10 Gallon Nano Reef

[tetraman]

Even though I'm kind of new to the hobby, I am stunned by nano reefs. How hard would it be to keep a 10 gallon nano reef with a damselfish and some clownfish?

 

[Mr.September15]

My friend had a damsel and his clowns in the same tank, the damsel kept picking on the clowns...I'm not sure if thats how all damsels are but yeah...Also its recommended that Damsels be kept alone in a 10gallon.

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, damsels do NOT mix well with any other fish in a tank as small as 10g. They'll kill anything else in the tank

 

[tetraman]

Ok, but how about the other questions. That was just a random set of fish, I guess I would just keep clowns. How hard would it be?

 

[tetraman]

Hello?!

 

[pleder]

Smaller tanks are more challenging because of the lack of water volume. if you just want to keep a clown fish and had sufficnet liverock for biologial filtration and stayed on top of maintence it would not be to diffucult.

It depends on your level of dedication on what you define as hard.

 

[Mr.September15]

IMO, I think keeping the clowns would be quite easy...With the right parameters they will live long and thrive lol I hope I dont get sued by Kaiser Hospital for taking that...Yeah plus damsels are the spawn of satan! I think Ski Fletch told me that once...Yeah I think he did.

 

[tetraman]

I usually have at least a free hour every day, and I'll have more when football ends. I simply don't have the funds for something much larger then 30 gallons.

 

[tetraman]

How big a tank would you recommend for a first time reef?

 

[SkiFletch]

At least 30 and if you can afford it, a 65 or 75 is a GREAT beginner size

 

[tetraman]

I could split up the fish that are in the 30 now over time and use it as a reef. Could I use a smaller tank for just coral?

 

[SkiFletch]

You can use a smaller tank, it'll just require lots of research and lots of patience. Bad things can happen really fast in a nano so you really need to stay on top of things with one. Water changes, vaccuming and water topups need to be performed very regularly and very frequently in order to achieve success. Larger tanks can be left alone longer and are more forgiving to a newb aquarists mistakes, hence I reccomend them for beginners. But lots of people start their own nanos as first tanks so if your budget requires, go for it

 

[tetraman]

Yes, I'm 13, so my budget defininitly requires. I wonder if that's what I'll do with the 10 or 20 gallon I'm getting soon.

 

[Mr.September15]

Yupp Skifletch helped me with starting up my nano. Actually he still is helping me . Yah so if you have a choice between the 2 (The 10gal and the 20gal) go for the 20. Plus you get to have more fishies to watch and of course take care for .

 

[tetraman]

Yeah, but I don't know if the funds are there. I was only going to keep a few clownfish.