10 Gallon Nano

[SPulley]

I have the aquaticlife 4x18 fixture over my 10 gal nano. I have to be honest, if I was to do it again, I would get the longer fixture. Get the 24 inch one. The only companies that make 18 inch bulbs are aquaticlife and current. I am unhappy with both of their bulbs. Moving up to a 24 inch light will broaden your selection of bulbs substantially. I have ati bulbs over my larger aquarium and am so much happier with the light than what I get out of the stock aquatic life bulbs on my nano.

FYI, I don't believe the aquaticlife has a dimmable ballast.

 

[agruetz]

I have the aquaticlife 4x18 fixture over my 10 gal nano. I have to be honest, if I was to do it again, I would get the longer fixture. Get the 24 inch one. The only companies that make 18 inch bulbs are aquaticlife and current. I am unhappy with both of their bulbs. Moving up to a 24 inch light will broaden your selection of bulbs substantially. I have ati bulbs over my larger aquarium and am so much happier with the light than what I get out of the stock aquatic life bulbs on my nano.

FYI, I don't believe the aquaticlife has a dimmable ballast.

Thats a bit disheartening, I thought I had just found what I was looking for due to the fact, I was over complicating this. I just really needed to time the blue and the white to get the effect I want with sunset/sunrise.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchstatistics.aspx?SearchStr=&action=view&idProduct=AK01013

 

[SPulley]

Yeah, spend the extra 20 clams and get the 24" version.. The bulbs that come with it are fine initially, but when it comes time to replace the bulbs and your only option is the same bulb it kinda sucks.

Aside from that, I LOVE the fixture. I bought a 48" one for my 72g bowfront.. The built in timer, with all the lights running on one plug is awesome.. I just wish I had a better selection of bulbs for my nano.. I got good growth so i thought until I moved some corals to my 72 with the ati bulbs and was amazed..

 

[agruetz]

It was more the fact the 24in will not fit on the tank, it is going to hang over 2in on either side, than the 20 bux.

Anthony

 

[agruetz]

Water specs:

SG: 1.024 (seems a bit low)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
KH: 8 - 9 (have to retest seems low)
PH: unknown (gotta pick test kit up today)
Ammonia: unknown (gotta pick test kit up today)
Calcium: 400 or lower (have to redo test put in 20 drops expected to not turn color but it did) this seems low, can anyone recommend a supplement that will not throw ph thru the roof?

So far seems good just seems a bit low in area's still though. (Installed the power head today too pictures to follow later, once the light comes in.)

 

[agruetz]

Well got my light, however the legs are not tall enough to get above my hang on the back filter. FAIL :headwalls:

 

[agruetz]

Pictures for anyone interested.

 

[jong11]

Look into DIY LEDs. If I was to do my 10 gallon over again that's what I would do.

 

[agruetz]

Look into DIY LEDs. If I was to do my 10 gallon over again that's what I would do.

Honestly to lazy for that right now. I like this one, has the timer and all. I am just going to put a small shelf above the tank (needed anyway), and hang the light from that.

 

[agruetz]

OK, so I finally started getting my live stock and coals. Pictures later, but here is the list.

2 clown fish
1 anemone for the clowns
1 zoa frag

 

[saltycoastie]

i wouldnt do a anemone is a 10 gallon nano, requires perfect water. I would do some xenia or something. Thats my 2cents.

best of luck

 

[Mussin]

Looks great, Nice light!

 

[agruetz]

i wouldnt do a anemone is a 10 gallon nano, requires perfect water. I would do some xenia or something. Thats my 2cents.

best of luck

Welp bit late it is in the tank already. It is already fully open and moving around the tank. Moved from one side of the rock to the other already. I will make sure I keep a close eye on water parameters.

 

[agruetz]

Here is a few pictures. I also went a bit over board at the fish store and picked up an AquaClear 110, and turned it into a fuge (Have to mount the light for that tomorrow). So I removed one of the power heads and turned the other off and will cycle it on from time to time to simulate a storm like water condition, but will not bee keeping it on all the time now. Between the AquaClear and the Marine land 100 filter the entire back of the tank is filtering. The new addition probally added an additional 2 gallons of water to the system. Probally a bit on the over filtering side but eeh, never hurts to help keep a system this small stable w/ pristine water. Plus I hope to upgrade to a larger tank at some point.

 

[agruetz]

=(

=(

:sad1: , One of my new clown fish did not survive :sad1: .

PH: 8.4
nitrite: 0
nitrite: 0
Ammonia: started at zero (3 pm) (Spiked to .50 around fish death) (3 am)
KH: 10
Temp: 78 - 79
Calcium: 560 - 580 ppm
phosphate: Less than .25 higher than 0
Magnesium: 1220

I do not see anything wrong with the water here, other than the spike in ammonia, of which I am not seeing a continual increase, I suspect that is form the death of the clown :sad1: . I will continue to monitor the ammonia level's very close however I expect to see a drop in the tomorrow, if not I will do a water change and go from there. Everything else in the tank looks ok, Anenome is still open. Zoa's are starting to open. The other clown is swimming around. Did I do something wrong here to kill the poor little guy, or does this just happen from stress of moving to a new tank some times? :sad1:

 

[neuro]

Have you thought about using par38 LEDs? I'm using one on my 10 gallon.
rapidled.com has them. Cheaper and low wattage.

I think your calcium should be around 400-450

 

[agruetz]

I had considered those types of lighted I opted for what I got due to laziness, it has the timers and all built into it. It is pretty nice. Calcium is a bit high yes, however I do not think that it is a huge cause for concern, Right now I am recovering from the crash the dead clown almost caused. I was warned that small tanks could go south quick, I found out today exactly how fast. However I think it is all under controller and everything is heading back down into the correct directions.

 

[ange062]

I doubt the NH3 spike was caused by the fish dying, it wasn't in there long enough to decay and start a spike. More then likely your young tanks biofilter (i.e. liverock) was overwhelmed by the addition of two fish at the same time and their associated bioload.

Sorry to hear about your loss, hopefully the rest pulls through.

 

[agruetz]

I doubt the NH3 spike was caused by the fish dying, it wasn't in there long enough to decay and start a spike. More then likely your young tanks biofilter (i.e. liverock) was overwhelmed by the addition of two fish at the same time and their associated bioload.

Sorry to hear about your loss, hopefully the rest pulls through.

I thought about that too, but I thought it would be ok given I gave it proper cycle time and the rock came from established systems. I also ridiculously over filtered for the size of the tank. However I am not overly experienced, so I am making educated guessed given then knowledge I have. 5 hours is not enough time to cause this type of spike? I know I tested for ammonia at the following levels before I called it a night.

3pm Ammonia 0
6pm Ammonia 0
10pm Ammonia 0 (fish was already showing a lot of distress, so I tested like crazy thinking I did something wrong, could only come up with it must have been stress)
3 - 4am Ammonia .50

By 8 - 9 am ammonia was steady at .50 nitrite was climbing slightly about .25 and nitrate was around 20 ppm by the time I got back from the LFS from getting water for a water change around 1pm, ammonia had settled no longer rising maybe even falling some. Nitrite was up to about .5 and nitrate was around 40 ppm maybe 60.

Now here it is around 6 pm I have done 2 water changes of about 1.5 gallon's each. Ammonia is between .25 - .5 Nitrite is hovering around .25, Nitrate is around 20 ppm.

Is it common for something like this to happen in a new tank, is it common for something like this to happen just from adding fish and would it spike in this manner from just fish waste (no feeding yet) so quickly? Any insight welcome, I definitely want to learn form this, I feel bad enough for the clown dying :uhoh2: .

 

[agruetz]

On the bright side, I think I was able to lower/stabilize everything to make everyone happy. The Anemone, which I was worried about is randomly walking around the rock now trying to find his happy place =).