Newbie here saying Hi

[eliphant]

Hey everyone, I have been lurking this forum for about a week now because I am looking into starting my first SW tank! This forum is overflowing with useful information and it has been getting me really anxious to get started! I am glad to see there are tons of very experienced and very knowledgeable members here who are willing to help people out with this wonderful hobby!

I will be doing a 10 gallon nano. I was thinking of possibly just doing a frag tank to get started and eventually buy live rock and turn it into a reef tank. Any opinions?

I will be using a standard 10 gallon with the top rim removed. I took a AquaClear 70 and modded it into a fuge (not sure if i will put anything in it other than some floss). Will use a K-Nano for extra flow. I have a 65 watt 24inch Odyssea PC light that I will be using. Ideally, I would like to eventually have maybe 1 clown and a shrimp/goby pair in the tank, along with a clean up crew.

I am still in my planning stages and have not bought any live rock/sand yet. Once I find some live rock and live sand I will get my water and start cycling. Unfortunately, I am running a little low of funds due to some unforeseen circumstances (and waiting to get paid again!). Due to this, I am refraining from running to the LFS and paying $6/lb for live rock and $25 for a bag of live sand, haha.

I live in Suwanee, GA. Any locals have live rock/sand they are looking to get rid of?

Looking forward to spending more time on this forum and finally beginning my first saltwater tank!

 

[mrsmojo]

Welcome! Good luck with the new tank!

 

[cr500_af]

Welcome! Glad to have you, and any time you have a question, just post it. The only stupid question is the one not asked... or the ones I ask!

Sounds like you've already done your homework... but since it doesn't hurt to reinforce, I'll mention this: Be very strict with your maintenance on that 10g. Small tanks are less forgiving of slacking than larger tanks are.

Don't know why, but I always get a touch nervous when a new hobbyist starts with a nano.

Best of luck and post pics as you set it up, don't wait for it to be "finished". After all, it'll never be finished!

 

[eliphant]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

Yes I have heard how demanding a nano may be to keep maintained. I do have a 29 gallon FW tank at home also, which I have considered turning into my SW tank. I understand it would be a bit easier to maintain. However, the only thing holding me back from making a sw tank out of it is the price of a light that will be sufficient in growing the corals I want, and the price of getting all the extra live rock.

I have posted the tank up on Craigslist for sale. I was hoping to use that extra money to get a kick start on my first nano. If it does not sell I will just end up stashing it away in my garage until I decide to upgrade from my 10gallon. Would anyone be interested in a 29 gallon tank/stand? If so just shoot me a PM.

 

[cr500_af]

Good! My feeling was right; you have done your homework. We see new hobbyists sometimes who think that they need to start very small to learn before going larger... you can see the problem in that. What they really need to do is start SLOW, not necessarily small.

Good luck on selling the FW tank, and looking forward to your build thread!

 

[demeat]

congrats!!! I started about 1.5 months ago and I am a newbie as well... This is the best way to learn, everyone here is very informative and helpful

 

[thomas138]

welcome!

ive only been a member for a short time so far but have been in the hobby for about two years, and in the past few months that i have been on ARC i have learned so many things that never even crossed my mind.

ur gonna love it

 

[jcusmarine]

Welcome! Some good advice already from our members - glad to have ya onboard.

 

[jason sartain]

Welcome

 

[drnecropolis]

Welcome Eliphant.. Lots of good info here.. Glab to have you on with us.. Feel free to ask any question you may have and the number 1 rule is to have fun.. When a hobby becomes a task or job its no longer a hobby, its work..

 

[hayabusa72]

Welcome!

 

[salt reefer]

hiya welcome to the club. you will love this great group of people.

 

[basscyn]

Welcome!
:cheers:

 

[weaglereefer]

dawgdude;418400 wrote: One thing I will mention, I would advise against using a 10g with the rim removed. Its there for support and not looks. With as thin as 10g glass is, I would not trust it wouldnt break or leak. I already filled you in on the Live sand vs dry sand front so other than that you should be good to go.

Nah, plenty of people on NR have had rimless 10g's for a while now. I would actually like to replace my current 10 with a rimless, but I think I'd like starfire as well, so a standard won't do. Gotta find a pendant I like to go with it, tho.


Anyways, welcome to the site. One of my most recent additions for my 10 has been a Subcurrent Surface Skimming filter and it's a great filter. Size wise it looks appropriate in a 10g, and it's kept my surface nice and clear. It's relatively inexpensive and after a few modifications a fine piece of equipment. It also allows a place to drip kalk. I've found that I evap about a "vitamin water"s bottle worth of water a day, which works out perfect. You'll need to keep an eye on evaporation with a tank that small as it can change the salinity faster than in a large tank.

 

[eliphant]

Well guys, i took a few pics of my newly set up tank, will still be a while until i can put anything in it. Just wanted to let you guys know what I will be working with. I would like to start my own build thread but I believe since I am not a paid member (yet), I cannot access that forum.

Setup:
Standard 10 gallon tank (part of a walmart kit) derimmed and painted black
Modded Aquaclear 70
65 watt 50/50 10k Odyssea PC lighting modded/drilled with a single moonlight led
Tahitian Moon Sand
Base rock/used to be live; would like to get a piece of live rock soon to help seed.
Hydor Theo 150watt heater (using a cheap topfin heater until i break down the FW tank)
Maxijet 400 for cycling (i would really like to pick up a koralia nano soon)

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The moonlight led looks nice with the lights off. Shimmers under the surface agitation. Puts me to sleep!

I've been messing with my aquascape for a bit.. and I think I will keep it this way. I just wanted enough places to grow corals. Let me know what you guys think; good or bad, I don't mind. I would love to read your opinions.

Thanks,
-Eli

 

[smoothie]

That is pretty cool.
I would trust the top fin over the hydor. Just speaking from personal experience and hundreds lost to that heater. Tried the benefit of the doubt thing and the second one malfunctioned too on my tank by sticking ON. 3rd malfunction came when I got zapped on the tank at the restaurant. May be just the ones petsmart here sells.

 

[eliphant]

Smoothie;420788 wrote: That is pretty cool.
I would trust the top fin over the hydor. Just speaking from personal experience and hundreds lost to that heater. Tried the benefit of the doubt thing and the second one malfunctioned too on my tank by sticking ON. 3rd malfunction came when I got zapped on the tank at the restaurant. May be just the ones petsmart here sells.

Hm.. interesting. I thought the hydor theo heater might be better because it has the number thermostat knob on it, so I could just set it and it would turn off at that temp. The top fin one I have to constantly adjust to find the right temp. Also the top fin one has all these little fish shapes as a design that fall off and float around the tank. There were like 8 of them in my filter floss, and when I lift out the floss, most of them fall back into the tank and float around again. lol.

 

[smoothie]

If you have a thermometer you can set it and just check on it daily. Should be set after a day or so of tweaking