Hi all 
My name is Erica and I'm a long-time lurker of this lovely site! Have finally gotten around to registering because I have questions burning away and definitely see a reef tank in my future (perhaps the far future, but that just gives me more time to be prepared and do it right!). I've been keeping freshwater fish for just a couple of years but have gotten a little obsessed and it feels like a million years I also spent 6 months running the aquatic department of a retail pet store so have been learning as much as I can, through both reading and practicing.
So far on my checklist:
Goldfish (had 3 in a 20L tank.... we all start somewhere right?)
Guppies, various tropical community fish, ram cichlids, hillstream loaches (my one true love), zebra plecos, and an extremely short term reef tank ('rescued' from a friend, but I had to rehome everything within a month as our landlord put the house up for sale and I wasn't sure if I'd have space for them in the new house). That was 60L with a couple of clarkii clowns, star polyps, a dying linkia starfish and some slug-like things that kept puffing smoke.
Due to being a full-time student and having limited space available, I've learnt to love nano tanks! But fortunately they usually bring me more success than their larger counterparts. 'Nano' within reason obviously, and I would never buy fish that will outgrow my tank :] At the moment I'm just running a Juwel 180L tropical tank and am in the process of setting up a 2' 10 gallon river tank intended for the hillstream species, Gastromyzon ocellatus. It's just a bare tank with an 6W LED so far, but the blue setting on the led has got me thinking of reefs, and so here I am.
My first question to throw at you lovely people is this:
Would a 6W LED be sufficient to grow corals in a 10 gallon tank? (It's 28cm high)
I don't know the difference between sps, stony, mushroom corals etc. The only ones I've seen that I would like to have are purple xenia and star polyps. Other than that, I know nothing and would love to be educated in the ways of a nano reef-keeper
My name is Erica and I'm a long-time lurker of this lovely site! Have finally gotten around to registering because I have questions burning away and definitely see a reef tank in my future (perhaps the far future, but that just gives me more time to be prepared and do it right!). I've been keeping freshwater fish for just a couple of years but have gotten a little obsessed and it feels like a million years
I also spent 6 months running the aquatic department of a retail pet store so have been learning as much as I can, through both reading and practicing. So far on my checklist:
Goldfish (had 3 in a 20L tank.... we all start somewhere right?
) Guppies, various tropical community fish, ram cichlids, hillstream loaches (my one true love), zebra plecos, and an extremely short term reef tank ('rescued' from a friend, but I had to rehome everything within a month as our landlord put the house up for sale and I wasn't sure if I'd have space for them in the new house). That was 60L with a couple of clarkii clowns, star polyps, a dying linkia starfish and some slug-like things that kept puffing smoke.
Due to being a full-time student and having limited space available, I've learnt to love nano tanks! But fortunately they usually bring me more success than their larger counterparts. 'Nano' within reason obviously, and I would never buy fish that will outgrow my tank :] At the moment I'm just running a Juwel 180L tropical tank and am in the process of setting up a 2' 10 gallon river tank intended for the hillstream species, Gastromyzon ocellatus. It's just a bare tank with an 6W LED so far, but the blue setting on the led has got me thinking of reefs, and so here I am.
My first question to throw at you lovely people is this:
Would a 6W LED be sufficient to grow corals in a 10 gallon tank? (It's 28cm high)
I don't know the difference between sps, stony, mushroom corals etc. The only ones I've seen that I would like to have are purple xenia and star polyps. Other than that, I know nothing and would love to be educated in the ways of a nano reef-keeper
