what else do I need to start?

evelester · 02-20-2007, 11:49 AM

Hi, I am a decent freshwater fish keeper (have a 10 gallon community tank for 6+ months, no deaths) and I am about to set up a 10 gallon nano reef, what we have thus far is;

10 gallon tank
Penguin Aquarium Power Filter 100B
Incandescent Hood, 20", Black
Top Fin® Floating Glass Aquarium Thermometer
601135 Visi-Therm Deluxe Heater 50 Watt
net
master test kit
chlorine remover
hydrometer

now, aside from 10 or so pounds of life rock and 5? or so pounds of live sand, and the instant ocean mix, what do I need to complete the setup? Any reccommended chemichals, any ideas for timing, like when do I put in the live rock and sand, i read somewhere you wait and put the live rock in after the tank runs for a few days, but then I have also read you put the rock in first, then the sand.... lol, in what order should we do this?

Also, what types of animals are reccommended? We know a max of 2 fish is reccommended, and would like to get some crabs, starfish, anoeme for a clown fish, but in that list, what if any is best, and how long should we wait for them, we do plan on doing a fishless cycle, with just the rock and sand and something to start the cycle, what do you reccommend?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!! I am learning alot from reading through this board!

evelester · 02-20-2007, 11:50 AM

PS-- I do know we need a better bulb, I plan on getting a coarl life or something asap when the hood gets in and I can take the origional bulb with me to get a diffrent one

Jflip2002 · 02-20-2007, 12:13 PM

You won t need that dechlorination stuff, you should use ro/di water to start. ID add the sand and the rock at the same time, just to get it over with. In a 10g, Id put the rock and sand, and let it cycle for 2 weeks. Then after that, try adding crabs and snails (probably 10 crabs, 2-3 snails). Wait a couple weeks, then buy a cheap damsel, to see if it lives. Thats what IDid with my first 10g at least.

evelester · 02-21-2007, 02:23 AM

thanks! I mainly have the dechlorinator for my freshwater so there is no waste there. I will pick up the ro/di water the same day I get the sand.

Now here is a question, we have 2 LFS, both are really pet stores with some fish things, but the prices are SOOO diffrent. One has live sand for 88.00 (20lb bag) and the other has a 20 lb bag for 16.00, i plan on going back to both and getting the details of each brand, i know we can not afford 88 on just sand right now at all, and i do remember the one for 16.00 was not 'wet' like the one for 88, both were in a sealed bag, both said life sand... is it ok if the sand is not 'live' like wet... and what about driving the 45 minutes to the beach in jacksonville and getting 15 lbs of sand from the beach there... would that be ok? How would i go about that, i.e how deep in the water do i need to get it from or is getting it from a beach not a good idea LOL, just let me know

also, they both have 'live rock' and the price is 2.00 less at one store but the LR is not as colorful at the cheaper one, at the more expensive one it is almost moldy looking and the tank looks really dirty.

I think what i am going to do is thursday when i go into town, is take a camera to boths stores and take pictures of the live rock and get yall's opinion LOL, ya know? post the options here along with the details i get from the LFS about it. I still have about a week before all the things I mentioned above even come in (ordered online)

also, can someone point me in the direction of a step by step on a good way to cycle the tank without killing any innocent fish LOL, I have read sooo many diffrent ways, one was to drop a uncooked cocktail shrimp into the tank with the LR and LS.... and to also talk all filter media out of the filter... do i really need to take the filter media out... ever (aside from maintince changes)

goodness, I hope yall are ready for me, I will be asking lots of questions over the coming weeks LOL, I am big on researching and sometimes I get myself into trouble by researching too much and getting way to many conflicting opinions and getting worried

thanks again for all your help so far! I will be posting LOTS of pictures as soon as I have something other than a bare glass tank and a bag of red sea salt mix :-)

Bennihanna · 02-21-2007, 12:34 PM

Not to be rude, but I think the search button is going to help you a whole lot with a lot of this stuff.

evelester · 02-21-2007, 03:16 PM

your right, Im sorry, i knew that, and also did that, I have been reading this message board front to back, I just couldnt figure out the best way to pick out live rock through there yet, I will keep looking. Sorry.

tims · 02-21-2007, 09:17 PM

Eveelester,
welcome to TRT,
take a look at the bi weekly disscusion we have on Live rock, that will help shed some light on it. also you might want to do some reading in the FAQ section, the articles is what you want. the " so you want a reef tank" will help answer a lot of questions and most likly make you ask a bit more.
even though you are only starting a nano tank you will find the article and the refernces in it very helpful.

I dont understand what you are saying about your lighitng?

Bennihanna · 02-21-2007, 10:24 PM

Yea I did not mean to be rude, just hard to go over all of that stuff you mentioned. Are you thinking about screw in power compacts?

dobejazz · 02-21-2007, 10:27 PM

Welcome to TRT !
You don't need live sand at all the Live rock will turn plain old play sand "live" in no time. That said I'd grab the 16.00 bag if it were me cause I'm lazy and you won't need much sand for a nano anyway

evelester · 02-22-2007, 12:33 AM

thanks so much, I am reading that now, and I know you were not being rude, I myself have said that very thing to many on some of the forums I am usually on :-)

As for the lights, I just meant that the light I had was just the default one that comes with the hood, today I ordered a 50/50 light, (this one at petsmart) as I read that the ones that come with the hood are not enough light. Hopefully that will be enough for a while until I get a better set up with multiple lamps and such

As for the sand, thanks soooo much, I am really glad that getting the cheaper one will be ok, as much as I have read about it I just couldn't determine either way you know? So many sites have so much information that conflicts sometimes.

thanks again everyone! I really appreciate all the help! I started my blog up, I saw that someone made me one to start keeping a log, thanks to whomever did that!

tims · 02-22-2007, 06:53 AM

ahh okay the lighting all togeather is not right. that bulb will not make too much difference.
the lighting you have is what they call N.O. lighiting ( normal output)
take a look at our sponors and the lighting areas. you can use a compact fluor. hood you can pick up a 96 watt for 100 or so ( that shoudl be clsoe to 4 bulb sq. pin if i remember right.
but depending on the corals you want to keep will tell you the lighiting you want to use

Discdogge · 02-22-2007, 10:31 AM

Sent you a PM

betamed · 02-22-2007, 10:56 AM

I got my sand from the beach. I would think the sand that stays underwater is best, but I'm not sure how much that matters.

Bennihanna · 02-22-2007, 06:58 PM

Miami and Jax have way different sand quality. I would not recommend collecting from Jax.

evelester · 02-23-2007, 02:40 PM

thanks everyone! I will not be collecting from jax, your right, they are polluted and I do not want to start out like that! I am probably going to just start with regular sand (not live) and like 12 pounds of live rock. (picking that up tomorrow from gainsville hopefully! :-)