Well I just got back from Corpus and got a lot of dry dead sand and crushed shells/mixture. I'm a student and wanting to start a nano. I had a 20 gallon for a few months and then ditched it because money was gone and had to move. Well I pretty much still have nothing, but trying again and want to stay small so it can be moved easily, but also want to have a good tank. I have collected a 10 AGA, 13 watt Actitnic (left over), 50 wattt Ebo Jager, I have two minijet 606's, and sand. That is about it.

Well for my ideas.

I'm thinking about taking the 10 AGA and putting an acrylic divider in it. One side will be main tank, one side will be refugium. I can either have water overflow into the refugium and then pumped back into main ( thiis way the pumps will be hidden, so nothing in main tank)
The other way would be where watter is pumped into the refugium and overlows back in. Tthis would mean powerheads are seen, but i heard tthihs is better cause pods can get inito main tank without being killed by prop blades of powerhead. Also this helps feeds ur corals??? not sure on that.

My other possiblity would be to just use thhe entire 10 gallon, and grow some cauperla on one end to help (somewhat refugium). (with this though i would need more lighting, more rock, and more corals to fill itt out, thus this equals more money tto invest). Still would be easy to move it.

My last idea would be to use the entire 10 and putt a smaller tank, maybe above or taller on side to be a separate refugium, this would also requirie more money and thus more to move in my apt. life.

I think the first three would be better, but I have no idea which is the best setup. Any opinions?

This will also be a slow process, and I know I told a few people that I was interested in stuff they were selling, and I"m sorry for not gettting back to you, but I have been pretty busy and this project is at a snails speed right now, which is good for acclimating everything

Also depending on what I pick, I will be looking for 13 watt lighting, maybe higher if I do entire 10 gallon. Right now mostly dry goods, since it will be a month probably before I get it filled.