Nano Question

[Nikkoli110]

Hey guys,
I have a 29 gallon reef setup at my house, but I would like to start something small at my office. I have seen pics of peoples nano's all over the web and stuff, but I was wondering how small of a tank you can actually keep stuff in. I was thinking possibly a 2.5 to a 7 gallon nano. Does anyone have any pics of there with specs? I have room on my desk, and I am at work all the time. My parents run the company so I have the ok to bring in something. I was wondering also what people keep in them? Small zoo's, shrooms and stuff? Anyone have any inverts in them? Shrimp, etc? And what about like a neon goby? Or would that be better off in a 10+? I'd just like to see some pics and descriptions of your equipment and livestock. Thanks alot!!

 

[Moe_K]

In an older edition of Coral, they did a good feature on nanos. Some of them were tiny!
I tried a 5 gal tank for 18 months now, and it's a cespool. Water qulity is way too hard for me to maintain. I'm chaning the 5 gal to a 20 gal.

 

[Nikkoli110]

Yea I can imagine. I'm wondering if maybe I do a 7, and do weekly water changes. I dont know, maybe I should go freshwater for a small tank like that. But still, if anyone has some pics and specs out there, and how frequently you change your water, run the lights, etc.

 

[Bitingthesun]

I've had a successful 5 before. It had a 13 watt light and zoos and a pistol shrimp / yellow head goby pair, mushrooms etc. It had a little penguin HOB filter that just ran for water movement and I think a little Rio power head too. I did top offs/water changes with gallons of distilled water and it ran great for years.

 

[dz6t]

The little tanks are hard to maintain unless you have a 20 gallon sump for a 2.5 gallon nano. Then, it should not be called a nano, it is stupid.

 

[JustDavidP]

I had a nice 12 gallon ViAqua nano at my offfice. I took it down because my schedule/travel made it too hard to maintain.

I had 2 18W PC's on it and kept shrimp, snails, crabs, one juvenile bangai cardinal, leather coral, mushrooms, zoanthids etc.

I used a single powerhead and a mini-cascade filter for water flow. I loved that nano... was sad to have to break it down. It's now my planted neon tetra tank...in the office.

Dave

 

[Nikkoli110]

Wow that was very nice. I would love to do something like that, but don't have that much room...Maybe some day when I have my own office...
I was thinking a 7 gallon nano with some lr and ls from my current tank, and then some mushrooms, zoos, few crabs and snails, and a shrimp. I dont know tho, and yea dz6t I have seen some of those, and it is pretty dumb. I wouldnt go that far, I would rather have the 20 gallon tank and a 2.5 fuge or something. Does anyone have any other pics and specs on their nano's? I had a 10 gallon set up before I bought my 29, but it was overstocked, and I really did it before I was educated about saltwater tanks. (ie no live rock, huge fish, crushed coral, no skimmer, and yea one of those little tresure boxes) Now I guess I'm getting past my newbie stage, have lots of books and info and read constantly about sw tanks and everything. Gotta love message boards! I would just love to have something at work, that I would be able to take care of and watch a little out of my day, take some stress out of work and lighten up my day a little.

 

[JustDavidP]

The 12 gallon ViAqua has a small footprint (10X15X18). That's why I got it originally. However, it is deeper than most tanks of the same volume. Lighting the lower reef was tough.

 

[Steve H]

check out nano-reef.com

 

[shawn]

I've got a 1-gallon that I've been experimenting with - a red sea aquavase with a 7w 6k flourecent, nano-filter, and 50w heater. I think it all cost about $45 bucks. All I've got in there is some GSP, some pink encrusting gorg, red mushrooms, a snail, and a hermit, just to see how things go. It's been a couple of months so far, and now I'm keeping my eye out for the "right" piece of rock to get things going. (everything is on small rocks on the sand right now). Water quality seems ok, but I only feed one tiny pellet a day.