Starting up a 15 g. nano..

[GuelphGurl]

I'm hoping some of you with more SW experience can help me get started here, or at least provide some valuable insight.

I've only <just> set-up a 15 gallon tank destined to become my first SW .. And would like to set it up as a reef (due to it's small size I can't do much else). Will be adding R/O water a friend is supplying this afternoon.

I've got perhaps 2-3" of aragonite in the bottom (adding some live substrate in the near future), and a Maxi-Jet powerhead (flow of 680 l/h or 160 g/h). Light canopy contains two 20 watt mini compact fluorescent 50/50 's.

What are the best organisms to be introducing into my tank? As I'll have some well-established live rock going in, I'm also wondering how long I should be waiting to add anything.

I would like a clownfish (true percula? sebae?) and perhaps pink-tip anenome, if those will both survive. Had thought about a mandarin goby until I found out how difficult it is to keep them. Also leaning towards keeping a seahorse or two (they do better in pairs?). Not big on the shrimp, but would prefer to keep many smaller organisms (as opposed to fewer larger ones). What else do well in small reef nano's?

Please, any and all advice would be appreciated. Must add, I do have experience with FW fish-keeping, and used to work in a LPS. So I'm not <completely> ignorant in that respect!

[Wiggler]

Hey there,

In a 12g, I wouldn't put any more than 2 fish in the tank as your bioload may not be able to handle it.

For corals, low light corals (zoos, mushrooms, GSP) will all be OK under your lighting conditions.

Anenome's - I'm not overly knowledgeable on them, but I do believe they require a fair bit of light and room to move around.

Sea horses from my understanding can be difficult to keep and if you do turn your nano into a horse tank, I dont' think I'd suggest putting other fish in there.

You should have a clean up crew (snails etc..)

In terms of length to wait.. if the LR you're receiving is already cured and from an established tank, I would give it a day or 2 and you should be good to start adding things slowly to your tank. *someone else should confirm here*

I have a 10g and everytime I add something I go through an ammonia spike...

But by doing weekly water changes, you should be OK

HTH

Pam

[Cellenzweig]

In terms of length to wait.. if the LR you're receiving is already cured and from an established tank, I would give it a day or 2 and you should be good to start adding things slowly to your tank. *someone else should confirm here*

IMO, you should wait at least a few weeks to let the tank cycle. Even if the rock you get is cured, it just means that the die-off is all broken down. It doesn't guarantee that you have a strong population of bacteria in the rock to break down any nutrients in your tank. On top of that, you need time for your aragonite to "seed" with bacteria and become stable. Besides, in the first week, you'll probably spend half your time re-arranging the rock anyways. If you do buy cured rock, I would toss in a dead shrimp.(uncooked, from the grocery store) You can remove it after a couple days. This will create an ammonia spike, starting your cycle. If your rock isn't cured, the die-off will start the cyle.

I suggest you wait about three weeks before stocking. At this time, you can get your clean-up crew. Maybe some astrea snails to keep the glass clean, some nassarius snails to keep the sand clean and a couple emerald crabs to pick scraps off the rocks & sand. Wait a week or two for everything to adjust , then make your next purchase, maybe your first fish or a shrimp. Follow this procedure for each purchase and you won't have to worry about creating a huge spike in bioload. Remember, in this hobby only bad things happen overnight, good things take patience. (I know how hard it is to wait, as I'm not a patient person - but it's for the best)

[Dr. Tom]

I would agree with Cellenzwieg...I learned the hard way. Often, it isn't the ammonia and nitrites that seem to cause the demise in the 'new tank syndrome'.

After a few weeks, you'll get a green film algae bloom that will recede after a few days. I've had a small red slime (cyanobacter) bloom just after this die off in the 3 tanks I've started so far. After that (probably at the one month mark), you can start slowly introducing a fish.

Snails, hermits (red-legged), and emeralds would be my picks for critters.

Don't get the anemone! Let your clown host on something else.

HTH

[Chrismo]

Seahorses need tanks set up just for them, and anemone's are best left till your tank is set up and your all zen with it.

You might be able to get away with doing it all faster, if you get some sand off someone with an established tank, and a bit of rock. Personally I thnk the sand is more effective than rock even. 2-3" deep.

Test your water, and wait for your amonia to spike up and go down, then nitrites, then nitrates will rise a tad. Then add one living thing at a time- wait and see how it does.

Some people will have their tanks cycled in a week or 2, others will take a month depening on set ups.

You need tests to know, when your tank is ready, and patience to listen to your tests! :)
Chris

[Cellenzweig]

You might be able to get away with doing it all faster, if you get some sand off someone with an established tank, and a bit of rock. Personally I thnk the sand is more effective than rock even. 2-3" deep.

There is a new sand available from CaribSea that comes "Bioactive". It is supposed to reduce cycling time quite a bit. I've never tried it, but I've heard good things about it. Just be sure to check the expiry date.

[Aaron]

Seahorses and anemones are a 100% NO. I doubt you will have adequate lighting on a small Nano to keep a anemone happy, and I totally agree the tank needs to cycle for a long while to keep a anemone happy. I would suggest some mushrooms, leather corals, and some basic LPS. One or two fish is the max.
Aaron

[psiico]

Might I suggest this site:

http://www.nano-reef.com/

Have a look at some similar setups to see what your options are. I have a 10g nano at work. Same lighting as yours. Current inhabitants are a small serpent star, a small emerald crab, 2 hermits, one is a zebra the other blue legged, 5 assorted snails, a cleaner shrimp and a blue devil damsel. No corals yet, the tank is in a grade 6 classroom so I'm going slow to give the kids a chance to pay attention to each thing. If I add everything at once they'll miss a lot. That and I'm poor, lol.

Aaron suggested some basic LPS, look into open brains. Very cool corals. I like mine a lot, I spend hours just looking at it.

[GuelphGurl]

How's this looking so far?

1 damsel
1 false perc. clownfish
1 (six-line) wrasse
(in that order)

1 rock flower anenome
SPS corals as dictated by lighting req'ts

INVERTS:
1 emerald crab
5-6 blue leg hermit crabs
2 Astrea snails
2 Narc. snails
1 peppermint shrimp
1 harlequin shrimp

Starting slowly with the inverts (snails, hermit crabs), then the first fish or two, then the corals..? Tips and pointers offered so far have been appreciated. Reading about how difficult most anenomes are to keep on liveaquaria.com also helped reinforce..

Making up this list is what causes me to get so impatient in waiting for the tank to cycle, lol. Anything is more interesting than watching live rock rubble at this point. Gah...

[psiico]

I skip the damsel, too aggressive, especially in such a small tank. And the harlequin shrimp has a specialized diet, they only eat starfish, so don't get one of those, either. I don't know about the wrasse, I haven't read much about them because I hadn't planned on getting any wrasses, but everything else looks good. Some will say skip the kermits, they'll kill your snails. I'm starting to agree, watching the slow genocide in my tank. Lost another snail yesterday. When I get a sump all the hermits except the scarlets (the only ones who I haven't seen pick on snails) are going in there like AJ suggested. I like them, but this is going to get expensive, lol.

[GuelphGurl]

Okay, will nix those two from the list, then.

psiico, the hermit crabs aren't killing the snails for their shells, are they? If there are larger, vacant shells available for them to move into, your snails may have a better chance of survival.

Something I came across while browsing, perhaps it's common knowledge, I've no clue!

[Cellenzweig]

Hermits are evil. You can have a tank full of empty shells and they will still take the one that comes with a meal (the snail). Besides, they are pretty lazy when it comes to clean-up duties.

As for sixlines, I really like them. I had one in my nano until last week when he jumped out. (You may consider an egg-crate top) Mine ate pretty much everything and it was always swimming through the rock work.

As for snails, I would get more Astreas, maybe 5 or so. I would also go with 3-4 Nassarius. That should keep your glass and substrate pretty clean.

Colin

[Dr. Tom]

Originally posted by GuelphGurl


starting slowly with the inverts (snails, hermit crabs), then the first fish or two, then the corals..? Tips and pointers offered so far have been appreciated. Reading about how difficult most anenomes are to keep on liveaquaria.com also helped reinforce..

Making up this list is what causes me to get so impatient in waiting for the tank to cycle, lol. Anything is more interesting than watching live rock rubble at this point. Gah...

I recently asked a similar question and the suggested order was cleanup crew --> corals --> fish

HTH

[psiico]

I have plenty of empty shells. But once the crabs get to a certain size they seem to snap and go on a murderous rampage. While small they're no trouble. The two scarlets I have are bigger then the others but still don't bother anything. Not yet, at least, lol.

[GuelphGurl]

Scrapping the hermits too, then. That's a bit of a pity, because I must say -- the hermits seem much more active than the snails. Murderous rampage, though.. interesting. Wonder what it is that causes them to snap .. Maybe they're having too many demands put upon them, lol. Sigh. Moving on..

So a false perc. and six-line wrasse (once this thing is well-established), snails, a shrimp or two.. Perhaps a blenny or goby to finish the tank off with? Suggestions?

You guys have been such a great help so far.. big thank-you :)

[Cellenzweig]

A Goby & pistol shrimp would be a pretty cool combo. It's a very interesting symbiotic relationship!

[GuelphGurl]

Any particular kind of goby?

[psiico]

Watchmen goby. Their are different types of watchmen gobies, any will do. I think the yellow watchmen are the cutest.