Help me plan my new Nano :)

[Pseudo Gregoree]

ok so i work at my lfs so price isnt too big of a deal here. I am stepping down from my 75 gal tank to a nano due to greeat rules living at a college dorm.

heres what we have so far...

1 the nano with refugium available from chris on nano-reef.com.
1 bad of white reef sand sold at our store
10 lbs fiji live rock
i already have a mini heater and mini jet for water movement as well as a huge supply of caulerpa and copepods for the refugium.

I dont think im going to do any kinds of filtration besides biological, we sell a mini skimmer at the store but a properly seeded refugium should be even better right?

chris, something was mentioned on RC about your tanks getting too hot with the fitted 32w light? what can you tell me about this?

what are some good fish for a nano? I am thinking about some kind of small blenny or goby for a little sand cleaning and maybe some kind of small clown or well obviously something small, and maybe a shrimp? is that too much bio load?

next, lets talk corals? whats gonna grow, whats not? obviously mushrooms are gonna be perfect.... but lets see some other options?

I am thinking a higher sand bed in the back than in the front... maybe like 1.5 inch in the front and 2 in the back?


i am pretty knowledgeable about marine and reef setupis in general but i am totally new to nano's and this will be my first refugium setup... is there anything i need to do to get the refug. going....

all help of course is VERY appreciated....

i am going to post this on RC as well just to get as many replies as possible...so dont get ticked when you read it over there too :)

thanks guys
Greg

[Machine is Organic]

Hi Greg

I have a nano (7 gal) and I will live in the dorms again next year too so I know where you are coming from! But actually I enjoy it imensly!

"what are some good fish for a nano? "
I have 2 green clown gobies and they are great! They sit on my corals and stare at me--they are quite comical. Also a friend of mine asked me to keep his percula clown since he is upgrading his tank.

"next, lets talk corals? whats gonna grow, whats not? obviously mushrooms are gonna be perfect.... but lets see some other options? "
I have a mushroom colony, zooanthlids, red open brain. These are all doing very well. I had a huge leather that didnt do well, but i think it was beacuse of the hood I have and the way the lights are arranged. I think something like candycoral or smaller, non-branching corals would work okay. You probably will have to frag more often if they grow too big.

You also should be fine with the refugium- im in the process of setting one up too.

Let me know how it goes!
Callie

[Rock Anemone]

I would make your sand bed about 3 inches or 2 inches and have it pile up against the liverock.

What type of lighting are you planning on? Untill we know we can't tell you what corals you can keep.

I would suggest a small blenny or goby and a clownfish pair. You could also get a small cleaner shrimp. Also, about 7 snails... :)


Hope This Helps!
Rock Anemone:D