trying again

[tygerfifteen]

thanks in advance,
I'm starting up a nano again,
i currently have a heater, penguin 170 with a biowheel, and 2 28 watt 10,000/actinic pc's for a total of 56 watts over a 10 gallon.
2 and a half inch sand bed , argonite.
my questions are ,
1.-i want to add a fuge , say maybe a 10 or 20 gallon, so would that make my overall water capacity 20-30 gallons?
2.-5.6 watts is enough for (corals i want to transfer from my 77 gallon) three different kinds of mushrooms, colt, finger,yellow polyps, two diff green star polyps, 2 diff buutton polyps.
3- would it be bad to add them all at the same time?
4- how long should I wait if I use sand,rocks, water from my display(cycle time).
and
5.- would it be a waste of time to drill an overflow in the 10 gallon?
thankz

 

[overanalyzer]

1. Yes if you have a ten gallon and add a ten gallon refugium your total volume would be 20 gallons
2. I think your corals would do OK under that amount of PC light. How old are the bulbs?? Are they the right kelvin? How far will the corals be from the light source? Will there be anything blocking the light (like a glass plate). Ask yourself those questions ....
3. Yes I would not add a ton of corals to a brand new tank - why?? Because if you test your water but having something out of whack you could lose all those corals. I would add one and wait a week and see how it responds .... check water - does hte coral act fat and happy like it did in the main tank .... does it act that way after a week?? add the rest ... slowly - maybe one every other day .... make sure you don't have any conflicts of interest....
4. Depends ... follow your cycle and test - wait until trites and traits are 0 .... usually using existing stuff helps out on cyclke time but it usually does not cut it to 100% 0 time unless you use 100% recycle sand, rock and water .....
5. Depends again on your set-up.....if you are going to experiment and play and take the tank down after a while then it might not be the best investment .... if you are goingto make a serious effort @ keeping hte tank around for a while (and you have the cash/time/skills to get it done - then I'd do it!
Good luck!