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Annakhil

Annakhil

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
391
Location
Lake Charles, La
i am such a newbie at salt its not even funny!
i have talked to everyone in my house and convinced them that i will be building a 100g salt later next year but in the mean time i am going to convert my sons 10 into a nano and give him a new 20 so he can have more fish.
i have to say that i have a slight problem right now with the amount of tanks i want and am starting.
i am fairly knowledgeable about freshwater so i know how to start one of those tanks but i want to know what all i need for the nano
i will get live sand and i was thinking of just using a few buckets of ocean water from the lfs since its only a 10 and it would be easier to start off with water already mixed with good salinity or i think.... anyone have thoughts on this?
can i do a fowlr with a 10 or will it basically only be able to keep corals?
if i can only do corals what other things do i need besides filter, heater, rocks and sand?
can a hob filter work? like the fluval c4?
if i can do a fowlr tank, what necessities will i need for that?
what fish or inverts can i keep?
sorry that i am flooding with questions but as my parents use to say
your never going to learn unless you ask questions!
 
Well, as I understand things a nano tank is a tank that is setup with all of the filtration tucked behind inside the tank and also lighting so that when you buy it you (theoretically) don't have to do anything to it besides add water and cycle. So I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say you are building a nano.

That aside, in terms of a 10 gal tank there are some very small fish you can house in them. They are usually gobies, people seem to prefer the clown gobies at times, but you are more likely to see an invert tank with some coral in these tanks. Surf around liveaquariua.com for awhile and you'll get the feel of what can go into such a small SW tank.
 
Annakhil said:
i am such a newbie at salt its not even funny!
i have talked to everyone in my house and convinced them that i will be building a 100g salt later next year but in the mean time i am going to convert my sons 10 into a nano and give him a new 20 so he can have more fish.
i have to say that i have a slight problem right now with the amount of tanks i want and am starting.
i am fairly knowledgeable about freshwater so i know how to start one of those tanks but i want to know what all i need for the nano
i will get live sand and i was thinking of just using a few buckets of ocean water from the lfs since its only a 10 and it would be easier to start off with water already mixed with good salinity or i think.... anyone have thoughts on this?
can i do a fowlr with a 10 or will it basically only be able to keep corals?
if i can only do corals what other things do i need besides filter, heater, rocks and sand?
can a hob filter work? like the fluval c4?
if i can do a fowlr tank, what necessities will i need for that?
what fish or inverts can i keep?
sorry that i am flooding with questions but as my parents use to say
your never going to learn unless you ask questions!
Click to expand...

Okay I'm assuming your talking gallon. Correct me if I'm wrong.
In a 10gal you will have to do daily top offs with RODI water and more water changes than usually would have to.
The ocean water you kinda wanna use the same type of water all the time in my opinion. It's not hard at all to get the right salinity. :)
If it's a 10gal, you can keep 1 fish... Possibly 2 but I can really only recommend 1. I it's a 10L it will have to be strictly coral and shrimp.
You will need: hydrometer, liquid tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, if you do coral you will eventually need calcium, phosphate, alk, you'll want your own salt and RODI water on hand to make saltwater and do top offs with RODI, you'll need live sand, live rock/base rock(if you don't know I can explain the difference), you'll need a heater, thermometer, power head for the siZe of your tank, and if you plan on keeping coral you'll need a light that will support the coral :)

I hope I helped. Ask about anything you didn't understand :)
 
so i actually have lights specifically for a marine tank i just switched the bulbs out for fresh, they are 2 t5hos, i can switch them back, i know somewhat the difference is but can i do a fowlr with just 10g just so i know i can keep a fish alive in salt lol
i can go look at powerheads in a little bit on my lunch break how powerful do i need to look at?
 
Umm... I'm not sure but if you look on the back of a korilia box (highly recommend this brand) it should tell you. A nano is anything under 30 gallons. In a 10 you could have a shrimp goby pair, a clown goby, or a small firefish... I'm sure there's a couple more options I'm not thinking of. Haven't been to the lfs lately so I'm forgetting some stuff :p lol
If I were you id get a small nano fish and put it in there let it get all good, make sure it's healthy Ect. Then if alls going well switch back the bulbs(blue bulbs are my personal favorite) and get a few starter coral also :) zoas, mushroom, ricordia,
It'll come together nicely and once you get the hang of it you can get some other coral too :)
 
Khij159753 said:
Umm... I'm not sure but if you look on the back of a korilia box (highly recommend this brand) it should tell you. A nano is anything under 30 gallons. In a 10 you could have a shrimp goby pair, a clown goby, or a small firefish... I'm sure there's a couple more options I'm not thinking of. Haven't been to the lfs lately so I'm forgetting some stuff :p lol
If I were you id get a small nano fish and put it in there let it get all good, make sure it's healthy Ect. Then if alls going well switch back the bulbs(blue bulbs are my personal favorite) and get a few starter coral also :) zoas, mushroom, ricordia,
It'll come together nicely and once you get the hang of it you can get some other coral too :)
Click to expand...

The list provided previously is right on.


You could do a pistol shrimp/goby combination. They have a very cool symbiotic relationship.


I just purchased a pico PH. I've got the link somewhere on my thread. I can find it for you if you'd like. It has a max flow of 200gph.


Mixing salt isn't that hard. I've read great reviews on the petco natural ocean water so I am giving it a try in my 5 gal.


Make sure you have a lid on your tank. Gobies can and will jump. Plus it reduces water evaporation.


If you have a 2 bulb t5 I'd use 1 actinic blue and one white. Maybe a 12k color temp? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong there.


If you have an API freshwater test kit you can use it for your saltwater cycle. And if you use live rock the cycle should go pretty quick, hopefully!


Oh! Filters. You can us a HOB filter and replace the filter cartridge with live rock rubble. It works great, IMO.
 
Agreed! I know my lfs has a couple other fish options that aren't mentioned much though.

I'd personally do a small goby or firefish and a cleaner/bloodfire shrimp and maybe a few sexy shrimp when you get coral in there :)
 
My experience is that when people say powerhead, they mean a pump with one inlet and one outlet. (Think inlet pipe and outlet pipe.) A circulation pump is kind of like a fan underwater. The fan part is surrounded by a cage of some sort to help keep critters out.

The Maxi Jet Pro line by Marineland is convertible between a powerhead and a circulation pump. I have used these, and they are a good value for the money, BUT the mounting system stinks. If you use the clip version, it might be too close to the water surface to keep from sucking in air and making a lot of noise. If you use the suction cup mount, the suction cups tend to not hold very well for more than a day or two, and the pump falls a creates a sandstorm in the tank.

If you're looking for a circulation pump, I hihgly recommend the Hydor Korallias as a good value. They use a magnet and suction cup mount that holds very well and are pretty quiet. The down side is they are kind of big.

There are several other brands out there as well, some of which have a boat load of features, but I don't have any direct experience with them.

I will say i have used Aqua Clear powerheads, and they are workhorses and last a long time, but tend to be a little loud IMO.
 
I went with my friend who's dad use to own a petshopand she now owns a ton of fish stuff Ina few storage units , I'm going this weekend to te unit to see if she has anything I can use ill take pics and upload when I go, to see if there is anything I can use I would rather get it from her than buy Iyar a store to save money
 
Can someone send me a pic of their power head i just want to make sureim looking and thinking of te same thing y'all are
Please and thank you
 
I just want to say how much I hate autocorrect! Sometimes it makes me look like I'm typing drunk. Either changing words or cutting off letters
 
I have 2 power heads rated 250 in my 20g they are really the phs for the bio cube lines but fit just nicely in my tank and good current
 
Haha I don't got a pic right now but I can post one when I get home. If you describe what it looks like I can probably tell you if it's the right thing.
 
I keep looking at power heads online and they look like filters I'm just wondering how they fit into a tank, where do they go, I see the fan looking things in everyone's pics an I thought that's what y'all were talking about but idk
 
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