Help me plan my mix and match tank

[BlennyBabe]

I have several empty tanks that would make for some cool nanos. I also have some different lighting and filtration options too. You guys help me pick the right combo of things I have lying around, and Ill post pictures and updates as I go.

Ok here are my tank choices:
20 gallon (standard)
10 gallon (standard)
7 gallon 16x8x12 (I think, I dont have a measuring device, so I just put a 8 1/2x 11 piece of paper and estimated)
and a 6 gallon eclipse.

As far as lighting goes, I have:
-175 metal halide 10k bulb
-1 coralife aqua minilight with 2 9watt bulbs, one true actinic and the other 10k
the standard 13 wqtt (I think) light hood that comes with my eclipse

For filtration I have:
-an emperor 400 (only fits on the 10 and 20 gallon)
several whisper 60s
standard eclipse filter (only works on the eclipse tank.)


I plan on using a lot of live rock. I would like to keep a wide variety of corals, sps lps and softies (mushrooms and zoas)

I would have one or two of the following:
-midas blenny
-honeycomb damsel
-shrimp goby pair with pistol shrimp
-assorted shrimp and crabs (sexy shrimp, bumble bee shrimp, porcelian crabs, boxer/pompom crabs)
-or a A pictus frogfish. (I kept one in the eclipse 6 for over a year.)


So there are your choices. I have been playing this over and over in my mind and I just cant decide. So I thought I would leave it up to the people who know nanos best. So give me your opinions.
Also, Im not opposed to going out and buying something new, but I figured since I already have all this stuff, I might as well use it.
Thanks

[uberfugu]

Set them all up :D . Then you can have it all and don't have to make any decisions. Of course, another Frogfish-in-a-nano would be nice ;)

[phenom5]

20g as the display w/ the 175W MH, 10g fuge and the 7g as a sump with a skimmer. that's what i would do.

FWIW, be careful with softies and LPS/SPS in small tanks, some of them don't play nice together.:D

[BlennyBabe]

Hmm very tempting, Phenom5. I dont have a stand or anything, but I suppose I could rig something up. How would you suggest the plumming? drill the 20? overflow box?

[phenom5]

do a search for external overflows, that'd be the best way to go IMO. takes a little DIY, but there's lots of threads on the topic here and on nano-reefs.com. best way to go IMO b/c you don't lose any tank space to an overflow, but you don't have the problems of a HOB overflow. also you'd probably want to get the fuge drilled. I would split your drain so it ran to the sump and fuge, then from the fuge to the sump, runs through the skimmer and gets returned. ideally, without considering costs i'd go with a OM squirt on the return...or a SCWD if you are looking to spend a little less.

all in all, a good skimmer and the return running through the OM squirt and the MH lighting and you'd have a sweet little SPS nano setup. come to think of it, that sounds like a bad idea, just send the 3 tanks and the light to me.:thumbsup: