thinking of starting a nano tank......

squirt_12 · 11-24-2007, 10:49 AM

ok well i have been with FW tanks for a while now about 6 years. I am starting to get bored of it and have been very sucessful. So i am thinking of settig up a SMALL SW tank...around 2-3g just to start. I know that they are harder to maintain and everything but i am very passionate when it comes to my tanks and i would take good care of it.

What i would want to put in it is just some sand (don't exactly know the kind i would get..not familliar with it yet) 1-2 lbs of live rock (small) and then maybe stocking with some zoanthids and maybe a few inverts.

some tips and suggestions and some help would be nice....thanks

dobejazz · 11-24-2007, 12:07 PM

Welcome to TRT

I'd look into the small biocubes or JBJ nano cubes 2-3 gallons is really going to be difficult

squirt_12 · 11-24-2007, 02:15 PM

i know that it is going to be hard but i am trying to get some info on them so that i can make up my mind if i should or not.

What equipment would i need???

matt24 · 11-25-2007, 07:44 PM

You will out grow a 3 gallon tank quickly. I'd either go with the biggest tank you can afford, or pick up a biocube(buy a heater and your set).

OIIIIIO · 11-26-2007, 05:09 PM

I started out with a 20g nano-reef after being with FW for a while (100g african cichlids). About 3 months into the reef, I wish I had gone much larger. I started and almost finished a 40g before deciding to get out of FW completely. I sold all of my FW fish and equipment and I'm in the process of building a 75g to upgrade the 20g reef instead of the 40g. 75g is the largest I could go with in the room I have but would have loved to go much larger.

YLChik · 11-26-2007, 05:23 PM

Would you consider a 10 gallon tank set up. a pico tank like that is really hard even for people that have been in sw for a long time. Part of the sw game is chemistry balancing. Makign sure the water has a balance. The large the volume of water the easier this balance is to maintain.

I FULLY understand not wanting to go with a huge tank, but in this hobby a 29 gallon tank is still a nano tank. Consider a standard 10 gallon tank with teh same plan you had and you will have a bit more water to work with and not that much more room.

It is possible to set up a 10 gallon sw with a hob filter for flow and live rock as your filtration. You will need morebthan stock lighting if you are going to go with corals.

Hope this helps you.

superjohnny · 12-02-2007, 07:49 PM

The problem with tanks <10 gallons is there is no margin for error. Mess up your salinity or let any of your parameters get out of whack and you start losing fish or corals and in the saltwater hobby that gets expensive. I started with a 6 that I watched *very* carefully, but it was only up for a few months before I stepped up to a 10g. And while the 10g was much nicer & easier, I eventually upgraded to a 24g Aquapod. Having had it for more than a year it's just about the right size for some corals, a few fish, shrimp, crabs etc and I'm happy with it. Finding balance in your aquarium is imperative with a SW setup and that is much easier with a larger tank. If you want a small aquarium save yourself some trouble and go straight for a 24-30g tank to start. It's really not that big.

Good luck

reginanmc · 12-02-2007, 11:04 PM

i too was looking into the smallest tank i could find. I wanted to go 5g but after i read around and went around to the LFS looking at actual tanks, I ended up going with an 8g Oceanic. I've just started it, so i can't say how it's going, but it seemed anything smaller than 5-6g was just gambling with lives.

Look forward to seeing your build.

Peace