Ten gallon nano has begun
- Thread starter lordroad
- Start date
Ever been to a store called Fins and Critters? It's in Shelby, NC, which is about ten minutes north of the SC border, forty-five minutes west of Charlotte. It has a great selection of saltwater fish... beautiful specimens, amazing showtanks, just all in all a great store and worth a stop if you ever make it to Shelby... horrible little dive of a town, I believe Fins and Critters is the only thing worthwhile.
I will have to check it out if I ever go by Shelby. I have a local store with over 12000 gallons on dispaly. They are pricey though. It's called Fintastic or check it out at www.fintastic.us
I buy my SW stuff at Pineville Pets
I buy my SW stuff at Pineville Pets
Hey fishfreak, not sure if you've heard of it but check out CAAS (Charlotte Area Aquarists Society) 
www.aquacharlotte.com
Fintastic, heard so much about it just never been! I'm missing out! New building and all!! I need to come check it out sometime.
www.aquacharlotte.com
Fintastic, heard so much about it just never been! I'm missing out! New building and all!! I need to come check it out sometime.
Update
Ok, it's been a week and a day since I added live rock. I've been testing the water paramaters almost every day, and for the last five days, ammonia and nitrite have been at 0, and nitrate reads below 5. Water is clear and has no smell. I'm seeing tiny orange and rust-colored hairs covering one liverock, and possibly some white clear tube things that look like micro translucent versions of that worm monster in Empire Strikes Back that lives in the asteroid.
However, one of my rocks is looking rough. Part of it seems to be peeling away. Don't know what to make of it.
My light arrives today, finally.
Here is my plan for scavengers:
2 turbo snails
5 red legged hermit crabs
I've heard mixed things about crabs. I've read the red legged are less aggressive than the blue, which have been known to yank snails out of their shells. Also, I've read they're not always reef friendly. If I can't find the red-legged in my local area, would blue be ok?
And are there any sure-fire reef safe alternatives to hermit crabs?
Ok, it's been a week and a day since I added live rock. I've been testing the water paramaters almost every day, and for the last five days, ammonia and nitrite have been at 0, and nitrate reads below 5. Water is clear and has no smell. I'm seeing tiny orange and rust-colored hairs covering one liverock, and possibly some white clear tube things that look like micro translucent versions of that worm monster in Empire Strikes Back that lives in the asteroid.
However, one of my rocks is looking rough. Part of it seems to be peeling away. Don't know what to make of it.
My light arrives today, finally.
Here is my plan for scavengers:
2 turbo snails
5 red legged hermit crabs
I've heard mixed things about crabs. I've read the red legged are less aggressive than the blue, which have been known to yank snails out of their shells. Also, I've read they're not always reef friendly. If I can't find the red-legged in my local area, would blue be ok?
And are there any sure-fire reef safe alternatives to hermit crabs?
i really doubt you will have problems with either the little red leg or blue leg hermits, but yes either should be fine
turbos are a bad choice for a nano tank. they get big and tend to knock stuff around especially in nano tanks. i would try 5 smaller margarita, astrea, cerith, or trochus snails instead of the turbos
i wouldn't worry about the rock, there isn't much you can do about it pealing or anything. its probably just an outer coating of dead calcerous algae or something else which was growing on there. the little hairs and tubes and such are just normal LR stuff
turbos are a bad choice for a nano tank. they get big and tend to knock stuff around especially in nano tanks. i would try 5 smaller margarita, astrea, cerith, or trochus snails instead of the turbos
i wouldn't worry about the rock, there isn't much you can do about it pealing or anything. its probably just an outer coating of dead calcerous algae or something else which was growing on there. the little hairs and tubes and such are just normal LR stuff
Crabs and snails added
Ok, I've been talking about this tank for about two weeks now, how about some pics, huh?
That's a shot of the whole tank.
I added crabs and snails a few days ago. Water parameters have all been good, and plus, I have little white dot critters on the grass that extend out green hairs. From what I've read about them, they seem like polychaete, and are a sign of of a healthy system. Looks like the live rock was good after all.
Only ID I can make on the actual hitchhikers attached to the rock is one feather worm. It's small, but it's really cool watching it retract and extend. I have some other strange things, but I couldn't begin to describe them or find them in the internet or in my books. So far, no sign of aiptasia, which is good.
That's a shot of my biggest rock. An astrea snail is on the glass there. And a hermit crab is in the nook a little more than halfway up the rock.
I wish I could properly capture what the tank looks like in the tiny LED moonlight I have. The rippling of the water on the sand is amazing. I'm glad I spent the extra bucks on this 96 watt light instead of going with the 40 watt, since my little land hermit crab LED bulb works just fine for the tank.
Ok, one last pic of both rocks:
I want to keep this tank healthy and maintain a very low bioload. I'm looking to get one small fish because I'm more interested in invertebrate life, mainly corals and starfish. I want to get a serpent or brittle star for the tank. Would it be possible to have a brittle and a serpent? From what I've read, I haven't found much info on mixing the two in a nano.
For fish, I'd love that goby and shrimp, but if they get sold, I'll probably just get a single goby, species yet to be determined.
Ok, I've been talking about this tank for about two weeks now, how about some pics, huh?
That's a shot of the whole tank.
I added crabs and snails a few days ago. Water parameters have all been good, and plus, I have little white dot critters on the grass that extend out green hairs. From what I've read about them, they seem like polychaete, and are a sign of of a healthy system. Looks like the live rock was good after all.
Only ID I can make on the actual hitchhikers attached to the rock is one feather worm. It's small, but it's really cool watching it retract and extend. I have some other strange things, but I couldn't begin to describe them or find them in the internet or in my books. So far, no sign of aiptasia, which is good.
That's a shot of my biggest rock. An astrea snail is on the glass there. And a hermit crab is in the nook a little more than halfway up the rock.
I wish I could properly capture what the tank looks like in the tiny LED moonlight I have. The rippling of the water on the sand is amazing. I'm glad I spent the extra bucks on this 96 watt light instead of going with the 40 watt, since my little land hermit crab LED bulb works just fine for the tank.
Ok, one last pic of both rocks:
I want to keep this tank healthy and maintain a very low bioload. I'm looking to get one small fish because I'm more interested in invertebrate life, mainly corals and starfish. I want to get a serpent or brittle star for the tank. Would it be possible to have a brittle and a serpent? From what I've read, I haven't found much info on mixing the two in a nano.
For fish, I'd love that goby and shrimp, but if they get sold, I'll probably just get a single goby, species yet to be determined.
Last edited:
New invertebrate member
Check out my new addition...
It's a brittle star! I wanted a fromia star, but absolutely none of my LFS carry them, and about every one I talked to said out of 4 they order, 2 are DOA, and the other two usually don't make it past acclimitization. Only other option was a serpent star, which looked cooler, but I read they can be problematic.
I have to say I love this guy. I've had him for a couple days--tank is stable, no spikes--and this is easiest the coolest thing I've ever had in a tank. It moves incredibly fast for a star, and when I drop a morsel of food in, the tentacles are out waving in a flash.
I supplement the star's diet with sun dried baby shrimp on a wooden skewer. The tentacles track down the shrimp, wrap around it, and yank it off and then proceed to pull the shrimp to the center mouth with all the hairs on the underside like a conveyor belt. Very cool.
Oh, and here's a shot of him the other night, climbing up the corner of the glass!
On another note, I'm only going to get one fish, and the star of the tank will literally be the star. I love watching the tentacles waving out of the live rock like a kraken.
On the note of fish, I heard firefish gobies, my second choice next to true percs, jump and should not be in a open cover tank. Any other similiar looking gobies that would work?
Check out my new addition...
It's a brittle star! I wanted a fromia star, but absolutely none of my LFS carry them, and about every one I talked to said out of 4 they order, 2 are DOA, and the other two usually don't make it past acclimitization. Only other option was a serpent star, which looked cooler, but I read they can be problematic.
I have to say I love this guy. I've had him for a couple days--tank is stable, no spikes--and this is easiest the coolest thing I've ever had in a tank. It moves incredibly fast for a star, and when I drop a morsel of food in, the tentacles are out waving in a flash.
I supplement the star's diet with sun dried baby shrimp on a wooden skewer. The tentacles track down the shrimp, wrap around it, and yank it off and then proceed to pull the shrimp to the center mouth with all the hairs on the underside like a conveyor belt. Very cool.
Oh, and here's a shot of him the other night, climbing up the corner of the glass!
On another note, I'm only going to get one fish, and the star of the tank will literally be the star. I love watching the tentacles waving out of the live rock like a kraken.
On the note of fish, I heard firefish gobies, my second choice next to true percs, jump and should not be in a open cover tank. Any other similiar looking gobies that would work?
