10g set up

[FishyReef]

I know I said I wasn't going to do it, but I'm thinking of setting up a 10g at home mainly so that I can move my urchins to it that seem to have developed a taste for my coral. If I take some of the live rock from my current tank, along with water from my tank, would I still need to cycle the 10g? And, would a 10g be too small for my urchins? (one is about 2.5" in diameter and the other is about 1.5")

Thanks!

 

[FishyReef]

The other question is if I remove some of my live rock from my 90g, how much will this impact my 90 in terms of bacterial load in the rock? I'm thinking of removing probably 7-10 lbs, most of which was my actual live rock to start with (not dry rock that is still becoming live). I have more dry rock I can add to the 10, as I know 7-10lbs isn't quite enough.

 

[little_fish]

You could do that and not expect to see a cycle, and then you just add more dry rock back to the 90 gal.

I think the bigger issue will be the urchins running out of food pretty fast in a 10 gal, but you can supplement their food with dried seaweed like you would for a tang.

 

[R3verb]

What kind of urchins? If they are the long black spiny kind that I have, a 10 gal will be too small for them. My urchins in my 90 are almost 24" from spine to spine. They get big!

 

[Smitty]

+1 lil fish.

 

[FishyReef]

Good point about enough food for them in a new 10g. In the short term I'm going to try to save my corals with strawberry baskets, but long-term I think I will have to get these urchins either into another tank or see if I can find someone to buy them from me. So sad, I really love seeing these urchins in my 90, but I just can't have them eating my corals. Maybe I'll work on setting up a 10g at home but wait to put the urchins in until there is enough algae in there to support them.

R3verb, one is a pink pincushion and the other is a purple short-spined urchin. They both crawl on my corals, but last week I caught the purple short-spined eating one of the corals, and when I came back to my tank after being away for the weekend half of my coral has been eaten down to the skeleton. They are not the black long-spined urchins - I don't think my 90 would be wide enough for them!

 

[chichimom79]

Yes! New tank :) Good luck with the urchins

 

[Bifferwine]

For those urchins, as long as you feed them, I think they'd be fine in their own 10 gallon tank. Will they eat algae sheets?

 

[Cheeser]

i use sushi wraps... from the grocery store...its really dried and pressed algea...

 

[FishyReef]

So I definitely have to move the urchins if my coral has any chance at surviving. I'm going to order some nano powerheads and lights asap. For those who have set up 10g tanks, what kind of lights have you gone with that can support corals? And are you going open top or hood? I want to keep it on the inexpensive side but still want it to look good and be able to support some corals (though I think they will have to be aggressive corals that can defend themselves against my urchins).

 

[Bifferwine]

I used this over my 10 gallon. There are cheaper lights out there, but this one would allow you to keep anything you wanted. And it's sleek looking. 70W Metal Halide Pendant Lights

 

[chichimom79]

I am liking the Rapid LED PAR38 bulb so far :)

 

[FishyReef]

Angie, how much control do you have with PAR38 bulb? Can you dim certain colors at certain times of the day? I think I'm going to have to go with LEDs if I do this because I need something that uses a minimal amount of energy - I live in an apartment with old electrical wiring and only 1 outlet in each room so can very easily overload a circut if I'm not careful!

I was also looking at going with a few 1w LED bulb stunner strips - there are some newer ones out that have boosted light output quite a bit (they are saying 40% over the older model) that might be enough to run a 10g tank from. Marineland is also coming out with a new controllable fixture so that you can run the blues and whites on different timers, but not sure when that will be out. I might just have to start with nothing and add lights later. Decisions, decisions.... ;)

 

[chichimom79]

The PAR38 bulb is not dimmable nor can i run blues separately. I am going to find a way to run moonlight on the tank though. I bought a single LED moonlight from BRS. I have the PAR38 bulb hanging in a way that I can raise it or lower it if I need to but it seems to be in a pretty good spot. Good luck with your decision. If the marineland comes out with that new fixture soon, it sounds cool.