Iggy's 10 Gallon Nano Reef

[Iggy]

Well... finally got my first SW tank.

I was at a garage sale this past weekend, and found a 50 gallon 'saltwater' tank for sale for $200 (CDN). Well... I just had to take a look at it.

It was a typical 4 foot 50 gallon tank, 'somewhat' converted to saltwater. Somewhat being they replaced the lights with actinic bulbs, added salt and 3 pieces of live rock, 1 clown and 1 blue tang (nemo anyone?). It had no overflow or skimmer, just a fluval 404 canister (that was plugged and not running) and a 800gph power head.

Anyway, it was certainly not a real saltwater setup, so I wrangled the price down to $125 for the tank, filter and it has really good solid wood stand. I am cleaning up the 50 gallon tank, replaced the lights with regular bulbs, and refinished the wood stand and will sell the tank off (for about 3x what I bought it for!)

So, I had these 3 peices of live rock, 2 @ 15w Actinic bulbs, a bunch of crushed coral substrate, and a SG meter... so I put the live-rock in my 10 gallon tank, bought a 10k bulb, setup a few powerheads and bought some red sea salt & aragaMilk, and a couple cheap 18" flourescent light strips (which I replaced with the actinic and 10k bulbs).

Here are some photos (1 week running):
Outside Shot
Closeup

Right now, I am just letting the rock sit for a few weeks, while I get the saltwater up to 1.024 (it was 1.004 at their house).

I plan on using this rock as the base and moving the whole setup + some newer tongo liverock into my 29 gallon once I move it's occupants.

 

[lordroad]

Hey Iggy, welcome to the nano marine club.

My friend who got me into marine warned me there's a chance salt can get in your veins and you'll never swim in fresh again... so far, that hasn't happened, but I can see how it could.

You got a deal. That stand sounds nice.

You going reef? Any plans for livestock yet?

 

[Iggy]

Yes, I am certainly thinking reef. My buddy has a 77gal bowfront reef tank setup that is simply amazing. TONS of purple coraline algea and he has all sorts of corals growing like gangbusters. My plan is to go from the 10, to my 29 and eventually to my 80 gal.

I will probably stick to inverts, snails and smaller fishies in the 10, and try a few easier corals.

Then, in the 29, maybe add some gobies, a maybe a few clowns. But that will likely change

Yes, I heard the same thing about saltwater... but as I explained to my buddy, 1 tank would bore me, its the constant change and reinventing I like. So fresh, tropical, cold & yes.. saltwater will likely be in my future for years to come.

 

[lordroad]

How's the progress coming, Iggy?

 

[DustinKeating]

Cool tank, ditch the background in my opinion though.

I have a 10 gallon nano i've been working at for the last little while, it's made me completely forget about my freshwater tanks and i'm subaequently selling them to fund a bigger SW. It's a vicious cycle. (no pun intended)

 

[zanoshano]

cool, nice job so far...keep us updated.

 

[phOOey]

looks great! but i to think the background spoils it. i like the look of dark blue backgrounds on marine tanks.