Cody's 10G Nano Reef Build

Cody

What do you know, I got this thing up finally! After many months of spending money on what could be many other things, I have finally bought everything for my 10G reef. Everything is going to be explained along the way. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, whatever, I am open to anything. This will be updated constantly.

Tank Specs:
10G AGA Tank
Current Sunpaq 96W Retrofit Kit
About 17lbs of Tahitian Moon Sand
About 23lbs of Live rock
Koralia Nano+Via Aqua 180 (adds up to 320gph)


In december, I want to upgrade this bad-boy to a Current USA Solana. But that is far off, and I have this to experiment with.

Photos!

FTS from side:

FTS:

Left Side Close-up:

Middle:

Right Side:


I have many hitchhikers, but I have 1 very cool hitchiker that I want to know what it is. It is obviously a coral of some sort, becuase I see it extend, "feed", and close up on an almost regular cycle. It is orange in the middle, white on its "branch," and has very small purple dots near its head on its branch (if that makes sense). Pic:

Another thing:


I also found an Aptasia on on of my back rocks. :mad: . Got to go back to the LFS for some Joe's Juice, and to pick up some Macroalgea (keep forgetting that stuff).

Let me know what you think.

blueblue48

looking great man lots of life in there already, did you get the cured rock? i couldnt afford it so it will take me a bit longer to get that look. what do you have for a filter??

Cody

I don't know if it was cured or not. I have rock from two LFS's in there (I also have Fiji and Flordia). I think I will have a lot of die-off from one set, ad it was out of water for almost an hour, while one batch was out of water for only 5 minutes.

I orgianlly had an Ac110 for a fuge. It is actually a lot louder than I can handle, and it is on the dresser right next to my bed. I may end up selling it because right now, I am happy with my powerheads. I am going to run with a "natural" filtration for now (only powerheads and manual water changes, I read it on an articale somewhere).

I am going to post all of my water params tonight for the first time ever. We will see what is goin' on.

iamntbatman

I've read on different nanoreef sites that people keeping ~10g reefs do pretty well with just powerheads and no sump, refugium or protein skimmer.

Looks great so far. Keep us updated!

Cody

Cycle has started!

'Trates, 'trites, and ammonia make me happy. pH and SG, not so much. . I will do a WC tommorow to get the SG down and pH up, after I go to the LFS for some buffer.

Params:
Ammonia=0.5ppm
Nitrite=0.25ppm
Nitrate=7ppm
pH=7.8
SG= 1.032

blueblue48

cody im the same way, my ac 30 is loud as all get out. i may do a DIY canister filter, look it up it seems pretty solid.

Cody

Well, I have found many, many, many more hitchikers.

I have found a black feather duster (really pretty, but hard to take a pic of because it is on my back rock facing the back wall), a couple of sponges, some spaghetti/hair worms (saw the tentacles out feeding) and 3 more aiptasia ( :mad: ). I also saw like a little worm-like thing that was poking its head out of a tiny hole in a rock and looking around. Whenever it saw me, it went back to hiding. And like a little brown worm/branch type thing with an orange head that is stuck to rock. Oh, and a really cool squishy thing again. . It is clear with white tips on it's tentacles, and very small. (any ideas on these last three?) I also think I found a tiny majano anenome. Too much! I will try to post pictures later.

GeegaFish

Cody your Nano tank looks really cool! I don't have any saltwater yet...someday. I like your descriptions of the "hitch-hikers" you keep finding! They make me smile. I wish I could help you identify them, but since I don't know a thing about saltwater, I can't.

We'll just have to keep checking to see what other people have said!

Cody

Thanks!

Found a lot of Bristleworms, more aiptasia ( ), some white branch things, another feather duster, a glass anenome ( ), and some pods!

I did a small WC today (a gallon maybe), and it really helped my SG. New params:

Ammonia: .5ppm
Nitrite: .35ppm
Nitrate: 15ppm
pH: 7.8
SG: 1.026

I will post pictures tonight. I promise. :)

southafrica1001

YAYAYAY lol all that planning has payed off, it looks good :D good luck cody