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gerbilbox

The Tank Is In

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gerbilbox
, 11-01-2010 at 01:05 AM (1154 Views)
Hello everyone!

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I got my first aquarium this weekend, a 10g with more equipment in the coming days. Yes, the turkey baster is bobbing in there, along with some tubing and a thermometer. I was performing some practice "wet runs" to figure out I would do water changes and other maintenance. I wanted to make my mistakes now with freshwater before making a mess with actual saltwater.

My apartment is tiny, so there wasn't room to reach far beyond 10g. I am also in the good graces with my apartment manager, and my building doesn't allow larger tanks.

I put a lot of planning and thought into this tank, which I have no doubt will change as the pieces come together and I discover what reality means. I'll talk in more detail about my thoughts and plans, but here are a few basic details about my approach:

1. Indo-Pacific back reef (or lagoon) environment, which thankfully features a lot of easy corals. I'm not sure if it's a true biotope since I am not trying to mimic a specific location. I got some inspiration from John Tullock's "Saltwater Aquarium Models."

2. Fishless. I am fascinated by invertebrates, so fish is not very high on my priority. Don't expect fish in my tank for a while, if at all.

3. All frags, captive-bred animals, or otherwise low environmental impact animals. This is very challenging to find good information on non-corals invertebrates, so I am testing the practicality of this goal in this day and age.

I'm excited about this hobby!

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Comments

  1. Jessy's Avatar
    Nice plan! Though with inverts, I'm not so sure you have to worry as much about the environmental impact. I think they are much hardier and reproduce more readily than corals and fish. If you're going inverts, a nice pair of harlequin shrimp would be nice, but then you couldn't keep any starfish in the tank. I love cleaner shrimp as well.
  2. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Cool! I always love to see nanos. I had a 20 long reef at home for a few years. Tiny tanks can be very facinating since you can forcus on all the little micro critters that evolve.

    I know you're not planning on fish, but I have to say my Yellow headed Antenna goby/candy cane pistol shrimp pair is my favorite thing to watch in my tank.
  3. gerbilbox's Avatar
    Jessy: Thanks! I would feel more comfortable reading up on it first. Reproduction and success of larva varies widely from species to species. I think it would be too much for my small tank to keep around a good-size starfish for the harlequin, as beautify as both of them are. The Pacific skunk cleaner shrimp is on my shortlist of invertebrates, as well as sexy shrimp.

    Alaska_Phil: I'm betting on little critters! I'm not ruling fish out, and a goby / pistol shrimp pair is really tempting. How much of a sandbed does a pistol shrimp need for its tunnels?
  4. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    I've got a 4" sand bed, I'm not sure how much is actually required, I'd guess that 2" would be enough. I know mine has at least 2 entrances I know of, about 8" apart and on opposite sides of my rock work. It tunneled under the edge of the rocks, and mounded sand up around the entrance. Have you read the article on them here at RA?
  5. Electrobes's Avatar
    If you do go with some fish, I whole-heartily recommend a sixline wrasse. To this day it's a fish I've always had for the past 7 years of reefing.

    I once did not have any fish in my system, for about 4 months. My wife got fed up with no fish and told me I had to get some for her. As odd as this sounds, having fish makes reefing easier... they help keep the whole life cycle, plus since you have to feed them, their excrement is somewhat useful for soft corals.

    Looking forward to more!