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Starting a Nano tank!

post #1 of 54
10/16/11 at 1:19pm
Thread Starter 

Hey everyone, i just joined this forum today! so i've had freshwater tanks and brackish but never a saltwater one! i know everyone says it is not recommended to have a small saltwater tank for a first timer but space is an issue and im always up for a challenge id like to use an 8 gallon biocube and just have some small shrimp like sexy shrimp or blood red or maybe skunk cleaners im also wondering if its possible to have corals? how long does it need to cycle? now i basically need to know everything that im going to need. note my username haha so i realize i need the tank and heater... but what kind of filtration will i need? i understand i need liverock and live sand but how much of each? will i need supplements? i understand i will need water changes atleast once every 2 weeks and i understand i must top off the tank with freshwater ever couple days so that salinity doesn't go crazy! if anyone has an 8 or 10 gallon could you recommend the equipment ill need? thanks a lot guys! 

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post #2 of 54
10/16/11 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

Hey everyone, i just joined this forum today! so i've had freshwater tanks and brackish but never a saltwater one! i know everyone says it is not recommended to have a small saltwater tank for a first timer but space is an issue and im always up for a challenge id like to use an 8 gallon biocube and just have some small shrimp like sexy shrimp or blood red or maybe skunk cleaners im also wondering if its possible to have corals? how long does it need to cycle? now i basically need to know everything that im going to need. note my username haha so i realize i need the tank and heater... but what kind of filtration will i need? i understand i need liverock and live sand but how much of each? will i need supplements? i understand i will need water changes atleast once every 2 weeks and i understand i must top off the tank with freshwater ever couple days so that salinity doesn't go crazy! if anyone has an 8 or 10 gallon could you recommend the equipment ill need? thanks a lot guys! 



Welcome to the site...smallest I ever attempted was 30g...before the year was done, I went to a 56g

 

Half the tank in rock..1 to 2 inch aragonite dry or live sand. if you want coral...you need a bright light try T5HO or LEDs.

Macroalgae and snails for the CUC..8g is smaller than my refugium. Beyond what I've mentioned..I'm lost.

 

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post #3 of 54
10/16/11 at 7:24pm
Thread Starter 

thanks for your help flower so is it better if i use live sand or is there really no difference when it comes to the biological benefit between the two? should i use about 12lbs of live rock aswell? i've read many articles of people starting nano tanks and have them be successful and considering i only want to put shrimp in it i imagine that the bio load wont be to hefty.. do you have any idea of what kind of corals i could put in such a small tank? im not so concerned about having corals im just curious more than anything, and im really writing this reply as more questions to anyone who is willing to offer their opinion not just you so don't feel bad if your unsure haha i appreciate the advice you gave! what type of filter will i need? and what are these bio wheels? do i need a protein skimmer for such a small tank?

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post #4 of 54
10/16/11 at 7:31pm



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

thanks for your help flower so is it better if i use live sand or is there really no difference when it comes to the biological benefit between the two? should i use about 12lbs of live rock aswell? i've read many articles of people starting nano tanks and have them be successful and considering i only want to put shrimp in it i imagine that the bio load wont be to hefty.. do you have any idea of what kind of corals i could put in such a small tank? im not so concerned about having corals im just curious more than anything, and im really writing this reply as more questions to anyone who is willing to offer their opinion not just you so don't feel bad if your unsure haha i appreciate the advice you gave! what type of filter will i need? and what are these bio wheels? do i need a protein skimmer for such a small tank?


Those are the areas I'm lost on...how tiny a skimmer or what kind of a filter...shrug.gif

 

I would use base rock and dry sand because there is no room for error, on bad hitchhiker and the tiny enviroment is doomed...even a single aptasia would be out of hand supper fast. The smallest I had was 30g and then I had a 30g sump making about 50g of water volume. They do make bio cubes with all that attached to it I think.

 

Oh and any coral frag would be fine, just when it gets too large, frag a piece to keep, and sell the larger piece.
 

 

 

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post #5 of 54
10/16/11 at 8:18pm

Hi! Welcome to the site! I love nano tanks... can't wait to see this come together. Feel free to ask any questions, we are more than happy to answer them.

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post #6 of 54
10/17/11 at 6:25am
Thread Starter 

yes i have heard of this aphasia, still not 100% sure what it is but reading through many articles i have seen it mentioned multiple times however i did see that there are certain species of shrimp that actually eat it.. does the biocube come equipped to be a saltwater? i thought they were maybe freshwater however i have no idea... and thanks Travelerjp98 pretty much everything written is open questions so if you have an idea on any of them let me know!

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post #7 of 54
10/17/11 at 7:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

yes i have heard of this aphasia, still not 100% sure what it is but reading through many articles i have seen it mentioned multiple times however i did see that there are certain species of shrimp that actually eat it.. does the biocube come equipped to be a saltwater? i thought they were maybe freshwater however i have no idea... and thanks Travelerjp98 pretty much everything written is open questions so if you have an idea on any of them let me know!


Hi,

 

Aptasia is a little stinging anemone that hitchhikes on your rocks...they slip into the rock so fast you can't get them out...they spread fast and sting coral...peppermint shrimp will eat the little ones but you need aptasiaX or Joes juice to kill the large ones.  In 8g of water you would have mere days to correct the problem before it would be killing every coral, there is just no space so a few would do much damage.
 

 

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post #8 of 54
10/17/11 at 11:24am
Thread Starter 

Thank you for clearing that up for me! Now it being so small would those products make the tank toxic to my livestock? And what are the odds of getting aptasia from my live rock? Is there less of a chance depending on the quality of live rock?

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post #9 of 54
10/17/11 at 11:33am



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

Thank you for clearing that up for me! Now it being so small would those products make the tank toxic to my livestock? And what are the odds of getting aptasia from my live rock? Is there less of a chance depending on the quality of live rock?


Nope...they even appear on dry rock, maybe for examole because a coral has a spore in the water it was shipped in. Aptasia shows up every where, you just have to zap them with Joes juice ASAP and don't disturb them...they release spores. Peppermints do disturb them when they eat them, but the spores make more for them to harvest as food.

 

Joes juice and aptasiaX are only toxic to anemones as far as I know....
 

 

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post #10 of 54
10/17/11 at 12:12pm
You can also use "mrs. Wages pickling lime" aka calcium hydroxide. You can find it in the canning section of walmart, ace hardware, etc. Mix it into a liquidy paste and use a syringe applicator (without the needle). Turn off all you're flow (or even better remove the rock into a bowl/bucket) and inject the paste on the mouth -it will retreat into it's hole -fill the hole and otter area and let it set. That usually will kill it. This can slightly raise your PH sonic possible do it outside you're display tank. I did this myself 2 days ago; and they're gone :)
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post #11 of 54
10/17/11 at 12:34pm
Thread Starter 

okay so i have read about this joe's juice stuff in many articles online and it seems to be a good product considering every review says it works amazingly haha so im wondering if i should buy this before i even begin to cycle the tank just in case... but im still wondering what the chance of getting aptasia is... and does anyone know what type filtration i will need?

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post #12 of 54
10/17/11 at 2:01pm
Thread Starter 

nevermind i have been told by my LFS that im more than likely going to get an aiptasia with my live rock... 

 

so i plan on getting an 8 gallon biocube which i am told has a very good filter included with the system 

obviously a good heater

still wondering if i need a protein skimmer..

10 lbs of live sand and 10-12lbs of live rock

still need to know how long i should cycle the tank before adding any shrimp

i plan to start with just peppermint shrimp in the tank as they can help with aiptasia if i do get a problem

i will also buy joes juice just in case

still not sure about the lighting but i am thinking the biocube comes with a pretty good lighting system but i will upgrade in the future if i do decide to get some corals!

 

let me know about anything else i will need!

 

also

how many peppermint shrimp in an 8 gal?

how many sexy shrimp can go in there once fully cycled?

can i have the 2 species in the tank at the same time or will there be aggression between the two?

 

i want to make this perfect as there really is no room for error in such a small tank!

Thanks to everyone for their quick replies i joined this forum yesterday and am so impressed already! 

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post #13 of 54
10/17/11 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

nevermind i have been told by my LFS that im more than likely going to get an aiptasia with my live rock... 

 

so i plan on getting an 8 gallon biocube which i am told has a very good filter included with the system 

obviously a good heater

still wondering if i need a protein skimmer..For a couple of shrimp and lr, I doubt that you'll need one.

10 lbs of live sand and 10-12lbs of live rock Good.

still need to know how long i should cycle the tank before adding any shrimp You can't put a time on cycling... take a look at this thread: http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/386044/lets-talk-about-cycling

i plan to start with just peppermint shrimp in the tank as they can help with aiptasia if i do get a problem

i will also buy joes juice just in case Good idea

still not sure about the lighting but i am thinking the biocube comes with a pretty good lighting system but i will upgrade in the future if i do decide to get some corals!

If you get corals, that would be awesome.

let me know about anything else i will need!

TEST KITS!

 

also

how many peppermint shrimp in an 8 gal?

IMO, 4-6

how many sexy shrimp can go in there once fully cycled?

can i have the 2 species in the tank at the same time or will there be aggression between the two?

IMO, they should be fine.

No more than 6 shrimp in the tank imo, so like 3 sexy shrimp and 3 peppermint shrimp or some other combination.

 

i want to make this perfect as there really is no room for error in such a small tank!

Thanks to everyone for their quick replies i joined this forum yesterday and am so impressed already! 

This truly is a great forum!!!



 

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post #14 of 54
10/17/11 at 2:50pm

Quick reference article on P. Shrimp

http://www.fishlore.com/profile-peppermintshrimp.htm

 

Keep in mind that they can reach 2inches in size, sometimes nip coral, and sometimes fight with other species. Just like fish they all vary in temprement and personality.

If you are getting them primarily to rid Aiptasia, make sure they are Lysmata wurdemanni species. Other species look almost exactly the same, but will not touch the aiptasia.

 

The article provided by traveler is a great one - as mentioned, you can not put a time-frame on it. Best way is to give is as much time as possible and continually keep testing. When everything is 0's then you know the cycling in complete.

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post #15 of 54
10/17/11 at 5:06pm
Thread Starter 

alright sounds good i will definitely be getting test kits traveler, thanks for the link to the cycle information ill give that a good read right now and thanks for the link DB ill give that a read however i only plan on having the peppermint shrimp for a small about of time and they will not be living with any corals just the live rock and then when i am 100% certain that aiptasia is not in the tank then i will return the shrimp to my LFS as they are very good with returns. i will keep looking into the protein skimmer and now im wondering if i need this thing i've heard of called a bio wheel? im not exactly sure what type of filtration is in the biocube but i have been told by my LFS that it is more than enough to sustain the nano tank

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post #16 of 54
10/17/11 at 5:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

alright sounds good i will definitely be getting test kits traveler, thanks for the link to the cycle information ill give that a good read right now and thanks for the link DB ill give that a read however i only plan on having the peppermint shrimp for a small about of time and they will not be living with any corals just the live rock and then when i am 100% certain that aiptasia is not in the tank then i will return the shrimp to my LFS as they are very good with returns. i will keep looking into the protein skimmer and now im wondering if i need this thing i've heard of called a bio wheel? im not exactly sure what type of filtration is in the biocube but i have been told by my LFS that it is more than enough to sustain the nano tank



IMO; a bio-wheel is a nitrate factory.

 

"More than enough to sustain a nano tank" is nothing. Get all the details.

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post #17 of 54
10/17/11 at 5:26pm
Thread Starter 

oh alright good to know, i will make sure to get more details on the filtration and when i do i will post on here to get your opinions on it! also wondering what a refugium is, not saying im going to have one but im just curious...

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post #18 of 54
10/17/11 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 

oh im also wondering about iodine supplementation for the shrimp? is this a necessity?? 

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post #19 of 54
10/17/11 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

oh alright good to know, i will make sure to get more details on the filtration and when i do i will post on here to get your opinions on it! also wondering what a refugium is, not saying im going to have one but im just curious...


Yes, we will def. give our opinions!

 

 

A refugium is a small part of the tank that is not in the display tank, usually either in the sump or hanging on the back, that is a place where macro algae grows, usually in order to lower levels nitrates, phosphates, and the like. Wow- that sounds like a dictionary definition! I recently set up one.

 

OH- idea for your tank sparked from your question about refugiums- how about you keep macro algae in your display tank? I think that it would look cool. 

 

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post #20 of 54
10/17/11 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwaternoobie View Post

oh im also wondering about iodine supplementation for the shrimp? is this a necessity?? 



Shrimps need a little iodine to help develop proper or full molting but too much is harmful; but I don't know the exact levels. Hopefully someone else will answer that question.

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