10G WIP (Work in Prog.)

[FLIP]

This will just be my blog thread untill the day after christmas :-) when I will hopefully get things rolling and switched over from my 5.5g ->10g. Please read and leave comments. I do not plan on going hardcore salt keeping (MH, other expensive equipment, because I am still a student and I'm already packed with tanks, my parents will be more upset).
Borrowed format JHG's post ;)

Tank: Perfecto 10 gallon tank 20x10x12
Powerhead: 2x 80gph
Filter: AC 300 fuge, or move it over to me AC 500
Heater: All Glass 50w
Lighting: Here is where I need opinions
Coralife Aqualight 20" 96watt 50/50 quad w/fan $149.99 reg or better boxing day
Coralfe Aqualight 24" 65watt 50/50 109.99 no fan $109.99 20% rebate, free shipping, 7% tax
Coralife Aqualight 24" 2x 36watt 1-10k, 1-actinic, no fan, 2 coard, $99.95 or better boxing day
Satellite 20" 40watt 10k+actinic + moon led, fan, 1 coard, $109.99 20% off
Satellite 24" 65watt 10k+actinic + moon leds, fan, 1 coard, $119.99 20% off
Inverts: 2 BLHermits, 2 snails, 1 slug (found it), bristle worms. Soon to get shrimps/crabs
Fish: 1 Ocellaris clown, maybe try my luck to house an angel instead, not worried.
Corals: Mushrooms, xenia, zoos, button polyp, anemones, leather, scallop, maybe if I got money to spend... clam in the future. I am still on the learning side.
LR: 7lb figi & vanuatu. 10lb livesand (CC & Agronite mix).

Everything from my 5.5 will be moved into the new 10gal so the money being spent is mostly on lighting and the tank is only 6.99. I then need to head to ikea and pickup a new table for my room. For a 10gallon, I think 50watts would be adequate for most med light req stuff. I would go with the 96watt quad, but first there is 1 plug and its 1 bulb (that cost 80 bucks). It is the exact length tho, but that doesn't matter does it? 2" both sides isn't a big deal, or is it?
40watt is low even if it comes with lunar lighting, I can DIY one easily.
65watt is 1 bulb and costs 10 bucks more, again 1 plug.
I think the best option is the 2x36watt with 2 coards.

Just a question, if i buy the coralife 72watt and use the brackets to hang from the ceilling, how high do you think i can have it from the top of the tank and still get good light? Plastic feet sits it up about 3-4" i believe.

[FLIP]

Picked up a new Coralife 24" 2x36w (72w) deluxe light. Even tho I should have gone with a higher output fixture just incase, I really like the seperate plug feature.This fixture looks amazing and is super bright over my 5.5g. I picked it up at Reefsolutions for 99$ even tho it is regular price vs 140$ at big als (sale). Today I need to pickup a 10gal before I work at big als for $6.99. Then all I will need left is a nice stand and to layout my room. I hope to have everything moved in place by Thursday.

[95cx]

Good price on the lights.

My sister is slowing starting her 10g nano and I'm helping her out and I'm helping her out. Now we're looking for lights, so I contacted Ivan.

We'll need some pics!

[93GTCANADA]

good luck on the 10 g. couple things i would do . get more live rocks i got 20 ish in my tank. up the cleaning crew. forget about anemones unless its a really really small bubble tip but eventually it will get big. and with the lights u got u cant keep a clam. i have the coralife 65 w 50/50 and i love it.

[95cx]

I only meant to say I'm helping her out once, it's late I guess my brain feels the need to repeat statements.

[FLIP]

Today I picked up my 10gal, Maxi Jet 600 (160gph) for 18.99, and some water conditioner. I don't want too much rocks because I plan on viewing the tank from both sides (length wise) and from the front (width)... I'll post up pics soon. The only problem I have now is where to put the tank... I don't have the right stand that I was looking for.

[StephG]

Keep a few things in mind when placing the tank.

1) How much sunlight will be hitting the tank

Too much sunlight can cause algae blooms in your tank. Plus on hot summer days if you don't have AC having a tank in a room where there's a lot of sun will definatly bring the temperature up.

2) Will you be placing the tank next to a wall that is an outside wall

During the winter if your tank is too close to an outside wall this can bring down the temp of your tank. This has happened to me as my tank is right next to the wall in the basement. You can counter this by adjusting heaters but it's something to consider.

Steph

[FLIP]

No sunlight at all. I coverd up my windows (im in the basement). My room is always 23* or higher because I leave the heater on at night. Thanks for the tips.

I placed my tank in the corner, its only 18" above the ground, so its pretty low. Right now I just filled it with water and salt to get things running. When I'm ready, i'll be draining the water in a bucket and if I can find a better stand, i'll move it on that.

I need to go back to reefsolutions b/c the actinic bulb doesn't seem to be firing up. It just glows on 1 side of the bulb near the connector :bawling:

[FLIP]

Ok here it is. I got 7lb of reef rock for 99cents/lb at Aquatropicale, not bad IMO. I picked up a maxi jet 600 (160gph) but found it was too strong and too loud for my room, so im going to try make some type of closed loop system to run durring the day. I moved all my corals into the new tank in 1 night and really fast.

Bad news is that my new coralife 72watt wasn't working so I had to return it back to the store for a refund and im only running on a 20watt 50/50 ATM. Everything is still messy (wiring, room, blah!) but I will get it sorted out once I fix my refuge.

Anyways here it is!

[StephG]

Looking good :) I like the idea of a built in refugium

[FLIP]

Friday, December 30th, 2005:
Here are the specs and list.

10 Gallon AGA
2x 80gph PH
Maxi Jet 600 (connected to refuge)
AC 300 setup as a refuge w/ Filter Floss, LS, LR
-9lb Live sand
-7lb Live rock
-7lb Reef rock
Coralife PC Mini 20w 50/50 w/ Cheapo DIY reflector (It works tho!)

Xenia frag
Brown polyps
Blue mushrooms
Yellow finger frag
Purple something coral frag:)
Green striped mushroom
red mushroom
Few pieces of caleurpa
1 Aptasia (I'm going to grow it out)

Peppermint shrimp
Yellow clown goby
Ocellaris clown
2x BLH
2x snails (not sure on type)
1x slug

few to little copepod growth

I will be adding a ****load of corals once I get my light, mid Jan.

[Swimfins]

It looks good. Too bad about the lighting though. Hopefully you'll get it soon.

[FLIP]

Today my shirmp died. I am still not sure what the exact cause is, but could have been because of the lazy water top off I did or b/c I was adding baking soda (a few sprinkles twice a day since Sat.) I plan on picking up some test kits now, mainly Calcium, Alk, Nitrate, Ammonia. I won't be buying anymore live stock untill my new lighting fixture is in.

[FLIP]

Heres a more recent updated photo. I'm not sure about the aquascaping. I got the idea from some pics I saw of this guy's 10g, but it's not really working for me. The rocks I picked up are pretty simple/regular shaped that I just piled it up like a mountain while they were in the process of being seeded. Most of the rock pieces are small too.

I think it just looks bad right now because I don't have corals. Once I get corals the rock work won't matter much as i stick the coral frags between the crevices so in the end, i'll end up with a mountain of coral instead of rock?? what do you think? Suggestions plz.

[FLIP]

Finally it is here! I got my Coralife 2x36w fixture in. Man it was a pain to adjust the legs.

Mini review of Coralife 2x36 (72w) Aqualight deluxe series fixture:

The overall look of this light fixture is stunning. It is bronze in color but would have looked nicer with the option for silver/black depending on peoples taste. The switches are on the side of the fixture next to where the powercoards connect.

The power that PC's put out is a lot, and these are bright enough. The reflector is amost like a mirror, but because of the design, light output could be a lot better.

Small problems:
One small problem that I'm sure happens with all pc's is that you hear a small buzzing sound when operating. I was running screw in PC's, so this wasn't an issue before.

Regular legs: These legs do the job, but is horrable. Tank maintenance is sort of a pain since I need to remove the light. I'm not sure how the adjustable legs work, but it sounded good. I was really interested in the ceilling mount tho, but doesn't matter since it has to be close to the water surface anyways or else the light won't be great.

Price: Well worth it.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/9364/newlight4qt.jpg

Additional equipment:

I had a really oily water surface so I put in an ac surface skimmer. Modding this was a pain because I was using a powerhead to move water into the AC fuge, so the adaptor it came with was useless. I just used a 90* PVC elbow and connected it to the skimmer fitting and powerhead intake. They are not 100% snug and are not glued. I figured the current will suck the fitting and keep the gaps close together. No major equipment modifications now, time to stock!

Additional corals:
I traded my friend an acro for a green candy cane frag and some other things when they become fraggable.

[ZXZXZ]

Good work. Looks good. Im thinking of setting up a nano reef myself. I currently have a 55g reef with 20g sump and 20g fuge and 45g reef with a small hang on fuge.

[FLIP]

Pictures
http://img417.imageshack.us/img417/9652/img1901copy5ck.th.jpg (http://img417.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1901copy5ck.jpg)
http://img322.imageshack.us/img322/881/img18994ht.th.jpg (http://img322.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img18994ht.jpg)http://img322.imageshack.us/img322/7776/img18932xz.th.jpg (http://img322.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img18932xz.jpg)http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/6971/img18858xg.th.jpg (http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img18858xg.jpg)http://img287.imageshack.us/img287/5359/img18949uw.th.jpg (http://img287.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img18949uw.jpg)

[pwall]

Looking good!
Looks bigger than a 10g.

[StephG]

Any pictures of your yellow clown goby? I like your rock work btw :)

[FLIP]

I have a few old pictures of my yellow clown, but as of Feb 1st, he has been MIA along with my red linckia (has reappared today).
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5104/img17760lh.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img17760lh.jpg)

No trace of him jumping out, floor is clean, didn't check rock work but he WAS swimming after my latest aquascape.

[StephG]

That's too bad about your clown goby. They're awsome fish. If I had a smaller nano where I could only have one fish it would be a yellow clown goby.

[FLIP]

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5808/fts22nt.jpg

[93GTCANADA]

very very nice.

[liv]

very nice!
wish sometimes i had a nano... fun to look at.. and can be installed just about everywhere. A+

[FLIP]

They are very fun to build! I should be picking up more frags this sunday from a meet.

I might switch over to a new 40long once my 90g is sold. 40G should be VERY fun to do.

[FLIP]

Updated pic
Added some more corals. My peppermint shrinp died. (2nd attempt.. failed again). My cleaner shrinp is doing good tho.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2972/ftsupstairs16yp.jpg

[Ricepicker]

the equipment is an eye sore.. but WOW what an assortment of frags! when those get going, i wanna get some!

[WitnessToThis]

really nice setup..I have a 40G breeder for sale if youre interested $100.00

[gator]

That tank looks great, everything seems to be in proper proportion.

[FLIP]

The left side does suck a bit with the PH and the white PVC. The breeder container was temporary for my mushrooms to grow out (it's gone now).

I'm going to try cover my PH and piping like I have seen some other people do, GSP, yellow polyps, etc. they just let them grow on it.

Hopefuly my 40breeder will be cleaner. Probobly a CLS. It's still in the works tho.... low on $$$.