12.47 Us Gallons Nano Reef - Some Qs

Ben

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Hi Guys,
I feel really bad doing this to you, but i need some Qs answered.
A little about the tank;
I now have a 12.47 US gal tank,24inches longx10widex12 high.
It currently is empty. I have a 50w heater, and after some reading have two power heads for circulation as i understand live rock does the biological filteration.
It has normal silica sand(i understand live sand is a waste of money).
I was wondering,
How much Live Rock is suitable for the tank?(lbs/kgs)
What corals are suitable for my tank? I have standard lighting(sorry cant help more there)
How much KG/Lbs of marine salt should i add?

I don't plan on adding fish at the moment, i just want to have a coral only tank for the first part, and see how my maintanence routine goes with out killing anyfish.

Any other advice would be apreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

DD
EDIT:Okay i have just read that it is one pound of live rock per gallon, so about 12/13 lbs?
 
no means an expert but i can answer some of your questions...

Yes the live rock will do all your biological filtration so all you might want to add to a HOB filter with some filter floss in to polish the water.

you can use normal silica sand if you want but it will look really wrong. you can buy bags of norma coral sand(not alive) for a few quid- or dollars in your case.

I'll let someone else cover the live rock bit, i'm not good with ammounts.

you could possible get away with button polyps, star polyps, pusling xenia and probable a few softies.
 
Thanks for the reply Paul.

Yeah, i've decided i will use coral sand anyway, as i plan on adding the rock in first before te sand to avoid rock slides etc.

I have a spare HOB filter that i will be using for the tank.

Thanks again.

DD
 
If you have 2 powerheads, you don't need to use the HOB filter, unless you want to add a refugium. The LR will do all your filtration.

Good choice on going with the coral sand, it will look a lot better.

Yup - 13lbs of LR, go with 15 if you can. The more, the better.

I added some cleaner crew - hermits and snails to help add the bacteria for the LR to "eat" so it didn't die from lack of nutrients. Then, I actually added a fish before corals...

Oh - if you have just standard FW flourescent lighting, you may need to change bulbs as it will be the wrong spectrum for SW. You can upgrade just the bulb for minimal cost.

If you get a new bulb, you can easily keep most any of the softies. I have mushrooms, button polyps, zoas, ricordea, green star polyps, etc and they're all thriving.

Hope that helps and is coherent, I haven't had my coffee yet :lol:
 
Thanks Parker :)
I will probably be replacing the light bulbs,and will see where that takes me.

The fish are just way to expensive here, $40 for a Perc less then an inch :/
So is it possible to add corals before fish, or should i just wait and save?

Thanks again

DD
 
You don't have to have fish in a nano reef. You do need a cleanup crew to help control algae tho'.

-I agree that about 15lbs of LR will be fine. You could go up to 18lbs

-your lighting is a critical choice if you plan to keep corals. If you are planning only on softies, zoos and leathers, you won't need super high lighting. Look into compact fluorscent lighting with at least 10,000 K spectrum and an actinic component. If you want SPS and clams, you'll need a metal halide and a 70MH would be fine.

-substrate would be about 12lbs of aragonite. Silica has no buffering capacity. Avoid crushed coral. If you are daring, you could go bare bottom, but, I personally prefer sand....looks like what I see when I dive

-if you go ahead with your setup, try and resist the urge to toss in corals as soon as your tank is cycled. It will go thru a maturation period. 12 gallons is small and a dying coral can still crash a tank

Welcome aboard. SH
 
Thanks SH :)
I'm not going to rush anything, so you dont have to worry about that.
I've been reading books/websites and researching Nano tanks for a few months now, but there were a few things i needed personal experience for.
i'll first add LR, then the aragonite.
Wait for the cycle to complete.
Check my lighting, change if needed.
After cycle is finished,
I'll look into softies.
and get about 12 clean up critters?(I heard it was 1 per gallon)

One more Q,
roughly how long is the maturation period?

Thanks again for your guys help.

DD
 
Hi..cycling make complete in a week or less if you use precured LR. However, full tank maturation may not occur for up to a year. I added my first corals after about a month and a half and even that may have been a tad early. The reason? Your nasties usually visit in the early parts of setup..bubble algae, cyano, and hair algae. SH
 
Ah, okay.
Will inverts survive to proccess of cycling?
Or should it be best to leave them out untill cycling is finished?
And yes i plan on buying the LR cured :nod:

Thanks again for all your help.

DD
 
If the LR is truly cured, then there will not be a cycle. If the live rock is cured, that means all the rock and "stuff" in and on it is healthy. Since LR is what provides your filtration anyway, then that means it's good to go as soon as it's in the tank if your rock is cured. You can add a couple snails as soon as you get your first diatom bloom.
 
oooh okay.
Thanks for clearing that up Parker :)

Well i think thats all i needed to ask,

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out.

DD

P.S expect to see a Nano diary in the coming weeks :p
 
the only thing you'll get pics of now is a still freshwater tank
with nothing in it except heaters and powerheads and filters
:p
But expect a step by step photo diary when setting it up :p
DD
 

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