Hi from the Midwest!

Howdy! We are a father & son working together, and always on the lookout for good advice! We've kept two freshwater tanks going for about 8 years. In January we put together a 10gal nano reef tank. We used a Penguin Biowheel 100 filter & we have an 18" Reef Sun 50/50 in the hood. We have a full bag of live sand for substrate with 10lbs of live rock.

First we put in some blue leg hermit crabs and some nassarius snails. We had a cute 6line wrasse and an adorable pearly Jawfish, along with some nice algae on our live rock and one red soft coral type object on the rock we couldn't identify. It came on the live rock. It WAS putting out polyps when we put phytoplankton in the water, but we haven't seen it come out lately. Should we try moving it to a better lit part of the tank??

The 6 line somehow vanished, and I accidentally left the tank lid open and the pearly jumped (I didn't know they'd do that!) to his doom.

OTHER NEWBIES BEWARE! JAWFISH ARE VERY GOOD JUMPERS!!

So we bought a damsel, and we got another Jawfish, which burrowed under the sand and has never been seen again!

The damsel has done very well for a few months now. Last week we bought a Ocellated Dragonet (they called it a scooter blenny).

Our only problem has been a red, velvety carpet of an algae that grows over everything really quickly! You can tear it off in sheets with anything, but by the next day or so it'll grow back!

Does anyone have any ideas on how to control it?

Thanks! (especially if you read all of this!;D)

 

Welcome to 3reef! what you have is most likely cyano-bacteria, increase flow and it should clear up

 

Thanks, Godbert. Increase flow? Would just adding one of the tiny powerheads do it? I'm not sure of any other way to increase the flow other than switching to a larger filter like the Penguin 150...

 

Welcome to 3reef! You'll like it here.

As for increased flow: I'd recommend getting a Koralia Nano. It will help tremendously. And don't worry about the 240 gph rating. It has a wide flow (unlike normal powerheads which have a very narrow stream), so it will move a lot of water, but at a nice gentle rate.

 

You could try a Koralia nano. That will give you 240GPH and the ability to point and shoot. There is also the Koralia-1. But that is 400GPH and probably overkill for your tank.

I would opt for the Koralia nano.

Together with your other filtration, that should get you to where you need to be.

Also, you may want to consider a lighting upgrade if you are going to keep corals. I run a 50/50 in my hospital tank only. Check out a small t5 array. That would do you good for a tank that size.

I would also consider ditching your current filtration and going with a HOB skimmer. You have enough LR and LS for your biological filtration. I think a skimmer would be a better form of mechanical filtration. And they are not that expensive.

I am going to set up a 10 gallon nano for my kids here in the next few months and that is what I am going to do.

So, Welcome to 3reef.....from one newbie to another. John.

 

Thanks to both of you! We had thought about the Koralia Nano but I wasn't sure if it was overkill for a 10g tank!

As long as you 2 are around, we could use another opinion and the answer to a question:
I saw a Rio Nano Skimmer. It uses a charcoal filter and It seems to have a good flow, but my son says he thinks it lacks any biological filtration.

"Needle wheel protein skimmer that includes a variable venturi and an air/water mixing chamber. For saltwater aquariums up to 20 gallons. Also included are a filter cartridge with activated carbon and a built in pump 110 gph"

But it's one affordable skimmer. Could use it and still keep our bio wheel Penguin going? I also saw another:

"Current USA Fission Skimmer
About Product : The fission Nano-Skimmer is the smallest protein skimmer in the world, measuring only 6.5" high and 2" in diameter. Powered by an efficient air injection pump, the patented design rips bubbles into a vortex foam froth, breaking apart proteins and organics"

Has anyone tried either of these? Ideas? All input is VERY welcome!

Thanks again!

 

Your Penguin Biowheel, live sand, and live rock should be all the biological filtration you'll need.

 

OK, Reron, that handles the first part of the question. But what about using Rio Nano Skimmer along with the Penguin? That'd change the water like 20 times an hour! My son thinks that'd knock things around...

If not the Rio, what about the Current USA Fission Skimmer? Has anyone tried it? Does it actually work?

Thanks!

 

Sorry, never used either of them. But, any skimmer is better than no skimmer. I do have a skilter 250 on my 20 gallon tank (it's similar to the Rio), and to be honest, it's LOUD. My wife can sleep through a train-wreck, but with the skimmer in that skilter running, she either needs to run a fan (to drown out the skilter's skimmer) or put a pillow over her head. It's seriously that loud. It also doesn't really pull out very much skimmate, so I'd say you would be better off buying a better skimmer. I personally think that a good skimmer is the most important piece of equipment you can buy for your tank. However, only you can decide how much you want to invest in one.

 

Re: Cyno

Adding flow is important.

Reducing nutrient source also good to look into.

Normal to experience in younger tank.

Water changes combined with vacuuming up as much as I can, usually gets it to disappear in day or so.

Good luck!

PS...sorry to hear about fish loss...