Zoe's thus far succesful venture into nano reefing

[Zoe]

I know what the general sentiment towards nanos is here - so please, I welcome your opinions and comments, but don't be rude. I'm posting this because while I don't think any/everyone should set up nanos, some people will try, and I want to demonstrate that if you do it properly and maintain it dilligently, you can pull it off.

Tank specs:
Eight gallon tank (not a nano cube or anything - just a tank)
10 lbs live sand
15 lbs fijian live rock
One small powerhead
AC 20 filled with LR rubble and cheato
50 watt heater
40 watts, 50/50 actinic PC lighting
DI water with Instant Ocean, always pre-mixed and aerated for at least one day
Calcium / trace supplements

Maintenance routine:
Daily - admire the tank, and top off with fresh DI water (without salt)
Every 3 days - tidy up the tank with a turkey baster, feed my fish
Every week - Feed the starfish, do a 2 gallon water change, do a water test, add supplements if required

Day one, purchasing what I needed:
I picked up 7 lbs of live rock and 5 gallons of tank water from a local supplier, and a 10 lbs bag of live sand from the LFS.
I was going to get "dead" aragonite and let the LR seed it, but my choice was 10 lbs LS for $20 or 30 lbs of aragonite for $30... so I went with the live sand.
I set up the tank, and it was quite cloudy. I didn't have the LR rubble or cheato at that time. Instead, I had the stupid lid that the tank came with - that fit tightly within brackets on the side of the tank, and had the light and filter built into it. I put some filter floss in the filter media cavity to clear the water. Worked like a charm - and I removed the FF.



Week one, cycling begins
I was really hoping that because I started with LR, LS, and established water, the cycle would be very short. But first thing the next morning, my ammonia was off the chart (the chart ends at 3.0). Over this week it declined, and after 4 days the nitrites jumped.
I picked up 8 more lbs of live rock.

Week two, cycle ends. First livestock!
At the end of the second week, my ammonia and nitrites were at 0, and my nitrates were very low, so I went to the LFS and picked up 8 blue legged hermits.
I dripped the hermits to acclimate them, and they settled in well. Very busy the first few days, clearing up all the gunk that had accumulated.
No ammonia registered, but I did a one gallon water change to freshen up the tank.

Week three, first corals.
At the end of week three, I picked up my first corals. I got about 6 zoa frags, some xenia, and some mushrooms. I also got 5 cerith snails to clean my gunky sand, and a brittle starfish.
After these additions, ammonia registered at about 0.05, so I did a (scheduled) 2 gallon water change.
I've really taken to my starfish, called "Legs". He's a blast to feed - I give him a tiny piece of table shrimp, and I just love watching him reach and grab it. Good times!

Weeks four and five, admiring the tank.
I didn't touch the tank, save for weekly water changes, for another two weeks. Partly because I wanted everything to settle in, and partly because I wasn't sure if I even wanted to get a vertebrate (fish). I spent a lot of time browsing forums and researching fish, and narrowed my possible choices down to:
Red Hifin Banded Goby, Royal Gramma, Watchman Goby, Neon pseudochromis.
One of the blue hermits killed a snail for its shell, so I bought the crabs some new shells at the dollar store. Happy crabs!

Week six, more corals and new discovery!
On week six, I noticed some little legs sticking out of a crack in the LR. A new brittle star, apparently! I don't know if he hitched in, or if he is a part of the original Legs, but there you have it. I only noticed him when he reached into my eyedropper to grab a mysis shrimp I was feeding to a coral.
I also picked up a few more zoa frags, a hammer coral, and some brown button polyps.

Week seven, first death
I wasn't able to keep the xenia alive. I was surprised because I had heard they were easy, and everything else was thriving, but there you have it... I asked around and heard various reasons - low idiodine, tank too young, too much current, not enough current... Perhaps I'll try again in a few months.

Week seven, get fed up with my stupid lid
I couldn't stand my stupid lid anymore, so I trashed it. I sawed off the plastic brackets that held it in place, and got a glass lid for a 10 gallon tank cut to fit the tank. Instead of the 20W bulb that fit into the original lid, I put two 20W bulbs in a dual incandescent 10 gal fixture.
My brown button polyps responded beautifully - by turning green!
I also put on the AC 20 with rubble.
Later that week, I picked up a scarlet red and an electric blue hermit crab, a torch coral, and a ricordea mushroom. I also picked up some cheato for the AC HOB.



Week eight, I begin to seriously consider getting a fish
My love is the royal gramma. I love, love, love them, and did want to pick one up for my tank. I went to one LFS, who had some, but they'd only had him for a day. I went to another LFS who didn't have a royal gramma, but I spent an hour looking at the fish they did have. They didn't seem to know what much was (understandable, when it comes to gobies and blennies), so much time was spent looking through books.
I ended up getting a firefish. I wasn't totally sold on him, I have to say (he just wasn't a royal gramma).
But I brought him home, floated him, dripped him, and let him loose. I'm totally turned around on him now. He spent a day being shy and nervous, but now he's come out and he eats right from my hand / tweezer / eye dropper. A very rewarding little fellow to keep.

Week twelve, mantis scare! Ack!
A few days ago I heard clicking coming from the tank at night. I freaked out, sure I had a big bad mantis. To make matters worse, when I got home, I couldn't find my firefish! Turns out my firefish is fine, and the clicking was probably just a snail tapping against the glass in the water current.

Foreseeable future:
I like my tank as it is. My only plans are to get more zoas, and upgrade my lighting to 90W, with the coralife 96W SW 20" fixture. The 20" fixture will stick out 1.5" on either side of the tank but... oh well. They don't make them any smaller. I also placed an order for a few sexy shrimp.

Other comments:
I have to say, I haven't really been bitten by the SW bug. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my tank, but I have no desire to expand to anything larger at this time. Just as well, I guess, as I don't have room for anything bigger.

Expenditure:
In total, I've probably spent about $400 on this tank. I know, I know, I probably could have set up something bigger for little more, but I knew that going in. I love my little tank.
As best as I can figure:
$40 - lighting
$20 - reef salt
$60 - live rock (15 lbs)
$20 - live sand (10 lbs)
$10 - calcium / trace supplement
$20 - getting the glass lid cut (F$*&^ers)
$5 / week - water
$120 - various corals
$30 - invertebrates (snails, crabs, star)
$20 - fish
... And I'm sure I've forgotten a few things.

Next big expense: new light fixture ($130), sexy shrimp ($20 each)

I owned the tank, the heater, a testing kit, and the power head and the AC 20 before starting.

[TheOldSalt]

No rude comments from me. Good Job!

[Zoe]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

No rude comments from me. Good Job!

Really? I hope you're not being sarcastic because it pleases me immensly to read that!

[Reefneck]

None from me either. Looks Great!

[Bear]

I would have to say the same as the others....looks good!

But I would like to see some more color j/k

[Reefneck]

Might I also add that you did a wonderful job chronicling the entire process week to week. That can be a huge help to others doing the same type setup!

P.S. Yes, I read the whole thing.

[Zoe]

Wow, thanks guys!
I wasn't sure what the reaction would be, but I'm really happy to read your comments!

[JustOneMore20]

Beautiful little tank you have their Zoe! That gives other freshies like myself hope that we could possibly setup a smaller SW tank and be successful at it. You did an excellent job with the week by week updates and such....thumbs up! I'd love to see more pictures as it continues to mature, so keep on taking them!

[CollegeReefer]

Very nice post Zoe! You have taken the time to set this tank up right. I am a little shocked that your xania didn't make it, but then again, it either grows like a weed or dies. It is an interesting little coral. I however learned this weekend that xania doesn't do to good if the lighting changes a lot from one tank to another. A speaker at the Foster and Smith talked how his xania that he grew under very intense light would normaly not make it under low light conditions. I found that very interesting. Anyways, keep the pictures coming when you add new things.

[Zoe]

D'oh... I guess I lied... time for an upgrade!
In my defense, I'm only upgrading because I came across a bargain I couldn't pass up. The tank is 18 gallons, and there's a 15 gallon sump. Very nice, and this allows me to use my old (well, a year old, but unused for months ) coralife 24" fixture for it. Considering that I was going to spend 120$ to get a 20" fixture, which is more or less what this new setup cost me, it would have been pretty stupid to pass up this new tank.
I'm probably going to run both tanks simultaneously, until the new tank cycled. My LR guy said that it wouldn't cycle given that the rock is very established, but I don't want to risk it. I'm going to go with black sand this time (woohoo!), and probably get another 5-10 lbs of LR.
This one has a sump, over which my current light fixture fits perfectly... so it's fuge time! I may transfer some of my live sand into the ruge, with some LR / rubble, some cheato... whatever, I'll see what I can throw into there.
I may end up keeping my 8 gallon set up, too. Or sell it is a full set up... It seems a shame to take it apart, but my new tank will hopefully be even nicer.

Aaand, the shining star of this whole upgrade, I will get a royal gramma... the love of my life!

Wahoo!

[ASmileForOnlyU]

*claps hands* I admire your work greatly!! Well done!

[TheOldSalt]

This thread is a bit old, but still, an update would be nice. A Royal Gramma against a black sand background would look pretty nice, I would think.

By the way, if this thread isn't already stickied, I'll stick it. It's a good one.

[Damon]

I'd have to agree with most of the comments on this thread. It shows that small tanks can be done if done correctly. It also shows the amount of work and time and planning needed to be successful and even then it doesn't guarantee success (xenia). But I like the upgrade part the best. It never fails. People start small, realize what can be done with larger tanks and upgrade. Kudos on the well documented thread!!!!

[Zoe]

Well, whether or not this tank would have remained healthy as an eight gallon is unknown, because it is now a 30 gallon. Oops!

However I recently set up at 16 (10 gallon footprint) and it has been going very well. I've noticed that while one tank will support certain corals, others may not. For example, my 28 gallon, I can't keep mushrooms in it. But in my 16 gallons, into which I moved all my shrooms, they are thriving.

The Royal Gramma was a WONDERFUL addition to my tank. However, when I got a few other fish (a goby and some false percula clowns), I noticed that he became much more reclusive, so I'd recommend that unless the only other fish are gentle gobies / blennies (ie scooter blenny, randall's goby - as opposed to a watchman goby or something), that the RG be the only fish.

Anyway, I still feel that properly taken care of, a nano is fine and easy enough to keep. Can't slack, though, because it can go downhill fast.

On more than one occasion, I was late by (at most) a day for my water change, I noticed a marked decline in all the corals... IE they were all closed, slouched looking. And perked up as soon as the change was done. I still notice that in my 30 gallon, but less drastic of course.

[karazy]

im just wondering, what are the corals in pictures 2, 4, and 8(of your coral pics, thats not including the tnak pic) and im starting up my own sw soon and im just wondering how hard the zoas are to take care of cuz i really like them and i wam considering gettting sum

[Zoe]

The first one - like a bubbly mushroom, is a ricordea.

Fourth pic is a hammer coral. In pic #8, there is a torch coral (similar to hammer), and a red mushroom.

The zoas are pretty easy to take care of, and definitely a good starter coral. I've lost a few polyps but mainly due to algae when I was my cyano bacteria (not actually an algae) outbreak. Also lost a couple because they kept falling from where they were - so make sure you properly glue them on!
The best way to do it IME is to take the piece of rock that you want to glue them onto out of the tank and let it dry (not like bone dry, but not soaking wet), and let the frag dry as well (just dab on a papertowel). Then use some gel superglue, hold it on for a few seconds and let it dry for another few seconds. I've had 100% success that way, but only like 50% success getting the glue to hold the first time if I put glue on the frag, and stick it to a rock underwater.

Depending on your lighting, avoid bright blues and purples because they're fade if your lighting is low. I have 130W PC and can maintain some decent colours but nothing like the pics I see of gorgeous zoas taken under 20,000k metal halides.