New to Nano's.... Couple questions

[nate c]

I decided yesterday with all my "spare parts" accumulating in the garage I could pretty much scratch-outfit a nano so here goes...

Started with a 20L (30x12x12). Have a surplus of base rock so put about 40lbs of real porus pacific stuff in there (dry) ontop of an eggrate I bought and cut down at home depot. I painted the sides, back and bottom dark blue.

I have a Prizm skimmer, which I originally purchased for my 90, but decided it was underpowered. I think for a lightly loaded 20 it should do real well. Also have an aquaclear 500 which I may use with a sponge only or to run carbon. 2 100gph powerheads will provide circulation.

For lighting I am diy'ing a 6x20w NO fixture - 3 10Ks and 3 actinic bulbs.

I'll mix up some water next week, seed with LR from my main tank, chuck in a salad shrimp for cycling and then get on my way...

Questions:

DSB or BB? Not to rehash an old debate, but I'm interested in opinions from a strictly "nano" point of view. On my 90, I'm running a 4" southdown bed, but for this one I could go either way.

Lighting: Since my water column is only going to be 10-12" I'm hoping this 120W setup should let me grow some low light corals? Thoughts?

Stocking: My plan was 2 shrimp, 4 snails, and no more than 2 fish. Wondering if False percs will work, but think I am worried that the tank is a little on the small size for them. If they are the only inhabitants in the tank, would this be ok?

Thanks in advance.

Nate C

 

[investigator1]

DSB or BB?

Bare Bottom.

I'm hoping this 120W setup should let me grow some low light corals?

Go MH now. Trust me later on down the line you will want to grow SPS!

Thoughts?

I wish someone told me that when I started. I want to grow SPS.

My plan was 2 shrimp, 4 snails, and no more than 2 fish. Wondering if False percs will work, but think I am worried that the tank is a little on the small size for them. If they are the only inhabitants in the tank, would this be ok?

2 Percs will be okay in a 20.

 

[nate c]

Thanks for the opinons re: BB and the Percs. Can you elaborate any more on your pref for BB? Is it the same pros and cons at the smaller size as it would be for a large tank?

Re Lighting: I am putting this tank together with spare parts - just to see what it is capable of. I already have three 2x24" ballasts and a dozen (huge pile) of NO bulbs that were more or less given to me and at the least I'm going to run them until I can burn them all up, rather than throw them in the trash...

So given only 6 watts per gallon - any suggestions? Rics? Shrooms? - Anyone else out there ever tried this?

Thanks again -

Nate

 

[Anonymous]

It's not so much watts per gallon that's important, but the actual intensity the tank is receiving. Just as an example, a single 70W metal halide bulb is much more intense (and can keep high light demanding corals) than 2 40W normal output flourescent bulbs.

With the light you have, you can keep mushrooms, green star polyps, and probably zoanthids and ricordea as well. If you want to move up to stony corals, you're going to need to get either PC or MH bulbs.

Hope this helps,
Matt

 

[nate c]

Thanks. Rics, Zoos, and Shrooms will be enough to get me started.

How about Xenia? MH for those as well?

 

[Anonymous]

Nate

I had a dsb in a 15 tall (same as a 10 gal, just 6" taller)

After a year and a half I had a bad algea outbreak. I took out the dsb and it went away. For a tank that small, I'd personally go with an inch or so of sand on the bottom. I don't like the LOOK of a bare bottom tank. With a bit of sand, it looks better imo.

and xenia will do fine under NO

B

 

[brandon4291]

FWIW, I'd go with a smaller sandbed as well, or at least one you are willing to disturb greatly with a siphon hose as part of quarterly maintenance. Don't think I'll ever have another DSB again as far as I can tell, here's why:

I have been a proponent of them in the past, had several, mainly from a "don't think it can't be done" type of attitude. In short I feel that a nano reef designed with a keen eye for bioloading can run with a DSB just fine, as long as we are able to stave off the need to add those extra animals we soon can't live without. This becomes justified even further in the mind by a clean nano reef with no evidence of pre-crash imbalance, just one more _____ surely won't jurt anything is what we end up thinking! Nanos and picos are fun, but once the initial novelty wears off we'll start trying to fit more and more things inside them it if my predictions aren't too assumptive...

later on green hair algae patches appear on the back glass (in the areas not commonly scraped for visual clarity) and now we have the signs of impending crash. Increased water changes can still counter the event but not permanently--waste input is now outpacing waste output and biological fixation/mineralization. The 'crash' we have so named is actually the slow but natural process of eutrophication (build-up of plant life [algae] and associated fertilizers) while we are actually just 'crashed' in terms of being fed up with algae-removing, system scrubbing maintenance so we give up and tear everything down only to start over again without altering any of the original variables. Round deux.

That being said, many design elements affect the longevity of a nano reef system using a DSB. The general consensus is that they won't be able to provide nitrate-reducing qualities but many, including myself, have kept them to observe the amazing 'ant colony' visuals such as tunnels and various worm trackings. We must give and take in this kind of nano/pico environment-- it will give us a tiny dirt microcosm and we must give it a break from solid-waste producing animals that we are used to keeping in easy-to-clean setups. Unless you are disturbing the waste in/waste out balance and using an incredibly low bioload, a Nano DSB is truly a ticking time bomb in my opinion. the reefbowl would still be around were it not for a once-pristine deep sand bed and now I am bitter again

b429