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Advice for setting up nano cube.


Dixon1990

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Why don't you listen to the people who have been there, done that, and know that it is extremely hard to do, and extremely hard to make it look good? If you are going to do a marine tank, don't even try doing anything under a 3 foot tank, preferably over 200L's. Yes people will say 'but i have this size tank and its fine' but its not easy to look after, and requires a lot of effort. Trust me, i tried to do a 60L tank, an even after spending $600 + it failed on me because i still didn't have the correct stuff.

Answer this question - Do you have $1500 to dedicate to a marine tank? If yes, then go for it, but get a bigger tank, if no, then don't even try.

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20L way too small mate.. if you want a small tank for fish go for 150L or so... Couple of clowns and a small goby... One thing you have to remember is that unlike freshwater fish, most gobies are wild caught... So although you have a certain responibility to care for freshwater fish as they are live animals, this responsibility is amplified with marine fish as they are caught in extremely fragile ecosystems. Because of this, it is PIVOTAL that you do alot of research BEFORE you get into it... Ask questions for sure, but do lots of reading first... Chimera has put a selection of links at the top of the page, there is another NZ site for marines so check that out. Also check out Reefcentral, Reefs.org, Advanced aquarist mag (read the archives too), Reefkeeping mag, Ozreef etc... Rant over...

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sorry dixon but they kinda do have some good points.

yeah my nano sorta fell into my hands and works well, but it has still cost me a bit of money to get going. and you do seem to have heaps of projects going at the same time. maybe you should get some of the other tanks going and established? and then do the marine later when can give it all your attention

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Nanos can definately be done but as i said to you Dixon i think it helps if you have quite a bit of experience with marine tanks in general. This gives you the background knowledge to know whats "going on in a tank"

I have an 8 litre pico which has been up and running for the best part of a year and i find it rather easy to maintain and very enjoyable.

I think it is important to realise the limitations of a nano, in terms of what you can keep and what the system will handle. I imagine if you had no background it may be very easy to overfeed or get bad coral combinations, fiddle too much etc, that sort of thing

Things can definately go bad quickly if you are not watching things closely. In saying that i have not found it any less stable than a larger tank because the bioload is in proportion to the size of the tank. The only thing receiving direct food is one sun coral polyp. The only tricky parameter i have found is temperature. When i had it in a hotter spot it definately wasnt happy. Now i have a good spot it is doing great.

All my corals are second or third generation frags so they are hardier than wild corals. Currently i have Green Star polyps, Candy Cane, Rhodactis and Discosoma Mushrooms, Zooanthids, Torch Coral, Xenia, Yellow Sarcophyton, Blue Turbinaria,Yellow Sun Coral, Yellow Polyps,Orange Monti Cap and Some Blue Tip Acropora.

The Tank has a Hush 5 Power filter running Seachem Seagel, a 9w Pc Blue/White bulb and a elite mini heater.

I do a 50 % water change every fortnight and feed the tank 1 drop of JBL Koral Fluid every day and feed the suncoral a couple of brineshrimp 3 times a week. The seagel is changed every month. Thats all i do for maintenance.

I think another point worth adding is this is the only tank i have to look after( with the exception of the shop) so it gets my undivided attention at home. Also i am happy with what it can keep and dont want to try pushing it with too much livestock etc. If i was starting with marine i think there maybe a tendancy to want to keep more corals, fish etc and you may not be happy with a small tanks limitations.

Ok i have waffled on a bit more than i planned, just wanted to get my experiences with my pico tank across.

Kind Regards John

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The Tank has a Hush 5 Power filter running Seachem Seagel, a 9w Pc Blue/White bulb and a elite mini heater.

I do a 50 % water change every fortnight and feed the tank 1 drop of JBL Koral Fluid every day and feed the suncoral a couple of brineshrimp 3 times a week. The seagel is changed every month. Thats all i do for maintenance.

I will have a Hush 10 and i will have more than enough time to do Maintanence/ water changes. I wont be starting it till early January. Will have to come have another talk to you about coral combination when i come to buy salt,sand and anything else i need. :)

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but thats all part of starting out

But it need not be - that is what is good about this forum and being able to ask questions - you can learn from other people's mistakes and avoid the expense and disappointment. Its just my view, but I don't think starting out with a little tank is the best option - it is the most likely setup to fail, the most likely to disappoint, and the most likely to send your money down the drain.

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Wilson, it *should* cost that much, because if it doesn't, then you don't have a good setup. The MAIN part of a marine tank is a skimmer. You need a good skimmer to have a good tank (yes people do it without skimmers but they have other forms of nutrient export - skimmers are easiest!) even for a small tank you should budget at least $300-$400 for a skimmer. Yea theres crappy air lift skimmers etc out there, but as i said, they are CRAPPY.

But it need not be - that is what is good about this forum and being able to ask questions - you can learn from other people's mistakes and avoid the expense and disappointment. Its just my view, but I don't think starting out with a little tank is the best option - it is the most likely setup to fail, the most likely to disappoint, and the most likely to send your money down the drain.

Listen to this man! He is 100% correct.

P.S. all of the above is my views, and i take no responsibility for anything i say :lol:

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I am in two minds about small nano tanks,

But i think if you are going small then at least get good quality filtration as suggest by evil.

Pointless doing it on the cheap for a nano, maybe go 3ft and do it cheaply as you will have more margin for error than a smaller tank.

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Pointless doing it on the cheap for a nano, maybe go 3ft and do it cheaply as you will have more margin for error than a smaller tank.

That is a good point - it doesn't cost that much more to do a lightly stocked 3 footer instead of a nano, and it is much easier to manage - plus Dixon already has a spare 3' tank.

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