Tearing my 55gal down....want to still keep a reef 10 gal su

[Lunchbucket]

ok, for time and other reasons i am tearing down my 55gal reef, but i don't want to give up the hobby....so what would i need for a 10 gal mini reef

i have:
10 gal glass tank
hagen powerheads: 802 201, 301 and 2-402's
can make a canopy
use some of my own rock and sand i am selling


so i need lights, little heater, and a skimmer.

so what lights? pc's but what watt (ahsupply.com a good place?)

heater suggestion? ajustable would be great

what skimmmer? i don't want to go skimmerless....i just wouldn't feel safe? prism?

maybe later on i can diy an acrylic "sump" on the back to hide the heater and stuff.

suggestions or websites would be very helpful!!

feel free to email me w/ suggestions or if you have any equipment you would love to get rid of that would work for my purposes!!
<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A>

please help me keep a little of my beautiful reef

later
Lunchbucket

 

[naesco]

Sorry to hear that Lunchbucket.
There are expert nano reef guys on this board but in the meantime try www.nano-reef.com for info. Many of our guys are there as well.

 

[Mike02]

Hey Lunchbucket, i have a 10g and i do use a CPR backpack. everywhere i read on the net said that this wouldnt fit. but thats wrong. it fits, but my 10g is on a stand. even so, i think it would fit without it. i use 36x2 PC from AH supply and i have a glass canopy to protect the lights. my PH is a micro-jet(set on 117gph). I've had this for only 2.5 months and everything is in good shape. i started putting corals in only after 1 wk cuz it cycled fast. The only problem with that is that when i had a hair algae bloom, my GSP werent happy but they survived and now spreading over an oyster shell i put in the tank. im starting a 5g, but a CPR wont fit there, so im thinking a Prizm or just a hang on the back plastic filter (with all filtering stuff removed) for cirulation along with a PH. I dont know how that would work out. Im skeptical.

 

[Lunchbucket]

cool, thanks

2x 36watt pc's those will fit? what are the dimensions of a 10? wouldnt' the lights be too long??

more suggestions please...

prism?? yes no??

later
Lunchbucket

 

[Mike02]

lunchbucket, i bought the canopy from AH supply too. It fits perfectly on the inside lip of the aquarium. the bulbs are 16.4" long. the canopy is around 20" long and a 10g is around 20.5" long. im sure they made this light set to fit for a 10g.

 

[Lunchbucket]

kick ass i think i only need to spend like $120 bucks to get going!!

need a heater and lights. i have heard that skimmerless works ok for these tanks. maybe i will try that for a while then get i skimmer later? any oppinions on going skimmerless??

later
Lunchbucket

 

[24Tom]

I have had a stock ten gallon eclipse for a year and a half and it is fine. With the better lighting you should be fine. Also water changes are so easy in the small tank so as long as you don't overstock on fish the tank should be low maintenance.

 

[cindywennin]

Reef Central has a Nano list:
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=75

There is quite a bit of good info there. I just started 2-4.3g Nano's. No skimmers, each has 2-13w PC lights. My plans are to change 1g water/week. Makes it a 25% water change so I do not plan to dose any additives.
Good Luck, Let us know how thing go.
Cindy

 

[Lunchbucket]

cool, no additives too! that would be nice.

i am trying to decide if i should start up my nano now, or what till next fall (i will be gone for 3 months in the summer) what do you think. shouldn't be hard to train my mom to feed 1x a day, water top off, and do water changes. i think i should do i now while i have access to the rock and sand, and my corals and fish.

so if i use 10gal of water from my 55gal, the rock from there, sand from there, and fish from there. can i add the water, rock, sand...wait a couple hours to settle...and then add 2 clowns, purple firefish, gsp, shrooms, colt frag, ricordia.

can i add all that w/in that day or do i need to wait for a cycle even though it will be using cycled water, rock, sand???

i need to do some shopping for lights and a heater now. i will get a little hang on filter and only use carbon and put my heater in there.

any other powerhead needed?? my hagen 201?? throttled down??

any way to have a auto water top off system in there?

also, should i make that canopy closed or open backed?

later
Lunchbucket

 

[DEADFISH1]

I just recently started my first Mini Reef, I almost wasted my money on a skimmer but instead I took some advice and did not, I'm just replacing a gallon of water a week, so far it is running great, it's one of those 7 gal bow fronts that is popular in the Mini reef world right now, I'm using the 35w smartlight retro kit, Micro-Jet, the smallest of the smallest, and a power filter with the filter media removed, I keep my water level just were the water from my power filter will splash when it flows back into the tank so to have good surface water movement, I have tons of copepods, sand is a lot brighter that my 58 gal tank that I had first, right now all I have is a few mushrooms, Red Sea Xenias, 3 blue legs, 4 snails and a green brittle star, but I have just started, every thing but the star is from my 58 gal. and I have to say that they are doing much better, I would like to have an aquarium that is only 12" high 12" wide and maybe about 6' long with sump and overflow, it would simulate a shallow reef more, unlike the store bought tanks available today, the lighting required would be a lot cheaper also, maybe I'll make one.
I'm having so much fun with this Mini Reef, I think everyone should try it.

 

[dtorrent]

Lunchbucket, I made a wooden canopy for my 5.5. I originally made it open-backed for possible heat issues, but I modified it with duct tape to close up most of the back. I have a small fan in the canopy that I use in the summer for about 7 hours a day. In the winter my apartment is cold so I don't need the fan. With this setup I wasn't having heat problems so I closed up the back of the canopy the best I could. Otherwise I had a ton of light spilling out the back.

I don't think you will have any overheating problems with 72 watts over ten gallons. I have 64 watts over 5 gallons and I only need the fan in the summer months as my apartment stays about 80 during the day.

 

[cindywennin]

There is a message about auto top offs made especially for the Nanos on the Reef Central site

 

[dtorrent]

I have a 5.5 gallon nanoreef that I have had for 2 years. I know it's not a 10 gallon but I would think the maintenance and requirements would be similiar.

My nano has 2x32 watts of CSL power compacts. I have a fan in my canopy for the summertime, but you may not need it with the bigger water volume and the same wattage. I have a simple HOB power filter that pumps about 200 gph. I would probably go with a bigger gph for a 10 gallon (300+) and maybe a tiny powerhead. The HOB filter holds the heater and occasional carbon. I don't use any kind of filter pads.

The tank has about 9 lbs. of live rock and about a 1.5 inch sand bed. I think an important aspect of setting up a small tank is using the highest quality rock from the beginning. Since you already have cured rock and sand you are ahead of the game!

As you can tell, I don't have a skimmer on the tank. I do a one gallon water change (slightly less than 20%) every 5 - 7 days. I use Tap Water Purifier water and IO salt. I don't add any other buffers or calcium. I replace evap water with TWP water every morning (I have alot of evap in the summer with the fan running).

I have never had any kind of algae problem in this tank. I clean the glass maybe every 4 or 5 days. Everything is flourishing, I take propagated corals to the LFS on a regular basis as they would otherwise outgrow the tank. Coralline algae is growing nicely along the back and covering the rock.

IMO, if you are on a budget you can easily get by without a skimmer. Water changes take me about 5 minutes. I premix the day before, drain exactly 1 gallon of tank water into a gallon jug, and replace with new water.

Good luck!

 

[Mike02]

The canopy that AHS sells has an opening on the top for ventilation. I found that as long as i can keep my apt below 70degress, i dont have a heating problem. Seperately, i received the CSL 64 watt lights for my 5 gallon yesterday. Someone on here said that CSL got their bulb maker in china to mark them 32w/per bulb instead of the former 28watt, while being the same bulb. I would have to believe that. My 72watt lights from AHS is ALOT brighter than these so called 64watt bulbs from CSL. Well, thats what it looks like to me anyway.

 

[purple_tang2001]

If i catch heat for this so be it. But why spend so much for a skimmer? Iv'e had the best of luck with runnin a skilter 250 on my 10 gallon. Skims the garbage good everyday, never had a problem with it.

 

[Lunchbucket]

ok, no skimmer for me.

but can i throw everything in right away or do i have to "cycle" it?

would like to do it the same day i tear down my 55gal. i think i am gonna get the cannopy ahsupply sells w/ thier lights.

thanks
Lunchbucket

 

[Lunchbucket]

^^^^

 

[jmeader]

You can throw everything in at once and have an instant tank. As long as you get the correct proportions of the different life forms you will have no problems. If you mess up the recipe though, good luck with the interesting times your going to have.

 

[Lunchbucket]

ahhh crap....no luck for me.

i am sure w/ 3 fish and as much rock as i can stuff in there i would be ok but i question my unknowing ass

later
Lunchbucket

 

[davelin315]

I think if you add everything at once, you'll kill it all. Don't forget, you're taking away a ton of water from your system, and therefore, a ton of oxygen. Your surface area will decrease from the 55 to the 10, and you also won't have the same filtration on it. I'm assuming that on your 55 you had some sort of overflow that led to a sump, which means you probably had around 50 gallons of water or more (factoring in the live rock and substrate). When you switch to a sumpless 10, and you shove all the rock you can in there, figure you'll only have around 8 gallons of water or less. Again, the surface area will be decreased, and you won't have the agitation of your overflow and sump, so your interaction between the air and the water will be severely decreased. If you had a skimmer on the old set up, factor in that loss of oxygen as well. Also, if you used a DSB, your bacteria will be messed up when you transfer it. You might end up with your anaerobic bacteria on top, and your aerobic bacteria on bottom, and you might kill off both cultures. If you transfer everything over at once, and you keep all of your livestock, figure that you'll be increasing the biological load by 6 or 7 times minimum, not because you've got more stuff, but because it's more concentrated and you have a disturbed biological filter. My guess is you would instantly see an ammonia spike, followed by a nitrite spike, followed by lots of dead organisms and a really smell 10 gallon tank. If you're going to take the plunge, do it slowly, not all at once. Transfer some substrate that is taken from the top so that you have as much aerobic bacteria in it as you can. Then add some live rock. Keep track of how much water is displaced as you do this. Then add stuff SLOWLY, until you think it's maxed out. Doing big water changes might also help, but you'd need to keep these up since your bacteria culture would adjust to cleaner water. I've never been one for adding things slowly to my tank, but that's in a 125, and before that, it was a 55, and I still wouldn't add more than 1 or 2 things per week or more. You're working in a 10 gallon tank, with very little room for error. Again, think of it like this (if you add all the livestock at once)- it's like adding a cup of ammonia to your 55 versus a 10 - the concentration in the 10 would be much much higher, minimum of 6 or 7 times more concentrated.

By the way, the Skilter is a good idea, you can even add an airstone to it to aid in oxygenating your water. The heater could also go in there. If you put it in your tank itself, you'll fry a lot of stuff in there when it touches it. Ever touched a heater when it's on or drained a tank without unplugging the heater and then filled it up again (the heater can shatter)?

Don't kill your tank. If you can train your mother to do water changes on a 10 gallon, train her to keep up your 55 until you get back. In the meantime, start your 10 gallon and let it slowly adjust. Don't forget, a small problem in a 55 will turn into a catastrophe in a 10.