10g Nano-Reef

[Aquascaper]

This for the people who ask about it in chat:

10g Aqua-One 418 + 2 x Twin T5 Luminare
10lbs Live Rock + Live Sand
1 x Boxing Shrimp, 2 x Dwarf Blue Legged Hermit Crabs, 1 x Dwarf Red Legged Crab
Corals: Medusa Frag, Green Carpet Xenia Frag, Assorted Xenia Frags & Assorted Zooanthid Frags
Algae:Hydrolithon boergesenii, Paragoniolithon conicum, Peysonnelia sp., Gelidiella sp., Halymenia cf. floresia, Halymenia sp., Kallymenia sp., Acanthophora specifera, Dictyota dichotoma, Ventricaria ventricosa, Dictyosphaeria sp., Bryopsis plumosa, Caulerpa taxifolia

Bare Tank + Saltwater + Live Sand:

Live rock Added:

Aquascaped + Boxing Shrimp:

Boxing Shrimp:

Medusa Coral Frag:

Green Carpet Xenia:

Xenia Rock (home-made):

Pulsing Xenia:

Zooanthid Polyps:

 

[Navarre]

Wow thats coming alonge great aqua.

Wait till those ppolyps and xenais really take hold and the tank will come to life!

 

[LoachLover]

Looks good to me, but I'm a FW guy

 

[sunflower]

Lovely looking puddle you have their Aqua

 

[parker313]

Wow, that looks great!!

 

[lilfishie]

thats amazin

 

[Oddball]

I love it, are they hard to maintain? I dont have a lot of space but have enough for that! how much are we looking at here? the maintanence etc?

 

[bunjiweb]

Looks really great.

I hope to be setting up a Nano reef at some point, maybe later this year depending how the finances pan out. I am just scared by the cost of setting it up. So much more than a tropical tank and much more maintanence...

Looks great though, i just love the polyps!

Ben

 

[Aquascaper]

Cost isn't the issue, knowledge is.

Unless you have had marine experience a nano tank is not the way to start IMO, they are very unforgiving of mistakes and when your talking the prices of fish, coral, rock, etc. you don't want to kill it all just because you can only fit a small tank somewhere.

General opinion is that 30g - 40g tanks are the smallest that you should be looking at when starting a marine tank. Once you have experience of keeping the water conditions optimum, etc. then you work your way down to a smaller tank. In essence it is the opposite of freshwater.

This is just my opinion along with many others who keep marines so by all means go out and set up a nano as your first tank. Best to put aside a couple of hundred pounds that you are willing to flush down the toilet while your at it as not many people succeed at a nano tank as their first marine and usually kill everything within a few months.

This is not meant to sound rude in any way but it gets tiring the amount of people who try a nano tank as their first marine due to space restrictions, having a 'spare' 10g lying around, etc. They ask all the questions rather than doing the research needed and end up killing some really nice fish and corals due to ignorance. I started with a 40g tank and found that exceedingly hard to maintain, I then moved to a 85g setup and soon i'll be moving to a 175g setup. I have only just decided to try a nano tank and i'm already seeing the problems associated with a small tank.

I advise anyone and everyone to have a marine tank as they are more rewarding than any other tank IMO, but to do the research first - It's not just fish that die when you screw up.

 

[littlefishie]

That shrimp looks almost cartoon-ish in the closeup!

Absolutely gorgeous, I've been tempted to do nano-sw for a while.. You're not helping the temptation!

 

[Aquascaper]

Ok, had a little shuffle around to hide the two main powerheads and to bring the two smaller ones out into the open to help break the surface water up. That brings the total flow to 1600l/hr, which is 40x the tank volume I've also trimmed the algae as it was a little excessive to say the least. Will look at getting some corals on Friday and will post updates then.

 

[bunjiweb]

Looks so nice!

Great work, and thanks for the advice....

Ben

 

[StingrayKid]

Wow, I cant wait to get started on mine! Awsome job with the plants and such.

 

[tear-scar]

Very colorful little tank

Though as a fresh water plant guy you know I'd have my own opinions on the "more rewarding than any other tank IMO" comment. Well, you know how it goes.

The "media" of marine tanks is more limiting I think-- a marine tank is going to look like a coral reef, or an ocean scene in any case no matter what. A freshwater planted tank can make itself an open meadow, a dense jungle, a patch of ferns, a mountain, a tropical valley, etc. There seems to be more room for artistic license. Anyway, that's just my opinion. This little tank is gorgeous!

 

[Earthgirl]

OMG that looks Awesome!!!!!!