Chrismo
October 4th, 2002, 01:14 PM
someone asked me for some Nano hints for his 7g bowfront. I'm no expert but IMO...
Nano Hints
•Get the best Live Rock you can. Probobly Indo-rock, with purple stuff
•Get test kits. Amonia, Nitrite, High Range-PH, Nitrate. (to begin with)
•Get Hardy Small Fish. but a Damsel will attack other fish. Royal Gamma or Neon Goby is very good. Clown is good too.
•small Hang-on skimmer like BakPac. (Use bio ball side as refugium)
•Get some macro algae like Caulurpia and trim it back as it grows.
•Some small snails, and a few hermit crabs.
•Dont get an anemone
•Put lights on Timer, and if you have a fan put it on too.
•Mini powerhead to help circulation
•30 percent water changes are easy every 2 weeks.
•Be twice as carefull ass if you had a nig tank
You will want lots of light, unless you only want to keep softies like feather dusters, mushrooms, button Polyps, 5 star polyps, leather coral and maybe some Xenia. (in that order) I think softies look great. especially Xenia so I'm not knocking a softy only tank– it's easier.
If you get sucked in and want some LPS (like a bubble coral), or SPS (like Montipora) , you'll need more light. and you'll have to start thinking about adding calcium to your tank, because LPS and SPS need calcium to grow their skeletons. Adding calcium can be a pain. People often do it by dosing kalkawasser. But that's a pain, so I recommend dosing with B-ionic. Bionic ads calcium, strontium, Iodine, and other things your critters need, and it also keeps your Alk high, which in turn will keep your PH constant. You'll hear some people will say B-ionic is too expensive, but thats because they have big tanks. You are only going to need a tenth what they do. A $30 bottle will last you a year, and even if you only have softies, it'll make them happier.
Read as much as you can!
Good luck,
Chris
Nano Hints
•Get the best Live Rock you can. Probobly Indo-rock, with purple stuff
•Get test kits. Amonia, Nitrite, High Range-PH, Nitrate. (to begin with)
•Get Hardy Small Fish. but a Damsel will attack other fish. Royal Gamma or Neon Goby is very good. Clown is good too.
•small Hang-on skimmer like BakPac. (Use bio ball side as refugium)
•Get some macro algae like Caulurpia and trim it back as it grows.
•Some small snails, and a few hermit crabs.
•Dont get an anemone
•Put lights on Timer, and if you have a fan put it on too.
•Mini powerhead to help circulation
•30 percent water changes are easy every 2 weeks.
•Be twice as carefull ass if you had a nig tank
You will want lots of light, unless you only want to keep softies like feather dusters, mushrooms, button Polyps, 5 star polyps, leather coral and maybe some Xenia. (in that order) I think softies look great. especially Xenia so I'm not knocking a softy only tank– it's easier.
If you get sucked in and want some LPS (like a bubble coral), or SPS (like Montipora) , you'll need more light. and you'll have to start thinking about adding calcium to your tank, because LPS and SPS need calcium to grow their skeletons. Adding calcium can be a pain. People often do it by dosing kalkawasser. But that's a pain, so I recommend dosing with B-ionic. Bionic ads calcium, strontium, Iodine, and other things your critters need, and it also keeps your Alk high, which in turn will keep your PH constant. You'll hear some people will say B-ionic is too expensive, but thats because they have big tanks. You are only going to need a tenth what they do. A $30 bottle will last you a year, and even if you only have softies, it'll make them happier.
Read as much as you can!
Good luck,
Chris