nano equipment

[nodoubt471]

hey all, im planning on starting a 10g nano for some soft corals in the near future (havent decided which ones yet, suggestions welcome). so far this is the equpment list i have compiled:

EQUIPMENT
-Supreme Skilter 250 (assuming 400 would be overkill for a 10g) for filtration and skimming
-Power Sweep 212 for added turbulence
-Current USA Orbit 20" 2x40 watt PC striplight w/ built in lunar LED (so 8 watts per gallon- or should i go higher?)
-Visitherm Delux 50 W heater (i was thinking of possibly running an empty aquaclear on the back to conceal it in, and for added turbulence)

AQUASCAPING
-20-25 lbs LS
-nano LR package from either aquacon.com or liveaquaria.com, around 15 LBS

INVERTS
-cleanup crew basic hermits and nassisarus snails
-1 or 2 cleaner shrimp
-anybody know any good beginner/nano soft coral packages around?

LIVESTOCK
-2 citron gobies

well thats about it... any feedback or advice would be appreciated. im just a beginner with corals, ive never had much luck so this is my concentrated attempt to remedy that!!

 

[grimlock3000]

Very few people would reccomend the Skilter for anything. If you want a skimmer, a CPR BakPak 2 or AquaC Remora would be good.

I am building a VERY similar tank. I have the same light and heater, and will be buying more LR this weekend to bring me to 15 to 17 pounds. I am going with a mini fuge built in a AC300 instead of a skimmer. I am going to stuff the AC300 full of chaetomorpha macroalgae to help with nutrient exporting. I did a lot of research and came to the conclusion that a fuge and small water waterchanges would be very beneficial to the tank. And it is cheaper

As far as the light goes, the 80 watt light should be enough for most things you would want in the tank. You can MHs on the tank if you really wanted Coralife makes a 20 inch 96w light that is cheaper than the Orbit, but forces you to use a single bulb setup and does not let you do a seperare cycles for the time of day. And the Coralife does not come with legs. And no moonlight. Having seperate controls for the actinics and daylight bulbs is a great feature of the Orbit.

Keep in mind that I am new to marine tanks, but I did research quite a bit before purchasing anything.

 

[nodoubt471]

i decided against the MH since the depth of the tank is not a huge issue and i was afraid in such a small tank i would fry anything in there. and i really thought that the features of the orbit versus the corallife was more advantageous than having a few more watts of lighting. plus ive had corallife lights before and i really didnt like them, they ran super hot.

how are you setting up your fuge? just running the filter empty with the macroalgae? i was thinking about that for concealing the heater. i am considering adding macroalgae to the tank as well and just keeping it well pruned.

any other opinions or experiences with the skilter? i really liked the skimming/filtering action and have seen it used in a couple setups in LFS and the like.

 

[klam]

I think it's better to pick out the live rock yourself at the LFS because you can start to aquascape while you're at the store to see which pieces will work the best for your design. WHen you order from online you don't get a choice. Plus you will save some $$ on shipping cost.

With MH you will be able to keep any light demanding lives stock you want. You might eventually get bored with sofites and LPS and want to try some clams or SPS in the future. If you are afraid that MH will fry your stuff you can always raise them higher up. I ran 150w DE MH on my 10g and it was only 5-6 inches away from the water line, it worked good for me. 80W PC would work good for your tank size.

When I was running my 10g I didn't run a skimmer and just did weekly 10% water changes, all my livestock thrived. On my new tank I run a remora skimmer and It works great, easy to setup, just plug it in.