PLEASE POST NANO TANK MAINTENANCE

[lennon]

Hi. I am new and looking to get an in wall tank. Although it is 4 ft long, it is only 61/2 inches in depth.

I was wondering how much maintenance you all are doing iin your nano tanks since I believe this would be considered a long but small tank. How many things do you keep in your nano tanks? And do you have any suggestions on items I should get and species?


thanks so much, I am new so bare with me.

Bella:)

[lReef lKeeper]

here is our nano tank ... it is a 29gal reef system. it will be getting a 29gal sump added this weekend w/ little giant 4e-34nr pump. should be pushing close to 650 gal per hour through there. notice the hang on filters, one is actually a modified skilter (skimmer/filter). when the sump is added ... the skilter will be added to it so it is not seen. not a lot of maint. on this tank. it gets topped of about 2x a week, water changed about once a month, and dosed every week with reef chemicals.

2307

[lennon]

That is a great tank! I love it!!

I am in such a dilemma as to what to do about this tank. I did not buy it yet..but to only be able to keep 3 clown fish in it seems like such a waste.

:(

[lReef lKeeper]

here is a fish compatability chart to kinda help with the delima ...

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm

hope this helps out some.

[mutts]

My little 5 gal is the easyest tank in the house. After the cycle everything (besides a bubble outbreak that has been fixed) has evened out. I do a water change every once and a while, not as much as I should, but everything is doing fine.
I do however do a water change everytime I add somthing new.
This tank has a huge bioload for its size with two fish, a black and white clown and a algea eating blenny.
I use my kneya tree as the sort of cannery in the mine. If it is ever acting weird or not as happy then I look into what could be wrong.
Hope this helps

[lennon]

Hi. Yes, that helps.

The tank I want to get is 32" wide but only 4 1/2 inches front to back. It only holds 8 gallons.

Do you have live rock in there? LS? What filtration do you use?

I am contemplating just doing fresh water since I would need to use ro/di water and make water for the changes etc...

I wish I had the time to really dedicate, but I don't and I would not want to kill any fish :(

Thanks so much for the help.

[mutts]

I know I am going to get yelled at for this but I don't use ro water in this tank... I know I should but I don't! I have a little over 5 lbs of live rock and just enough live sand to cover the bottom, maybe 1/4 an in. I have two fish in there, snails, hermit crabs, feather duster and some coral. Over all as I have said before it is the best tank I have.

I would recomend that you use live rock in your new tank. Mine crashed with in the first week when I tryed to set it up with out it.

[lennon]

I know I am going to get yelled at for this but I don't use ro water in this tank... I know I should but I don't! I have a little over 5 lbs of live rock and just enough live sand to cover the bottom, maybe 1/4 an in. I have two fish in there, snails, hermit crabs, feather duster and some


I don't think you should get yelled out if it works for you :)

My dilemma now is that the garage is on one side of this in wall tank. But the guy at the store said that the heater will maintain the heat in the tank no matter how cold it gets in the garage. I hope he is right.

I am going to do maybe 2 clown fish, critters just as you have, LR..and I am not sure how much sand. I thought they said it should be a DS bed??

So how do you do your water changes. Do you let your water sit out? How do you prepare your tap water then?

I would LOVE to try it this way...please don't yell everyone...but I cannot imagine going out every week to get special water.

Thanks SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for the help. I get so excited when someone actually replies!

p.s. If I can put in the garage, then I can do the 4ft tank instead! Yippeeeee!!:)

[lennon]

Oh Mutt, I forgot to ask you what exactly you use for filtration?
That would help a great deal. And also, what did you mean when you wrote this "I use my kneya tree as the sort of cannery in the mine."

Sorry if I missed something so simple. Bare with me, I am still learning

[Sweetpea]

what did you mean when you wrote this "I use my kneya tree as the sort of cannery in the mine."

Remember in the old days of coal mining when they used to keep canaries (the cute, little yellow songbirds) in the mines to gauge how safe the air was for the miners? If the canaries died, the miners got out quick because they were in danger...

[mutts]

yep tracy got it!!! i know alot of people use urchins in their big tanks for this.

lennon as for my water changes i mix up a large amount of saltwater in a container and store it away. this way whenever i want to change some water i have it right there ready to go. and when i do use a water change i change less then half a gal or so.

as for a filter, i have a hang on the back type that i got from walmart. its one of the smaller ones i think. this works well for me, however i would like more water flow in the tank, other then that it is a very balanced system.

[lennon]

I got what you mean now. I am actually ending up now with a FW tank to start. I figured I should get my feet wet and see how it goes. I know there is alittle less maintenance involved. So I am going to do either a 75 or 90 gallon. Even if I have just a few fish to start, I'll be happy. I got some mixed messages at the fresh water forum. I even got criticized for asking such newbie questions and still being unsure.

Some said "get the bigger tank" some said, "start small".

So I guess I will have to figure it out myself:)

[dakar]

Nobody yells at anyone around here for things... there are actually more folks here than will admit to using tap water in thier SW tanks, some with better quality than others, but whatever works for you does just that... it works for you.

The whole idea is to share information, techniques, and experiences.

[dakar]

begin hijack-

Actually you may be able to find some useful information about FW on another site that I've been working on here and there located at http://www.captivereefing.org it's just a data collection page (no posting) but the search engine is fully functional over around 21,000 posts over the last year.

Contemplating the possibility of expanding CR to include a FW forum as well as I know there are a number of folks here that also maintain FW aquariums. Just haven't decided how useful it may be.

- end hijack

[lennon]

:)
begin hijack-

Contemplating the possibility of expanding CR to include a FW forum as well as I know there are a number of folks here that also maintain FW aquariums. Just haven't decided how useful it may be.

- end hijack

Thanks for the info.

Why don't you do a poll.:)

I would LOVE to see FW here as I have had more luck with the forums here. The FW forum kind of made me feel badly as they tended to sound like they were criticizing me for asking beginner questions.

I think you would get many that would love a FW section since, like you said, many here have both.

Thanks again!

[lReef lKeeper]

i think fresh would be nice to have on here or .org. i had fresh for a looooong time before i got bit by the SALT BUG !!

i DO NOT use RO water either !! but i plan to from now on. i want to see if there is THAT big of a difference in that and my tap water, when it comes to algae.

[mutts]

i get less coraline (sp? i'm too lazy to make sure right now, lol) when i use ro water.

also a fw forum would be nice... most people still have a few fw tanks running and it would be alot earier to pop in with a quick question here (where we all are all the time) then go somewhere else... besides maybe we can talk them over to the salt side mawhahahaha *gasp for air* hahahaha!, lol