Pico/nano Tank - 20L (~5 Gallon)

[NickAu]

Ok you got me interested, How do you go in summer? Do you need a water chiller? I live in Northern NSW  and it gets hot here. Like I said I would love something like that but need lots of info, I have a new 30 liter cube doing nothing, and I am not afraid of spending a few bucks.
 
This is my Betta cube, I got all the Anubias at a LFS each plant was between $15 and $20 and the cube was $129 the heater was $50 and the filter $29. Im not saying this to boast rather showing that Im not afraid of parting with a few bucks because I enjoy nice tanks.
 

 

[HarpyFishLover]

I have exactly the same question as NickAu. How do you keep your tank water cold enough in the summers? In my house the temp gets up to 80+ F, in the room it's in.

 

[tunagirll]

That's a beauty of a betta cube! I love it Nick

 
I'm happy to share my saltwater noob learning anytime! It is really enjoyable and the challenge stepping up from fresh is a lot of fun.
 
In hot weather, I use a surface fan that screws onto the side of the tank. I have it plugged into a timer that starts it around 8 or 9am and turns it off about 7pm. I leave the heater in the tank and on in case it gets too cold! I've seen it produce a good 10 degree difference from ambient, no problem. There is a switch on the fan and I just turn it off if the weather isn't going to be overly warm. I try to keep this tank at 24-26 degrees.
 
For a small tank this works quite well. I just have to be cautious that I am not 'over cooling' my tank and of course I need to top it up much more religiously because of evaporation.
 
Here is the fan I personally use:
http/www.aquariumgalleryperth.com.au/collections/heaters-chillers/products/cooling-fan-2-fans-aus-plug
 
This is my local LFS

 

[NickAu]

Ok I have one of those for my Betta tank. Do you use fresh water for top ups? I use Ro water for top ups, Because while water evaporates the solids do not, I would think its the same with salt.

 

[tunagirll]

You're on the money - it's the same with salt. Because it's such a small tank, I buy 4 litre bottles of distilled at the shops. I mark a line on the side of the tank so I know how much to top up. I top up daily and a 4 litre bottle normally lasts a week or two.

 

[tunagirll]

Small update: I pulled the skimmer and cleaned it; the intake was clogged. I noticed the pump wasn't working either, and ultimately found it was unplugged! :O Lots of debris flying around the tank now!
 
Now thing seem to be settling down I will be pulling the rock this weekend, removing and fragging the toadstool coral and having a crack at removing some of the algae. Hopefully the water is clean enough now that the algae will stop growing.

 

[tunagirll]

Another small update; chaotic week leading to no time to do work over the weekend! My new zoas closed up a bit, hopefully it's just something in the tank (chemical warfare) that has bothered them.

 

[NickAu]

Photos?

 

[tunagirll]

The colours are a little bit weird, but here it is as of 5 minutes ago - I still plan to empty the tank this weekend if I can and do some major works.
 

 

[NickAu]

It looks great to me.

 

[tunagirll]

It's certainly on the mend! Just wait until it's in its full glory though!

 

[Ninjouzata]

It looks gorgeous! Good job fixing it back up. What sort of major work are you going to be doing?

 

[tunagirll]

Cut down the toadstool coral, give the sand bed another deep clean, secure some of the loose structures on the live rock with reef gum. Remove a couple of frags that haven't recovered. Fresh phosban! Remove as much green hair algae as I can, manually. Try to remove some of the green star polyp or at least reduce its taking over the live rock. 80% water change.
 
I wouldn't normally do so much stuff, but this is what happens when the tank isn't maintained properly. All he had to do was a 50% change once a week!

 

[gmc1]

Hope it settles for you.pain having to go in to tank so much.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Wow, a lot of work!
 
Lets hope once you do these last few jobs that things will start to go back to what they should be to your satisfaction.