Hypnox

Hello all,

I have recently started looking into starting up a nano-tank. I'm looking into FOWLR. It would be a 10 gallon tank with about 15 pounds of live rock. I was thinking of stocking it with 2 perculla clowns as they only get to about 3" max size and a cleaner shrimp.

Anyway, I've come across a few questions I had.

1. Should I have bare bottom for this setup or use live sand?

2. If i have a live sand setup what would be a good cleaning crew for it?

3. What kind of lighting do I need? I've run across several opinions that state a tank with only live rock would be fine with the standard flourescent that most tank kits come with. I've also gotten opinions that state something along the lines in this light would be more fitting for the LR to grow.

I am aware that a 10 gallon tank will be much harder to maintain than a larger setup and that it is much much more involved than a freshwater setup. I want to take on the challenge but I want to go into it as informed as possible to provide all the organisms in the tank with a healthy life.

sgould

Yay...another saltie!

1) Personal choice. I prefer sand, but I know Agsansoo swears by bare bottom.
2) Snails...nassarius, cerith, astrea, turbo. The nassarius and cerith would help with the sand and to a lesser degree the glass. Astreas and turbos would work the rock and glass.
3) You could go either way. The light you linked would give you a brighter tank and bring out colors a little better...probably a little nicer to look at. In terms of NEED though, standard flourescents are fine for a FOWLR.

fishrule101

Trust me you will problay want to get corals as you are getting into the SW stuff, so you might want to really think about the lighting.

Hypnox

Thanks for the replies thus far. I've been doing some research and ended up ordering a slightly smaller 20" 40 watt light similar to the one linked. I know that I won't be able to keep hard corals or anemones with it and wouldn't want to try till I got some more hands on experience. So for now maybe some soft corals after the tank gets more established.

Currently i'm looking at getting a cleanup crew first as the tank is already starting to get gunked up with algae and there is a small aiptasia infestation going on. I think I saw something in a shell that is stuck on some LR but can't ID what it is, way to small to get a pic of though. It is red, has antennae and a mouth and can seem to crawl back into the shell if it gets freaked out.

Readings as of coming home tonight are looking good as the ammonia levels are dropping fast now, below .25ppm, and nitrites are riding 0ppm. Nitrates are sitting tight at 10. Testing with an API liquid SW kit.

Oh and fishrule101, i've already started researching and planning what I want for a small 30g setup. Looking at a custom made 36x12x16 with an overflow. That is a long ways off though.

Hypnox

Update:

PH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0~5ppm

Awesome to the max.

Hypnox

Readings are the same as yesterday, except nitrates are reading a solid 10ppm today.

Got my new light, pics below.

fishrule101

Are those T-5s??

Hypnox

Not entirely sure what they are classified as so here is the link to what I bought.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...ripwlunarlight

Hypnox

I ID'd the little critter in the shell stuck on the live rock. It's a vermitid snail, was kind of a giveaway after it started sending out the spider web like things.

I also appear to have some tiny extremly fast moving thing that is digging in one of the live rocks.

fishrule101

There PC.