Hey everyone! I'm an inexperienced reefer with a thing for nano tanks. My very first saltwater tank was a 5 gallon Marineland Portrait that I turned into a LPS reef tank. I dont find it worth posting because the scape is absolutely horrendous, not to mention that my coral growth has been basically nonexistent because of terrible ICPs (thanks caribsea hawaiian black) combined with several beginner mistakes and the god awful light that is the Fluval Evo Nano. Over time, I've lost interest most of my interest in tending to that tank as the scape is absolutely horrible and my corals just aren't growing, so I've decided that over the next few months I'll slowly move to a 10 gallon in order to make maintaining my reef easier, have a scape I genuinely enjoy, while also getting a fresh start on an absolutely amazing hobby.
In this 10 gallon, I plan on doing a mixed reef but with a heavy focus on LPS that have very vibrant/contrasting colorations. This trend will follow with the stock list. So far my stock list is a Red Rooster Waspfish (Paracentropogon zonatus) which I already have, and either a pair of Sharknose Cleaner Gobies or 1 Cleaner Sharknose Goby and 1 oddball goby such as a Hi-Fin Barber Shop Goby, plus the obvious clean up crew. As far as corals go, I'm wanting to keep JF TNT Anacropora, Red Montipora Setosa (my wife's coral, not mine), a walling hammer I bought from reefapalooza, assorted zoas, ECC War Hammer Acans or Ultra Rainbow Acans, ECC Dawn Awakens Favia, Antivenom Favities, possibly a Blue Duncan, and a bit of Gracilaria Hayi to help with nutrient export. This is all space permitting, of course. I'm trying to keep this budget friendly-ish while still having good results. I can't wait to see what becomes of my personal reef!
My equipment is as follows
- Imagitarium Versa 9.8 Gallon (19.6" Long X 9.8" Wide X 13.3" Deep but it's more like 9-10" deep including sand)
- 15lbs Caribsea Aragamax Oolitic Aragonite Sand and probably around 15lbs of Moani rock
- Pump Upgraded from a 310lph to a Sicce Syncra Nano (430lph), will probably add a Hygger mini wavemaker eventually
- NooPsyche k7 pro III, super overkill for a tank of this size but I'd rather have too strong of a light turned way down than a undersized/adequate light turned all the way up
- Aquael 75w Ultra Heater
(Pics were taken almost immediately after tank setup with the absolutely garbage light that Imagitarium included with this tank, which will be going straight into the spares pile as soon as my NooPsyche arrives.)
In this 10 gallon, I plan on doing a mixed reef but with a heavy focus on LPS that have very vibrant/contrasting colorations. This trend will follow with the stock list. So far my stock list is a Red Rooster Waspfish (Paracentropogon zonatus) which I already have, and either a pair of Sharknose Cleaner Gobies or 1 Cleaner Sharknose Goby and 1 oddball goby such as a Hi-Fin Barber Shop Goby, plus the obvious clean up crew. As far as corals go, I'm wanting to keep JF TNT Anacropora, Red Montipora Setosa (my wife's coral, not mine), a walling hammer I bought from reefapalooza, assorted zoas, ECC War Hammer Acans or Ultra Rainbow Acans, ECC Dawn Awakens Favia, Antivenom Favities, possibly a Blue Duncan, and a bit of Gracilaria Hayi to help with nutrient export. This is all space permitting, of course. I'm trying to keep this budget friendly-ish while still having good results. I can't wait to see what becomes of my personal reef!
My equipment is as follows
- Imagitarium Versa 9.8 Gallon (19.6" Long X 9.8" Wide X 13.3" Deep but it's more like 9-10" deep including sand)
- 15lbs Caribsea Aragamax Oolitic Aragonite Sand and probably around 15lbs of Moani rock
- Pump Upgraded from a 310lph to a Sicce Syncra Nano (430lph), will probably add a Hygger mini wavemaker eventually
- NooPsyche k7 pro III, super overkill for a tank of this size but I'd rather have too strong of a light turned way down than a undersized/adequate light turned all the way up
- Aquael 75w Ultra Heater
(Pics were taken almost immediately after tank setup with the absolutely garbage light that Imagitarium included with this tank, which will be going straight into the spares pile as soon as my NooPsyche arrives.)