College Tank

[Korkey101]

So I'm heading off to college soon and the first thing i wanted to know is what is the biggest tank i can get. Turns out it is only a 10 gallon tank, bummer, I have never kept salt water fish in anything less than a 20 gallon tank and that was only for a few months with a green wolf eel I was raising. My roommate and I are both as experienced aquarists as we can be for our age so we should handle things just fine. I was just curious about stocking options for a 10 gal fish wise I'm used to my 75 where i have plenty of space to put some more interesting creatures. We plan on doing corals and inverts in our system so its not like we could find a tiny predator.

 

Really any advise on small fish/shrimp/crabs or anything else you find cool would be appreciated. As well as maintenance or filtration and the more mechanical side of things. 

[Bruleyii]

What coral are you keeping? Keep in mind if you do sps dosing might be a little more difficult with the lower water volume. 

[Korkey101]

we just plan on doing softies nothing too fancy maybe a zoa garden 

[rtelles]

I had a pair of juvenile clowns in a fluval 12G and they did just fine hovering around their home base hammer coral. Also had a randall goby/pistol shrimp combo (I'd def go with one of those in a small tank, since they just chill in their caves all day) and a yellow clown goby in there. I still have the clowns and randall goby, though they've been upgraded. If a clown isn't interesting enough, you could go with something like a Tanaka wrasse in its place, though they're a bit pricey. Stay away from any type of dragonet including scooter blennies - not enough pods in such a small space. Liveaquaria has a pretty solid nano section that should give you some ideas. As far as corals, I'm a fan of ricordias, and they tend to be pretty hardy and easy to keep. A nice little zoa garden could be neat as well.

 

As far as filtration, I just used the stock aquaclear 20 (or 30? I don't remember which) and added some gfo and basic floss. Add a small powerhead for flow and you're good to go. If your tank is cycled and you do a gallon or two water change each week and top off with a cup each day and you should be fine, given that you're keeping pretty easy stuff. I had my nano up for about 8 months before upgrading it and was pretty straightforward. Be sure to get the full cycle. In such a small space, the concentration of ammonia will shoot up pretty quickly if you don't wait. Don't skimp on the live rock. And post pictures! 

[matt]

Is 10g limit applied to the display or system volume? Sump or hang on fuge could add helpful water volume. 

 

Check out eviota gobies 

[matt]

Oh, and look around on nano-reef.com fo some ideas you like...totm threads are helpful

[Korkey101]

My roommate and i joked about a 10 gallon tank and a 100 gallon "sump/refugium". Yet yeah its a total size kinda deal we can push the limit if its hang on filters and stuff though nothing too crazy.

 

We talked about using my old prizm skimmer and an aqua clear 20-30 modded into a refugium for filtration. Any thoughts on that?

 

I have seen the tanaka wrasse those look awesome yet yeah price is a concern. I love shrimp goby combos yet all my lrs gets is watchman/pistol combos and watchmans never do it for me. We will probably do clowns and a goby/shrimp combo. Think we could also get a court jester goby in there two or would that be pushing it?

[Formerly Freshwater]

I'm his roomate!

 

So here's the general plan for anyone interested

 

Tank - 10 Gallon Standard - If anyone has an AGA 10 long I would be amazed but they don't seem to exist anymore, and if any y'all have that or a 12 long you don't want, hit us up!)

 

Light - Current Orbit Marine standard - 24" (hey, it's what we already have)

 

Filtration - Aquaclear 50 with Kraylen's sump mod (http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/192628-kraylens-aquaclear-110-fuge-mod/) + a thing of ClearFX pro, which has Carbon, Resin, and GFO in one package

 

Skimmer - Redsea Prizm HOB

 

Sand - Fiji Pink, 10 Lb

 

Live Rock - 10 Lb, pre-cured, taken from our own tanks

 

Heater - Cobalt Neo-Therm 50 - Space here is key, and we want to use the thinnest possible heater. Would a nano undergravel work, or are those outdated?

 

Powerheads - Maybe a Sicce 1 if the aquaclear doesn't provide enough movement.

 

~~~

 

As for stocking the idea is to go with soft coral such as Palys, Zoas, maybe a frag of Sinularia, maybe a Mini Maxi.

 

As the tank may have to sit alone for up to 4 weeks at a time, everything needs to be as hardy as possible. We did read the article in the new Reef Hobbyist about the dude that puts his reef to sleep, but that kind of control with dosing pumps is unattainable for us. While I could build a gravity ATO pretty easily, and auto feeders for fish aren't a lot, a dosing pump kit is out of the question, as the price is too high. 

[Korkey101]

He has the mechanical side down a bit better than i do as you can see haha

[YHSublime]

Check out my office nano build, it's 6 gallons.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mogurnda]

we just plan on doing softies nothing too fancy maybe a zoa garden 

Sounds like a good plan.  If you will be away, and don't plan on a reactor, then SPS would be more hassle than it's worth.  You might consider some of the prettier macroalgae as well, like Botryocladia.  Add a little variety and soak up a small amount of nutrients. My personal favorites for tanks that size are the little elacatinus gobies.  I wish ORA would start breeding greenbanded gobies again, but you can easily get them wild caught.

 

A little mantis would also be very cool.  A smasher, like N. wennerae, would be fun to watch and leave the corals alone.  Snails and other inverts would not be safe, though.

[SunWyrm]

For the 4 weeks alone thing.. Set up a webcam on a computer with skype on it or something similar where you can at least check on it while you're gone. Does the power/AC/heat go out during that time?

In this same thought, I'd stick to a super hardy fish like a damsel. By themselves they can be really interactive and friendly. 

I have coral stocking like you were mentioning in my 8g at work. 

[Korkey101]

Awesome tank! I didnt know you can keep clams in such a small tank.

 

I have been leaning towards a randall goby/shrimp pair personally. Though we probably wont decide until we actually buy whatever we get.

 

Will do for the camera to monitor the tank, i dont know about the power/ac/heat go out, we will be heading to school in florida getting too cold shouldnt be an issue for us

[YHSublime]

Awesome tank! I didnt know you can keep clams in such a small tank.

I have had a 50% success rate. Clam will be moving soon, soaking up to much calcium.

[Korkey101]

Ah alright gonna pass on the clam then

[Zslaugh]

Just set up my first reef tank in my dorm. 10 gallon rimless, Aquaclear 20 HOB, Hydor 240 power head, 32 watts led lighting, 11 lbs live rock, 10lb fuji pink live sand, RODI water on dripper for top off, 50 watt heater. Right now I have one three striped damsel but am planning on a fuzzy dwarf lion fish. Few frags; acan, zoa, kenya tree, and grape coral. Super happy so far