Budget Pico/Nano tank, possible?

[Evolutionz]

Today marks the day my dream comes true... registered on SGreefclub on 2007 but only till now did i get a chance to set up my first ever marine tank.. though small but its a good start i guess!

preparing tank for set up.. using 5lbs of Caribsea live sand. and 4 KG of live rocks (bought from a reefer who very kindly chose out those with coraline algae for me, Thank you again if ur reading this!)

inital rock scape., Since its my first time, i had totally no idea how the rock should be placed.. i just try to make sure it flows through well..

After a few hours of cycling, water is almost crystal clear now.. the right bottom rock rests fully on the sand, is this ok? will it start trapping detritus?

More accurate light color.. not really that blue like the above picture.. the 6x3w (4 white 2 blue) beamswork LED light is really bright, creating those light rays.. beautiful.

Turns out the 1000l/hr dolphin HOB flowrate seems to be just nice to push the flow through the rocks and towards the back.. seems like a smooth flow overall.. or should i be aiming for a faster flow?

I've got a couple few more questions anyway..

1) i've got Seachem purigen and Rowaphos now, should i add them in my HOB now or wait till cycle finishes?

2) I read that coraline algaes needs light to grow.. how long should i on my light for now?

3) Should i do WC during cycling period? (intend to leave it to cycle for a month)

4) i got this Iwarna top-up water free from another reefer and the bottle states that it promotes growth of coraline algae, but it dosn't state the amount to dose for my 34L tank.. any idea?

Thanks in advance and apologies for all this questions.. and thanks to all those who have helped me extensively so far.. i appreciated it alot.

[darter]

Very Nice tank bro.

Im planning my new tank soon. Still deciding if i should get the OF34L or get a tank set from Vincent. Dont like the idea of using a sump so might just be going with LR and a skimmer. Do you think its enough?

[Evolutionz]

Very Nice tank bro.

Im planning my new tank soon. Still deciding if i should get the OF34L or get a tank set from Vincent. Dont like the idea of using a sump so might just be going with LR and a skimmer. Do you think its enough?

Thanks! personally i don't really like all-in-one tanks.. main issue is that im going budget.. those all in one tank are usually much more expensive.. (for this case the LF34L cost around $120 if im not wrong). Many have suggested that such small tanks do not require skimmer.. just do weekly water change (increase frequency of water change if bioload increase). for me i hope to use prodibio nano kit, rowaphos, purigen and goodbyepo4 to keep nitrate and po4 at the minimum..

Since my tank is inside my 422's cabinet, i do not have the space to have one more skimmer too.. Hope this helps!

[darter]

Cool.

Just wanted a tank to keep a pair of Clownfish and a pair of goby+shrimp. What would you suggest?

30cm Cube with no filter, just LR and a skimmer with regular water change

30cm cube with IOS?

[MarcoVan]

darter: I'll scrap the skimmer and go with a hob.

[darter]

Just order a 40cm Cube 8mm glass. Bare tank with no IOS. Rather have more real estate for a nice scape

Most people advise against the skimmer. Im trying to do away with a filter and use a skimmer with LR combo. Something like the bubble magus e3 looks good enough?

[Evolutionz]

good start bro.. bubble magus makes great skimmer. its true such small tank with constant regular water change is better than having a skimmer.. but have to be hard working in keeping up the water change.. for me i intend to do 1.5L (5%) every 3 days. since i have another 1ft cube hidden inside the cabinet that can hold freshly mixed seawater.

[Evolutionz]

[azlindaza]

Lovely..great start..

[Evolutionz]

thanks azlindaza.. saw ur tank, very cute clowns! i cant wait to get a pair of clowns for this tank..

[darter]

Thanks bro. Was worried that running withoit a filter, the least i need is a skimmer to skim the bad things away.

Is it ok for a 40cm cube tank with just a pair of clowns do without a mechanical filtration?

[illumnae]

Wah bro your latest scape quite "phallic" leh, if you get what I mean. Not going to be easy to place corals on the "spike" too. Usually reef scaping I see focuses on having platforms to place corals rather than the freshwater style of having rocks/wood "make a statement".

[illumnae]

Btw I'm not sure if there are still any available, but consider a pair of blackfoot clowns from iwarna as your clown pair. They're from the skunk clown family so are rather hardy and they're really cute. I went to iwarna intending to get snowflake clowns or normal perculas, ended up with 2 pairs of blackfoot clowns instead (1 pair for 3ft, 1 pair for nano). Both pairs are doing well!

[Evolutionz]

Thanks bro. Was worried that running withoit a filter, the least i need is a skimmer to skim the bad things away.

Is it ok for a 40cm cube tank with just a pair of clowns do without a mechanical filtration?

u can choose to have either a skimmer, without a filter. vice versa or better still, both.. if spaces and budget allows i would've gone for both.

with my very limited knowledge (its my first tank anyway) i believe u can house more than a pair of clowns in ur tank.. i intend to get 3 or 4 fishes.. if i were to go for 4 i'll need to do more WC..

Wah bro your latest scape quite "phallic" leh, if you get what I mean. Not going to be easy to place corals on the "spike" too. Usually reef scaping I see focuses on having platforms to place corals rather than the freshwater style of having rocks/wood "make a statement".

The tonga branch very nice but dunno how i should place it leh! probably gonna need to play around with it more.. im thinking of getting epoxy glue to glue frags onto those rocks to secure them.. too used to freshwater scaping liao

Btw I'm not sure if there are still any available, but consider a pair of blackfoot clowns from iwarna as your clown pair. They're from the skunk clown family so are rather hardy and they're really cute. I went to iwarna intending to get snowflake clowns or normal perculas, ended up with 2 pairs of blackfoot clowns instead (1 pair for 3ft, 1 pair for nano). Both pairs are doing well!

still prefer the usual normal perculas leh.. but anyway don't want to look at livestocks now.. if not buey tahan will want to buy one

[Marine_fanaticz]

Cool.

Just wanted a tank to keep a pair of Clownfish and a pair of goby+shrimp. What would you suggest?

30cm Cube with no filter, just LR and a skimmer with regular water change

30cm cube with IOS?

Maybe better to get a hob fuge like aquaclear or smth, can grow chaetos and got space for carbon gfo ect....

[darter]

What is the biggest HOB filter for40cm cube tank?

Or i should custom make a 40x50x40cm cube with the extra 10am at the back for ios. Enough space for a ios?

[Evolutionz]

if u got space for IOS, go for IOS better. can even fit a BM QQ inside. biggest HOB i saw is my dolphin H-800 at 1000l/hr..

[darter]

Anyone with a Bm QQ knows the footprint space i need in my IOS? Also considering the BM e3.

[illumnae]

From the Bubble Magus website, the dimensions of the QQ are: 140*95*395mm. You can fit the entire QQ inside 1 compartment if you custom the tank. Just purchase the QQ beforehand and pass it to your tank maker with instructions that it has to fit inside the IOS. Alternatively, you can use the e3 like me, hanging it on the back of the tank.

[darter]

Thanks alot bro. If i not wrong, u stay near bukit merah area?

[Evolutionz]

Anyway i got this idea... i bought a inlet sponge (those that protect freshwater shrimplets from being sucked into the filter inlet) that will remove any debris and large particle stuff, and took out the cartridge in my filter.. So since i'll be getting dymax IQ skimmer to try out (will change to sanders 2 airwood) im thinking of putting it inside my filter.. will this work? meaning the skimmer is sitting in a pool of faster moving water witho nly around 15cm height.. will it be able to skim? if not have to put inside tank already..

[Marine_fanaticz]

hmm I've used the dymax iq skimmer before and change to sanders2 woodblock... still not efficient leh.. very rarely get to skim anything out.

[Evolutionz]

hmm I've used the dymax iq skimmer before and change to sanders2 woodblock... still not efficient leh.. very rarely get to skim anything out.

even when ur tank's overstock?

[Marine_fanaticz]

even when ur tank's overstock?

yeap.. I had 2 clowns in a 34l nano and feed them daily.. I could tell nitrates were very high because of algae problems but still no brown skimmate... just pale yellowish water.

however it can help if there's been a disaster haha my maid overfed the tank while I was away and when I got back to sg there was a whole cup of kopi haha.. But if you're thinking of using it as a day to day filtration not so efficient

[Evolutionz]

Thanks for ur reply bro. guess i'll go without the skimmer and work harder for more WC..