starting a new 30L nano... in Germany

[tsinkoy]

So, i moved (again) to Germany and I want to start a new reef aquarium. A nano this time, as I only have a studio.

I went to K?lle Zoo today to check out what they had in store. I was amazed at what they had. They had a whole floor dedicated to aquaria, and this room is pretty much the same size as the whole basement level of Petco in Union Square. Half of the displays were saltwater while the other half was for freshwater. Also, they had three huge shallow tanks with frags and corals and numerous showtanks ranging from the 30L to 100G with livestock. Their fish and corals looked healthy, and they seem to have a variety of livestock for sale. Plus, they had pretty much all the supplies for setting up a marine aquarium under one roof!

Sample prices include €19 for a feather duster, a juvenile Imperator for €98, A. ocellaris for €25, black ocellaris for €45 and a small/medium Dory for €69. Coral frags were €38 each with a buy 5 get one free promo. Their live rock is €14.90 per kilogram, which translates to about $9.50 per pound.

I don't know how everything costs in NYC right now, but I think it's more expensive here.

As for my set-up, I am thinking of going sumpless and starting a 30L nano. What I had in mind is the Wave Box Cubo Marine 30L which measures 30 x 30 x 35 cm. This is the stock photo I ganked off onlineaquarium.

Included in the kit is an HOB skimmer/filter (Niagara Skimmer 280), and Solaris Lighting for Marine (18W, 10,000K daylight + actinics). I think I will need to change the skimmer, but I don't know if the lights will support soft corals. Will it? And I think I will need to add a powerhead, maybe a small one.

As for livestock, I'm thinking some soft corals and one fish. A goby maybe, or a clown.

Please feel free to comment and add ideas.

My apologies for posting on here even though I'm not located in the NYC area. I couldn't find any forums similar to this in Germany that are in English.

Thanks.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

hey you don't have to be in nyc to join us. we have people who moved to australia, hong kong, the uk, and many others who often posts their stuff.

to most members here, at least to me anyway, i think it's great to see what others have available to them in foreign lands.

there's also nano-reef.com that seem to be popular to those with smaller tanks.

i'd say things are a bit cheaper here. feather duster ~ $15-25, A. ocellaris ~ $20, black ocellaris ~$50-70, a small/medium Dory for ~$45-60. Coral frags anywhere from $15-75 depending on what type. live rock ~$7-15/lbs...just a range of common prices....of course it all depends on where the lfs is located.

30l is about 8 gal. at 14" height.... 18 watts of what kind of lighting? if it's led, that may be enough for softee but if it's power compact, i think that may be too little. the pic looks nice though. is it glass or acrylic?

i have a 15 gal. nano in my office. 20"x10"x18" and i have 2x40 watts power compacts on it. i keep mostly mushrooms, a photosynthetic gorgo, a coral banded shrimp, a frimani pseudo, and 2 tiny nemo's, and some snails and hermit crabs.
just bought a cheap led fixture through a reef central group buy....haven't gotten it yet but it's suppose to be equivalent to a 150 w metal halide. i'm gonna try that over the 15 gal..... or a 55 gal....haven't decided yet. i'm testing out the leds....my main tank(200 gal.) still have metal halides and vho's (2x 400w 20k mh's and 2x 110w actinics vho's). may convert to led in the future if i see substantial benefits.

 

[tsinkoy]

Thanks for the post Tomtoothdoc.

Yeah, I had a 75G when I lived in NYC, and got a ton of help from MR people. That's why I'm back on here. It is kinda pricey here in Europe though. There should be a Regional Reefs forum for Europe, who do I suggest that to?

As for my tank, yes, it is about 8 gallons, and the light it comes with is an 18W power compact. I am thinking of getting another power compact fixture, or maybe an LED array to augment that. I just have to find an English-speaking reef group here in Germany/Europe so it would be easier for me to source stuff.

The tank is glass and has a cover. What type of livestock/corals can I keep with two 18W power compacts?

I am a scientist by profession, and work a lot with the fluorochromes isolated from corals that we see in the reefs. I would like to have some mushrooms and maybe zoas in there and one or two clowns. Maybe just one. Maybe frogspawn too.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

Thanks for the post Tomtoothdoc.

Yeah, I had a 75G when I lived in NYC, and got a ton of help from MR people. That's why I'm back on here. It is kinda pricey here in Europe though. There should be a Regional Reefs forum for Europe, who do I suggest that to? there has got to be some kind of local reef club by you there, try asking the people from the lfs that you frequent. i find reefers love to talk to other people about their hobby.

As for my tank, yes, it is about 8 gallons, and the light it comes with is an 18W power compact. I am thinking of getting another power compact fixture, or maybe an LED array to augment that. I just have to find an English-speaking reef group here in Germany/Europe so it would be easier for me to source stuff. i remember seeing some links from nano-reef about a site call nanotuners.com- they sell diy stuff to build your own led fixture. check them out, they may even sell euro specs power supply or know how to hook you up with a euro equivalent site. the led's seems to be a good solution for those small tanks.

The tank is glass and has a cover. What type of livestock/corals can I keep with two 18W power compacts? 36 watts?--much, much better than 18. you should be able to keep most softee like mushrooms, cloves, anthelia, xenia, green star polyps, zoa's and paly's ....you can go with some non-photosynthetic corals like (aussie)dendro's(not the carnations species...the orange sun polyp-like ones), balanophyllia, many gorgo's, sponges and tunicates are cool looking. but they requires constant feeding...but water changes in an 8 gal. is a 5 min. job. i would avoid leather corals...chemical warfare, any euphyllia- (froggie, hammer, torch) or plerogyra (bubble)---they develop very long stinging tentacles.

I am a scientist by profession, and work a lot with the fluorochromes isolated from corals that we see in the reefs. I would like to have some mushrooms and maybe zoas in there and one or two clowns. Maybe just one. Maybe frogspawn too. sounds like a cool job. what exactly do you do with flurochromes? may be you would know the answer to this.
let's use acro's as our sample, if i have a predominantly purple color acro and it turns brown is it because too much light or not enough light...what mechanism causes the purple zooxanthellae to appear brown?
what about bleaching? is it from too much light or can it be from not enough light also?
i'm still somewhat confused about the bleaching phenomenon. i have some chalices that were quite colorfu,l started to loose their colors and begining to bleach, they have been in the same location for months so i don't think it has to do with amount of light. the only thing that was out of the ordinary was that i had a black out for half a day and the temp went down from 78 to 71.

t