well i did it

[JeLeAk]

well i did it, i finally made the jump into a saltwater nano tank, i was at a lfs today scoping out the live rock, and pricing up all the stuff i will need

i was pricing everything out for a 10 gallon i have at home that is currently empty ,but then i started to debate myself on a larger 20 gallon long tank, they are both basically the same size except the 20 is a tad bit longer, well needless to say after about 30 min of walking around looking at all the fish i went with the 20 gallon long instead of the 10

ill get some pics posted up later on tonight

ill try and keep this thread updated with my progress, but dont hold your breath the live rock situation here in town is pretty slim picking

 

[JeLeAk]

okay, i already have a question ^_^

i am in search of decent lighting, my plan so far is to make this a nano reef, so coral and maybe anemones

my question is will this be adequate lighting for what i want

Coralife 30" Aqualight- 2 X 65 Watt Power Compact Straight Pin at Big Al's Online

with that light it would put my watts per gallon at 6.5

also would this be acceptable for my 20 gallon long?
Coralife 30" Aqualight Deluxe Single Linear Strip Light-S/W at Big Al's Online

3.5 wpg

 

[Igor The Cat]

well your lighting really depends on what corals you wish to keep, the first light you listed would work for softies, LPS, and probably some SPS (but im not a SW expert, so i would get a second opinion from someone like wayne or camaro) also as for anemones have you read Kevin's sticky? beacuse aneonomes are NOT a good choice for a SW begginer like yourself.

cheers

-Java

 

[1979camaro]

my personal opinion would be to go for the 2x65. Should let you keep most anything you want coral wise, but I would also advise you to stay away from anemones, especially in a nano. They are quite difficult to keep and their needs are even more difficult to meet in a nano setup.

 

[JeLeAk]

yeah obviously i wouldnt get anemones right away, it would be something that i would purchase quite a ways down the road to speak.... i just said that because i do not want to end up buying 5 different lighting set ups spending much more in the end than compared if i had gotten a decent set up from the get go


outa curiosity, are there many anemones that stay under 8"?


the main reason why i would want a anemone is a to be a host for a fish, to complete the whole reef creation

 

[kevin4052002]

I don't know of any anemone that stays under 8" AND hosts fish. An anemone in this tank would be very difficult.

Clownfish will host anything and everything, not just anemonies. They will host corals including: fungia, sacrophyton, hammer, frogspawn, and bubble corals. These would be an easier choice for you.

 

[OCCFan023]

I have the 2 x 65 watt coralife over my 20 long atm and was planning on making a mixed reef but now it will be going possibly into a prop tank. The light does a spectacular job at creating a balanced color display over the 20 long and is very comforting knowing the 6.5 wpg is there.

 

[JeLeAk]

Day 1


this is the tank,sand,salt... still has the new smell to it

here is the tank in place(on a very sturdy dresser) with the sand and saltwater( i mixed the saltwater in the tank, then once i was at the right salinity i added the sand, and turned off the power heads)

Day 3


i went and bought a few lbs of live rock today, some where in the area of 25 lbs or so

i found a bristle worm in one of the rocks(yay ) also there are a few bumble bee snails that caught a ride over to my tank

for some odd reason my tank seemed excessively cloudy???

right side of the tank

left side of the tank

the light in the pictures is not the permanent light, that was just a simulated sun lamp, my corallife 2 x 65 should be here some time next week

 

[OCCFan023]

off to a very good start, cloudiness will subside in a day or so. Have you begun checking your parameters now that you added the lr?

 

[JeLeAk]

my ammonia is inbetween 0ppm and .25, i had a spike earlier this week

nitrite is reading 0

and nitrate is reading either 5 or 10 ppm, the two colors look exactly alike to me on the card

dose anyone else think its odd to have ammonia and nitrates but not reading any nitrites?

 

[OCCFan023]

was your ammonia ever at 0 and went up or is it still comming down?

If it is still comming down then your fine and just wait for it to reach 0 before adding any cleaners.

and I have the same problem with the nitrate test too, the colors are basiclly identical...

 

[JeLeAk]

was your ammonia ever at 0 and went up or is it still comming down?

If it is still comming down then your fine and just wait for it to reach 0 before adding any cleaners.

and I have the same problem with the nitrate test too, the colors are basiclly identical...

yeah it was 0 first few days, monday/teusday it went up to a bit above .25

 

[OCCFan023]

could be a small mini cycle of some more dieoff that the tank wasnt able to handle. SHould go back down in the next fww days. Was anything else added to the tank during the cycle (more rock or anything?)

 

[JeLeAk]

could be a small mini cycle of some more dieoff that the tank wasnt able to handle. SHould go back down in the next fww days. Was anything else added to the tank during the cycle (more rock or anything?)

nope, the live rock was added all at once

i wasnt able to test every day of the week because the tank is at my parents house... but when i get back into town on monday ill test again, it should be at 0 by then i would think

 

[OCCFan023]

yea should definitely be 0 by the time you get back on Monday

 

[JeLeAk]

yay, i got back today and found a big brown box with my name on it ^_^... the tank looks purty with the new light(s) cant wait untill tomorrow to do a water change and get a clean up crew goin

 

[wayne]

Time to sort out the aquascaping, before you really get going . Good call getting the 20L over the 10, it will be much, much better for you.

Give an anemone a miss. Not only will it be tricky to keep alive, it will likely eat any small fish other than clown as it wil ltake up so much of the tank. Good bye stupid gobies .....

 

[fish outa wata]

concur, they will stretch out and take over. Nice tank though, lookin good.

 

[JeLeAk]

yeah... i was hoping there was a small anemonie that would stay around or less than 5" but thats not gona happen... ohh well

i picked up 5 blue legged hermits
2 turbo snails (edit: after rereading some things, i saw these are not so reefsafe, for some odd reason i thought i read they were*crazysmil ill see if the lfs will take em back )
1 cleaner shrimp
and 1 coral banded shrimp

looking to get 2 fire fish and a clown or two

would a true/false percula be okay with a tomato clown in my set up?

 

[OCCFan023]

just keep an eye on the coral banded shrimp and the cleaner in that size space as the coral banded might get aggressive and terriritorial.

the false perc is fine but with the tomatoe it might be pushing the size limits. It could be done with diligant water changes and maintence but I dont know if the size would be the best for a tomatoe clown.