15g Nano that turned into a 20g!

[Sharbuckle]

Okay, so this is my attempt at a 15 gallon nano reef tank! so far this is what i have

15 gallon tank
15 lbs of live sand from carib sea
two aquaclear powerheads
Aquaclear 70 (modded for fuge)
and 2 24" bulbs (1 actinic) still need a lighting fixture!!
and salt of course

So my first questions are:
can i set up my tank without the lighting (with the live sand and salt water)?
will it kill me to use tap water?
          and
can somebody sell me some live rock for cheap and also looking for a 24" light fixture

looking forward to the end result, and would love some help

[sdivell]

You can certainly set up your tank, sand, mixed salt water and live rock without light and let it start to cycle.  As long as you don't have any light dependent corals in the tank you don't need any lighting on it.

As for the tap water I would certainly recommend using RO/DI water as most of us salties use.  BUT there are a few members on here who have clean enough tap water to use in their tanks without any major algae problems.  The most common problem with tap water is phosphates which algae loves.

What kind of 24" bulbs did you purchase? T5? T8? PC?
In the meantime I would suggest doing lots and lots of reading.

[KLKelly]

I made the mistake of leaving lights on when I had just rocks and sand in there.  BAD MISTAKE - lotsa algae!  The tank just looked so pretty empty darnit.  Lights off until you know you are cycled and ready to add life.

[Sharbuckle]

this is my AC70 that i modded for fuge, gonna put some live rock rubble and some cheato in it

also a picture of the set up, wasnt sure how i should set-up the powerheads? because i have the AC dumping water in the middle, any ideas?

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[sdivell]

I have my 2 powerheads in the 2 back corners pointing towards each other and towards the middle where the ac dumps in.  its creates a lot of flow there but then sends flow all over the tank from there... seems to be working for me with the way my rock work is.... you'll have to play with it and figure out the best set up for your tank.

[Sharbuckle]

Well folks, i now have a makeshift DIY hood and lighting on the tank which is only going to be temporary, im going to be building a DIY T5HO fixture in a few weeks, once the tank has finished cycling. Thanks to Pat(sniggir) for picking up some live rock for me from redbelly (thanks to you as well). i got 10 pounds to start off with and will probably throw another 5 lbs later on. cant wait to see some life in there, when should i get a clean up crew? and what should it consist of? any pointers and suggestions will be much much much appreciated.

Also some pictures of the tank, one b4 the rock was put in, and a few with the rock in, i dont have the best camera but they turned out okay

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[sniggir]

for your cleaning crew wait about a week or 2 so things can stablize, then add like 6 herit crabs, 6 asrtia, a skarlet, and 6 cerith snails that should be a good beguining

[KLKelly]

Just a word of advice... I left the lights on our tank before it had anything in it and it wasn't such a good idea   Maybe someone else can confirm.

Do you mean to put a single scarlet hermit in with six blue legs? Or is something else called a scarlet.

If it was a scarlet hermit - from what I read I wouldn't do that : (
I went with just scarlets - I love them.  I had read a number of posts at the time I was setting up my tank about the opportunistic/aggressiveness of blue legs.  Reading on the scarlets and getting advice from the stores I was told that Scarlets were fairly docile - but a bit more expensive than blue legs.  No bully blue legs for me.

[groupie02]

I have a bunch of snails and hermits. For hermits, I have both blue legs and scarlet. They're all pretty good. I believe that all hermits will become bully if they have nothing else to do . Just keep them busy with stuff to clean up.

Seriously, all types of hermits will appear to be fighting one another at some time. They will even pick at snails if given a chance. Leave some empty shells for the hermits to use. That way they won't have to kill your snails to get new homes.

[sdivell]

yes definitely leave the lights off while the tank cycles.  It'll help avoid algae problems.

Wait until your tank cycles before adding a clean up crew.  I have halloween leg hermits, and some blue legs..the blue leg ones will kill snails for new shells if there isnt enough empty ones in the tank.  i have an assortment of snails as well.

[Sharbuckle]

looking at my rock today i noticed that some of it looks like it has sort of a white mould on it, dont have a camera right now, but thats the best i can describe it.
its on the bottom of a large rock and the top of a smaller rock?

[sdivell]

probably just a sponge

[groupie02]

looking at my rock today i noticed that some of it looks like it has sort of a white mould on it, dont have a camera right now, but thats the best i can describe it.
its on the bottom of a large rock and the top of a smaller rock?

hehehe I suspect that you will soon find lots of interesting things on your rocks. Don't worry, we all do that when there's nothing else to look at in the tank. Even when the clean up crew gets introduced, we look at the live rock and discover new stuff all the time.

welcome to the hobby

P.S. don't worry about the white mold on your rock. It's most likely old coraline algae that got exposed to air.

[Sharbuckle]

Well... its been ages since ive updated this one, so i figured i would update it

Let's see... new lighting, using 4x24w t5HO
More live rock is added
Frags = Red mushroom, Green star polyps, small zoanthid frag, pulsing xenia, some random polyps,hammer coral, also some encrusting gorgonia
More clean up crew including 2 Orange turbos from redbelly
2 tomato clowns
1 royal gramma
1 skunk cleaner shrimp

gonna go take some pics and post them within the hour

thanks for lookin

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[Sharbuckle]

well my tank is now well over a year old, i recently moved it all over into a 20g tank, i also have a 70w halide on the tank now with 2x24w t5ho for actinics, a few new coral additions

have a look

(pics taken with a webcam, i have some on a digital just cant find my adapter cord)

enjoy

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[Hookup]

congrats on passing the 1year mark!

[Sharbuckle]

thanks

[Vincenzo.]

ya nice tank and nice color.

[Sharbuckle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4yRrWoF85g

crappy cell phone video of my tank

check it out

[mikerobart]

lookin' good