Live rock ideal temp?

[tigershark]

Hi guys, going to get some live rock tomorrow, butworries that my water temp too high and kill the rock.... it maintain at 29deg cel and will my LR survive?my tank is fully cycled now and i'm thinking to get 4 KG first and after 2 weeks, when my tank get stable, i will get another 4 KG..... so anyone have any advise? btw, can anyone suggest me some coral which needs the minimum lightning ( using 2 set of 1.5' FL tube, total 30W w/ 8G tank) and also not sensetive to temp (able to survive at 30deg celcius)..... hope i'm not asking too much....

[Achilles Tang]

I haven't heard of anyone chilling water for liverock yet!

So it should be ok at that temp.

Corals which do not need strong lighting includes mushrooms, colt corals, leathers, sun corals and non-photosynthetic gorgonians or sea fans.

They find their nutrition by feeding... so you have to study and provide whatever their diet requires to maintain them.

8 Gallon tank? Wow... that's a nano!

I think whoever wants to setup a nano is either very brave or very foolhardy... heh!

The parameters are so unstable with so little room for error that it will take a lot of monitoring and immediate action or the tank will crash... temp, PH, dKH, pollution, calcium levels etc... best of luck!

[hongqixian]

I haven't heard of anyone chilling water for liverock yet!

So it should be ok at that temp.

Corals which do not need strong lighting includes mushrooms, colt corals, leathers, sun corals and non-photosynthetic gorgonians or sea fans.

They find their nutrition by feeding... so you have to study and provide whatever their diet requires to maintain them.

8 Gallon tank? Wow... that's a nano!

I think whoever wants to setup a nano is either very brave or very foolhardy... heh!

The parameters are so unstable with so little room for error that it will take a lot of monitoring and immediate action or the tank will crash... temp, PH, dKH, pollution, calcium levels etc... best of luck!

Stock the nano slowly(and i mean reaaally slowly) and don't rush to add lots of stuff. You definitely can only keep I tiny fish, maybe a shrimp goby(like the one in my tank avatar pic)

Sun corals and gorgonians both need a large amt of planktonic food which will pollute the tank. Also, how are you going to provide strong current for the gorgo in such a tiny tank???

Stick with mushrooms and soft corals. You can try a small amount of polyps and green star polyps as well. No anemones!

It's best if you have a bigger reef tank as well, then if you buy polyps/mushrooms you can take a few from the bigger tank. Putting a whole rock of mushrooms will severely mess up the display.

Aquamart has a glass tank about 1/2 the size of a 2ft tank. Stocked it with a clown and many corals.....Two weeks later it was dying.......Another 2 weeks later it became a Java Moss tank. It looked impressive at first though.

[tigershark]

actually 8 gallon is the water that i filled into my 2' tank.... caused i intented to get 8kg of LR latter on... plus 3" of my gravel...so only 8 gallon loh..... if you are referring to the tank capacity itself, at 80% full, it should be around 12gallon... i know it is very difficult to keep such a small nano tank but no choice lah.... ive spend too much on this hobby already (fresh water fish) now total spend $150++ not including the stuff like 4 pcs of DC fan, my tank, overhead pump, UGF and stand that i convert from my freshwater tank.... as for fan.... because i'm also a computer fanatics.... so i got quite a few under my bed....spare ones to cool my system last time when i overclock my CPU and graphic card

[chanbi]

There is a pretty good web-site for nano reef (that is where i pick up my reading when i first started on a 2' tank).

http://www.nano-reef.com

[newdamsel]

I'm also in the same situation as you, man~! 2ft tank/15gal of water only....However, I've spend more coz i dun even have a freshwater tank to startup with

But i do notice one major disadvantage of our nano tank let alone controlling water parameters.... unsightly equipment all over the tank.... imagine a protein skimmer, a power head, the dc fans and the lights~!! I havent even got the filter yet~!! Really a mess man....

After my exams, I'm gonna have another 2ft tank to act as a sump below this current one to (i) double the water volume (ii) Act as filter (mechanical, biological) (iii) place all the unsightly equipment esp protein skimmer in it.

However, I'm still thinking of how to draw water into the sump and returning it back in a foolproof manner....

[hongqixian]

Just a tip.... You may be tempted to try identical dual powerheads to transfer the water but forget it.... It just doesn't work. Drilling is best and safest.

[fantom]

Actually, keeping a nano-reef can be quite successful. I have a 13-litre capacity tank sitting on my office desk for more than 4 months now. That's about 3.5 gallons.

Take a look at the pic that was taken about a month plus ago. The only real problem that I had was loses to the anemone - probably because of the small tank size.

[Morgan]

Hi fantom,

You have to feed your coral, especially the sun and the brain. Does not look too good from the pic. The porites also look bleached.

Maintaining the water quality in nano tank is not easy. I think only the very experience or those with lot of $$$ will try.

Pls don't get me wrong, I'm not out to flame you.

[hongqixian]

Actually, keeping a nano-reef can be quite successful. I have a 13-litre capacity tank sitting on my office desk for more than 4 months now. That's about 3.5 gallons.

Take a look at the pic that was taken about a month plus ago. The only real problem that I had was loses to the anemone - probably because of the small tank size.

13litres should be maybe 10 US G or Imperial gallons (i'm not sure).

Fantom, how are the corals at the moment ?(you said this pic was taken a month ago) Did the sponge die?

[fantom]

The sponge is still there, although it's not doing as well as the others, especially the anemone and the trumpet.

[newdamsel]

Just a tip.... You may be tempted to try identical dual powerheads to transfer the water but forget it.... It just doesn't work. Drilling is best and safest.

Boohoo... doesnt work??? why so? Issit that the inflow and outflow will be difficult to balance?

[newdamsel]

Actually, keeping a nano-reef can be quite successful. I have a 13-litre capacity tank sitting on my office desk for more than 4 months now. That's about 3.5 gallons.

Take a look at the pic that was taken about a month plus ago. The only real problem that I had was loses to the anemone - probably because of the small tank size.

It looks rather nice to me....

What are the lightings that you are using? No skimmers and filters?

[coelacanth]

Boohoo... doesnt work??? why so? Issit that the inflow and outflow will be difficult to balance?

identical powerhead does not work cos got gravity and other factors. soon u'll find ur sump overflowing.

driling is the best/cheapest way though not the only way. make use of natural force...they are free.

[Phang]

Hi fantom,

You have to feed your coral, especially the sun and the brain. Does not look too good from the pic. The porites also look bleached.

There's a topic on coral feeding for Sun corals... but what about the open brain??? What do you feed them with....

BTW, nano tanks are really hard to maintain... I guess if one is to be interested in Nanos... maybe try a fish only... and must be hardy fishes....

[fantom]

I'm using a 13W PL tube (Aqualux) - one side blue and the other white (9000K). I don't use a skimmer but I'm using a Ehein Liberty 150 filter. The Liberty provides the current as well as the filtering. I change about half the water every week.

Besides that that, there's no other equipment in the tank.

One thing good about placing the tank in the office is that the temperature is below normal room temperature. During weekends, it is at most at normal room temperature (the room is huge and so any fluctuation would be slow and not too large).

[newdamsel]

identical powerhead does not work cos got gravity and other factors. soon u'll find ur sump overflowing.

driling is the best/cheapest way though not the only way. make use of natural force...they are free.

Yup I've noticed that too... but guess gonna get a pump to take water to a higher collection point and from there to the sump instead of drilling my tiny tank. This way, whenever electricity is cut off, no water goes into and out of the tank.... Any comments??? Seems viable to me but the balancing of flow rate might be a tough part....

[hongqixian]

In your idea of taking water up and then back down you are still using 2 powerheads and it still has the same flaws. Why not put the sump on top of the tank? then in effect your tank is actually the sump.

[Phang]

Hi Newdamsel,

Maybe this might help.

http://www.nano-reef.com/denkigroove/

He placed his sump/refugium above the main tank...

Jus like what Hong says.....

[hongqixian]

Actually, come to think of it... that is a good idea! I never thought about it when I wanted a sump for my own tank.. ended up with a mess because I tried dual powerheads.... I'm very very bad at taking my own advice...

[newdamsel]

Actually, come to think of it... that is a good idea! I never thought about it when I wanted a sump for my own tank.. ended up with a mess because I tried dual powerheads.... I'm very very bad at taking my own advice...

I'm gonna try it after my exams a month later~!!

[Phang]

I just been down to a shop selling acrylics...

Was wondering if anyone out there would be interested in over the tank refugiums... made from acrylics (lightweight and can design to specs) ...

as part of their systems.....

[newdamsel]

I just been down to a shop selling acrylics...

Was wondering if anyone out there would be interested in over the tank refugiums... made from acrylics (lightweight and can design to specs) ...

as part of their systems.....

Where is the shop? I might need to make a water collection point slightly above tank, and a crude water top up box. How is the pricing like?

[hongqixian]

I would be interested in the refugium idea. How much would it cost to make a sump that can mount neatly on a 2ft 5 Plan Tank?

[Phang]

Hi guys,

refer to the thread on Acylics under the forum "Kopi Tiam...."

Achilles stated the address there...

seen a partially completed tank...nice craft work with proper joints..

However do note that acrylics scatched easily...

Hmmm.. maybe also doing a 1.5 ft cube to house sleeper gobies with mini overflow to my main sump/refugium....

Qixian,

Sam at Aljunied to customise small setups for customers... glass as thin as 4 mm could be used... check him out if you are interested in refugiums that could be mounted onto standard 2 ft tanks....