10 gallon tank with 96 watts

[Krazy]

Bought a 10 gallon tank, want to setup my own nano, I've got a 20inch coralife pc fixture 96 watts and an ac-70 hang on filter, I am gonna take some sand out of my 72 bowfront and 5 gallons of water as well, I will make up the rest and also use some rock from my current setup...

Will a BTA be in good standing with 9.6 watts per gallon?

All I want is some musrooms, maybe xenia, kenya tree, the BTA and to transfer my cinnimon clown over and maybe get a juvi for her to try and pair up with...

also by doing it as mentioned above, there would be no cycle??? since its 75% out of a mature tank ??

let it run for a week with nothing it in, test it and if all is well I should be good to go ???

 

[sethd12]

yes, everything will grow ok with that wattage but you will have major algae problems!! if you keep that make sure you stock up on hermits and snails. good luck!

 

[dantodd]

you should see little or no cycle in that situation. My wife has a BTA in a very similar setup. She has the 50/50 bulb in her coralife fixture and no HOB.

The biggest problem you're likely to have is that the BTA will quickly outgrow the tank. We're facing the propogate or donate decision right now.

 

[Krazy]

dantodd, you have the 2 of the same setups, hehe !!!

glad to know my lil 10 gallon is going to work out, probably set it up tonight, the light will be here thursday, only major thing I am waiting on, I will get the sand and water in sooner though to circulate... dantodd, no filter, why is that? alot of Live rock in there???

~Keith

 

[dantodd]

yeah, pretty funny. Now if you set up a 20L to go along with the 10 and 72 we'll be twinsy...

She has about 8 or 10 lbs of LR and an inch or so of LS. I use the little mini AC on my 20L as a water pump to my 'fuge.

 

[Krazy]

and with no filter on the 10 gallon, your not having any issues? how much water do you change at a time and how often???

I could always do that mod to my AC-70 and make it a little fuge for the tank...

also what size GBTA did you start with and how quick did it grow?

 

[dantodd]

well, it's my wife's tank. I never go to her office but she goes through about 25% of her water volume each week.

 

[Krazy]

that isnt bad at all !!

 

[MitchSchaft]

How is this project going? I'm looking into converting a 10gal of mine for a couple ocellaris'.

 

[55semireef]

With an AC, your BTA is bound to eventually get caught up in the intake. I would not get a BTA in that small of a tank since your going to have to move it soon. Why not try frogspawn or a hammer coral?

 

[Krazy]

I've got a pair of false percs in there with about 10lbs of live rock, 10lbs of sand, 10-15 snails, 5 blue legs, some green star polyps... things seem to be going well.. I dont plan on a anemone for the tank although it'd grow quick with 8 watts per gallon.. I'm gonna wait another month or two before adding a host for the clowns... they seem to be paired up though, they are sleeping together and shes doing her "shake" to the male, I havent seen him shake back yet though...

 

[dantodd]

in my 20L which has no anemone my melanopus seem very happy hosting the hairy mushrooms. I also have a lot of GSP which they ignore.

 

[Krazy]

what is a good sub-choice host to an anemone for my percs ???

 

[MitchSchaft]

Do you have any pics of your setup? Where do your nitrAtes sit at before you do a water change?

 

[dantodd]

assuming you are getting a BTA starboard, glass and shallow sandbed are all fine in a 10gal. I keep thinking it would be fun to do an epoxied sand bottom but I'm too lazy.

 

[MitchSchaft]

Thanks, Dan. On my end of the hobby(goldfish), 10 gallons is a huge no-no.
One of the major differences that I've noticed between saltwater/freshwater aquarists (besides most freshwater folks not having a clue...) is how we deal with nitrAtes. Us freshwater folks do nothing but waterchanges to keep the numbers low. Will this method do just fine with the setup I'm thinking about?

 

[Krazy]

I just did a 3 gallon water change and tested an hour after...

0 nitrAtes and 0 nitrItes ...

 

[MitchSchaft]

Awesome. I assume a goal of under 30ppm will work?

 

[Krazy]

yeah thats a fair goal !