Circle C Nano Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 How difficult is maintaining a nano tank? I do have experience keeping salt water aquariums. However, I gave them up because of the maintenace demands (55g and 75g). Been wanting to start another tank so I just bought an Oceanic 14 gal Bio Cube. Of course the pet shops always say that it is a breeze setting up and maintaining. I am looking for some honest hobbyist input. I already own about 50 pounds of cleaned reef rock and sand from my previous tanks I had a few years back. I know that I will need to re-seed the tank with a few new cured pieces. Some concerns. 1. I travel a bit for work so the tank may not be attended to for periods of 3 to 4 days at a time. I would put everything on timers and this would be strictly a coral and invert tank. 2. Do you need a chiller for better success? 3. How often do you need to change the water? Can topping off with DI and just maintaining the specific gravity ok? Do water changes quarterly? 4. Should I use a nano skimmer? Hopefully I can find one that will fit in the sump. 5. Are the factory lights sufficient or is upgrading a must? Do not want to upgrade if possible. 6. Any cleaning tips for algae and other growths on the glass surface. I appreciate any input I can get. I am looking forward to discussing the hobby on this forum. By the way, I do have 45 gallon tank, stand, and light strip that I would trade for a few colorfull small pieces of mushroom corals and polyps. The tank has not had water in it for two years. just making room in my game room. Thanks Circle C Nano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phamily Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 How difficult is maintaining a nano tank? I do have experience keeping salt water aquariums. However, I gave them up because of the maintenace demands (55g and 75g). Been wanting to start another tank so I just bought an Oceanic 14 gal Bio Cube. Of course the pet shops always say that it is a breeze setting up and maintaining. I am looking for some honest hobbyist input. I already own about 50 pounds of cleaned reef rock and sand from my previous tanks I had a few years back. I know that I will need to re-seed the tank with a few new cured pieces. Some concerns. 1. I travel a bit for work so the tank may not be attended to for periods of 3 to 4 days at a time. I would put everything on timers and this would be strictly a coral and invert tank. 2. Do you need a chiller for better success? 3. How often do you need to change the water? Can topping off with DI and just maintaining the specific gravity ok? Do water changes quarterly? 4. Should I use a nano skimmer? Hopefully I can find one that will fit in the sump. 5. Are the factory lights sufficient or is upgrading a must? Do not want to upgrade if possible. 6. Any cleaning tips for algae and other growths on the glass surface. I appreciate any input I can get. I am looking forward to discussing the hobby on this forum. By the way, I do have 45 gallon tank, stand, and light strip that I would trade for a few colorfull small pieces of mushroom corals and polyps. The tank has not had water in it for two years. just making room in my game room. Thanks Circle C Nano I have an Aquapod 24gal (SPS + zoas +fishes) for about a year and just put together a 75gal about 5-6months ago. My nano tank is pretty easy to maintain. I have a Current prime 1/10HP chiller + sapphire skimmer that fits in back + Sunpod 150W MH + Koralia 1 pump. I will try to answer questions, hope it will help you on your new journey:-) 3) I change my water weekly 10-15%; but you can get a way with biweekly higher volume (25%) water changes, I topoff with DI and buffer with part A and B to keep alkalinity and calcium up to par. 5 & 2)Lighting will depends on what corals you going to keep. If you decided to upgrade your light (going with 150W MH) you will need a chiller-->my aquapod got in the mid-high 80s last summer before I add the chiller. But if you going to stay with the stock 2-65W CF then you probably can just add a fan to keep it cool; but will have problem with evaporation...then you need a ATO system. 4) skimmer? It depends on your bioload and how often you willing to change your water. I have about five fishes in my nano (high bioload) so I added a sapphire skimmer +weekly water changes. Sapphire are probably the best nano skimmers in the mkt. Work great !pull out lots of wastes. Sapphire have a custom skimmer that would fit your biocube also. 6) I have a good cleaning crew in my tank to take care of algae. oh those small magnetic glass scraper/cleaner are awesome too. My best advice for you is to start out with deciding what type of corals and livestocks you want to keep. Then customize your equipment purchases to help nurture them. nano-reef.com is an excellent website to read on nanoers' experience in seting up and maintaining their tanks. good luck! pham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 It can be easy if you move slow and don't add too much stuff to the tank. Do your research on your corals. Make sure you put hardy species that will do under the low light conditions of the stock cube. Otherwise you are going to have to drop the cost of the cube+ on a lighting upgrade. If you aren't going to put any fish in the tank it will greatly reduce its maintenance. Basically the place people mess up the most is feeding. I only feed my fish twice a week (And they eat everything). I only feed corals that benefit from direct feeding with a syringe. I don't use a chiller, I don't use a skimmer, all I do is change the water and dose Ca. BioCube 29 replacing bio balls with ruble (90% of the way there, removing 10% of the balls and replacing with rock on a monthly bases) removed stock carbon filter and use a nylon bag filled with carbon in the 3rd chamber and I put floss on the trickle filter to catch the big stuff. placed heater in chamber 1. everything else is stock 40 species of coral a diverse clean up crew with shrimp, crabs, sea stars and 5 types of snails (Key) 4 fish (dwarf lion, sixline wrasse, yellow wrasse, clown) I introduced the fish one by one over the course of 6 months to allow the system to handle the load. I have left for week long vacations before and its been ok. One time the heater failed and I lost some coral but it is because I was cheap and turned my furnace off and it happened to freeze that week. Anyway, its all worth it. I love having a marine tank. I will never not have one. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I echo what the about two said ... nano's are not that hard to maintain. I think the main thing you might find is missing the large space to put more corals I have had my 24 gallon Aquapod set up for almost 2 years now. I have my tank blog on ARC which chronicles part of the history. And I also have a more in-depth history at this site. Man ... I would so be tempted in that 45 gallon tank/stand/light ... but I just can shell out the money to start up a whole new tank right now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circle C Nano Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Thanks for the input. I've decided to set up my 8 gallon Biocube as salt. I already have plenty of bleached reef rock and sand. How much live sand do you think I would need to re seed the tank? Should I also put a few small pieces of freshly cure rock as well? Looks like this forum may also be a good source for some seed stock. Thanks again. Circle C Nano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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