Back at it soon

[daytona955]

So after 15 years, I am going to get back into having a reef again. For now I plan a small 10. What is the current thoughts on live sand and a more biological approach to filtration? Back in the day I have a 55 with basically just a skimmer, live rock, live sand and a refugium with macro. Is this still the common approach? Any advice is helpful. I will be researching in anticipation.

 

[ichthyoid]

Welcome back! I’ve been in and out of the water in this hobby a few times as well.

 

[lizzyann]

So I'm relatively new to the hobby (started in 2018) but started with a 10 gallon and did a ton of research. I did upgrade to a 20 but plan to always stick with a nano! All-in-one tanks seem to be really popular in the nano world and are super easy. I highly recommend the Innovative Marine 10 gallon. Most people do that with filter floss and something like chemipure elite in one chamer, and sometimes a skimmer or tiny refugium in the other chamber. If you go with that tank I highly recommend this thread: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/354440-innovative-marine-fusion-10-club/#comments

Plenty of debate still in starting with live rock vs dry (how much control you want over hitchhikers vs the benefits of starting with a more well-rounded ecosystem, how quickly you want to cycle, etc.) which you are probably aware of. Most people go with the "live" bagged sand, which I'm guessing also probably hasn't changed much in many years.

 

[daytona955]

Thank you. That should keep me busy reading for a bit!

 

[daytona955]

Looks like my wife wnd I decided on the 20 afyer a lot of reading.

 

[lizzyann]

Looks like my wife wnd I decided on the 20 afyer a lot of reading.

I have the IM20 peninsula, lmk if you have any questions about it!

 

[daytona955]

We decided to go with the SCA 24 gallon all in one. Pretty exciting! Looking it seems not a lot has changed except for some fancy controllers. Those will be out of our budget I think.

 

[Trizzino]

With the Display area being 24x10x15"H. The rock scape will need to be minimalistic to accommodate coral at 10 inches wide. Be sure to look into other means of filtration (ex. marine pure) in the back chambers. I have an IM Lagoon 25 and have only had a nano running since July. It has definitely been a learning experience coming from 120G+ systems.

 

[daytona955]

Thankfully at 24" wide and 10 deep I will have a nice billboard. I had a nano 10 years ago that went well for several years with just a hang on skimmer and filter. Hopefully this will be a bit easier.