8G Coldwater To Marine Conversion

[woody88]

I currently have a 62L LR (roughly 15KG) curing tub setup which I've had to use my salt mixing tub, heater and powerhead to keep it going.
I also need a new home for my nasty little damsel as well as a backup/quarantine tank just in case.

It just so happens that my little boy has got fed up of his 2 boring little goldfish so I've pounced in and told him if he let's me put my rock and damsel in there then I will get him a cleaner shrimp like the one in finding nemo as that's his fav in the movie.

All I need to get is some aragonite sand and a heater. I'll use the water out of the tub for now as i only mixed it 2 days ago and will just do small 10% weekly wc when I do mine.
I have a pump which I can use for my salt mixing container so I can drop the powerhead in the 10G.

He he he! Now were both happy!

Question is though would the 10G be classed as a pico or nano?
The tank might be too small for one damsel but he should be ok on his own. I even have my old skimmer that would fit in the weirs but with one fish it ain't worth running it. I'll just drop some carbon and phos remover in and that should do it.

It will be my tank and my responsibility, just in my boy's bedroom.

I might even put a small frag of zoa and Xenia I'm there for him if he behaves himself! Lol

I won't be doing this just yet as I have other things on my mind at the mo but plan to get it done in the next couple of weeks depending on how i feel. But it WILL be done as I've promised my boy a shrimp and he's reminding me every 5 min.

 

[MrLiam]

You've started to convert your own family to having marine tanks.
Maybe we should have a sticky where people can say who made them go marine.

 

[Donya]

Question is though would the 10G be classed as a pico or nano?

Probably still nano. Although there's no hard and fast rule about what is/isn't a certain size, to me, 10gal has not yet shrunk into the range of tanks where you have to start worrying about whether fiddly things things like motors and low-wattage lights like LEDs will cause you problems with disastrous temperature swings and the like. The open-topped vs. close-topped decision also becomes a problem with those since the evap can go crazy if you leave it open, but if you bottle it up you may get a sauna. 10gal is approaching that range, so more caution as always the smaller you go, but I would be surprised if you had to start compromising on things like whether you can put a lid on it as long as the lighting and pump options are chosen carefully. 10gal is also entering the range where it becomes easy to run things air-driven to have even fewer heat issues. Then evap can be controlled easily with a tight-fitting lid, provided the lighting is reasonable and not a massive MH fixture or something.

 

[woody88]

Question is though would the 10G be classed as a pico or nano?

Probably still nano. Although there's no hard and fast rule about what is/isn't a certain size, to me, 10gal has not yet shrunk into the range of tanks where you have to start worrying about whether fiddly things things like motors and low-wattage lights like LEDs will cause you problems with disastrous temperature swings and the like. The open-topped vs. close-topped decision also becomes a problem with those since the evap can go crazy if you leave it open, but if you bottle it up you may get a sauna. 10gal is approaching that range, so more caution as always the smaller you go, but I would be surprised if you had to start compromising on things like whether you can put a lid on it as long as the lighting and pump options are chosen carefully. 10gal is also entering the range where it becomes easy to run things air-driven to have even fewer heat issues. Then evap can be controlled easily with a tight-fitting lid, provided the lighting is reasonable and not a massive MH fixture or something.

Cheers donya. The 10G is a plug n play tank like my nano. In fact it's exactly the same only smaller as they're both boyu's, both have weirs with an internal pump and the same lighting.
I've got a feeling though that the tank is actually 8G. Some websites say 8 some say 10.

I guess I'll call it a nano then.

Cheers

 

[woody88]

Just been on the boyu website. The tank is a boyu mt40. 8G 32L

 

[bae1994]

Don't add the zoos and your son could have a very tame shrimp (zoos just Incase he touches them) as cleaners readily swim onto your arm and check for parisites

Also sounds Cool you could stick some other easy care corals like mushrooms etc in there to

Looking forward to pics

Bar

 

[woody88]

Don't add the zoos and your son could have a very tame shrimp (zoos just Incase he touches them) as cleaners readily swim onto your arm and check for parisites

Also sounds Cool you could stick some other easy care corals like mushrooms etc in there to

Looking forward to pics

Bar

I know the Zoas have a paleotoxin so I will prob disregard them as I don't really want to frag them.
I might just stick a frag of Xenia in as mine growing at a stupid rate.

As for a cleaner, my boy has had my last cleaner on his arm and thought it was hilarious but I'm gonna secure the lid down with a clasp at the back and also gonna get a piece of Perspex to sit on the lip inside the tank with just a small hole RO drip food in.

He always had his hand in his coldwater tank but with saltwater I'm not taking any chances.

So what do you all think then. My tank is 8G. Nano or pico?

 

[bae1994]

Nano I think picos have to be 5gallons or less

And yeah makes sence really as salt water can be nasty at times

 

[woody88]

Nano I think picos have to be 5gallons or less

And yeah makes sence really as salt water can be nasty at times

Cheers bud. Nano it is then!

 

[Donya]

The 10G is a plug n play tank like my nano.

Ah! You should be good to go then, even if it is only 8gal. While I have seen a few questionable plug 'n play picos over time, I don't think I've ever run across anything over 5gal that looked like the default equipment would be problematic.

 

[woody88]

The 10G is a plug n play tank like my nano.

Ah! You should be good to go then, even if it is only 8gal. While I have seen a few questionable plug 'n play picos over time, I don't think I've ever run across anything over 5gal that looked like the default equipment would be problematic.

To be fair I think the boyu plug n play tanks are great in terms of filtration as the pumps seem to be adequate enough and there's plenty of space in the weirs to add a large amount of filter media if needed although I only plan to run phosphate remover at the mo and will add carbon at a later date if need be.
I've got some Fiji pink aragonite sand on order as well as a heater and around 30 L of salt water so I should be good to go on Saturday. Just got to get the light working again as it decided to die on me this morning but will only be a quick fix.

Hope to have it finished except for the shrimp in the one day.

 

[woody88]

8G marine tank now up and running. But it wasn't without it's problems!

I have now included it in My nano journal.