Setting up a new tank and need sugggestions! Esp. if your a nano person :)

Steph!e

Reefing newb
Ok so I currently have a 46gal bow and a NanoCube6- both reef. I recently had a 20T and a stand given to me and I think I am going to set up another reef. I got a Coralife 65w PC 50/50 for $60 brand new (from my work) with the legs. Ok so the questions are:

What filter do you guys like? I have a wet/dry on my 46 and the nanocube has all the jazz built in. I am going to be getting a Koralia (sp?) power head I think (unless there are any other suggestions).

I plan on doing 20lbs of live sand and then adding rock as I go- GIVE ME SOME NEW SUGGESTIONS FOR CREATURES! The light figures to about 3.25w/gal, so obviously softies and some LPS- but what kinds do you guys like? I currently do not keep any LPS because I have been so scared of sweepers (esp in my nano). What about fish? Anything nifty?

I am also re-doing my nanocube...right now it has a couple zoas, polyps, xenia, sun coral, 2 diff mush, 2 nariss snails, and a turbo (and 2 bristly worms I am going to be kindly asking to depart soon! :frustrat: Cant believe I didn't catch them in the first place!). I was thinking about getting a pompom crab (or boxing crab) and a small fish..any suggestions?

Now is your chance to influence me with anything YOU like haha:mrgreen: THANKS!
 
Hello welcome to the forum. Well if it was me I would use a 10 gal under your 20 for a sump/fuge. Would be tight but can be done. If you want to go sumpless then live rock and a hob skimmer octopus makes some very nice hob skimmers. I have lps in my 10 gallon nano. Not all have big sweepers. some do just give them some more space. As far as fish with the size you are still gonna be limited on the types you can have. I stay away from clowns and damsels they are just to aggressive. A rainsford goby would be nice and maybe firefish. Clown gobies are nice also as long as you arent doing sps (they nip at those) Good luck and very nice to get a free tank. I wish I had friends like that. :D
 
Well this is the situation- get ready to laugh...

I have this tank just chilling in my kitchen at the moment...and about 20ft to the left I have 125 gal that has a stand and hood this guy made- it was salt water. He gave me the tank, stand, hood, a couple books, a quarentine tank, and couple extras for like 100$ This hood is made by him and set up for saltwater- but i am a lighting RETARD and have no clue what any of this stuff is/means. He rigged everything together so that it turns on via a light switch lol. It is very crafty! But I don't understand it. So we have our turtles enjoying the space for now :) Im sure that we will want to put them in our pond next summer. Then 5 ft from that is the nanocube...then 10ft from that is a beta tank..and then another 10 ft from that is a 6 gal with a goldfish..and then downstairs is a freshwater planted tank lol. It makes a giant circle of aquarium love! So my boyfriend is not too happy about me doing this one as well :) But im sure when its done he wont mind! Im not sure if my landlord even knows let alone would like me having 6 tanks haha..oops?!

What all would I need to do to set up a sump really? I have an extra 10gal laying around (no joke...I have a hobby problem!) and it would be no problem to use it! Im assuming I need a pump, and some kind of tubing to pump it back up...and then some kind of overflow/tubes/etc. I guess I just don't know exactly what would go into a DIY sump or how much it would run me. I am working on my second degree right now and my boyfriend is graduated, but working at UPS because the pay and benefits are awesome for the moment...so I don't want to go spending a ton! Thanks :)
 
I have a k nano its not to big about the same size as a regular ph. I have that and to mj 400s in my bigger tank gonna get the sure flow mod for the mjs I think. On my 10 gallon nano the only thing I have for flow is a tetra tech hob filter that I modified into a fuge. Its plenty of flow it pumps out 500 gph. Thats a 50 times turn over and its kinda cool has wave action. Load but its in the living room anyway. :D
 
Don't worry about those bristleworms -- they are not harmful. They are actually excellent cleaners and detritovores. Some of the best cleaners you can have in your tank.

For a 20 gallon tank, I personally wouldn't bother with a filter. Canister and HOB filters can lead to water quality problems (high nitrates), and the tank is really too small for any of the decent skimmers. If it was my tank, I'd just make sure I have 20 to 40 lbs of live rock, and do 10 to 20% water changes once a week.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome!

I want to get the bristle worms out just because I have had a bad experience in the past...I was working in a Marine Lab and had just gotten done blending up food for some of our special guys- so of course my hands smelled like crap. I grabbed a rock in one of our tanks I didn't know had them and I got 4 that were about 4 to 7 in on my hand and I had to sit there and let a friend pick them off with some tweezers :( It left huge welts for like a week! It was awful. And I guess thats all it took for me to get sensitive to them because now my hands will blow up! lol. I have alot of allergies to begin with as well though. So im super scared of them lol.

Yeah, I have been thinking about not doing any kind of filter...but then I think something to at least be breaking the surface of the water and filtering out any randomly 'big crap' that was there would be nice. I might just get a HOB filter and make sure I clean it well every week..not sure yet. I like the sump idea, but I am completely clueless when it comes to the DIY stuff. I looked on that form for all the different kinds of sumps people have been making- just not quite understanding the valves, tubing, etc involved- or how to calculate where to put the dividers in the tank! I need a "DIY Sump for dummies" haha. I really want to get a solid "stock list" so I know what I should be getting. A ref. would be cool and I have seen people make them in the nanocubes with LED lights and such. I guess Im just trying to find the smallest equipment and go all out and make this the 'nice' tank- and put the cube in our bedroom or something. I am just at a loss of cool inhab. to stock it with!

Anyone have pom pom crabs? They as cool as they look? Any other cool corals that would do good under my lights, even if up towards the top? Thanks again!
 
Well live aquria says reef safe with caution. this is exactly what they say:"The Pom Pom Crab is an interesting addition to an aquarium with its anemones in each hand. It raises these anemones at would be predators and aids in cleaning the aquarium of any left over food and detritus. Caution should be used when adding this crab to a reef aquarium as the anemones could sting sessile invertebrates and corals. The damage that could potentially be caused by these tiny anemones that come on each claw would be minimal due to their very tiny size".The other thing I am leery of is it is after all a crab. Crabs are opportunistic their is no telling what they might decide to eat in your tank.
 
I was just assuming that they were reef safe because at the LFS they keep them all in the coral frag tanks and they 'clean up' everything. They are super cute and if you take away their rock they run up and wave at you for a bit lol..it was funny. I guess it makes sense though that they would sting things...wow brain lapse! I am thinking that it might be ok though- just not with SPS or something like that
 
would probably be ok just keep a eye on them. The pain in the butt will be if you decided to get them out. Oh I have a hob filter on my tank and I just make sure to clean it every couple of days.
 
Ok cool...I just ran across a thread of some guy with a 20 who did a 10 sump and put his HOB on the sump...and then divided it in half for a ref. Pretty cool.

I guess I just don't get how expensive it would be to do a sump? How much is the piping and box and such? ball park? What if I divided a 10 gal in half with one of those fish dividers and had it flowing into the ref part with all its goodies---> then thru the screen/divider into the other side where I could keep a HOB/heater/ maybe skimmer?...hmmm my brain is turning in circles! hahaha
 
If you use a new 10 gallon tank, you can find one of those at Walmart or any pet store for $10 to $15, usually.

PVC plumbing is super cheap. You could plumb your whole sump for less than $10.

The most expensive part would be buying a return pump. For a small tank, that would probably run you $50 to $100 depending on the brand and size.
 
ok I already have the tank- and if I used PVC, should I just by an overflow?
Yes just buy a overflow if you go that route. Drilling is more dyi then you probably want to handle. It is suppose to be easy just dont know how hands on you are with power tools. If I had the space I would do a sump. It is the best option everything else is kinda, since I cant do a sump I had to do......
 
i actually drilled my first tank a couple weeks back, and once you get over the nerves of it all and actually calm down, controll your self, and just do the task at hand, its really not hard to do.... and i'm a "if all else fails force it" kinda guy, and i didnt break anything....

as for the pvc plumbing, it kinda depends on how elaborate you go with it... but the overflow will end up costing someting in the neighborhood of like 30-50, a stick of pvc is 10 feet long and should cost like 2-4 and then there are the fittings, and this is where you spend your $$ on pvc... you need to draw up a plan first, then go to the hardware store, or www.flexpvc.com and order the fittings... i suggest ordering the fittings online, cause it'll save you $$, and then get the straight stick at the local store...

you will also need purple pvc primer and pvc cement(just buy the little 2 pack that has 1 of each in it) I like the brown label cement personally...

you will also need a saw to cut the pvc stick... a cheap hack saw will work, if you have one, one thing i would suggest is a new blade tho, just for cleanleness if nothing else,but it'll also make life easier...

I like to "dry fit" all my parts before i glue anything, just to make sure i ended up with what i thought i wanted, this is when you can change the plan, cause once the parts are glued, they're glued...

just some thoughts i had on the subject....
 
Back
Top