Starting Nano... Help Please!

[f1shb0y]

hey guys i am wanting to start a 10 g nano for my room. i have been into saltwater fish for about 3 years now (im only 14) and have had a 75g reef tank for about a year and a half. we have a guy maintain it... so i want to try to maintain one by myself. start with the 10g then go to the 75. im going to ask him some questions but i figured id post a thread on here to ask you guys wat yall think of my plans. feel free to post about anything i have listed below:

ok for filters i just figured like a aquaclear 30.

for lighting i had this in mind:
http://www.marineandreef.com/Aqualig...p/res53111.htm
i heard you need to have about 4-6 watts per gallon so i figured this would work fine for a 10g

20-30 watt heater
some kind of flow pump

ok i want to get about 7-12 lbs of live rock and about a 1" thick live sand bed

as far as fish:
black and white false percula
blue chromis
and what else do you think i should get? maybe a yellow clown goby?

coral: (frags, nothing to fancy hehe... dont have much cash)
frogspawn
hammer
some zoos
yellow polyps
mushrooms
some green star polyps
and a torch coral
and a trumpet coral

alright well tell me what you guys think... thats about it

cya thanks!

[f1shb0y]

o yh for got to mention i want to get a few blue legs hermits, and a starfish

[Clue]

Welcome to reefcentral.

For a filter a small AC will work fine, do you plan on running anything in it? also for some flow I would add a Koralia nano and you should be good. That light will work but I would change out the bulb to a 50/50 10k and actinic bulb. For heaters I would recommend to small ones just in case one fails you will have a back up.

I would say you should be alright with 3 fish since the chromis and the YWG dont get too large but you will want to keep up with water changes to make sure your parameters dont get out of wack.

goodluck with your tank and I hope this helps

[f1shb0y]

thanks. ive been watchin out maintainer guy do ours for ovre a year so i think im pretty good on checking ph and all that. when we 1st got our tank i was asking him about th flow pumps and he said we didnt need 1 because of our mag 5 return but if i really wanted one he had a bucket full of um and he would give me one. so i think im good on flow. but anyways thanks for your help

[jayray]

Definitely get the fixture with the 50/50 http://www.marineandreef.com/Aqualig...p/res53101.htm
I've got a 130W coralife on my 20L and it works great. Downside to a small tank is keeping up with the parameters: nitrate will build up fast with that small water volume, also nutrients will be depleted faster. A good product I use to keep unwanted nutrients in check is Puragen. You can run that in you AC with whatever other media. I think that will be a awesome tank with that combo of livestock. Just take it slow, test frequently, and come here often.
J

[f1shb0y]

haha thanks dude. like i said im only 14 but i got my aquarium guy backing me up. ill talk to him in person for some more info about prices and all that

[f1shb0y]

1 more question i already have a 10g but it has had a tarantula in it for about a year. it has been empty and in storage for almost a year but does that matter? can i use it or do i need 2 get another tank?

[Clue]

Are there any cracks in the tank or was there ever copper in the system. You could get away with it but I would say seeing how cheap a 10g tank is in the states I would just pick up a new one, but if you must use it make sure you clean it really well.

[somdinwong]

i like the marineland biowheel filters better than the ac's. i have used both of them and had better results with the marineland

[lordofthereef]

FWIW if you already have plans to move on to a 75g I would just start with that. The main reason is that you will end up spending about the same as far as maintenance is concerned. There is also the issue of keeping params in check easier, but I don't find that terribly difficult to do with nano tanks so long as you do it right

[sbanks78]

why no protein skimmer? i would go with t5 just my 2 cents gl

[Clue]

He could go with a protein skimmer but with such a small tank the skimmer would take up alot of real estate and most people dont bother to run them on smaller nano they just keep up with water changes, also he is on a budget so I dotn imagine he wants to get into spending the money on a decent skimmer. If he could find a smaller t5 set up that would be good since he would have some more bulb options, something to look into for sure.

[f1shb0y]

yh lol i am planning on do maintinance on it once a week. and i dont have $100 for a protein skimmer.

Would the marinland biowheel or the aquaclear suck up fish? i had that problem with fresh water, are saltwater filters made different?
do i need to cover it with rock?

so should i get get a marine land penguin 100 bio wheel power filter? or the aquaclear 30?

[jessicaedwards]

I personally would stick with the marineland filter. You might pay a few bucks more, but a MUCH better filter imo... I work at a LFS and thats all I'll recommend and Ive NEVER recieved a complaint. =)

[Clue]

Your fish wont get sucked up in the filter, the only way they would be is if they were sick and didnt have the strength to swim anymore.

[f1shb0y]

alright so from what you guys have told me:

the 96 watt quad lights
marineland penguin 100 power filter
nano flow pump

and for fish (kinda had a change in plans)
1 black and white false percula
1 yellow watchman goby
1 purple dottyback

still goin with the same corals

[Clue]

Just a word of caution bit that dottyback will get aggressive

[f1shb0y]

alright thanks not sure if im gettin those for certain yet. wat would you recomend?

[montipora80]

Welcome it's good to see younger people get into this hobby also make sure you read, read, read oh and when your done with that read some more and ask lots of questions. Most of all take it slow don't rush rome was not built in a day. GOOD LUCK!!!!

[sbanks78]

http://www.marinedepot.com/protein_s...kimmer-ap.html

[Clue]

Are there any reviews on that skimmer here on RC?

[sbanks78]

not that im aware of but the thing is he's going to have a big bio load w/ a ten gallon tank we all just keep adding and adding so i think a protein skimmer is well needed just my 2 cents

[montipora80]

+1 I run a 75 gallon rated skimmer on my BC29 and would not have it any other way. I never used that skimmer posted above but have heard good things about them. You could also up with a nice size aqua clear hang on back filter and gut everything out of it (pads, carbon, ect...) and place a reactor pump in there to hide it so you can run carbon as well as GFO and get the best use out of it, thats what we did for my girlfriends 20 long softy tank and it works great as well as keeps extra pumps out of the tank.

[f1shb0y]

would i need to get that skimmer and the bio wheel or just 1 or the other?

[f1shb0y]

bump