Feedback on 10 gallon Nano Idea

[zdes]

Disclaimer: I realize that a 10 gallon is more difficult as a starter saltwater aquarium than a larger tank. I don't have the room or financial resources for a large aquarium so I'm really not interested in seeing input on that. I am prepared to constantly monitor the tank and, if all else fails, return the fish to the LFS and eat the equipment costs. The tank will be cycled and everything will be added slowly and with patience. Everything else is fair game.

After perusing the forums and looking online at other sources as well as talking to Petco/Petsmart and LFS agents, I have pieced together what I think is a good setup for a 10 gallon nano.

Equipment
Aquarium: 10 gallon glass with 10 lbs live rock (from LFS not from Petco)
Filter: AquaClear 20 with just live rock remnants (no carbon, bio, or sponge).
Heater: 50w Aqueon Submersible
Lighting: ??? affordable LED (white and actinic) recommendations requested!
Powerhead: none (flow is from larger than needed filter)
Salt: Instant Ocean
Water: Distilled (from LFS or Walmart/Grocery Store whichever is cheapest)
Water Mixer: 5 gallon bucket with cheap powerhead and cheap heater

Tank Inhabitants
Cleaning Crew: ??? recommendations requested (crabs/inverts/snails)
Coral: Variety of mushrooms (each different color)
Fish: Occelaris Clown (let me know if you think I can have another fish and what kind)

Tank Design
With the filter providing the flow, I will have the live rock constructed in a couple arches and a cave per fish for refuge from flow. There is some putty at Petco that you can use to stick the live rock together so that rocks arent falling on the fish and cleaning crew.

Let me know what you think about the whole setup and experiences you might have had with your own 10 gallon nano. My experience with the LFS and Petco/Petsmart has been that there hasn't been too many people who have done this.

 

[ErinCahir]

The PAR 38 work really well on a standard 10 gallon tank.

You also might want to ask around about water. I can get it cheaper from a couple different LFS than at grocery stores.

 

[chichimom79]

I had a similar setup for my ten gallon. My advice is this...
1. The Aquaclear is fine but will trap debris under the live rock rubble. Suck this out with every water change (weekly). It will also be good to add one powerhead to randomize flow a bit. The filter itself will not be enough flow IMO.
2. Lighting is tricky. I used a PAR38 bulb from RapidLED hung from the ceiling. This seems the best option for ten gallons or less.
3. I would up your live rock to about 15 lbs.
4. For clean up crew, I like cerith, nassarius and astraea snails. I also had a ton of bristleworms, limpets and micro brittles that came in on my live rock.
5. An auto top off is almost a must with a tank this small. I had a very hard time keeping the water level stable topping off by hand. I did this twice a day and sometimes three times daily during the winter while the heat is running in the house (more evap). Had I not been planning on moving everything to the cube, I would have set up an auto top off for sure.
6. Keep an eye on your heater. Once mine failed on but I caught it at 82. This could have been disastrous. A good heater is a wise investment, especially because in a ten gallon tank we do not have the option of using two lesser watt heaters to prevent this issue.
Have fun with your new hobby. I hope you love it as much as I do. Look through the ten gallon builds to get more ideas.

 

[grozier]

Still would get a nano sized pump for flow if you want corals. Walmart sell ro/di for.89 a gallon. My water evaporates about ten gallons a week so watch your salinity

 

[FishyReef]

You should check out the contest subforum and read through the nano tanks that participated in the contest last summer. We all had success and challenges, but tiny tanks are lots of fun. I've had mixed experiences with the Par38 bulb and am strongly considering adding a second bulb to get better coverage. Keeping my temps under control in the summer was the biggest struggle I had. If you live in an area where it gets warm and you don't have the tank in an air conditioned room or aren't willing to keep the air conditioner on during the day while you are away I would strongly recommend getting a reef keeper light (or similar controller) so that you can have a fan automatically turn on and off throughout the day. I would frequently come home from work to find my tank at 84, would race to cool it only to have it drop to 78 too quickly. Probably not something you need to invest in immediately, but definitely something to keep in mind come summer. This summer I plan to invest in the base model RKL (runs about $100) just so that I can have the fan turn on and off as soon as it hits 81 degrees. You can have more than 1 fish but need to make sure they are small and compatible, and go slow with adding them. I think it is fine to start with a small tank (others will disagree), but you have to go slower, think through your equipment and livestock more carefully, and be more vigilent about parameters than with most first tanks - tiny tanks can be unforgiving when problems occur, so as long as you are on your toes you should be good!

 

[Ted]

I did and won the first 10 gallon contest tank...was 2 years ago or so. I converted a old tetra tech pf500 hob filter..these things are HUGE made it into a refugium and a taam rio protein skimmer on it as well (worked surprisingly well but a pain in the ass to adjust) Lighting was a current pc fixture. I had shrooms, zoahs and LPS corals only one fish a yellow clown goby. Tank ran for quite a long time until my heater malfunctioned and boiled the tank. Can not stress enough to buy a good quality heater. I used the included heater on the hob filter ended up being a big mistake. Was a really fun tank and I was heart sick when I lost it. I dont know how well it will be running rubble in a aquaclear have never tried that. I would think you will get trapped stuff in it though. If it was me I would run it empty except for when you choose to run carbon. Have fun with it and never let anyone bring you down for having a small tank. They really are a lot of fun...

 

[little_fish]

+1 Everyone!