Hi everyone, glad to be here and to post for the first time. I've listened to several podcasts and have enjoyed them all so far.

I have been keeping small saltwater tanks for a couple of years now...but mainly small inverts. I haven't really done fishor photosynthetic inverts. I set up the first tank when I lived in Hawaii for a captive-bred feather duster (a friend of mine did his doctorate work on captive breeding feather dusters on a large scale.) I still have that feather duster, along with a couple of blue-legged hermit crabs, a peppermint shrimp, an astrea snail, and various live rock critters in a 5 gallon tank with some grape caulerpa and chaetomorpha macroalgae. The lighting is an NO flourescent (13 watts) supplemented by indirect sunlight and the filtration besides the live rock and live sand) is a basic HOB. I aim for ~25% water changes each week. ;) All is going quite well, but I would like to upgrade the setup. I need some help with that:

I'm thinking of changing sizes to 10 or 12 gallons. I've looked at the nanocube and the aquapod, but I'm thinking I might just buy a 10 gallon and hand-pick the lighting and accessories. What do you suggest?

I'm worried about transferring the live sand and live rock...don't want to cause an ammonia spike. Do I need to add more than the ~5 lbs of each that I have?

I'm thinking of adding a clownfish or two and maybe some mushroom corals. I don't want to get too fancy yet. Any suggestions there?

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

How deep is your current sandbed? It"s my oppinion that if the sand is more than an inch or so deep, it's best to either start over with new sand, or remove and thouroughly wash the sand before you reuse it. I would suggest adding another 5 pounds of rock as well, just to stay in the 1-2 pounds per gallon guidelines. However, since you have a very low bioload, you may be just fine with what you have. If you're planning on adding more life, I'd add more rock.

How deep is your current sandbed? It"s my oppinion that if the sand is more than an inch or so deep, it's best to either start over with new sand, or remove and thouroughly wash the sand before you reuse it. I would suggest adding another 5 pounds of rock as well, just to stay in the 1-2 pounds per gallon guidelines. However, since you have a very low bioload, you may be just fine with what you have. If you're planning on adding more life, I'd add more rock.

Thanks for your quick reply. I would say my sandbed is just over 1 inch...certainly less than 2. I'm worried that it's not getting stirred up enough and that some portions are anoxic or anaerobic. Would it be of any value to skim off the top layer and remove and wash the lower layer, putting the washed layer on the bottom and the salvaged live sand on top?

It certianly makes sense to add some more live rock...thanks for that suggestion. I will plan on doing that, as I would like to add a clownfish (or two, if that would work out.) As far as I can tell, perculas or ocellaris are supposed to be compatible both with feather duster worms and peppermint shrimp. Any experience to the contrary?

Also, any thoughts on whether mushroom corals would be bothered if the clownfish attempted to use them as hosts?

Thanks!

If you're worried about the sandbed, just scoop out a cup of sand from the top layer and either jusnk the rest or wash it well, then reseed the sand with the portion you saved. no need to save the entire top layer.

Clowns should be fine with the feather duster and the shrimp. I'm not sure how a mushroom would react to a clown trying to host in it. My guess is it would deflate, but might eventualy get used to it.

I personally would make my own nano cube instead of buying the premade system. I purchased a 24g nano for my first tank and it is great but it is limited. You might want to look at a 20g long. The long tanks are great because it makes the aquarium easier to light as the column of water in shallower. You may also want to look into a refugium system. You could drill the 20g and use your current 5g or get a 10g as a refugium tank. A refugium will better filter the water, you can add a DSB to the fuge, and or a skimmer