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zachxlutz

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
52
Location
Lawrenceville, Georgia
hey, i just converted my 10 gallon planted tank into a soon-to-be nano-reef setup. i'm running a small whisper HOB filter, a HOB 50W heater, 4wpg fluorescent 50/50 lighting, 8 lbs of liverock (soon to be a little bit more) and 40 lbs of live aragonite sand.

still deciding on what clean-up crew/coral/fish combo i want to run as this is my first tank... any comments will be GREATLY appreciated... as far as tank set-up, equipment and stocking ideas...

some pics... this is as its been up for about 6 hours. most of the initial cloudieness cleared up. i suspect it will be crystal clear by tomorrow morning.

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don't count on it being clear by tomorrow ;o)

Welcome to the SW side! For stocking there are any number of small color fish that do well in a nano environment. Clown and Chromis are the first that come to mind. You can also look for a few shrimp. A cleaner shrimp or two would make a nice addition IMO.

Do you have something in there to to keep the ammonia cycle going? if not, check out our article on a fishless cycle. you'll want to get something in there while you work on getting the rest of your stocking list together.
 
thanks for the replies... i've been doing quite a bit of research and using nano-reef.com for a lot of information as well.

as for my cleaning crew here is what i'm thinking
-1 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp
-2 crabs (not sure what kind... help!!!)
-8 or so turbo/astrea snails

as for my fish stocking, a few possibilties
-1 firefish gobie
-mated clowns (can someone inform me about mated SW fish? thanks!!!!)

i'm having a hard time with the fish stocking list... gahhh

and for some corals i'm thinking the nano soft coral pack available on live-aquaria.com including mushroom, polyp and soft corals.

as far as the tanks cycle, i was told by the employee at the LFS that i wouldn't see a cycle and didn't need to supplement in any ammonia because of the live-rock and live-sand. was he wrong? if i do need to do something, please let me know and i'll drop a shrimp in there or do the ammonia drip cycle.

thanks a ton guys!!!
 
2 crabs (not sure what kind... help!!!)

Possible hermit crabs, make sure you have extra shells for them to grow, or they might get your snails. I like bumble bee snails, cerinth and nassarius.
I think the astrea have trouble righting themselves, if they get knocked over.

I would think you might have trouble w/two clowns and a goby in a 10G tank.
I'm not sure how the becom mated pairs in the LFS (possibly just adding them to the tank at the same time). Clowns will change sexes. One will become larger and turn female and the smaller one will be male.

i'm having a hard time with the fish stocking list... gahhh
I'm still having trouble deciding. LOL!! It's making me think about getting another tank...kinda like tattoos!

I don't know anything about reefs, so maybe some one else will be able to assist there.

as far as the tanks cycle, i was told by the employee at the LFS that i wouldn't see a cycle and didn't need to supplement in any ammonia because of the live-rock and live-sand. was he wrong? if i do need to do something, please let me know and i'll drop a shrimp in there or do the ammonia drip cycle.

LR will help with the cycle, or I have read help it to skip the cycle. I would suggest getting a test kit and test your water to see if it is cycling or not.
 
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