Lighting

Ok a 20 gllon tank is way out of the question for me now. Will a 10 gallon be enough for 2 clowns?

Also If I get a wal mart 10 gallon tank, it comes with a power filter. Is that usable for a salt wtaer system, or is it just for Freshwater? I'm not too worried as the whole tank set up is 40 dollars, and you can't really find one for much cheaper online or anything


Another option for me is a nano cube (12 gallon) for 125 used.

Opinions?

Another option is to buy this: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Marineland-Eclip...1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

but I'm not sure as to if the filtration is for salt water or not.
 
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Dr F & S don't ship to Canada. The cheapest I could find a Nano cube for was about 180, which is over my budget right now. I found a used one in the area for 125, but am a little wary on buying used.

The eclipse 10 system looks to be good for what I need as it has a good enough blulb for corals (prob will upgrage) and filtration.


I looked up some info on it, and it seems the system is fairly good for a nano reef. Do you think the 10 or 12 gallon tanks enough for 2 clowns?
 
The Eclipse system does not have sufficient lighting for corals. Fish only, yes, but corals no.

If you want to keep corals and especially anemones down the road, you would be better off just buying a 10 gallon tank and then buying the lighting separate. There's no point in getting an all-in-one system like that if you are just going to have to replace all the parts for saltwater.
 
Bifferwine said:
The Eclipse system does not have lighting sufficient for corals. If you get the Eclipse, it will be fine for a pair of clowns, but not any corals and especially not any anemones.
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Ok, I'm not too worried about corals, although I'd prefer the option to have them. If I bought a better bulb could it produce enough light, or not?

It says on the description it is possible to grow corals, so maybe some soft corals like mushrooms or anything?

Thanks for the reply.

Edit: It dosen't saay it is for corals, it just says it is for plant growth and ornamental fish color enhancement. This means that corraline will grow on my live rock? I'm mostly just worried about fish, and after this tank I'm going to get a coral tank. 1 step at a time I guess.
 
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It's not the bulb, necessarily. If you don't have a fixture that's sufficient for coral growth, putting a stronger bulb in will just blow it out. And bulbs that are specific for corals are usually a different type (freshwater lighting is usually a normal output fluorescent tube, whereas reef tanks use T5s and metal halides, different lighting types altogether -- different bulb size, different bulb shape, etc).

Coralline might grow on your rock with a normal output light like that, but it may not. It's hard to say. I'd venture a guess and say no, since that's the type of light I used to use over my refugium. Great for algae growth, but never got any coralline on the rocks in my fuge.
 
hmm, ok. I think I am going to get it, but I have a few days to think it over.

So with that tank I won't have to worry about getting a skimmer too, or should I get one too?

oh and for a 10 gallon tank how much sand is needed for about a 2" sand bed. Or how much would you recommend if I was to get a star fish to sift the sand?
 
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You cannot get a sandsifting star for a 10 gallon tank. It will starve to death so quickly. They need mature, established tanks that are at least 100 gallons in size.

Instead, you should rely on nassarius snails to keep your sandbed cleaned and stirred.

You will only need one bag of sand for a 10 gallon tank. Be sure to get aragonite sand.

Why do you want a 2 inch sand bed? That mean that the sand is taking up valuable space that the water could be taking up. In a 10 gallon tank, a 2 inch sandbed will look really disproportionate. If I were you, I'd get less than an inch for a tank that size.
 
Bifferwine said:
You cannot get a sandsifting star for a 10 gallon tank. It will starve to death so quickly. They need mature, established tanks that are at least 100 gallons in size.

Instead, you should rely on nassarius snails to keep your sandbed cleaned and stirred.

You will only need one bag of sand for a 10 gallon tank. Be sure to get aragonite sand.

Why do you want a 2 inch sand bed? That mean that the sand is taking up valuable space that the water could be taking up. In a 10 gallon tank, a 2 inch sandbed will look really disproportionate. If I were you, I'd get less than an inch for a tank that size.
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Ok thanks. I was thinking that the star could live in the tank after it got set up and had algae and everything growing. I will only have that big of a sand bed, I was just thinking that a star would need at least 2 inches.

Can I get some blue legged hermits too?
 
Yeah blue legged hermits are fine, but like any hermits, they'll end up killing snails to steal their shells. If you are okay with this, and okay with replacing dead snails periodically, hermits make good cleaners. But a lot of people don't like to deal with their snails dying so they pass on the hermits.
 
Bifferwine said:
Yeah blue legged hermits are fine, but like any hermits, they'll end up killing snails to steal their shells. If you are okay with this, and okay with replacing dead snails periodically, hermits make good cleaners. But a lot of people don't like to deal with their snails dying so they pass on the hermits.
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I was actually going to buy some extra shells off of Ebay. They're like 5-10 dollars. Would that work, or would the still kill the snails?
 
If I was to get the Eclipse systen do I still need a power head? It says it has a flow of 120 gph, does that work as a power head, or should I still get one?

And if it dosen't how do I mix the water/salt. Do I do it inside the tank or in a bucket or something?
 
Ok guys I'm going to be buying the aquarium soon. I have 2 options now. A used Nano Cube (12 gallon) for 125, or a brand new Eclipse (10 gallon) for 100.

The reason there is any debate is that, I'm not positive that all the filter and everything in the nano cube is functioning correctly or something like that. Is there any way to test the aquarium out before taking it home (the nano cube is off a classified ad, the Eclipse would be shipped from a store an hour away).

You guys make the decision, either way I'm happy. The Nano Cube is better for what I would hope to accomplish, but it might too risky. Opinions?
 
Are you wanting to keep corals?If the answer is yes than call the seller on the nanocube,ask what equipment(including lighting) it comes with.The Eclipse lighting is good for about nothing coral wise.

Personally,for me,I would look into a 24g nano setup.The larger the more stable.
 
I live in Canada too, and the cheapest I've seen it here is 200 after shipping or more.

I would like to have corals, but I'm thinking in the future if I want to do it, I'll want to get a bigger tank anyways.

Also I believe it is the deluxe Nano Cube (JBJ) which has a stronger light or something.
 

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