My new bargain nano project

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Fregate Island, Seychelles
Hey guys,

I bought a 40L nano with a curved glass front for R69 this weekend, planning on moving my two clowns and two softies from my pico into here, thought I'd post a progress report starting from the setup :) This will be a very basic setup, no sump, the sand bed is 6/7cm deep. I will just be housing two clowns (they are still very small) and softies.

Today I went down and got a bucket o' sand from my local beach - live sand, so got a bit cold and wet, but there are a few wormies in it for my efforts, not sure if they'll survive the temp change tho! :p 18 -> 26c is quite a jump! The water is from the Two Oceans aquarium, so LSW thats gone through one filter.

Anyway, letting the tank run for a while and will transfer my livestock once its a bit settled. I'm going to put my old substrate in sockings and hang them in the new tank once I've moved the fish, so all the bacteria, pods and worms can repopulate the new tank too. Also thinking of pumping a few litres of water from the old tank in too. I'm really happy with the sea sand substrate, nice and fine but settles so quickly!

I really need some decent rock or dead coral, anyone in CT central selling or know someone? Thanks :) Any comments or advice on the setup would be appreciated. Bear in mind that this is intended to be a basic setup - NO skimmer or sump!

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and its future inhabitants :)
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What rock is it you have in that PICO? Doesn't look suitable for a marine tank as you don't know if it will release any nasties and it won't help with filtration at all
 
get a few pieces of good quality liverock and a small hang on the back filter for some phosphate remover and carbon and you will be all set
 
@Matt, thats part of the reason why I'm switching tanks. The old substrate will be thoroughly cleaned and used in a freshwater tank. Its inert tho. Its deep sea bed sediments from diamond mining 150m off the namibian coastline.

@Ziyaadb, that is my plan :) Already got carbon in there, and will probably be using phosphate remover too.
 
@Matt, thats part of the reason why I'm switching tanks. The old substrate will be thoroughly cleaned and used in a freshwater tank. Its inert tho. Its deep sea bed sediments from diamond mining 150m off the namibian coastline.

@Ziyaadb, that is my plan :) Already got carbon in there, and will probably be using phosphate remover too.


Hi Dane, I think what Matt was referring to is the leaching of elements from the rock (silica for example)... the rock that is found off the namibian coast originates from the interior landmass, the diamondiferous gravels you refer to are formed inland and deposited in the ocean through the process of erosion (so while they are there now, they were not formed there), primarily through the orange river (the exit of the orange river has migrated along the coast for hundreds of Km over the milenia depositing the gravels and of course the diamonds).

That being said, the fact that they have been in the ocean for hundreds of years before being put into you tank means there is a very good chance that whaterer was going to leach out of the rock in a marine environement has already been leached out and the rocks are as innert as they could be. The rocks help with asthetics, but will do almost nothing for the filtration..
 
Thanks for the help Neil & Matt, that is how I took mat's q. Before I put it in my tank I asked a few of my geology graduate friends and they assured me that the substrate wont leech any nasties. But this substrate is not going to be in my new tank. Its going into a freshwater tank which will be vac'd regularly so not going to be a detritus trap problem either!

Thread back onto the new tank track please! :)
 
Ah, so much has changed since I last posted!

Found out that these h20 tanks are very dodgy.
So I just ordered a replacement tank. Going to be a plain old 70L roughly 60x30x30. 6mm base glass, think the rest will be 4mm or 5mm. Its mostly good old live rock, but the new tank will have a custom refugium with chaeto and whatever else I decide to filter with. Maybe phosphate remover if its needed. Still going skimmerless. The fuge will probably be as long and high as the tank but quite thin, and just stand behind it.
 
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