ArtsyAxolotl
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2016
- Messages
- 3
First of all, Hello! I'm new to the forum and was looking for some help deciding on what to add to my 10 gallon nano.
I guess I can give you some background on my process so far. This is my first time working with a nano, so I'm trying to take my time and learn as much as I can before making any decisions. I'm currently figuring out cycling with cured live rock. I purchased about 13lbs of fully cured live rock and have been letting it cycle for about a week and a half. I saw the nitrates rise via feeding the empty tank, but nothing else. No ammonia, no nitrite. Supposedly that's because the rock is fully cured, so that would have been good to know, haha. I then tested to make sure the tank is cycling by adding 1ppm of ammonia; sure enough, the ammonia dropped today and the nitrite rose.
Hopefully, if all goes well, I should see the ammonia and nitrite drop off the chart and I can do my water change to get rid of that pesky nitrate. and please, let me know if I'm incorrect about any of this; I want to learn about the hobby and make sure that I'm doing the best I can and I always learn best from others with experience rather than books or articles.
Anyway, I'm close enough to finishing cycling that I want to start thinking about tank inhabitants. My main goals for the aquarium were, at minimum, to have a pair of clownfish. They were my late grandfather's favorite animal and he would have loved to have had some. I plan on getting 2 ocellaris clowns, and that would be it for fish as I know 10 gallons for a pair of clowns is pushing it.
Additionally, I love nudibranch and I would love to add a lettuce nudibranch... at some point. I know they're very sensitive so I want to wait until I have a bit more experience with the hardier fish before I try one of them.
As for clean up crew, I was thinking about a few snails, one or two crabs, and a shrimp, although I'm not totally sure what types are good for beginners and for nanos, or in what combination. In terms of specific species, I'd really like to get a green emerald crab. Maybe a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp for the shrimp and nerites, ceriths, or turbos for the snails; unless someone here has a better suggestion.
Corals I'm still learning about. I love torch corals, so I'd like to have just one of those. And I'd love some kind that has that "classic" "branch" look, although I'm not sure how many have that without being SPS, and I'm not nearly ready to dive into that realm! Zoas are kinda a no brainer as far as I've read; they're gorgeous and fairly hardy as far as corals go.
Maybe a piece of macro algae like halimeda. Haven't done any reading on marine plants yet, though.
And this post got so long so fast. Sorry about that
My tentative plan at the moment is to get the clownfish pair first, then once they've settled a bit I'll start getting a clean up crew. The crew would probably be something like 5 snails of various species, a pair of scarlet legged hermits and/or the green emerald, and then once those have settled I'll start getting corals and shrimp. Does that seem ok? Or should I get them in a different order?
any advice on how these things work together or species I left out, or really just anything for someone new to the nano hobby would be amazing. I'd really appreciate any help, and if you made it this far I appreciate you surviving my wall of text xD
I guess I can give you some background on my process so far. This is my first time working with a nano, so I'm trying to take my time and learn as much as I can before making any decisions. I'm currently figuring out cycling with cured live rock. I purchased about 13lbs of fully cured live rock and have been letting it cycle for about a week and a half. I saw the nitrates rise via feeding the empty tank, but nothing else. No ammonia, no nitrite. Supposedly that's because the rock is fully cured, so that would have been good to know, haha. I then tested to make sure the tank is cycling by adding 1ppm of ammonia; sure enough, the ammonia dropped today and the nitrite rose.
Hopefully, if all goes well, I should see the ammonia and nitrite drop off the chart and I can do my water change to get rid of that pesky nitrate. and please, let me know if I'm incorrect about any of this; I want to learn about the hobby and make sure that I'm doing the best I can and I always learn best from others with experience rather than books or articles.
Anyway, I'm close enough to finishing cycling that I want to start thinking about tank inhabitants. My main goals for the aquarium were, at minimum, to have a pair of clownfish. They were my late grandfather's favorite animal and he would have loved to have had some. I plan on getting 2 ocellaris clowns, and that would be it for fish as I know 10 gallons for a pair of clowns is pushing it.
Additionally, I love nudibranch and I would love to add a lettuce nudibranch... at some point. I know they're very sensitive so I want to wait until I have a bit more experience with the hardier fish before I try one of them.
As for clean up crew, I was thinking about a few snails, one or two crabs, and a shrimp, although I'm not totally sure what types are good for beginners and for nanos, or in what combination. In terms of specific species, I'd really like to get a green emerald crab. Maybe a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp for the shrimp and nerites, ceriths, or turbos for the snails; unless someone here has a better suggestion.
Corals I'm still learning about. I love torch corals, so I'd like to have just one of those. And I'd love some kind that has that "classic" "branch" look, although I'm not sure how many have that without being SPS, and I'm not nearly ready to dive into that realm! Zoas are kinda a no brainer as far as I've read; they're gorgeous and fairly hardy as far as corals go.
Maybe a piece of macro algae like halimeda. Haven't done any reading on marine plants yet, though.
And this post got so long so fast. Sorry about that
My tentative plan at the moment is to get the clownfish pair first, then once they've settled a bit I'll start getting a clean up crew. The crew would probably be something like 5 snails of various species, a pair of scarlet legged hermits and/or the green emerald, and then once those have settled I'll start getting corals and shrimp. Does that seem ok? Or should I get them in a different order?
any advice on how these things work together or species I left out, or really just anything for someone new to the nano hobby would be amazing. I'd really appreciate any help, and if you made it this far I appreciate you surviving my wall of text xD