Some first timer nano reef questions..

[oOBrieOo]

Alright, well.. I'm not exactly NEW to reef or SW fish, due to the fact that I run the fish room of a large petstore and have dealt with it on a daily basis at work for the past 5 years . But doing it at home in gallonage smaller then 300gal is new to me. LOL.

I'm going to be buying one of the ever popular 12gal Nano Cubes. I've read TONS of books, everything on the internet that I find relevant and I know how to set up everything. I just have some questions for those of you with experience.

I plan on using a fine live sand substrate. I've been eyeing CaribSea Arag-Alive Black Indopacific sand. Pros/Cons? Since its only a 12gal nano, I can't really go with a DSB without sacrificing precious space, so i'm probably going to go with the typical 1-2" of it.

Also, Miracle/Mineral mud... Would this be beneficial to add to the substrate? Or is it more specifically a refugium thing?

In the set up directions for the nano, it specifies to remove and not use the bio ring filter media due to "excessive nitrate build up in reef tanks". That kind of goes against all logical thought IMO. I'd rather leave them in there for the anaerobic bacteria, but would this be wrong or detrimental in any way?

And as for species for nanos.

Now, most corals/polyps/etc get huge. So, do we just throw their potential size out the window, and buy small frags to start with, then swap them out for newer, smaller specimens again once they get too big? I've always been curious about how yall do this. I want xenia badly, but I know they grow like weeds(the ones at work sure do) and spread like the plague in ideal conditions. But I know alot of people keep them in nanos... so.. how? lol.

And protein skimmers. The 12gal nano cube has space apparently for a SURFACE skimmer, but not for a protein skimmer. So how do I get a protein skimmer on that small of an enclosed tank??

Anyway, any basic advice would be great. lol Thanks guys!

 

[blkdrgn]

I'm very new to this too. My 12g is just about finished cycling. I've read a lot and got lots of advice. I can only answer some questions.

Use 1" of sand.
Remove th bio rings and carbon. LR will take its place. Also remove the filter when you get the protein skimmer.
You can get nano sized protein skimmers such as the Tunze Nano 9002, Sapphire, Nano Remora. Do not get the Current USA Fission. Everyone says it's junk.

This is one place I went to that had lots of nano stuff. http://www.nanotuners.com/

 

[Pinner reef]

I'm not to keen on the all in ones but I do know that the bio rings should be swapped for LR (funny how they put them in the kit then tell you not to use them). But yeah they are nitrate traps. LR works as well as if not better than the rings/balls.

Go with about 1" of sand, Indo is better that agra live IMO but I don't think it matters too much. Skip the miricle mud use only LS.

The skimmers mentioned previously are good suggestions except add prism to the list of ones to avoid.

As for species try and get some of the slower more colorful specimines and even then you will soon become an expert fragger. Then trade and trade and trade again.

HTH
-pinner