The Sink or Swim Method!

[Dez]

I might beg to differ on the skimmer. I've had a 5 gallon nano for 3 years skimmerless. I had one little clown fish a few snails and some coral. Our local fish store here has a 10 gallon nano absolutely FULL of coral in it. (This has been running for 5 plus years and looks gorgeous). The one this is that hang on back skimmers are kind of annoying and then to add noise to the general system that's more audible than say an in sump skimmer. If you keep it simple with lots of flow and regular monthly water changes you should be fine. You could probably even get rid of the fluval (or take all the media out and use it just for flow). Our local store with the nano still has the same fish and coral and my nano did really well (and I'll have to admit - I don't think I ever did a water change on my nano cause I didn't even own a hydrometer - shame on me) but I didn't kill anything. Just topped up evaporation every couple of days. This is just another opinion worth considering. Hope this helps.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Dez

(and I'll have to admit - I don't think I ever did a water change on my nano cause I didn't even own a hydrometer - shame on me) but I didn't kill anything. Just topped up evaporation every couple of days. This is just another opinion worth considering. Hope this helps.

Dez, sorry, but I gotta say this is probably not a good opinion worth considering, seeing as this is the first plunge into reef keeping. While it may work for you ok, without killing anything, more of a structured approach might be better for beginners, no?
Barrie, please do water changes WITH the use of a hydrometer. Supplements are not needed yet, if eve,r with that setup, water changes should handle it. If you do frequent enough changes, a skimmer is not neccesary, especially since most that you would get as hangon would not really do all that much anyway.
Overall, looks like a good start, good luck and welcome to the board!

[Dez]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Dez, sorry, but I gotta say this is probably not a good opinion worth considering, seeing as this is the first plunge into reef keeping. While it may work for you ok, without killing anything, more of a structured approach might be better for beginners, no?
Barrie, please do water changes WITH the use of a hydrometer. Supplements are not needed yet, if eve,r with that setup, water changes should handle it. If you do frequent enough changes, a skimmer is not neccesary, especially since most that you would get as hangon would not really do all that much anyway.
Overall, looks like a good start, good luck and welcome to the board!

Oops, I guess I was unclear. My suggestion was skimmerless WITH lots of water changes. Not no water changes without a hydrometer. I was just sharing my poor husbandry experiences (and not too proud of it myself). But I still believe that if you keep it simple without a skimmer and frequent water changes that the livestock will still be in good hands. I have just found that I've tried too many hang on back skimmers in my time and they are just loud and if there is something in the water that the skimmer wants to go crazy then it overflows. As long as you aren't heavily stocked I would still personally go skimmerless on tanks without sumps.

And please do NOT follor my past poor husbandry experience without water changes and a hydrometer

[Barrie]

Thanks for the we;come and opinions you guys, this is exactly what I was hoping for. I do believe we'll be getting a skimmer this weekend. I personally am all for the simple skimerless method but as my wonderful husband is the one who does the maintenance and 'fiddling' with all our tanks, I will defer to him on this one. He's absolutely immersed in the research and LOVES all the technical crap that bores me to tears!!! LOL Fortunately (well probably UNfortunately for our bank account!) we live close enough to J&L Aquatics that we can go into town this weekend and get a half decent HOB skimmer. With all the other noise in this room, what's one more gadget?

I'm glad to hear about the dosing, though I know once he's done the research we'll be progressing there eventually too but in the meantime we probably won't kill anything.

There's a frag swap in Vancouver next weekend I think - should we go or would it be too soon to even consider adding a frag or two (remember this is all cured rock and whatnot - though we did just add the clowns this week).

[Lance]

Welcome, and I hope you enjoy your new hobby. (A warning though, it's addictive!) Feel free to ask lots of questions as you'll get some pretty good advice on this forum. Good Luck and Happy Reefkeeping.

[danny zubot]

Welcome to Canreef!

I agree that dosing won't be needed yet. Wait until you get into some more advanced corals, and you WILL get into them eventually. The only thing I really think is missing other than a skimmer is more flow. 1 Koralia #1 doesn't seam like enough flow for that tank. Round and Hex tanks are a bit of a challenge when it comes to flow. If it were my tank I'd add at least one more Koralia #2 or even a #3. It will help with nutrient export and your fish and corals will love it.

One question; what are you running in your Fluval?

[Barrie]

Sorry, I wasn't clear! We added a second Koralia and have the Fluval outflow on quite high power (near the surface, churns the water a bit). Both Koralias are on one 'wall' about 4 or 5 inches from the top of the tank, facing the opposite wall a bit further down - making the current swirl the zoas (I think that's what they are) quite a bit. There's current from top to bottom without it being directed right at the rock. We read that directing it at the rock will scour it - not good, right?

As for media in the Fluval - here's where I have to curb dh a bit now & then. Last night, he added foam filters to the canister along with carbon. It had been running for a while empty - read somewhere that carbon is good. Not sure why he added the foam filters, but they'll be coming out tonight for sure. We're going to leave the carbon in for now (something about water clarity?). We're open to suggestions, believe me!! But I think everyone will agree with me that the foam needs to go asap.

How do you guys deal with something that dies and you can't reach it without completely dismantling the aquascape? We have a snail that looks like its not going to make it (upside down at the back of the tank for more than a day). So far our nitrite and ammonia are 0, nitrate is 5ppm. I'm going to take a quick video tonight to show the way the current rolls through it. Any excuse to look at the tank! LOL

Yup, we're hooked!! Thanks for all the information, much appreciated!