So, a buddy of mine gave me his 12G nano last night. I've been wanting one for a while, and this puppy is going in my office at work. he took it down several months ago because he didn't have time for it and his DT. It's a JBJ model I believe, the delux version with 2x24 PC lights, surface skimmer, Maxijet 600 return, sand, rock, heater, balast, hood, the whole deal. just add water as they say. Here's the questions. The LR he gave me is not live anymore, which is fine, I know it can be re-seeded from real LR. How long does that take? I just tossed the LR in my sump, will that be good enough, or does it have to be in physical contact with the LR in my tank? if the sump is fine, how long should I leave it down there? Other question. Has anyone set up an ATO on their nano? It doesn't look like it would be particularly hard, just wanted to know if there was anything to watch out for.
Now, I've just got to figure out what I want to put in it
Hey, now I can finaly have a thread in the tank projects forum.
The dead rock should become "living" pretty quickly. BUT..it depends on what your requirements are for "live". Bacterium will reproduce quickly. Pods, worms etc. will more likely find the nooks and crannies sooner than you'd think. But developing coralline, or other slow growers may take some time. Personally, I'd keep it in contact with mature rock. Even better, I'd find a smallish (golf ball or so) sized piece of mature live rock and pulverize it, sprinkling the rubble over the new rock.
Oooh, that's a good idea! I have several small pieces like that in my DT that won't detract from the display if I took them out. I was also going to pick up a couple of pieces from the LFS to bring the total up to about 15 pounds. So do you think a week in the sump combined with a couple of pieces of LFS rock and the pulverized rock from my tank would be sufficient?
I'll put it to you this way. I got over 50 lbs of dry, "Marco Rock" and put them in a brand new, sterile sump with a brand new, sterile sand bed. I put no more than 3 decent sized pieces of mature live rock on top and let it sit. Within a week, the Marco Rock was FILLED with gammarus amphipods, mysid shrimp, small munnid isopods etc. Within two weeks, there were also smallish bristle worms in the rock (I happen to love the worms that you all fear and remove from your systems). At that point, I'd have called the rock "Live".
It took a month or more for any algaes to show on the rock.
I had a nano at my office (12 gallon ViaAqua) and had a small powerhead like 201 or something on it. I also used a "cascade" type HOB filter without media and put rubble in it instead. I think I have a piccy of it.....
I see shrooms, button polyps, yellow polyps, zoas, GSP and a colt(?). Did I miss anything? I'm just trying to get a feel for what my lighting will support.
Shrooms, buttons, yellow polyps, zoas, gsp, colt, and huge hairy mushrooms all did well. There was a frag of a bubble (LPS) on top, but it didn't fare well and went to the 75G after a couple weeks.
I grew a candy cane with some success in my 24g nano (now in my DT). I also currently have a very nice maze brain in my nano doing great. At my LFS they have kept a few plate corals under the 24g nano lights...Anyway, I love my nano. It was my first and the easiest by far
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