Setting up a small Nano Tank

NemoNano

NemoNano

New Member
Hi guys,

I ordered my tank I think it is going to be a little over 3 gallons. It is the RedSea wave.

http://www.redseafish.com/Product.asp?d ... &proID=259

I also picked up an AquaClear 20 power filter.

I am now looking around now for a heater for my small tank.

I am not too sure what size to get. Would a 25W be too much for a small 3G nano tank?

What would be a good choice for this small nano tank?

Thanks,

Eric
 
D

dragon79

New Member
the 25 watter should be fine, just as long as you can fit it, you know? I've seen the Redsea wave, but when I went with a pico tank, I chose the Redsea Melody, had a better look to it that I liked :)
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
I also say the 25 watt heater would be the best choice. Heaters smaller than 25 watts do not have a thermostat and they basically heat the water up a few degrees whether it needs it or not. Skip
 
M

mikeguerrero

Active Member
I purchased the 25 watt heater by marineland for my new pico setup....

Mike G.

Dragon stole my titanium heater for his 6 gallon cube.....
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
I think I remember reading that one of the 2x18 watt fixtures fit perfectly over the tank. Do you know the overall length of the tank you purchased?
 
NemoNano

NemoNano

New Member
Hi Skipm,

I the tank is 11.25 x 8 x 8".

Hi Steven,

That is a real nice tank, what kind of fish/inverts are in your tank?

Thanks,

Eric
 
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dragon79

New Member
it's a retired tank, I now have the nanocube 6 gallon that I've had up since March this year.

What you see in the link is what I had for the most part.
 
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drty811

New Member
http://nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=930

heres another link to the same tank....i also have one of these tanks. picked it up for $5.00 at my LFS. had it set up for a month, didnt have the time to take care of three tanks or the money, so i scratched the wave tank. might set it up in the future. oh i had 25watt heater, coralife 18w fixture, and AC mini filter. loved the set up didnt have the time.
 
NemoNano

NemoNano

New Member
Hi Guys,

I picked up a 25W marineland heater. I have not seen any 12" coralife lights at my LFS but next time I am there I will see if they can order me one.

What types of coral's could I have in this small nano setup?

Thanks,

Eric
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
You would mainly want to put mushrooms and polyps in a tank of this size but you could have other soft and LPS frags if you can find small enough specimens and have a plan for them when they grow. Be careful about any corals with sweeper tentacles, you don't have the room in a tank this size for a stinging war. HTH, Skip
 
NemoNano

NemoNano

New Member
RE

Hi guys,

My new tank is coming next week. I would like to get the water in and the filter running soon after. I was just going to use filtered tap water, is that ok for this small nano tank or do I need to buy a RO system? I have been using filter tap water for my 33G FOWLR tank for a while with no problem, is this hard on coral? Also I want to have a sand substrate I was just going to pick up a bag of LS, is this the best Substrate to get? Is there anything more I should get before I add my water? I will wait a week after I have the water in my tank before I add the LR.

Thanks,

Eric
 
NemoNano

NemoNano

New Member
RE:

Hi Reefman23,

If I have to get a RO filter I will have to wait a month or two to come up with the cash, but I want to build this tank right



What is the difference between RO and RO+DI?

They are only $80 more is it worth the extra money.

Here is the RO I was looking at, Is this a good one to buy?

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/stor ... =ro-kbb024

Here is the RO+DI I was looking at, Is this a good one to buy?

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/stor ... =ro-afb050

Thanks guys for all your help!

Eric
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
The RO filter you linked to is for city water only so if you have well water this will not work. It is a bare bones type filter and you could get by with this but the RO/DI is a better filter. If you begin looking at RO membranes you will see that they usually have something like an 85 or 90% rejection rate, this means that 10-15% of the stuff we're trying to remove is still getting through. This is where the DI part of the filter comes in, it removes almost all of the stuff the RO membrane allows to pass by.
One thing to check into before you buy an RO unit is some fish stores sell RO or RO/DI water, if one of the stores in your area sells water like this you could just buy it and save the expense of an RO unit until later (it will get old lugging jugs of water back and forth after awhile). HTH, Skip

PS You may also want to look for an RO unit on Ebay, they usually have some pretty good models at a fair price. Feel free to post a link to one of those if you want second opinions.
 
NemoNano

NemoNano

New Member
Hi Skipm,

Thanks for the information; I know if I would ask the LFS they would just tell me I would need a $1500 one. I will pick up a RO/DI filter in the New Year; I will have to wait until then to start my tank.

Is there anything more I should budget for? Do you need a power head in a small tank like that? How about supplements for coral?

Here is my list of what I was going to get.
Tank, filter, heater, light, LR 4 lbs., LS small bag, I already have all the test kits.

Thanks,

Eric
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
You may or may not need a powerhead depending on how you LR is arranged, where you place you filter, etc. If you were to add a powerhead here is a link for one that would work well, it has a small footprint and an adjustable flowrate: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... unze_pumps . You may also want to have a small thermometer, here is one that has worked well for quite a few nano reefers: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... gory_Code= . As you can see it is very small but does the job quite well.
The main supplements I would recommend would be a 2 part calcium/alkalinity additive. There are several on the market, some examples are C-Balance, B-Ionic (my fav.), Kent Tech A-B. Kent also has a newer one out formulated for nanotanks but I have not used it (but I do like other Kent products so I may give it a try later on sometime). The only other thing I use for corals is food designed for filter feeders, I mainly use Kents phytoplex, zzoplex, and chromaplex. Cycolpeeze is another food that is great for corals but it may not be available in your area. HTH, Skip
 
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