15 gallon nano for a Saltwater virgin!

[cichlid]

I am well aware of stability issues in nanos, but this is and experiment ( no fish or corals yet) the only thing at risk of death here are live rock hitchikers... And oh well.

I have a 15 gallon tank, with an elite 20 hagon on back filter, I am converting into a 3 stage bio. Foam, charcoal filter, bio max. In the flow order. I have heard arguments over submersable vs hanging heaters, for now i have a stable hanger.

I plan to use super fine argonite reef sand, with a cup of established live sand blended in to seed ( if its corser I might fill a bag and put in the filter in place of the foam filter. The flow will then carry the good bacteria into the tank. As well 5lbs of base rock and 3-4 of live rock to seed the cycle. Here are a couple questions.

• do I add my fish and corals so everything cycles at once or do it in stages and risk mini-cycles?

• i also read you need 1 watt of lights per L of water. That means I need 60 watts of lighting for this 15gallon. Currently i have a single aqua GLO 15watt T8 bulb, but its not ideal for salt?

[gklaw]

For lighting. I would say it may be a bit low for SW.

I used the following on the 15g planted I just shut down.

Current USA Nova Extreme 24" 2x24W T-5 10,000K - Freshwater : T5 & HO-T5

Compact and nice looking unit. Sits right tight to the glass lid as well so more intensity than something that is raised higher.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Go with coarse, not super fine or sugar fine sand. Every time your powerhead moves the water, the sugar fine will create a "dust storm" in the tank.

I would go T5 or HO-T5 route as opposed to T8 (as Gordon suggests).

For rock, usual is 1 lb per gallon so you're only doing half & only 3 lbs of that is live rock (base rock can be very non-porous - making it virtually useless since the pores are where the bacteria live, not just on the surface). Porous rock is preferable to heavy, non-porous rock for this reason.

If you have time, come on over and we'll talk sw and I can show you my systems.

Anthony

[cichlid]

Yea, I wasnt sure on the lighting. Both the aqua GLO and marine GLO are 18,000k bulbs. Im thinking marine GLO 50/50.

Rock: if you look in my thread " my africans " you can see the type of rock im gunna use as base,I got it from the former fish world. I also have some hawiian reef rock i picked off the beach, a co worker is grabbing me more this week! So your saying 5lbs dry plus 5lbs live?

For a powerhead, the AC10 is 30$ so is the Fluval U1 i could get extra filtration, but removing the matter to clean it do I have to put the unit out so the S..t inside doesnt get knocked off into the tank?

Corse sand as in crushed coral?

[tang daddy]

there are standard rules and then there are rules for the seasoned....

I have a 10g nano, I started off putting 5lbs of LR and sugar sand out of my Main tank. A week later I added coral and no problems, you're best bet is to take it slow and let the tank cycle properly before adding corals and fish because as everyone knows bad things can happen fast in a nano.

for filtration, I dont bother, flow is just a Hydor Koralia nano and lighting use to be a 150w Hqi but it ran too hot so now I am running LED which is by far the best purchase for the tank. I also have a small heater, the tank has been running flawless for 8 months.

here's the led I am running if you're interested in going that route, no bulb changes and save on energy and less heat in the tank.

E.Shine Systems' 60W CREE enters the aquarium LED arena ... sort of — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

My routine is feeding once a week with mysis for the corals and water change of 10% every 2 weeks, it also runs a skimmerless set up which make the corals explode from the rich nutrients in the tank!!

[cichlid]

Hmmm good to know, thanks for the pointers, I am planning to take the " $#¡+ happens approach" Im gunna throw in the sand, a few lbs of rock and leave it for a while! Let $#¡+ happen, ive seen people throw in corals or fish instantly, but during the cycle ammonia levels can rise and kill things right?

This is a project, Im bored, all my tanks and running perfect, and daily feedings aint feeding my addiction, lol why not experiment! Whats the worst that can happen? Lol

My only concern is,I have read adding fish/corals after can trigger a re-cycle?

In a tank this size is there a maximum and minimum for water flow?

[tang daddy]

Hmmm good to know, thanks for the pointers, I am planning to take the " $#¡+ happens approach" Im gunna throw in the sand, a few lbs of rock and leave it for a while! Let $#¡+ happen, ive seen people throw in corals or fish instantly, but during the cycle ammonia levels can rise and kill things right?

This is a project, Im bored, all my tanks and running perfect, and daily feedings aint feeding my addiction, lol why not experiment! Whats the worst that can happen? Lol

My only concern is,I have read adding fish/corals after can trigger a re-cycle?

In a tank this size is there a maximum and minimum for water flow?

If you saw my tank, you'd be surprised at how little it takes to run it.
It's bare bones with equiptment and stocked with coral. It's actually very simple and that's the best way to keep things IMO.

Everyone thinks you need tons of equiptment to run a saltwater tank but the truth be told it's no different than running freshwater, you need filtration lighting and waterflow and heating. Just think of corals as plants, they use light to photosynthesize and also eat food. Depending on the corals you keep lighting and flow are important. Sps which are the colorful sticks need the most light and flow as they live on the reef crest where waves crash and get lots of light. Lps which have a calcium structure but soft body need medium light and medium flow, soft corals like mushrooms and zoas need the least amount of light and low flow.

So the question you gotta ask yourself is what you want to keep?

Sps moderate to hard, have to dose lots of calcium and make sure your water is pristine

Lps and softies prefer dirtier water as they thrive on nutrients in the water for survival.

Since you are starting out stick with softies, I remember 10yrs ago when I was a newbie and starting out, by day 3 I was adding zoas to my new tank without any problems.

About small cycles when you add coral, never happened with me!

But let the tank cycle then if you're looking for some colorful softies lemme know.

Also for lighting go with 2 HO t5 and you should be good, Go with 1 10,000k and 1 20,000k bulbs, giesmann seem to be good and you could save abit on boxing day sale at JL otherwise eBay is you next best bet for cheap bulbs...
Any other questions?

[cichlid]

Wow thanks, answered alot of questions there! The filter system i have is a hagan hush 20 elite, its rated to move 105gph... I should still run a pump of some sort right ? Air or water?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Going skimmerless usually means you have to be more careful about water changes.

Softies thrive in slightly higher nutrient tanks but some LPS do not and will release their polyps off the skeleton if phosphates or nitrates are too high. Open brain corals, for instance, are not big fans of high nutrient waters.

Before adding any corals or fish, get your water tested.

The reef-keeping that Chris is describing can be attempted by more experienced reefers who have the knowledge, experience & established tanks to deal with problems if they occur. They are not necessarily going to work out well for a sw newbie. This is like telling a new driver how experienced drivers deal with traffic on the road and then sending them out to do the same thing. If I set up an instant tank, I know I am using the right amount of cured live rock from my established tanks and if something goes wrong, I can always find room in one of my established tanks to stick my corals or fish into temporarily. A newbie does NOT have these options.

Your dead rock is useless as biofiltration. If you don't have more than 3-4 lbs of cured live rock from an established tank, then you're probably going to go through a cycle or have other issues from trying to break the rules of sw keeping. Adding dead rock to a small system and expecting it to act like live rock does not work when you rush it. It takes months for it to become live again. In the meantime, the dead rock could be releasing unseen ammonia, phosphates & other nasties into your water, slowly poisoning your fish and corals.

BTW, if your friend gets caught picking up and taking home live rock from Hawaii, he or she will go to jail and face a huge fine. The States are very, very strict about this sort of behaviour. Even with a CITES permit, doing this is illegal because the States does not allow for the harvesting or transportation of native live rock from its reefs. Google CITES permits and United States and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you like your friend, tell them to forget breaking the law just so you save a few dollars on buying live rock. Also, I would delete your posting that you broke the law doing this already.

Two simple reef-keeping rules that newbies especially should keep in mind:

One pound or so of live rock per gallon.

Nothing good happens fast in reefing.

As Chris stated, there are things that experienced reefers can get away with that newbies should not attempt. If you use the right amount of CURED LIVE rock to start and transport the rock in a cooler of sw, then you can often cut short the cycle time. However, using almost no live rock and mostly dead rock and not even enough of both, rushing it will probably cause you to end up with a tank full of dead fish and corals.

Anthony

[cichlid]

Its not live rock!, it is dead rock, chunks off the beach. According to HI state law, you are allowd to take dead rock, corals and shells for personal use, but I can;t sell it ( which I am not) I plan to bring it back to life over the next few months in a corner of the tank.

Trust me, I am against removing life from the wild, i am hoping to build this with as much cultured, and farmed material as possible.

I am planning to take my time on this... I want it to grow as soon as possible, but I also want it to be done right, and waiting is the key.

if i use 80% live 30% dead how long do you figure it should take before I see growth form on the rocks? ( in a good healthy setup )