaMountain

Getting WAY off topic now but...

 

Yeah, we tend to do that around here.

 

Ouch. Taste death, live life. I love climbing, but not quite so vertically (I have no idea how to use climbing gear). Worst spill I took was on Angel's Landing in Zion Canyon, Utah. The last 1/4 mile is pretty damn steep and challenging (for me anyway). I had my foot wedged and was trying to get another handhold when my foot slipped out. I sort of slid down a little ways, then tipped backwards and slammed my back into a boulder. Bounced of that, did a mid-air flip and landed face down on a rock table of sorts. This table was tilted probably close to 40 degrees, so when I landed I started sliding. Stopped about a foot before the edge. There was nothing beneath that but the canyon floor, which was about 1200 feet down. I almost ###### myself, it was friggin terrifying. There was so much gravel on the rock, I was afraid of sliding off if I tried to get up. Refused to move for a good 10 minutes. The beer tasted pretty damn good that night too.

[Satchmo]

Almost missed your edit. Personally I like the look of 10000K and 03 actinic, evenly mixed. It's a crisp white-blue color. That said, the bulbs from ahsupply aren't the true 03 actinics and I've found the color rendition from them to be somewhat anemic. I love ahsupply, they make great lamps. Just not crazy about their bulbs. For that I would recommend www.hellolights.com. They carry the 03's and your corals will really glow under them.