New 10 Gallon Nano Build

tylr9m482

New member
Hey guys!

I have had a 10 Gallon tank sitting around my room for months now and I am getting bored of looking at it sitting empty. I currently have a 40 Breeder reef set up and have had that running for about 7 months. I am thinking about building a nano reef in this ten gallon. Below I will list what I think I need as far as hard good supplies. (I have an apex on my 40 and will likely use this apex to also control the ten gallon.)

This threads main purpose is to gain some tips/advice on setting up my build. The above tank is my first ever build so I am still new to the hobby and have never set up a tank without a sump for filtration so I will ask for any advice on what my best options are in this category. Also if I have missed anything in my list please let me know. I put this together pretty fast off the top of my head so I may have overlooked things.


Needed Supplies:

Heater (Suggested Watts? I am thinking 50 watts would be fine)
HOB Filter/Skimmer
Powerheads (Currently have a 425gph and 600gph Hydor and a WP-25 not in use)
Temp probe for apex
pH probe for apex
Light (Was thinking I would get a Deep Blue Professional ADB42891 Solarflare LED Lighting Strips for Aquarium Light, 15-watt. http://http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Blue-Professional-ADB42891-Solarflare/dp/B009GNZ7ZK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1400087811&sr=8-2&keywords=deep+blue+led )


Stocking Plans:

1 Black Ocellaris Clown
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Pistol Shrimp
Small CUC hermits/snails

Corals:
Soft corals (Zoos, Mushrooms, Toadstool)
LPS (Frogspawn, Torch)

Back to my filtration questions. I have seen HOB filters and skimmers. What would you guys recommend for sufficient filtration? Do I need both? Is one or the other better? I plan to have about 15lbs of live rock and a shallow sand bed to serve as biological filtration.


If you guys can just give this a look over and let me know if I am in good shape or not I would greatly appreciate it!!
 
-Heater depends on temperature fluctuations in your house. My heater only really comes on 1/3 of the year.
-Im not familiar with those lights
-good on the pH and temp probes
-you have enough flow sources from your power heads and filters. A bit much. general softies and lps with no special flow requirements I go for about 30x turnover rate (so your 425gph would work). Its up to you, your placement, and how turbulent you want your water.
-You can get by with a really simple setup with a HOB filter if you are diligent with water changes and frugal with feeding. Especially if you are just going to have those two fish. If you want to do carbon, do carbon in the filter, but id have a filter floss or pads of some sort that I would wash weekly and change monthly.
 
Is a hob filter a better option then a skimmer? I was leaning toward a hydor slim-skim protein skimmer and no filter. I would be doing weekly-biweekly water changes (about 10-15%). I think I will be fine with just the one 425 hydor powerhead.
 
I cant comment on that skimmer specifically. A couple years back when i was looking into nano skimmers, it seemed many of them weren't very good, so i decided not to buy one.

That being said, you might want to browse the nano forums. Skimmers are a necessity it seems on larger systems, but many people don't put them on small systems.
 
OK, I have basically the same thread up on the nano reef forum as well, I'll try to direct that question over there.
 
Oh, and that skimmer is an internal skimmer im pretty sure, not HOB. So it will take up a good chunk of space in your tank. A HOB filter wont take up much space, and it will add total water volume to your tank.
 
I noticed that as well. The footprint is small (3"x3") and it seems like a simple set up and it something I am familiar with. If anything I think it would look similar the an overflow in a larger tank so I am not upset about that. My main issue is making sure that their is sufficient filtration on my system.
 
Hey guys I can see the views starting to build up! Feel free to throw in your 2 cents. Without anyone to throw ideas off of Im just banging my head against the wall wondering if everything will work out!! :headwally:
 
Uffa - I've tried nano tanks several times over the years. They are a pain in the backside to maintain - water quality goes south so quickly. I've thought if I ever do one again it would only be with an overflow box going to a very large fuge.
 
sounds like a good plan you got going on there i myself have a 10 gallon nano reef that i am starting back up again. my last one lasted over 3 years i had no sump no skimmer just a light a powerhead and a HOB filter. i really enjoyed it until i lost my job had to sell it. The trick to nano tanks is don't over stock it and keep up on water changes no need for a skimmer or sump for a small 10 gallon reef. also i like to get some live rock rubble and put it in the back of my HOB filter but thats just me! good luck! post pic's when you can
 
Thanks snowolf!! I am waiting to make my final decisions and then I'll be ordering my dry rock from BRS and starting the cycling process.
 
Got the tank running yesterday. Time to wait out the cycle, I plan on ghost feeding to produce the ammonia needed to start the cycle. Also have read a bit about using a raw shrimp in a stocking. Is this the better route or is ghost feeding a few pellets a day good enough?
 
Pics of acquascaping
 

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Pics of tank running yesterday and then one of it this morning all cleared up!
 

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I like to cycle with live rock and a cube of fish food. I suppose if you put it in a filter sock or something, its easier to take out the mess if there is any left after your cycle.

It looks good :)
 
I also just started a 10G Reef. Here are the items I am running.

- 10G Standard Tank
- Marineland 200 HoB (Not using bio-wheel) - Running Carbon / Chemi-pure Elite
- 2x Par38 LED Lights (5x LED's Per Unit) (Whites & Blues)
- 2" Live sand bed (From Established Tank)
- Est 15lbs Live Rock (Might remove some depending on scape)
- 50watt Viqua Heater
- Hydor Nano 425 Powerhead

Tank Parameters:

- Salinity is .024 - .025
- Temperature is 78F

Thread Here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2418136
 
Ok guys, it looks like the time has finally come!! I think its safe to say my cycle is complete. After ghost feeding a few frozen cubes of clam and then watching and testing every other day or so I saw the ammonia work up to 2.0, nitrite up to 1.5 and now for the past 5 days my levels have been 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and I tested for nitrate which is up to 40. I plan to do a wc tomorrow, not sure how much to do though :sad2: , I was thinking 3-4 gallons?? (total volume is 10 gallons). After that I will be going to the lfs and getting a cuc (mainly hermits and some snails) and getting a single black snowflake clown!! :bounce1:

I don't know about anyone else but I have never seen black snowflakes in person before and that is exactly what I wanted to stock with!! What a coincidence :bigeyes: . I have never dealt with live aquaria or dd but the idea of not choosing my live stock in person would be upsetting. So I am hoping to find a nice specimen tomorrow and I believe everything will go well. I will post pics up tomorrow night granted I get it all done.
 
I like to throw a couple of snails in there to test the water a bit a few days before I introduce the first fish. Especially if you are going to spend some money on a black snowflake (great looking fishes!). I would think a HOB filter would work well for this tank, it will be a place that can hold some filter floss and gfo/carbon to polish the water. Just make sure you keep it clean and be diligent with water changes on a tank this size. If you find the water quality is hard to maintain then a skimmer can help, but the little nano ones I am finding aren't as efficient as there big brothers but they are still helpful.
 
So I went ahead and added some cuc, 4 astera (please excuse the misspelling) snails, 5 blue legged hermits and 4 narsarrius snails. All were looking well and moving around so off to the LFS I went! Like I stated before I had plans of going with a black snowflake that the owner told me they had in stock but things didn't quite go as planned haha :lolspin:

After taking a look at the black snowflakes they had (pair), I decided I wasn't crazy about their particular markings and they also were a bit on the medium to larger side. I was looking for something smaller, to help make the tank both look bigger to anyone viewing it, and also to give the fish a bit more room to move around. Thats when one of the employees showed me this pair of premium snowflakes! :D

They weren't black but they had great markings in my opinion and were just about the size I wanted. However they were in a pair as well. They told me I could have bought just one but I felt bad splitting them up. So I bought them both! :eek1:

They went in the tank thursday evening and have been doing just fine. I am keeping up with water testing each morning (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20) and have a bottle of brightwell aquatics microbacter7 on stand by just incase the increased bioload spikes ammonia, (which so far it hasn't) as well has extra rodi ready to mix if a water change which I will most likely do a 1-2 gallon wc tomorrow in effort to lower the nitrates. They have been eating just fine and seem like they will make great additions as I am very pleased with my purchase. I only have plans to add a small yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair as the last fish and most likely last invert as well but not for another month probably.

Please let me know what you guys think!! Thanks
 

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