My new tank - step by step account

[wayne]

Got the T5's in , nice.... in a shallow tank like this I think it's pretty close to a 150 Watt halide in intensity. I had to saw out the preffited/preformed fluorescent fixture with a handheld jigsaw. Brutal but effective - took maybe half an hour. The T5's are a Deltec retrofit incidentally with a nice lip to hang on a hole in the hood, plus gullwing reflectors.www.d-daquariumsolutions.com
I did have a pretty fine growth of hair algae on the back wall of the tank but this has all gone now. Coralline growing quitewell on juwel internal filter box and some bare rock in tank

[wayne]

6 weeks or so into having the tank setup and I now have a fish in there. At last? Well maybe it's not such a long time? It's a 1 1/2 inch common clown whos now swimming around relatively happily checking out his home and avoiding the overterritorial shrimp. I'd like to get another, but I'll have to wait till the only shop I really trust gets more stock in.
FYI I did not quarantine this fish! Naughty? Well kind of. I know it's been sitting in a dealers tank for some months , in a standalone tank and has been fine there so I think that effectively that was a quarantine. Acclimaiton by drip took about an hour and of course I discarded the dealers water.
I intend to try to get another clown quite clickly, but after that drop to stocking at a rate of no more than a fish every month or so to give the tank time to adapt and catch up.
Fish options for a tank of this size are quite limited. I will likely try to get a 6 line wrasse or Rainsfords goby, one of the more peaceful pseudochromids and a small centropyge like a rusty. And that will be that. And maybe not the pseudochromid.

[wayne]

Summary so far - 6 weeks, nearly 7 so time for a resume. In terms of the nitrogen cycle this tank is cycled, but that doesn't really meant it's stable or complete yet.. There are undoubtedly new populations of organisms growing, and old ones are still dying, and this is likely true in a micro scale too. My main concern is that I have brown algae on the top of my sand bed, which may or may not be diatoms. This is the only problem algae i have now, as my coralline is developing , and i have a couple of clumps of caulerpa (nummilaria?) growing. I am disappointed by the rate at which my sand bed is NOT becoming live - not much apart from a few worms are visible. I wil likely have to make an effort to seed from an established reef somewere locally.
The original aim of this project was to produce a viable long term relatively low maintenance marine aquarium for as little cash as was possible, but somewhere along the road it grew a bit. However the original aim was good, and I think possible.

An original list of kit was
Juwel rekord 110 litre with dual light hood, 40 watts fluorescent light
Swap out one bulb for 12000 K NO
Extra powerhead (Juwel kit comes with 600 l/h pump + heater)
Aragonite sand (dead) - adequate for 1 inch base
Salt
Hydrometer, test kits, esp pH, kH, ammonia, nitrite
10 - 15 kilos live rock

And I reckon you can run with that lot as long as you are diligent in waterchanges, not overfeeding, not overstocking and generally being smart. You're relying on liverock and extensive water movement to filter the tank, but you have to understand this is quite limited though it will be a lot better than a UGF filtered system or one filtered in a style similar to FW tanks. Of that lot the tank kit and live rock were the most expensive parts. This , for me, is a baseline setup. I have no idea how much this would be in the US, but I don't think you can go much lighter and get good results.

However after adding a skimmer and upgrading the lighting, the 2 logical steps, and adding some polyps I guess I'm now close to a reef in setup though that isn't what I would call it - it still feels like a FOWLR to me. This isn't really important.

This has been an interesting progress, and I suppose I should make an effort to keep this up to date over the coming months, though frankly there won't be a lot to say...

Lessons so far
KNOW YOUR ENEMY - research, research, research. Don't trust your local store unless they're obviously good. Once you've done your research properly you'll know what to look for, what not. UGF's, damsels to cycle and a Moorish Idol sir - give that store a miss! 5 fish inc. a tang and an angel in a 10 - you're on the wrong planet. Know what you're buying before you give away your money. Don't trust the internet - do the classic paper reading. I see the same questions again and again on different sites, including this one. If you can't be bothered to do this reading, don't expect success. You can't expect to fix stuff repeatedly - prevention is the best cure, especially in small tanks.

BIGGER IS BETTER - yes it is. I'm trying to stock a 30 now, and do you know, not many fish work long term in a small tank like that, so god only knows why so many people try small tanks like 10's. My list is going to be a clown or 2, six line wrasse, a small centropyge and maybe a banggai cardinal and that's it. I'd like a tang, but my tanks obviously too small, ditto butterflies, larger centropyges and so on. I'd like Rainsfords goby, 2 1/2 inches, but guess what , the tanks too small to support a pod population for it to live, ditto mandarins. The list goes on... So the criteria for going into a tank of this size (32 inches long, 80 cms) is small, relatively inactive or at laest not pelagic, peaceful and can be fed artificial/frozen foods. That isn't many. Damsels for example - not really for the long haul, too aggressive.
I can tell you right now, though I like this tank ,I wish it was 4 feet long as you can use so much more stuff. The only way this can work is by concentrating on inverts to keep the interest level up. The concept of a 10 gallon fish only is a joke, you can't keep anything except 2 small fish in it! Long term , that isn't too interesting. Note that if you put much more than 10 lbs of rock into a 10 there isn't much room for a fish! 8 gals real volume, minus a gallon or two for the rocks volume....
Cost shouldn't be an issue here, though it undoubtedly is. However the exact same equipment and quantity of rock for a 10, put straight into a 20 long is going to be a lot better for you and the fish for a negligible increase in cost, just thro the increase in size.

This project has been a lot of fun so far and very interesting. At the moment I'm trying to figure what a bunch of small pink blobs with lilac tips are - chordates, or some kind of primary polyp. I wish this was larger, but I'm glad I have this setup

[Somonas]

research research research. I can't agree more with that
so you are suggesting that a reef tank should be at least 30 gallons? and that a FOWLR should be larger, say 50 ?

[wayne]

I think you have to be realistic. Obviously people run reefs that are much smaller than 30 and have terriffic success, but for a beginner the negligible increase in cost to get much bigger than a 10 has got to be worth it. For a reef you're going to need lighting, and frankly the lighting you'd need for a 10 will do a perfectly servicable job on a20 long. The skimmer will be the same, the powerheads et al very similar. The only difference wil be that a skimmer will become more practical, hidable. I don't really buy the space argument, but I guess sometimes it's true. Throw out the television? I guess I need repeat the point -if you take the same 10lbs of live rock, same kit, and just put in a 20 or even a 30 you are really increasing your options for a very small cost increase - doubling your volume of water is more powerful than any amount of filtration.
For FishOnly first define FO. For a FOWLR tank that this was meant to be, a 30 is obviously practical if you know your limits, or rather those of your fish choices. However when people say FishOnly to me I tend to think of non invert safe fish like angels, butterflies, triggers, puffers et al and then for sure , bigger is better. You will actually find that the number of these bruisers you can keep in a 55 is very, very limited. So for me, for people to talk about a 10 gallon 'fish only' is a fast road to disinterest, especially if they're coming from a freshwater cichlid world and just want to test the waters. 'Hmm, these gobies arent nearly as good as my oscars'. If you do have to build a small tank, and i can understand that, learn to live with your limited fish choice, but get some inverts in there to add interest. Also note that a 10 or even 20 with a UGF, non live rock setup is going to be alarmingly unstable. If i only had room for a 10 I'd go for a live rock tank with no fish - they're always the biggest problem

[wayne]

I haven't updated this for a ges. Now 16 weeks in. Things are good. Fish stock is now a common clown and a 6 line wrasse. Corals are 2 colonies green protopalythoa, 1 of yellow zoanthids and a sarcophyton. All seem well thoguh the sarco scared me at the start - it extended on the first day, then didn't again for 2 weeks - light shock I suspect, going from a system with a 150 watt halide behind a cover glass to unshielded T5's.
No real problems thogu hat some point I need to kill out all the aiptasia I have at one end before they become a real problem. Numerous algaes growing. Corallines, green and red brushes, caulerpa, some red balls , caulerpa, padina (nice) and now some lime green 'knobs'. I have also got stacks of small serpulid worms. some bristles, small serpet stars, copepods, amphipods and so on from the live rock. The latest and greates t thing to developa are some white sponges growing in a cave.
Maintenance is check all is running ok, and doing a weekly 10 % (10 litres) water change. I also clean the bulbs reflectors from salt buildup at this time.
Overall this is a really easy tank to keep. I spend much less time on this than I do on my discus. But I can well imagine if you're overstocked it would be hellish.
I should pick up a rusty angel tonight to go into quarantine. I might also change salt from Instant Ocean to Reef Crystals (same manufacturer) as I want ot use the extra calcium to push coralline growth.

[wayne]

Terrible spelling above - my stupid.

[Somonas]

I think it's about time for pictures.

[jaws101]

I have 3 fresh water tanks set up ( 29, 20 & 10 gallon) and i want to set up a salt water tank, does anyone have any recomondations for what fish i should start out with?

[wayne]

Clowns, small wrasse, selected blennies and gobies, cardinals, dottybacks if you pick carefully. There are numerous others. Maybe after 6 months one of the tougher dwarf angels. Give damsels a miss - cheap, pretty, tough as heck and territorially aggressive.
You have a ton more fish options with a 29 than a 20, let alone a 10.