10 Gallon Nano please help

[playa0069u]

Hey, well I am thinking of setting up a ten gallon nano. I have 1 neptune powerhead, with a venturi tube i guess that lets air in. A 10 gallon tank(obviously).
I was wondering if a hob is really necessary. I dont get it why would you want one? i have been told if i have a hob to just put live rock in it. Should I use a glass lid or egg crate?
Can I just use 2 18" florescents one white and one blue?because I have no coral. Will that grow coralline? Will I have a problem with other algae?
10 or 12 pounds of Lr
Aragonite with some live sand 1" or so.
and salt.
is that enough? will that work ok? this is a stupid question I think, but if i put another 18"er on there, is there ANY chance I could grow any coral in there?
I am thinking of a cleanup crew, a small fish (somekind of clown maybe? not a false or true perc.) idk and a goby pistol duo maybe. Please respond thank you so much.

[harmanrk]

the HOB is not necessary, and will only serve to provide surface water movment which is good for O2 exchange. It can also be used to house LR, that is not in the display.

A small skimmer would be a good addition, in place of a HOB.

If you are not planning to grow corals, you dont need the blue light. Coraline seems to be pretty tolerant to low light so you should be okay with the low light. Other form of algea will be an issue, although the skimmer will help some, by removing some of the organics.

Normal Output florecents would not be enough to grow corals in my opinion.

[playa0069u]

so the algae will be caused by the low light?

[harmanrk]

Agea is not very pickiy about the ammount of light.

[playa0069u]

then why did you say algae would be a problem? so the live rock wand everyhthing will do fine with that light just not corals righgt? a fowlr

[Sweetpea]

Is this your first tank? If so, welcome to the obsession! ;)

I have a 10 gallon tank with a 1" bed of aragonite sand and 10 lbs. of live rock. I have a Maxi-Jet 400 powerhead and a Penguin BioWheel HOB filter; I tossed the biowheel in the trash and placed a PolyFilter in the chamber. This has worked well for me, and my water parameters have been stable.

As for lighting, that is a very personal decision. If you even remotely think you may cave in and want corals later, do yourself a favor and get an appropirate light now (saves $ in the long run). Do some research on the web, look for corals you are interested in, and determine the best lighting for those critters. When you have some ideas, the people here will be more than happy to point you in the right direction. If you do decide to stay FOWLR a normal flourescent fixture should be fine.

Here is a link for fish that could be happy in a nano tank. I have never purchased anything from them, but I have gotten some ideas from the site: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=2124

Water + light + nutrients = algae. Your clean-up crew (crabs, snails, etc) should take care of the worst of it for you. For your part - regular maintenance and not over-feeding are the keys to keeping a (relatively) algae-free tank!

HTH!

[mutts]

I like hob filters because i really like to use carbon in my tanks. it helps keep the water clear and clean and gets out a lot of nasties.

[playa0069u]

how often and for how long do you leave the carbon in? Thank you SOOOO much sweat pea that is EXACTLY what i wanted to hear. so i would have purple coraline and whatnot with the flourescents?
awesome thanks.

[playa0069u]

oh ya eggcrate or glass lid???? which one is better for my tank. BTW sweatpea. Technically this is my first sw tank i planned 2 other but they have been delayed. One for my girlfriend 30 long and one for my friend 29 tall. They have been delayed and i am getting anxious.

[Sweetpea]

how often and for how long do you leave the carbon in? Thank you SOOOO much sweat pea that is EXACTLY what i wanted to hear. so i would have purple coraline and whatnot with the flourescents?
awesome thanks.
I use carbon ocassionally; it is my understanding that it should be changed frequently... weekly or every two weeks at the longest. I can't comment much on coralline and normal-output flourescents, other than to say back when I started my tank I didn't see any growth until after I bought power compact flourescents.

oh ya eggcrate or glass lid???? which one is better for my tank. BTW sweatpea. Technically this is my first sw tank i planned 2 other but they have been delayed. One for my girlfriend 30 long and one for my friend 29 tall. They have been delayed and i am getting anxious.
Glass, eggcrate, or open top? Depends on what fish you want to keep in each tank ... I have used glass on my 10 gallon to minimize evaporation. I, fortunately, have never had any issues with the temperatures in that tank getting too high, which can be a problem in many tanks. However, I often get lazy about cleaning the salt film off (which blocks light to the critters), so I currently am running the tank fully open. I only have one maroon clown in there; since clowns are not known to be "jumpers", I don't worry about it much. However, I have a 20 gallon tank with a new firefish. Since they are known jumpers, I have eggcrate inside the canopy, along with a strip of fiberglass screen around the back edges to (hopefully) keep him in place if he decides to get spooky on me! ;)

DON'T GET ANXIOUS!!! Rarely does anything good in this hobby happen quickly... patience is SOOOO important!!! You are in the right place... keep asking questions. If you ask, the answers will come! ;)

[mutts]

i use eggcrate on all my tanks, but is cuts down on a little light, not really much to worry about as long as you keep it clean and don't paint it black like I did

i change my carbon once a month or so. i normally don't worry about it unless their is a problem in the tank

and like tracy said patience is SOOOO important!

[mutts]

ah! i forgot somthing

coraline can grow under normal output flourescents two of my tanks are under 160W of NO lighting. and they grow it like mad. but their are several factors. one is making sure your live rock has some when you get it, otherwise it is impossable to grow it without a living sample in the tank, the more lighting you have on the tank the faster it will grow

[lReef lKeeper]

another factor for coralline is calcium + alkalinity being in the right parameters for better growth. in new tanks with new water and no coals you should be ok on this if you used a GOOD salt mix !!

[playa0069u]

Thank you all so much you have been so much more helpful than another forum I am a member of in everything I have asked. so under 1 18" flourescents, I would grow coraline? or no? or just slowly?.... how slow are we talkin here lol

[playa0069u]

also, are there any specific bulbs I should get? i was just gonna get a cool white and a blue from wal mart? do I need a 20 dollar bulb just for coraline? will it help?

[jojo22]

I'm not trying to be rude but if a $20 bulb is going to make that big of a difference then maby saltwater is not a good hobby for you at this time. I'm also not trying to scare you away from it, I guess what I AM saying is that you should do lots of research before you buy anything except maby a bigger clean up crew. The info here is second to none I might also add that The concentious marine aquarist (sp) by Robert Fenner it would do anyone new to the hobby well past the fourty dollars it costs. Yes the book is about twice the cost of a walmart bulb. You may also want to do price searching on needed items, such as a protien skimmer, powerheads, and if you want to keep corals you will need much better lighting. I personaly spent about $150 for a pc ficture for my 10 gallon. If after all of this you want to stick with it thats GREAT this hobby hehehe...should I say addiction can be as rewarding as you make it. If you decide to hold off a little while PLEASE stay ask questions, learn and soon you will be helping others (I am liveing proof of this) as we all love to share our knowledge here.

P.S. to answer your question coraline will grow very slowly under NO lighting ( I would say 6-9 months before you see any) but this can also happen with the best lighting. Keep your cal/alk up any prepair for about as much fun as watching grass grow. I would suggest the best lighting you can afford well because it never hurts to buy the next step up.

[playa0069u]

I have been researching for about a month or two now and have everything I need except the light. I am 17 and have no job. I have a girlfriend and with all the girlfriend stuff my options are limited with every dollar. We are starting a tank together 29 gallon with a 55watt dual compact flourescent, but i wanted to start my own little nano at my place. i dont want anything expensive... obviously. I want a tank with a goby, a pistol shrimp, and a fish ... a royal gramma or something maybe? im still looking at fish. I have 70 pounds of base rock to choose from, a powerhead, 2 NO light fixtures, a glass lid, aragonite sand, and i want to buy a little LR some LS (from established tanks), a hob, some good salt, bulbs and eventually a cleanup crew. I was just wondering if a blue and a white bulb from wally world would cover it, because my lfs blows with lights. They tell me "don't buy bulbs from us, they are rediculous" so would the expensive bulbs make that much of a difference or no?

[mutts]

you can always look online for bulbs at some of the online stores there are some good ones go look at the vender review part of the site

i understand being 17 and the money thing, my suggestion is get a job and fast! trust me, i'm 18 working 2 jobs and going to college and i can bearly afford all my tanks. and being a boy you will need a job or your tank or gf will suffer!!

other then that good luck!

[dsfdbutterfly]

I think the bottom line is this, I've seen crazy things in this hobby. Things that shouldn't be growing under the light that they are being provided. Tanks that are ignored and florishing. Stuff like that. If your walmart is good then they may have good enough lights for you. Most aren't though. I've found decent ones at my home depot and if you have a town that you can travel to that has a pets mart or similar they are cheaper than shipping light bulbs for that size usually.

The glass over the tank is a personnal preferance but most people will tell you it's a bad idea in the salt business. Most people don't put air stones in their saltwater tanks so it limits the oxygen exchange and also inhibits the lights. I have many fish that are considered jumpers and don't have anything over my tank. I've gotten lucky though cuz I know many have had fish jump to their deaths. If you are concerned with this I would use the eggcreate.

We all tend to spend what we can on our obsession/hobby here. When the bug gets a hold of you extra money is a thing of the past. You do have to find places to save money in this hobby as EVERYTHING is expensive. DIY projects are the best way and to see if you can get in with any local reefing groups. Many people can save you money on corals and other items. Work smarter not harder someone once told me.

It's hard to decide but the best thing for you to do to save money is to decide what your goals are. That will give you the best idea on what kind of money you need to spend on lighting, filters and other items. Just remember, you can get as complicated or as simple as you want. You just have to know what you want out of it so that you make it happen.

Angie