Nano Reefs?

D2Rhino · 02-13-2004, 10:57 PM

Wow, get out of the hobby for a few years, and what's this? Reef tanks in 10 gallons or less? Unreal. I remember getting chastized by friends and LFS salespeople for having a 20 gallon marine!

However, I'm cramped for space, and these nano reef tanks sound awesome. I have some beginner questions, if you guys have answers or can point me to a guide of some sort I'd be grateful.

1. What do I need to filter a nano reef? Just sand, and some pumps for circulation, do I need some sort of sump, do I need a full blown wet\dry\skimmer, what? I've heard that all you need is live sand and live rock for filtration, and then just pumps for circulation. Is this what I should do? Do I need to do any sort of cycle, or do I just set up the tank with saltwater, and add the live sand\rock?

2. How much lighting do I need? Can I get away with just flourescent? What kind of wattage for a 10 gallon?

3. I was wanting to keep a bubble tip anemone, a percula or maroon clown, zooanthids, xenia, and live rock. Would this be ok in a 7-10 gallon tank?

4. What exactly is a refugium?

Thanks for any help in advance, I'm really rusty, feel 100% ignorant lol :\

bscaggs06 · 02-13-2004, 11:16 PM

that would be funny to see a 20g wet dry under a 5g bow :-)
I have heard that AC 500s work very well for refegiums and water movement.

Got Live Rock?

bscaggs06 · 02-13-2004, 11:20 PM

oops back to your questions, lol
Coral life makes a pretty cool little light that is 18W i believe with 9 daylight and 9 actinic. I think they look cool, but i am not sure if you need one.

I'm not sure of what kind of lighting the bubble needs.

I think that you could pull it off in a ten but I havn't gone that small yet so I am not really sure.
Just keep your levels in check.
I will let some others answer the questions in more detail for ya :-)

Reefdude5 · 02-14-2004, 12:18 AM

Sorry, but i'm not sure if the bubble will be ok in a tank that small, you could definitly have a clown though! Don't quote me, i haven't dealt much with nanos. But i must say, A well thought out and well mantained 10g and be much more spectacular and satisfying than a 100g!

bscaggs06 · 02-14-2004, 12:30 AM

I agree reef. Little Nano reefs are amazing looking if you can keep up with the work.

Reefdude5 · 02-14-2004, 08:28 AM

which i can't, so i got a big tank

by the way, call me Austin

D2Rhino · 02-14-2004, 10:13 AM

Nano questions:

I'm looking to make a 10 gallon nano-cube. I'm interestid in Zooanthids, Xenia, and

maybe some polyps and candy coral.

I'll order my questions becuase I have a lot of them (been out of the hobby a while,

sorry if these are redundant)

2. How much lighting do I need? Can I get away with just flourescent? What kind of

wattage for a 10 gallon? Can I buy ready made hoods online, or at a pet store chain -

any links?

3. I read about Creef making a refugium out of an aquaclear HOT filter and using it for

the sole circulation. What exactly is a refugium? Do I need one? I'd like to use the

AC filter as my sole circulation if possible, I don't like putter pumps in an aquarium

so small if I can help it.

4. What kind of 'clean up crew' do I need? I'd like to keep my nano reef naturally

free of excessive algal growth, etc. I take it I need astrea snails, but what about

peppermint and other types of shrimp, hermit crabs, or blennys?

5. Do I need to dose any sort of additives? Do I need to drip kalkwasser?

6. Do I need to run carbon or any other sort of chemical filtration?

7. I had planned on using Instant Ocean salt or Reef Crystals...is this a good choice? I've only ever used Instant Ocean in fish only tanks and had good results.

Thanks a bunch to anyone willing to tackle my extensive list of questions :]

ckreef · 02-14-2004, 08:50 PM

Did I miss question number 1 --- Here goes an attempt at the rest.

2) For a 10 gal tank Coralife makes a really nice Double strip light. It has a 96watt Power Quad 50/50 bulb and many people use these above a 10 gal. These go for around $110 plus you would need to buy the standoff legs but they are only an additional $5 or so. This would allow you to keep most any type of coral and you would NOT need any extra canopy or hood.

3) Yes I am using a AC500 for a refugium (refugium being a place where pods can grow undisturbed). I have done some slight mods and filled it up with LR. I am not planning on growing any Macro algae in it but may people do in their refugiums. It will defiantly give you plenty of flow --- so much that it will make a tornado out of your sand if you run it wide open.

4) I'm not really fond of cleanup crews but thats just me. Currently I have an awesome cleanup fish. It was called a Honey Chromis but I really think it's a Paraglyphidodon sp. He does an excellent job at cleaning up all the extra algae off the rocks and I don't have to feed him. I'm sure somebody else can give you a listing of a more standardized cleanup crew.

5) a weekly 10% water change should replenish any trace elements so you really should not have to dose anything except maybe a two part calcium additive but only if you have a high calcium usage.

6) SeaChem makes a product called Purigen. It's a synthetic type of carbon and come in a 100ml pouch. It works great and best of all it's fully regenerable.

7) to me it's personal preference as to what type of salt to use and you'll get 10 different answers to this question.

Well I hope that answered some of your questions. Let us know if you have any other questions or would like more info on something.

D2Rhino · 02-15-2004, 12:59 PM

thanks a lot man for your help. I'll definitely look into that light setup. Know where I can order it online? Thanks again!

Edit - nevermind I got a 24" 96 watt PC fixture off ebay for 100 bucks even with a 10K bulb and an actinic bulb. Will these work ok or do I need different bulbs?

ckreef · 02-15-2004, 03:58 PM

those bulbs will work fine but here is the scoop on all this.

A 10 gal tank is 20" long --- A 15 gal or 20H tank is 24" long.

The light I recommended is only 20" long so fits better above a 10 gal tank..

If you go with a 24" setup it will hang over both ends by 2" which may or may not be a big deal to you and may or may not cause problems placing the fixture above the tank. For me if you are spending around $100 might as well get one that fits properly. Also if you get a 24" fixture you should be able to get it with 2 x 65watt bulbs for a total of 130watt instead of 96 watts.

Check out ThatFishPlace.com they are not the cheapest but will allow you to compare different fixtures and then when you find exactly what you want you can go and hunt down the best price.

jkreef · 02-17-2004, 08:47 AM

Try Champion lightiing.com. There prices are great! Excellent service and quick delivery.

biomekanic · 02-17-2004, 04:48 PM

hellolights.com had them on sale last week or so, my sweetie ok'd them as a valentines gift, less than $110 w S&H, if you find cheaper, they'll match prices too, but it has to be a listed website. Check ebay to, you can get some deals there.

A refugium is an area, seperate from the main tank where plants and/or animal life can grow free of predation (i.e. in a refuge). There are different kinds for different purposes. I use an Ecosystem40 (go a google search) on the back of my 10g as a nutrient export - I raise chaetomorpha algae and when the growth area fills up, I remove about 1/2 and trade it to someone else. Stay away from caluerpa, it's the devil weed. Some people just fill their's up with reef rubble (small chunks of LR) or whole LR. This is good for breeding copepods and amphipods.
Decide what you want in your tank and buy your equipment to match that, it's a lot cheaper that way than the other way around.