Nano tank

[ArrowNaughtic]

Hello to all!
I am a new to reef aquariums but have had a couple of freshwater setups over the years. I am currently starting a small (10G) salt aquarium and just got my water starting to cycle. I bought seawater from Petco and also some live sand. Little did I know dumping sand into a small amount of water would create a "sandstorm" that lasts for days......... My water is finally clearing up and will be adding liverock next. I am hoping that goes a little smoother than the just add water and sand scenario went.
I have no lighting right now so I want to build a led setup into my existing hood in the future. So for the time being that means no corals until I can get that figured out. That being said I don't have much more to add except I am looking forward to ideas and suggestions along the way.
Wish me luck!

 

[NanaReefer]

Hi Arrow! Welcome to RF! Looking forward to seeing some pics. Good luck and happy reefing!

 

[IPisces]

Welcome to RF. Yes looking forward to pics. What have you got going so far? Have you researched fish and coral? decided on what you would like to do with the tank?

 

[ArrowNaughtic]

So far, I am still fighting ........... um experiencing, sand storm issues. I waited until the water cleared, then tried smoothing my sand out a little to get rid of some of the larger ripples in the sand. Not my best move........ i am back to waiting for the water to clear again
I am still just running water thru my old freshwater filter, is all I have for right now. I was wanting to try the simple route and not have to add powerheads, skimmer and the such, but now I am unsure what direction to take. No pic as I am sure everyone knows what a cloudy tank looks like. the one thing I have not tried is adding a carbon filter yet, i am still running thru just a bio filter. does anyone think the activated carbon would hel clear my water up?

 

[1guydude]

Hi arrownaughtic and welcome!
So ur running just sponge? U can use carbon in the filter...I'd recommend a powerhead...u can do water changes with a cup and 5g bucket. Make sure to mix the sw for wc overnight or so.
I had a 10g that upgraded to a 20L very shortly...Kool lil tank though, have fun! My light was a par38 on a shelf above it.
D

 

[NanaReefer]

Switch the bio filter sponge for some polly filter floss. Catches more, much smaller particles, is cheap so tossing it within a few days is no biggy.

 

[Ichthys]

Welcome to RF. My experience with smaller tanks is that they are 100 times more work and more fiddling due to having the smaller water volume. Tolerances are reduced, small changes are magnified. They are fun and neat, but require a.lot of work.

 

[IPisces]

Water changes are a lot easier in small tanks and if you keep up on them, and dont overload your biofiltration it will be a great tank. I agree you are going to want a small powerhead to keep water moving. it helps keep things from settling and causing cyano bacteria blooms or other algae problems. and the filters they are suggesting to help get the sand residue out will help.

 

[ArrowNaughtic]

Ok, so this is going to be a FOWLR tank so am waiting for the tank to cycle. It pretty much has so just added new dead rock last nite and will be taking a water sample to the LFS to have them check for ammonia and make sure my nitrite level is actually at zero. added the live rock last weekend and have seen some snails and a long red worm thingy moving around on the glass and in the sand.
Will add some pics if I can figure it out.

 

[ArrowNaughtic]

Also will stop by today and get some poly filter floss........... great idea. Did a water change last nite and will be taking a sample to sierra today, they are closest to my current job site and it has a McD's right there. Healthy eating!

 

[NanaReefer]

Most of us feed our fish better then ourselves-lol. Make sure the floss is NOT of the flame retardant type, it'll say on the bag. As was mentioned, you can also run carbon. What I do is sandwich some carbon between two pieces of floss