Scott's DIY 10 Gallon Nano Build

[carey]

Reefrocks sells a quality product but their shipping sucks. :-( I ordered my sand from them and it took forever. I also had my girlfriend order too and it took like 3 weeks. So buckle down, you're in for a wait. lol

[needmorecowbell]

Same with reef cleaners for dry goods but not livestock.

[scottayy]

Darn.

[scottayy]

Rocks came, replaced the old rocks. Put a few of the old ones in the sump to keep some BB. Found the yellow goby skeleton.. really don't know what happened there. Anyways, ready for corals after I make sure the water stays stable!

[scottayy]

Also, interesting note lol, I found a rolly polly (you know, those bugs that are out side that roll into a ball). At least that's what it looks like, it's all base rock so there are no hitchikers and no corals yet. Sooo.. he looks pretty happy crawling in my rock though lol.

[needmorecowbell]

Looks great! Sorry about the ywg, that stinks.

A rolly polly?? Lol maybe it will be a snack for a hermit.

[scottayy]

Originally Posted by needmorecowbell

Looks great! Sorry about the ywg, that stinks.

A rolly polly?? Lol maybe it will be a snack for a hermit.

It was the yellow clown goby. The YWG is still chillin out in caves B-)

[needmorecowbell]

Oh, okay.

How do you like your ywg? I was thinking about getting one. It's either that or a Midas Blenny.

[scottayy]

I really like him he's a cool guy. He'll just sit and stare.. watching the place. Him and the shrimp hang out a lot.

Can't vouch for the midas blenny.. never had one.

[needmorecowbell]

It's a pretty tough decision. The Midas swims like an eel and perches up on the rocks. But the goby looks sooo cool, seems like they have a lot of personality.

[scottayy]

firefish died
water's good except for 20 nitrates - but that wouldn't kill a fish
dunno maybe stress from the rock replacement

good thing about nano fish is they are cheap

[Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by scottayy

firefish died
water's good except for 20 nitrates - but that wouldn't kill a fish
dunno maybe stress from the rock replacement

good thing about nano fish is they are cheap

Did you remove any LR from the system?

[scottayy]

Yeah, there were like 7 pieces total in the DT (10 lbs) and about 10 more lbs in the sump. But I put 4 of the pieces that were in the DT in the sump and only took out 3. So out of about 20 lbs of live rock I only removed like 5 lbs.

I don't think that was the problem though - ammonia and nitrites are 0.

[scottayy]

I'm thinking I don't have as much coral growing power as I thought. I got the 19W actinic which I thought was the light corals needed to grow. Turns out it's just more for looks and providing supplemental light of a different wavelength (from what I read). I'm thinking I should replace the 19W 445nm light with a 19W 8 white/4 blue fixture instead.

[Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by scottayy

I'm thinking I don't have as much coral growing power as I thought. I got the 19W actinic which I thought was the light corals needed to grow. Turns out it's just more for looks and providing supplemental light of a different wavelength (from what I read). I'm thinking I should replace the 19W 445nm light with a 19W 8 white/4 blue fixture instead.

The more blue the wavelength the less the par. So what I do is get 10k and use cheap blue led strips for the nice cool blue hue. Do you have reflectors on them?

[mrbee2828]

Scott, as you know, the challenge with a nano tank is the lack of water volume and how touchy everything is. I'm no SW expert but I know that for me, even a 10g FW was a bit of a challenge compared to my 55g. I'm not surprised that you've lost a fish or 2 already and I'm sorry to hear it.

I would have defiantly cured that rock before using it in any size tank, let alone a nano like yours. My buddy removed about 30lbs of LR in a 80g frag tank last week reworking the structures and crashed the whole thing. I can't imagine what removing a few pounds of LR and adding a few of base rock is doing to your setup. Keep an eye on the levels as you're sure to have some spikes. Good luck with everything!

[scottayy]

I've decided I'm going to tear this tank down. I put a few zoa frags in there to grow out and they're doing fine. But my passion is on my bigger tank and I seem to be neglecting this one. I guess I'm just a one tank kind of guy, lol.

I will be using the two koralia 240's and the mag drive 1.9 return pump. Obviously a 10 gallon, self plumbed and drilled tank is of no value so I'll be trashing that. LR and chaeto will go in my 55 sump. I'll be using the stand as a night stand beside my bed.

I guess the only thing I won't be using is the lights.

I have:
1 x ecoxotic panorama pro 19W LED light strip (8 whites, 4 blues) with reflector
1 x ecoxotic panorama pro 19W LED light strip (12 x blue) with reflector
1 x wall transformer
1 x 3 way splitter, so they all run on the same plug
and 1 x 5w led moonlight

I'll let all those go for $125 if someone wants to buy them. They're pretty new, in good shape, and retail for something like $235 all together. If not I'll let them sit in my boxes of fish stuff lol.

[needmorecowbell]

sorry to see you tearing it down, im sure owning two tanks would be hard, i would probably end up focusing on one tank also. good luck with the bigger tank!

[200 gallon reef]

I have two reef tanks . . . The only way to stay interested in both tanks is to always add something to both at the same time, or alternate new coral/fish. Keeps that new feeling going.

[Nu-Nu the eel]

True, but then it gets expensive! I prefer to have 1 nice thank you can invest every pay check into, rather then 2-3