starting a nano, what do I need to know?

[windeindoiel]

Ok so I *think* it's a oceanic bio cube that we're going to get, the 29 gal.

On the ad I found in a magazine it says it has a 36 watt 10,000k and a 36 watt true actinic 03, as well as moon LED lights. Will that be enough to keep coral in? So far I was thinking star polyps and fuzzy mushrooms, maybe some sun coral. Any other recommendations? Also will a bubble tip anemone be ok in that lighting?

Will I need to buy additional powerheads to keep a decent amount of flow in there? How many?

For stocking I would like a couple horseshoe crabs (I know how big they get), some skunk shrimp, some little brittle stars, maybe some fire shrimp, and 2 of the smaller species of clownfish (don't know what yet) if the anemone will be ok in there.

And is there anything else I'm missing here? This is my first time setting up a salt tank so I don't really know what I'm doing.

[JSTR]

Well to start off, nano's are not always the best first tank.
But aside from that, here is my opinion on your questions.

The stock lighting in the biocube nanos are good enough for the mushroom and star polyps. The anemone is not a good candidate for nanos, lighting isn't strong enough and there isn't reaqlly enough water volume to keep one happy. No comment on sun corals - never kept them.

Horseshoe crabs are best left in the ocean, they get quite big and are difficult to keep (so I hear). A pair of clownfish is fine, couple of shrimp are ok, either cleaners or fire shrimp. Careful mixing types of shrimp as they don't always get along in those smaller tanks (territory issues).

Flow is entirely up to you discression. Can't remember of hand the stock flow, but for a small mixed reef, one would recommend 20 - 30 times water volume. Something like the Tunze nano stream or SEIO 620-820 would be plenty.

Watch your evaporation as it can ruin your salinity very quickly in a small tank, aswell as all your parameters can fluctuate rapidly in small water volumes. Be prepared to do minimum bi-weekly water changes depending on the bioload and water conditions.

Most important of all, place the tank in a place were you will be constantly watching it. First for the sheer enjoyment of it and second it helps keep you aware of any changes in the tank. A small dead fish can quickly turn the tank toxic to all remaining life.

HTH

[Flusher]

First off, DON'T get an anemone. That tank is too small, and they're not suited for beginners. Clowns will host in quite a variety of substitutes, like anthelia, xenia, mushrooms, and frogspawn.

Your coral selection should do okay under those lights. The mushrooms will definitely be fine, and I *think* sun corals rely more on spot feeding of krill than lighting (unless I'm thinking of some other type of coral). The star polyps might do okay. I've had bad luck with those myself, but I've seen them thriving in other tanks.

HTH

Edit: Ha ha, JSTR beat me to it.

BTW, I don't think a 29 gallon is a nano per se. It's definitely much bigger than the 13 gallon tank I started with (and still run). I lost a fish in there at one point, but there were so many critters in the tank from the live rock, it was consumed without affecting anything - fortunately. Pretty cool...
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[windeindoiel]

Ok I've since done some specific research, and decided one fire shrimp will be fine, as they're territorial, and I'll just keep a little group of skunks in the 100 gallon.

This isn't my first salt tank, though I don't have a huge experience with those yet either, it's the first salt tank I'm setting up. We have a 100 gallon but that is someone else's tank, they can't keep it for a year or 2 so they moved it into our house, we've had it for 2 months or something like that now.

The anemone in question lives there now, but it isn't doing well and I thought if it was in a smaller tank it would be easier for me to keep an eye on it. And it wouldn't be able to run to the back of the tank under a rock where there's no light and I can't feed it, like it has now.

And my main reason for the nano is for horseshoe crabs, I really want to try taking care of them, and the tank will be set up with their special requirements in mind.

The tank is going in the kitchen I think, so it'll be easy to watch it.

Oh and I'm sure the sun polyps will be fine, they're low light.

Anyways, in my research of fish and inverts I discovered a clingfish, does anyone know about these? Could it live in a 29 gal too?

[christyf5]

Some good reading before you go any further

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/horseshoecrabfaqs.htm

[windeindoiel]

See the difference between me and that first guy is that I have done research (and found out some interesting things about horseshoe crab blood) including reading that site. I'm going to try the horseshoe crabs.

[Skimmer Juice]

I had a horse shoe crab for about a year. He stayed burried almost 24/7. My cowfish thought it would be a good idea to sample his eyes for lunch. Before I could get to the crab it was to late. My point is in that year he got huge, you will have to move him to a way bigger tank fairly quick. So unless you have a plan for a 120g tank in the next year, do the crab a favor and dont buy him.

[i have crabs]

i have a 29g biocube i have a bunch of different corals in it and 1 very small bubbletip anemone wich are all doing great under the stock lighting i also am looking at getting a few different shrinp for it and i expect no problems, i would stay far away from the horseshoe crab though, its a bad idea.i have a seio 820 in mine but its a tad strong so i think a 620 would be perfect. its a very easy tank to care for you just have to watch the water level so it dosent start sucking air in the return pump i replaced the filter cartridge with a sponge, after a few days it was restricting the water flow.other than that everything is ok by me

[windeindoiel]

I was going to put a sponge on all the intakes (I'm thinking lettuce nudibranches) so should I go with a powerhead then?

[Flusher]

(I'm thinking lettuce nudibranches)

Those won't survive for very long.
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[windeindoiel]

Ok I've been thinking about the horseshoe crabs and some people said some stuff that I hadn't really thought of. First I assumed they didn't grow super fast super quick, so stinky how huge did yours get in a year? I have an empty 90 gal that I was going to convert into a horseshoe crab tank in the next year. Also I have a 3'x6' tank that in a few years or so will be converted to salt (once the new ray tank is built so we can move those guys to a bigger and better things). I was going to have a snowflake moray that I would obtain small and a lionfish that I would obtain small. I figured by this time the horseshoe crab would be quite large so neither fish would think it was food. Will horseshoe crabs prey on small fish like these when they get bigger? Also once the lionfish and moray got some size on them I was going to add a porcupine puffer (because I've never seen them for sale at a small size), do you think the puffer would attack the horseshoe crab?

And I've never really looked into lettuce nudibranches, it was just an idea I was playing with, why won't it do well in aquaria?

[Ruth]

I don't know that much about horseshoe crabs but from what little I have read it would appear that they need a much cooler tank in order to survive. The moray and Lion fish that you would like to add need tropical conditions (78 - 80 degrees) so to me that would indicate that they cannot be kept in the same system.

[Fugu]

http://www.nano-reef.com

[gbeef]

I agree you should pickup a book and a read a bit or at least surf the forums more. I dont want to be and ass, but sometimes forums are like the blind leading the blind and everyone has a different opinion