New to Nanos; some basic questions

[jenniedee]

Hello! I'm new to these forums but have spent some time reading and have to say it's been a great source of information. I've got some books on reef aquariums coming in to my library soon, but in the meantime I've been a bit overwhelmed with conflicting information found via Google, and many of the posts here have really helped me to sort things out a bit in my mind.

I'd like to try to keep a nano reef, partly due to space limitations, but I want to make sure I do it right. So I'll outline what I'm thinking about below and ask for feedback, because this is still very much in the planning stages.

First, the aquarium itself. I was thinking of just buying one of the kit type setups, such as the JBJ 12 gallon Nano Cube. I've seen some good reviews and I think perhaps the lighting on the deluxe model would work. I believe I would still need to buy separately:
- powerheads?
- heater
- do the fans work for cooling? I need something with a "lid" on it because I do have cats... which is another thing; will they unduly bother the fish if they look at them but can't get to them? (I don't want to do this if I'm going to have stressed out/unhappy marine life.)
- a different filter? or does it come with one that's OK?
- eventually, maybe a protein skimmer?

I would be committed to doing water changes as much as needed, obviously.

I thought to get the aquarium and live rock first and set that up, and let it cycle until the nitrates are below 5 or ideally 0, then add some cleaners, then perhaps a pair of clowns. At first I also wanted an anemone but what I am gathering is that in such a small tank, they would not work out with corals as well.

After a while (six months? longer?) of having it established, I thought to add corals. I'm going to try to decide roughly what I'd like before I purchase anything, including equipment, so that I have a proper setup in place.

Is this a good starting point? Will this work at all, given that I have cats? In looking at prices it seems like the initial setup including some live rock will be somewhere in the sub-$1000 range; does that sound right? (I need to start a savings account for this project!)

 

[brandon4291]

Welcome to our forum thank you for joining up in the nanos world!

You seem well prepared for the go and I'll add my opinions and let others chime in as they see fit.

You won't have to wait six months for coral...once cycled and you are reading 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and no more than 10 ppm nitrate with a very light coral load you'll be ok (mushrooms, zoanthids, caulastrea candy cane coral, etc xenia)

many anemones just waste away within the first few months or year but if you already knew that and were ready to keep them don't let me stop you. Of course there are many success stories online about them its just hard to be consistent w em

the fans, they will cool the lighting portion and it should be okay to run at no more than 80 or 81 degrees max temp any time of the year. the lowest I like to go is 78 and 78 is what I shoot for year round.

you are going to have quite a time mixing and matching all the recommends from various sources (the web, your fish store) as to how to run your tank, we all went through that. My best advice to you would be to not add all your fish at once, add them slow one at a time over a couple week's time and do at least 60% water changes everytime you change, never do the lame 30% and then when you get a great skimmer I would then regulate my water change frequency by knowing when the tank reaches 10 ppm nitrate or any detectable phosphate... me personally I don't test for either because each week I simply change out 100% of the water for a clean start. nobody else does this so they spend time tinkering and measuring individual params each way has its benefits~

but as you can see the other recommendations written will be polar opposite depending on the source it always helped me to just find one coach and stick to that method then branch out when a feel is developed from a smoothly working tank. you are doing good so far please post pics and keep us updated!
Brandon

 

[the real nano man]

glad to see another new nano reef keeper in the making.i have been keeping theses tanks any where from two gallons to twenty for over twenty years now.and would never consider more than a twenty percent water change every two weeks.must be done on schedule and you will have no problems.a 100 % water change is not reef keeping.reef keeping is good tank cleaning skills and careful husbandry.after all we don't move to a new clean house every week we just dust and clean the floors correct.just for grins my longest running nano was a 5 gallon ran for seven years on a homemade surface skimmer with a one gallon sump no problems had to tear down when i moved.do all your research keep a log book for stats and schedules.and a squirt gun will keep the cats away it takes time but they will learn to enjoy from a distance.have fun enjoy the jbjs are great little units to run foam and live rock systems

 

[brandon4291]

Hello friend, nice challenge post this is great for science.


I could post you a link where a published author recommends full changes when possible, even automatic changing in/out systems that do it regularly, whereas with nanos or picos we can just do it with a bucket, were you accounting for that in your assertions? lets see em 'shots man, show some pictures of your nanos at any stage it would be neat to share ideas.

Next up, pics. Please post a picture of a 2 gallon tank you kept 20 years ago, I never get those pics with dates each time this is written...maybe this time

its helpful to speak in a way that's inclusive of many practices if you want to be practical, as new keepers will find their own way and you need to help them see the dynamics and the way risks taken/changes in our hobby causes evolution... this poster can pick and choose from each of our statements to guide their tanks based on how its doing, thats how it works, no one way is best I can tell you have been at least keep saltwater for probably that long, you sound set in your ways...

I just figured out you hit my youtube account with sexually explicit language yesterday I didn't catch for four hours (many saw it) and my page is inclusive of kids who are my childs age and into school science, so that won't occur here for sure. If you can keep it on track about reef philosophy and at least consider denying the occurence that would meet two dealbreaker requirements for your presence on this board...it takes relative confidence to say what I said above about someone, these words didn't fall lightly Im just saying the attack was rather unprovoked and you listed some points above that would make for an informative back and forth providing this isn't a one off troll run

 

[brandon4291]

Well I guess that was an unfortunate exchange he's still able to post so maybe the return will be nicer...


JD please post updates I think the storm has passed we don't want to miss your updates.
B