A returning Newb, Building a 10g Nano for the Gf!

[devest8r]

Howdy Fellers!,
Been cruising the forum for about a week and decided to join and I'm thinking about becoming a ARC member. Guess I'm used to the car forums where everyone hates everyone and 99.9% of them run thier mouths and keyboards faster than the cars they claim... Anywho.. I'm returning to the "reef" side of life as I like to call it... I used to have three tanks (72 bow fowlr, 54 corner bow reef, and a 12g nano reef) but had to get out of it do to work/travel.. But now I'm back.. My girlfirend :doh:wanted a small reef aquarium so I picked up a 10g rectangle tank at petco... It was only $10... not bad... I ordered a filter from DrFoster and smith.. Has great reviews.. Its the Current USA Subcurrent wet/dry filter.. seems to work really good. and I put a Visitherm heater in as well.. The tank has water, Live sand, and about 9lbs of live rock.. I'm in the carpentry bussines so I know how to do a little trim work.. Im building a wood canopy for the tank and I want to put leds in it.. But I dont remember the watts per gallon, and I dont want to be "underlighted' nor "overkill".. Im also thinking of run a skimmer but not sure which one works the best for a nano.. would prefer a hang on unit instead of in tank since the filter is in the tank... Im dosing with stability once a day as suggested by the bottle for the first week. Will check the ph... tonight and see how things are looking.. Any and all info on the lights, skimmer, and chemicals is welcome and thanks in advance...

 

[redstang]

Welcome! For lights you might want to look into one of the PAR38 bulbs that's out there. I don't know much about them but they seem suited to your type of tank. Since you seem capable of a DIY project maybe look at a 10 LED build also. Heat sink, 2 Cool white, 2 Neutral White, and 6 Royal Blues might work. Could even throw in a red, violet, etc if you wanted to. Add in a fan and some drivers and you'd be set.

 

[scubaethan]

Welcome! I just returned to the hobby too. Took down my 12g nano for the same reason and set the same tank up a few months ago. I have a JBJ all-in-one cube, so I don't know much about HB filters. But I tore out the compact florescent stuff in the hood and got an ecoxotic panorama pro white/blue LED strip. It fits perfectly and has been working great for me so far. You can get more power for your money if you DIY it with CREEs or something. Doesn't seem too hard but I don't have many tools laying around, so I just bought the whole thing. I look forward to seeing your tank build thread!

 

[devest8r]

Read on Dr. fosters and smith this morning that in order to have a prosperous reef setup you need 4-8 watts of light per gallon..... Read the (About) section on this page.. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-lighting-fixture-bulb-accessory/ps/c/3578/3733">http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-lighting-fixture-bulb-accessory/ps/c/3578/3733</a>

Now I may be wrong but if you go by this.. A Truelumen Pro 12Inch stick is 9.1 watts to break into the 4watts per gallon you would have to have 5 sticks=45.5 watts... @ $80 bucks a stick plus the transformer is about $52.. You would have about $475 bucks in a nano Led kit... Please someone tell me this is wrong....

 

[scubaethan]

That's an over-generalized statement that doesn't really apply to LEDs. They work different than other lights. I did a good bit of research when I was building my 12g but a lot of it is over my head. I believe wattage is not quite as important as the spectrum and penetration depths of the lights. Someone else can explain this better than I can. I also know that not all LEDs are created equal. Some of the cheaper ones are 1w each while the more expensive ones are 3w for each LED. But for comparison, I have just one Ecoxotic Panorama Pro strip (50/50) in my tank and everything seems good so far. I paid $136 for the strip and transformer (like this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+24015&pcatid=24015">http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+24015&pcatid=24015</a>). I know some people have 2-3 in in their nano cubes but I don't have any really high light demanding corals yet. I have heard of people keeping SPS and nems under these LED strips and I plan to try it. I would like to get a second strip that's all blue.
Hope this helps!