Doing The Full Monti

[diki88]

I'm starting a 2ft nano. Tank was bought from Ng couple, IOS with no equipment. There was some issue at the shop as even aunty couldn't find a pipe for the outlet for the ios. With a little burning using a lighter, this was solved. So the following is the eqpt list :

Tank : 62cmx32cmx38cm inclusive of side IOS. 75 liters for the tank but after taking into account IOS and water level about 70L.

Lights : Maxspect Razor 120w 10k

Wavemaker : WP-10

Return : Eheim Compact 1000 feed to chiller as well.

Chiller : Hailea 150A

Biohome Plus & Chemipure Elite for IOS compartment

I was told by a senior experience reefer, a legend in my eyes, that he gave me 2 months before I turn this nano into a fowlr as well. So this tank is dedicated to him while he looks at his VFR swim left and right. Another greater legend wants me to keep cichlid, exotic ones from Lake Malawi and Victoria but I left freshwater long ago. My hands are too sticky from saltwater(not because of something else lol ).

So the idea for this tank is to keep things simple. Water change 20% weekly. No dosing anything until my water changes cannot keep up with corals consumption. Then maybe dose 2 part. But that's for the future. And sidestep to the title of this thread, I want to fill the whole tank with montis, predominantly digis and caps. And maybe a Duncan coral.

So moving on to a few things that made me think hard about :

1) Skimmer or no skimmer

While no doubt that having a skimmer would be beneficial especially when it comes to dosing a carbon source, I decided to keep it hassle free by not utilizing it considering the small water volume. I decided not to have it as well to keep my display as clutter free as possible.

2) Canister Filter, Sump or IOS.

This was the initial headache. Although a sump is the best option I wanted something simple and relatively friendly on the pocket. After sourcing out for quotes for a full set up by our sponsors here plus CR, I decided to go canister filter as it was simply the filter + chiller then my tank and the quotes were a little too expensive for my blood. Ordered lily pipes from eBay and was ready to set it up when I went to Ng couple shop and on a whim, decided IOS is better middle ground. So now I have lily pipes being shipped to me and I have no use for it

3) BB or Sand

I always had sand in tanks but I never cleaned them. I don't know why but Im always surprised by the amount of crap the sand churns out whenever I remove the sand to decomm although its expected being the lazy crap that I am. So this time round, I'm going BB for the ease of cleaning and better flow.

4) Fishes

Going nano I know there's a limited number of fishes I can buy and keep due to size, compatibility and ultimately nutrient issues in the water due to the small size. I'm not going to cover my top and I don't have sand and the sad thing is, the nano fishes I like need sand or are known jumpers. So the following is my list, of which I will choose one.

• Clownfish pair
• Orchid/Sankeyi harem
• Blotchy Anthias pair
• Apogon Parvulus shoal

First two option is readily available, blotchys are seasonal and apogon parvulus I randomly see them at Ah Beng. Having kept them before, they are easy to get feeding on cyclopeeze but difficult to sustain them long term. So we will see what I will get.

Alright that's it. When I can, I'll post pics soon of the stuffs and comparisons between some equipment n hopefully an initial FTS.

Cheers guys.

[tofubox]

Camping here for the pictures! Glad to see another 2ft IOS nano sps orientated! I chose bare bottom mainly because i wanted more flow in my 2ft tank. Using a wp25 due to unavailability of wp10 back than. Initially using only 50% power, right now, its actually at full speed 100% at W1 mode, not sure is it because the flow rate dropped after some time. Either way, I am happy with the flow now and glad i don't have a sand storm. Keep us updated!

Blotchy antias pair might be quite a challenge for a 2ft tank.

[diki88]

Why do u say it will be a challenge bro?

[diki88]

Pick in the attached thumbnail shows the size of WP-10 compared to WP 25 with a cigarette box for reference.

Oh I forgot to add in the first post regarding headaches, Distilled vs RO/DI. I have ordered 5 cartons of distilled from NTUC for delivery and see if I can tahan the troublesomeness of using distilled water. If not I would get a ro/di unit.

[tofubox]

Did some reading on the blotchy anthias before, had the same plan to keep 2 in a 2ft tank.

Firstly its the feeding, they will require multiple feeding throughout the day. Won't be an issue if u can handle the nitrates in an sps dominated tank. And most imported blotchy will require some time to train on pellets.

Semi aggressive, will require two of the same sized if to be kept together. Or will result in big one becoming a bully

Requires slightly colder temp since its a deep sea fish. Some have issues with swim bladder, so picking a healthy one from the start is the key.

Can grow fast with multiple daily feeding and grow to about 6inch. Recommanded tank size for this fish is 125 gallon.

I guess u can still give it a go bro, just pick a small and healthy specimen that should at least be feeding on frozen initially.

[diki88]

Did some reading on the blotchy anthias before, had the same plan to keep 2 in a 2ft tank. Firstly its the feeding, they will require multiple feeding throughout the day. Won't be an issue if u can handle the nitrates in an sps dominated tank. And most imported blotchy will require some time to train on pellets. Semi aggressive, will require two of the same sized if to be kept together. Or will result in big one becoming a bully Requires slightly colder temp since its a deep sea fish. Some have issues with swim bladder, so picking a healthy one from the start is the key. Can grow fast with multiple daily feeding and grow to about 6inch. Recommanded tank size for this fish is 125 gallon. I guess u can still give it a go bro, just pick a small and healthy specimen that should at least be feeding on frozen initially.

Hmm thanks for the heads up bro. I read about them as well awhile back but you refreshed my memory about their size potential and possibility of decomp issues. Think ill pass on the blotchy. I think im leaning towards a shoal of cardinals although the most common ones we can find at lfs is bangaii and pyajamas; both do better as pairs. Gona be on a lookout for blue eyes or parvuluses.

[[V]tEc]

Bro can i give some noob advise? Given the small vol, u should add auto top up to your list of equipment.

[diki88]

tEc" post="1171507" timestamp="1397488275"]Bro can i give some noob advise? Given the small vol, u should add auto top up to your list of equipment.

Of course u can bro. Even noobs give expert advice so that means expert also can give noob advice. Ill find an ato for this tank. In the meantime, got to manual top up since my mechanical top up too big to hang at ios.

[Firestarter]

tEc" post="1171507" timestamp="1397488275"]Bro can i give some noob advise? Given the small vol, u should add auto top up to your list of equipment.

The legend has spoken!!!!

[[V]tEc]

Of course u can bro. Even noobs give expert advice so that means expert also can give noob advice. Ill find an ato for this tank. In the meantime, got to manual top up since my mechanical top up too big to hang at ios.

U can actually diy with gravity feed if u like diy. Only issue is u need to top up the reservoir maybe once every 2 or 3 days. I can show u my idea this weekend when u come over. Remind me to show u

[[V]tEc]

The legend has spoken!!!!

Dont make fun of me bro. I am truthly a noob when it come to sps. But water management i still can give some noob advise.

[Firestarter]

tEc" post="1171543" timestamp="1397496563"]Dont make fun of me bro. I am truthly a noob when it come to sps. But water management i still can give some noob advise.

Haha not making fun at all. You are one of the few pioneers left around. Of course you can continue to give noob advise. I'm also a noob too.

[hanafi_weeseng]

Dont make fun of me bro. I am truthly a noob when it come to sps. But water management i still can give some noob advise.

Agree with bro firestarter, watch your former flowr tank video before really solid no horse run. Need senior reefer like u to give good advice. Btw nice talking to u last friday at tfc.

[[V]tEc]

Agree with bro firestarter, watch your former flowr tank video before really solid no horse run. Need senior reefer like u to give good advice. Btw nice talking to u last friday at tfc.

Thanks for your kind words. There are alot of hidden dragons ard. They dont like to post or give advise. Those are the real masters.

[diki88]

Just checked basic cycling parameters :

Ammonia : 0.25

Nitrite : 0

Nitrate : 30

Btw here's a quickly taken FTS,

[diki88]

2 of inspiration tank from nano reef. But end up I failed badly lol. I realised in a nano two different sized rocks and lots of negative space helps in making a nano look bigger.

[Wolfyie]

U can actually diy with gravity feed if u like diy. Only issue is u need to top up the reservoir maybe once every 2 or 3 days. I can show u my idea this weekend when u come over. Remind me to show u

Is this the bottle set up? I saw a video on that. How is the set up of the one u are saying?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Firestarter]

2 of inspiration tank from nano reef. But end up I failed badly lol. I realised in a nano two different sized rocks and lots of negative space helps in making a nano look bigger. http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=211871'>fulltankshot.jpghttp://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=211872'>featuredreef.jpg

Any links to the first tank pic? Wanna go take a look at that tank thtead.

[diki88]

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/274805-marchs-15g-taking-the-tank-down/

Canister filter, no dosing.

[tofubox]

Bro, how can consider fail, when u havent even put anything in. Just rescape la. Haha

[diki88]

Bro, how can consider fail, when u havent even put anything in. Just rescape la. Haha

I made the mistake of buying big rocks. Chasing coralline covered rocks but forget my tank available space is less than 2ft lol.

[diki88]

U can actually diy with gravity feed if u like diy. Only issue is u need to top up the reservoir maybe once every 2 or 3 days. I can show u my idea this weekend when u come over. Remind me to show u

Bro I cannot sleep so I made this simple diy top off. Isit something u had in mind?

Short end is at water level, long end goes to the bottom of the return compartment, submerged. Tested it at the sink but results like erratic leh.

[Firestarter]

I don't have much success with gravity top up cause sometimes the water doesn't flow and gets stuck...I use the drip method instead.

[diki88]

I don't have much success with gravity top up cause sometimes the water doesn't flow and gets stuck...I use the drip method instead.

Eh why does that happen leh bro?

[diki88]

On another note, my ntuc water come le.