10 gallon nano question

[KennethT]

I have a 10 gallon nano set up, and was looking at clowns and an anemone, but have changed my mind. The current inhabitants are 3 red leg hermits, 1 blue leg hermit, 1 zebra hermit, 1 trochus snail, 1 cerith snail, 1 emerald mithrax crab, and 1 bangaii cardinal. Is there any corals that I should not put in the tank? I have a 28 watt 50/50 aqualight now, but I'm going to build a hood and put a 96w power quad 50/50 in it. Will this be enough light to support about any coral that I put in there? Is there a limit to how many I should get?

I have an aquaclear 1000 powerhead, and a skilter 250 for water movement and protein skimming. The tank has 17 - 19 lbs. of live rock, and a 20 lb. bag of Arag Alive coarse sand.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[RYANRODRIGUEZ]

I DONT THINK YOU SHOULD GET AN ANEMONE PLEASE GO TO THIS WEB SITE FIRST.http://www.efishtank.com/articles/anemones&nanoreefs.htm
THEN MAKE A DECISION, I ALMOST BOUGHT ON BUT IM NOT GOING TO NOW. THIS WEB SITE SHOULD ANSWER ALL THE Q'S YOU JUST ASKED. I HOPE THIS HELPS.

 

[1979camaro]

i think he was planning not to get an anenome...as for corals not to put in you do not want anything which is going to grow to quickly/large unless you have somewhere to transfer it...most people stick to leathers, mushrooms and polyps at first which I think is a good plan as they are fairly hardy and can survive a beginners mistake...28w should be enough for a lot of the low light corals in a ten gallon, but upgrading to that 96 will mean you can grow damn near anything

 

[KennethT]

Thanks for the replies guys. Since I'm going to be doing corals, is there anything I should avoid adding? By that I mean like invertebrates, fish, or corals that won't mix with the shrooms, polyps, or leathers? Could I have a gorgonian? Thanks in advance guys. I added a peppermint shrimp and sixline wrasse today. The tank has been up for over a month and it's doing great.

 

[RYANRODRIGUEZ]

I DONT KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT CORLS IM STILL LEARNING MYSELF. BUT IM GOING TO GET A YELLOW POLYP TOMORROW. OR TONIGHT. AND A CLOWN AND A GOBIE. TODAY IS PAYDAY. I ALSO NEED A HYDO I HAVE BEEN BROWING ONE THE FLOWTYKIND I DONT LIKE THEM TOO MUCH. WELL SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW.

 

[RYANRODRIGUEZ]

I JUST GOT MY FIRST CORLS TODAY I GOT YELLOW POLYPS AND MY FIRST REAL FISH. A MAROON CLOWNFISH. IM NOT SURE WHAT TO GET NEXT? THIS WILL BE IT FOR A WHILE.

 

[1979camaro]

i would peruse nano-reef.com

i would not get a gorgonian as they tend to die easily, and for a beginner that is definitely not what you want...

do you have a cleanup crew yet? before you start cranking up the lighting make sure they are in place...your list of critters looks good to me, though i would stay away from zebra hermits...i was encouraged to get them by the LFS and they have been nothing but trouble since. The dominant one has killed all my margarita snails and several of my smaller hermits...i would stick to the blues/reds and the emerald crab (I love my emerald crab)

have you considered PC lighting?

most people dislike skilters, i have no practical experience with them myself, but in a tank that size if you have 10#s of LR you probably dont need a skimmer at all if you keep up with maintenance...

good luck to you

KB

 

[KennethT]

Well, the hermits, and snails are my cleanup crew for now. I just added a Peppermint shrimp on Monday, and I will be getting a sleaner shrimp on Saturday. I plan to get at least 1 more cerith snail, and a nassarius snail. I've been checking out nano-reef.com and have gotten some good ideas. I bought the skilter as that is what my LFS suggested, and since their 2 10 gallon nanos were crystal clear, I bought it. Is there anything else that i should add to the cleanup crew? The 28w 50/50 aqualicght is a PC light, as is the 96w 50/50 power quad. I think that I am going to build the hood, put the 96w quad in, and supplement 2 actnics for night viewing and added blue. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[1979camaro]

cleanup crew looks alright to me, i just was not sure if they were in the tank yet or not...96w of PC is a good amount of light...im running 110 and that seems to be working ok for me, though i dropped the photoperiod down to 8 hours from 12 to reduce hair algae growth...anyway, that shit was an endless battle that I am glad I finally took care of. do you plan to sequence the actinics so they come on a little before the whites and stay on after the whites go off? i have heard that is good to do...i like where you are going with this...im curious how many watts the actinics will be?

glad to offer my thoughts any time

 

[KennethT]

I'm gonna have the 96w quad come on for 8 hours a day, and the actins will be on a total of 12 hours a day (2 hours before and 2 hours after the other lights are on)....then before the actnics come on, my DIY moonlight will turn on for about 30 minutes and 30 minutes after they go off. I think it will work out good. I get my first corals this weekend (yellow polyps), and the hood and stand should be ready for light by Monday. The 28w aqualight will have to suffice the coral until I get the quad in. I'll get you some pics if your interested.

 

[1979camaro]

would like to see some pics...im sure the yellow polyps will be fine for a few days

 

[KennethT]

I GOT MY CORALS!!!!!!!!!! I got 2 colonies of Yellow Polyps, a colony of green polyps, and a colony of green striped mushrooms. I'll try and get some pics soon. I just can't bring myself to take pics to show anyone, until I get my base and hood finished.