10g low-budget diy nano reef

[Nevin]

Hi everyone,

This thread is to document the construction of my 10g reef, which will be my first attempt at a marine tank. I would greatly appreciate any advice as I go. My plans so far:

I am using a standard 20" 10g tank, in which I have built a small "sump" area to hide a powerhead, heater, filter intakes, etc. I'll attach a few pictures.

For filtration, I have modified an Aquaclear 70 as a refugium to hold some chaeto and a little live rock. The "sump" and display will have more live rock. I plan to add a Taam Rio nano skimmer as well and can add filtration media there if needed.

For flow, I have a powerhead with the outlet split in two, plus the AC70 (will modify impeller to reduce flow) and the skimmer. Water will be pumped out of the "sump" into the display area, then overflow back in, so the water level in the display will remain constant. Hope all the pouring water won't be too noisy. I'm almost ready to put in some water and see what the flow is like.

Lighting will be a Coralife 65w PC 50/50 and a lunar LED.

I'm not sure about the livestock yet, but will probably start with a clownfish and a few easy-to-keep corals.

I won't be doing much with this in the next week or so as I'll be out of town, but initial suggestions would be good. When I get it going, I'll be looking for small quantities of live rock, sand, chaeto and coral frags if anyone has some on offer in the Vancouver area.

Regards,
Nevin