dcombs44

After nearly a year with no aquarium, I made my first additions to my new setup. I previously had a 55 gallon mixed reef, with plans to upgrade to a 125 gallon mixed reef utilizing an empty 125 gallon tank that I'd bought from a friend. After having to break down the 55 gallon prior to moving across the state, I decided that I never wanted to move a large tank again......After settling into our new house, I started to get the itch for a tank again, but........we didn't have plans to stay in this house beyond 5-7 years........What to do?

I had various pumps, and other equipment lying around, so I started piecing together a small 10 gallon setup.

I ended up with the following:

10 gallon display
10 gallon DIY sump
Glass Holes Nano Overflow
A few lbs of bleached and dried rock from the 55
A few lbs of new Special Grade Sea Floor Sand
Reef Keeper Lite Basic Controller
Phosban Reactor for Carbon
Mag 7 Return Pump
PFO Mogul Pendant
175 Watt 14,000K Hamilton Bulb

From the beginning, I had decided that I wanted this tank to be one of 2 things.......Zoanthid only, or Zoanthid and Ricordia dominated.....After doing some research, I decided that Rics and Zoas probably wouldn't be suited that well for the same system, since it would be hard to cater to both of their lighting and flow needs in such a small setup. My reading lead me to believe that the zoas would appreciate more light and more flow, whereas the rics would need less flow and less light. I wasn't sure I could create both of these in a 10 gallon display. So, for the moment, I'll be stocking only zoanthid and palythoa species and going for as much color variety as I can muster.

Last night, I picked up a "zoanthid pack" at a St. Louis area reef shop. The pack came with 10 frags of 5 polyps or more for about $80. I got all of the frags inspected, acclimated, and placed on the sand bed last night, and all seems to be well at this point.

My big fear going forward is going to be temperature control + evaporation issues.

I've got the pendant about 20 inches off of the water, and it appears to be providing adequate penetration for the shallow tank. I have my reefkeeper set to flip a computer fan on at 82 degrees and to kill the lights at 84. I also have it set to kill my phosban pump at 84 just to help eliminate any excess heat from the extra pump in the water.

The problem with running the fan, is that the final chamber in my sump is not that large (but as large as I could make it). Plus, evaporation in a small system can have dyer effects on salinity.....

I have a DIY auto top-off, but it's ugly, and I want to keep a clean look with this tank.

I was hoping I could get a few opinions on the following:
1) Is it a good idea to stick with just zoanthids, or would you try to mix them with ricordia?
2) I was thinking about adding 2 clown gobies as the only fish in this system. Does that sound like a good plan, or would you do something different (i.e. different fish, or no fish at all)
3) Since there is no algal growth in the system, I have not added a CUC and I am not feeding the tank. Do you see any need to feed the zoas or add a CUC at this time?
4) Will the MH bulb be ok at 20" off the water surface?
5) Do you think ATO is a must in this size of setup?
6) What would you do differently?

I thank you for your comments, and hope to follow with pictures in my next entry.