Fear Of The Nano Reef

[Morn]

I have recently decided to set up a nano reef tank having kept Tropical Freshwater in the past. My recent intrest has spured from my latest holiday abroad etc..

I have little room and was initialy planning to go for a 30Ltr 'Wave Box Cubo 30' but under advice from my local fish store have opted for a slightly larger 'Wave Box Cubo 45' 37.8 Ltr (10 us Gal) 45x28x30 cm tank (Wave Box ).

I am a little confused as to what to do next, I have been told that I should not keep fish in this tank by the fish shop as it is simply to small, having read some reports from this site however I have found that people have been sucessfull in keeping a number of fish in a tank of this size.

What I am wondering is whether or not I should bother with this endevour, I know that I have the patients to deal with it but the shop are telling me diffrent things to the reviews on this site and I am concerned that they will not supply me with the resources needed.

Second, if I keep small fish such as gobies how many would be consided a good quantity for this size tank?

Thirdly, would I be able to keep a clown fish in this sized tank?

Finally, what would be a good number of shrimp/crabs for this tank

Hope someone can help me.

Thanks in advance

Graham

 

[Musho3210]

personally, i wouldnt put clownfish in their, but that is simple moral opinion. Many people have healthy, colorful, active clownfish in there 10 gallons for years, so you can if you want.....

Small gobies would be a better choice fish IMO.

Its a pretty nice tank, but wont keep much corals besides softies and some lps placed up high in that light. I wouldnt get it, i would get the biggest tank you can afford and get the equipment separately so you can include only things you want/need.

 

[Morn]

Thanks for that, I think that main issue for me is that I realy do not like the look of fish tanks. This is the first one that I have seen that I have even considered to be reomotely attractive.

I get what your saying, however will the bulb support some good soft coral?

Graham

 

[Musho3210]

well good soft corals are personal preferance, take a look at these tanks:

http/www.jbjlighting.com/aquarium_prods.html
http/www.current-usa.com/aquapods.html
http/www.current-usa.com/aquapodhqi.html
http/www.petsolutions.com/Oceanic-BioCub...+C40003139.aspx
http/www.redseamax.com/redseamax/index.html

 

[xxBarneyxx]

http/www.canterburykoi.co.uk/

This is from a LFS near me and its selling for something like £130ish, more expensive then what you where looking at but much better equipment and slightly bigger. I have seeb similar deals online (but cantfind the sites now...) will post links when I find them.

Edit:
The arcadia tanks are very nice but you would need to buy extra kit on top:
http/hellesdonbarnaquatics.net//product_...products_id=586

Same setup as I posted about above £125 is a nice setup for a complete nano kit
http/hellesdonbarnaquatics.net//product_...products_id=513

 

[Musho3210]

oh and the links that i gave you are american companies, i dont know if any of them are in the UK, some may be though since its the new craze that hit american reefers.

 

[Morn]

Thanks again for the above replies, I have been reading around this subject and am starting to get the idea of what I am supposed to be doing.

Having looked at all the above links, the only tank that i like the look of is the 'Arcadia' one but that is only 35L and the man I spoke to suggests that it would not be suitable for marine as it is designed for freshwater. I am not sure as to the truth of that statement but I am taking his word on this due to the fact he work in the store.

Coupled with the fact that the missus has told me that under no circumstances will she have a ugly looking tank in the house I am stuck with the one mentioned.

I have been told that I can use the supplied equipment plus a heater to start a tank with rock, coral, and invertebrates. However I am wondering whether I would need to include a second 18W light for the coral growth and also a small power head to circulate the water.

In the future I may add a Gobie but that will be dealt with at a later stage.

Any thoughts?

 

[Musho3210]

35 liters is a tiny bit below 10 US gallons. You can keep corals under 18 watts of PC light (people keep lps under 9 watts of PC light) but just remember to keep the corals high and the light shining on them. You may want to get a better light one day but for now you dont "have to"

I would suggest a powerhead if the corals you want like a decent amount of flow and also used as a back up if the filter breaks down you still have a powerhead giving flow, or vise versa.

 

[Morn]

The exact litre capacity is 37.8l, which when I calculated it using a converter came to about 9.99 US Gal.

Would the second lamp help with growth, at the bottom of the tank?

Also how many clean up crew members should I think about?

Cheers

 

[Musho3210]

how tall is the tank?

There is no way of telling how much clean up crew you will need. Once you get algae, get a few things (maybe 3 astraea snails and 3 blue legged hermit crabs), if algae is gone, good, if its still here, get a few more otehr things (maybe 2 cerith snails), if algae is still there get maybe 1-2 more astraea snails. The point is you get little by little until algae is gone and your clean-up crew isnt starving.

 

[Morn]

Don't quote me on this but I believe the height is 30cm but I will have to double check.

This is from the shops web site: 'The Dimensions are in cm 45L x 29D x 30H'

With regards to the clean up crew, I am guessing that it is good to get them in after the levels have stabilized. I will be using live rock and live sand so the tank should not cycle if I understand correctly.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Musho3210]

no need for live sand, waste of money. No, only fully cured live rock (live rock that hasnt been in the air for more than an hour which is quite impossible to find/get at an lfs or something of the sort) wont cause ammonia spike. Most live rock you find will either be semi-cured or uncured. So it wont be an immediate cycle, the stuff that dies on the live rock will provide ammonia. You dont add a cleanup crew until you are having algae problems.

 

[Morn]

Interesting, the shop I am using is has their own coral farm and also does their own rock and sand. They will supply some with the setup, but I am wondering what sand to use and where to get it from.

Naturally I will take what they give me but other than that what should I use?

And what was the verdict on the lighting situation?

Cheers

 

[Musho3210]

well lighting is a complicated matter since different corals like different light. Stick to softies and lps, if they dont seem to be doing too good maybe give them more light.

Just get dry aragonite sand.