Revision17's 10 Gallon Nano Journal

[Revision17]

Well, I've finally started my 10 gallon nano tank (10 gallons is the maximum I'm allowed where I live). The current setup:

10 gallon rectangular tank
2" sugar sized aragonite sand
15 pounds of fully cured fiji live rock from an LFS 40 minutes away: put it in last night
1.025 SG dechorinated newark tap water: I can't afford an RO unit... however I have no problem keeping FW inverts, so hopefully copper is low enough that it doesn't matter; if I can't keep corals, then what happens, happens
2 200gph pump/powerheads, 1 152 gph pump/powerhead: the 200gphers I got specifically for this tank, the 152 gph I usually use for my uv sterilizer (kind of in there for the heck of it now)
1 air driven sponge filter: to clear up silty water; from my old fry tank
28 watt power compact 50/50 bulb
50 watt heater
No skimmer: [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Nano-Ree...head-Selection/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/Nano-Ree...head-Selection/[/URL]

Currently the water is pretty cloudy with silt from the sand, however it started to rapidly become clearer now that the sponge filter is in there (still not picture worthy though). Once I get back to my room, I'm going to do the ole ammonia/nitrite/nitrate testing.

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

no need to test now if you only just out your rock in, id test in 2 or 3 days. Good luck.

Will

 

[Revision17]

The tank cleared up more than I thought it would today (I only have a cell phone camera, so it's not the best):

I couldn't resist testing since I was excited. Ammonia/Nitrite: 0ppm Nitrate: 5ppm

 

[Revision17]

The silt has totally cleared up, thanks to the sponge filter and silt settling in rock crevices. I do wish I had a better camera than what's on my cell phone.

Readings: ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate <5ppm

Hitchhikers (too small for my phone to focus on):
multiple orange bristle worms
one black and white banded worm
one tiny greyish feather duster
a larger (~2cm feather spread) red feather duster

Since everything seems to look good, I'm thinking of getting 2 'nemo style' false percula juveniles and some clean up crew sometime this week

 

[SJ2K]

Thats alot of bulky hardware to be stuck in 1 small tank, maybe you could downsize that/alter it somwhat so its not a hardware tank with some LR

Good start though keep it up and keep posting!

 

[Revision17]

I removed the smaller powerhead since it wasn't really needed. I'm probably going to remove the sponge filter soon since I'm not having silt problems anymore.

I also added my first livestock today:
2x Ocellaris Clownfish
3x Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

Apparently they think the powerhead is the cool place to be

Also, starting to get brown algae , but then that always happens with new tanks.

I think I saw the large feather duster poop today. It shot a rod of detritus (?) out across the tank and into the sponge filter.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Could have been offspring also.

 

[steelhealr]

How bout a sump to get all that equipment out of there? SH

 

[Revision17]

I unfortunatly don't have enough room for a sump, I hardly have enough room for my 2 aquariums as it is

New livestock:
2 Asteria Snails
2 Nassarius Snails
1 Zooanthid Colony - yay my first coral!

I got the Zooanthid colony today (didn't actually plan on it, but the price was right and the tank was ready), and it's open already. Turns out those black and white banded "bristle worms" are actually brittle stars, and one of them seems fond of poking at the Zooanthid polyps

I'm thinking of redoing the rockwork to make the Zoos closer to the light. Clowns are now eating on a regular basis

I also added an airstone to prevent the nasty fimly build up on the water's surface.

I really wish I had something better than my cell phone to take pictures

 

[chrissaysyes]

hell, your phones not half bad! The tank looks good man, from what I see those are some nice looking zoas

 

[Revision17]

Everything is still going well... except my Asteria Snails . One died yesterday, and the other isn't looking so hot. All my levels appear to be good, and everything else is alive and happy (seemingly). Wonder what's wrong with 'em?

 

[Revision17]

I just checked on my tank after a 1 week break without feeding:

The Bad:
Ammonia and Nitrites are quite detectable, still on the low end though. I don't know what died in the tank... all intentionally purchased inhabitants are alive. I didn't have much in the way of food in the tank. I did a 30% water change.

The good:
In addition to everything having lived after not being fed for a week, the zoanthid colony has sprung up at least 4 new polyps

Hopefully the ammonia and nitrites go down soon

 

[chrissaysyes]

ammonia has nowhere to go but down if you keep on those water changes. Grats on the new zoas

 

[Revision17]

Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate are back to being 0

I think I'm going to get another coral next monday, since my LFS has 40% off plants and coral on mondays (Fishtown USA, in Ramsey, NJ, USA for anyone who cares) with a coupon. I'm thinking I'll get a shroom or riccordia, unless they have some terrific looking zoas. Maybe I'll also get some macro algae to help with my micro algae problem (still mostly brown algae, but green is starting to pop up here and there).

I have an RO/DI unit arrying thursday, so that should help too

 

[Revision17]

Now I'm using RO+DI water. I've made the following changes since I last posted:

1. Switched around the rockword
2. Fragged the zoanthids (frag is too small to be visible.. consists of 4 tiny polyps). They weren't getting too terribly much light with their position on the rock. Hopefully they'll grow quickly since they've got plenty of light and room now.
3. Added a rock with 2 small mushrooms on it (today). Was somewhat of a good deal at the LFS for $20.
4. Added a chaetomorpha ball (today). I'll see what I can do with it in terms of aquascaping in the next week or so.

I'm still not sure how I should aquascape with the chaetomorpha, but it adds a nice green contrast to everything else. You can't really see it too well, but even though they're small, the mushrooms are a very beautiful shade of blue/teal. They almost seem like they're fluorescent.