Advice Needed

[scoobyandy]

Hi there, I wanted to set up a small marine tank using an old tank I have. I am a beginner and don't know much about marine tanks The tank I have is only a 10 gallon tank. I only wanted to have a couple of clown fish and maybe a crab. Nothing major. Is this possible or not or shall I just keep it tropical and put a tropical crab in there instead. Thanks in advance

 

[fowler]

One thing I can tell you I have found out is, the smaller the marine tank the harder it is to keep, because if something goes wrong, it builds up extremely quick..

at 10 gal ur talking nano tanks so id think carefully before you do go ahead with it. B)

 

[Navarre]

As has been said, small tanks can be done and they do look stunning when done properly. However, the smaller the volume of water the faster things can go wrong. For beginners this means they dont always see the danger signs and thus they have tank crashes and loss of livestock. Whilst i would be the last to say you should not try it, i would like you to take a good amount of research on the subject before you spend out hard earnt cash.

Liverock for example.. its not cheap nor is hte lighting etc. All of these will have to be purchased as the freshwater equipment you might have will be of no use.

 

[j0rzeh]

It is possible to setup a small marine tank however the best tank to setup as a small marine tank is the Aqua one 380 tank, reason! is it has good lighting a T5 as standard and a good biomax filter, use live sand and rock to help ur filter cope and use a good powerhead or a fuvel 104 filter to move the water a skimmer is kinda hard to use on this type of tank i made mine myself but im sure you can get a micro skimmer for a tank i have 5lbs of LR in one of thease tanks and the next planned mod is to use a T5 antic 18W light

water change once a week of 20%

2 clowns and afew inverts looks good does good downside ? costs as much as a 100Lr tank to setup

 

[Lynden]

Anything under 33 gallons (im canadian and cant convert to litres well yet, sorry) is considered a nano reef aquarium, and recommended for experts only. But, if you were to get some advice from the experts on this site, Im sure you could set one up. How much expirience do you have with freshwater and/or fish only saltwater? Although freshwater is a world away from saltwater, it can still help to get some expirience with freshwater first.


And a protein skimmer? if you understand the concept of a skimmer, it is actually very simple to construct your own custom model(oh sorry, you already have!). For light? all you need to do is run down to the store and pickup a few bulb compact flourescents, and mount them on to some sockets in the hood. Animals? well, if clownfish are your fancy, you could have a pair of small amphiprion species, with a few pounds of live rock and sand, with some crabs, maybe a small shrimp, some tough snails, and a nice big anemone right in the middle. I have a ten gallon that I might turn into a nano, and ive calculated the price of the hardware, including a filter and a heater, plus the LR and LS, to be under $300, and even with the animals, being way less than $500 total.


Nanos can look absolutely beautiful when maintained, but i personally prefer bigger tanks, because they often look just as or more beautiful and you have more room for animals. also, i have been told(and now believe) that the protein skimmer takes care of most things that a water change would remove, and I only do water changes, on all of my tanks, every few months. But you might not want to listen to me !

Good luck on the tank !

 

[steelhealr]

Well....expert? I don't think you need to be an expert to startup or run a nano tank. Everything you've read here is true. A 10 gallon IS harder to take care of, but, you can do it if you want a challenge. I'd like to think of them as a subcategory of marine systems. There are several things you will need to start up your ten gallon system. Here's a list:

1) Research
2) Reading
3) Patience
4) Reading
5) Curiosity
6) More reading

Navarre's comments are true...the main difference between a nano reef and a larger mini-reef is that if you don't recognize a developing problem early on, you don't have the margin of error to backpedal like you do with a larger marine system. Disaster in a nano tank comes swiftly and is commonly disastrous. Does that mean you must be an expert or that you shouldn't start one? No. It means that research, reading and preparation is virtually mandatory before startup.

By definition, anything under 29 gallons is a nano reef, however, most extend that to 30 gallons or even a little more. My recommendations for right now would be to stroll through your local lfs or aquarium,look at the marine setups, look thru pix on this forum and then consider your budget. If nano reefing fits for you, then, hit the forums and the books. We're all here to help get you up and running. SH

PS...my nano reef: http/i3.photobucket.com/albums/y55/steelhealr/nano82.jpg

 

[Lynden]

I agree with you, its just other people have told me they are for experts only. As for the research.... well, im not the most sociable person ever, and I spent the first half of grade 8 in the library or on the internet researching marine animals, and I actually spent alot of time here as a guest!

I dont think that smaller tanks are nececcarily harder to maintain than larger tanks. As for nanos, I have been trying to encourage my beginner friend into setting up one, with my help, of course.

 

[steelhealr]

Chestnut..they ARE difficult ..AT TIMES. Most of the time it can be smooth sailing but there is always 5-10 minutes of work to do on them daily. If they are for experts only, then, I must be misinformed about my status. I had no marine experience when I set this up 6 months ago. Navarre......am I an expert now? ROFLMAO. SH

 

[Navarre]

Well SH... you are probably the most experienced member here regarding nanos. You input and experiences with your system is one of the best documented here on TFF. The term expert is a very high label indeed however and even i dont consider myself an expert by any means on reef tanks. We all learn something each and every day about this hobby.


What concerns me more however is some of the advice given ealier in this post...

For light? all you need to do is run down to the store and pickup a few bulb compact flourescents, and mount them on to some sockets in the hood.

This might be ok for afish only system but most nanos are reef setups as they can only hold a small number of fish, the corals take a higher roll in the looks of the tank. Once you start wanting polyps and corals then the lighting becomes a very i mportant factor and not just a case of running down the shops and getting the first things off the shelves.

Animals? well, if clownfish are your fancy, you could have a pair of small amphiprion species, with a few pounds of live rock and sand, with some crabs, maybe a small shrimp, some tough snails, and a nice big anemone right in the middle.

I wish it was this simple!

Just a few pound of liverock in a 30 gallon system wont cut it.. 3 pounds of liverock in a 10 gallon system wont cut it.. you need 1 lbs per gallon of tank, any less and you are putting enormous strain on the filtration of the tank and in a nano system you just dont want to tank these kind of risks.

As for throwing in an anenome...

Ignore the comments and dont try it. The type of lighting needed for an anenome is very specialised and usually creates heating problems with a nano. Anenomes grow large.. probaly larger than the nano, they need perfect water conditions and extremly powerful lights. Just throwing them in a system with a "nemo" fish to see them interact is dangerous and bad advise.

I have said this before and i will probably say this many times more on this forum. For every 100 anenomes caught in the wild, 1 will survive to reach the wholesalers. For every 100 that leave the wholesalers, 1 will live past 1 year in a home aquarium. Considering they have a life expenctancy that stretches into 100s of years you can see this is an appawling survival rate. (Yes there are anenomes out there that were around before america was discovered.. probably even some that were around when crist was alive!

Getting an anenome just to house a clownfish is wrong. These is no guarentee that the clowns will even take to the anenome.

I guess i will climb down off my soap box again now.. sorry but i will always try and put right what i feel is wrong or just plain bad advise.

 

[steelhealr]

Well said. Perhaps someone should do an anemone thread and have it pinned. SH

 

[Opcn]

Anemones are expert only, they have the ability to be a major problem for your tank and out of the anemonies that are commonly available only a few stay smaller then the length of a ten gallon tank and host clowns.