Thinking of starting a small one
- Thread starter jeremy
- Start date
Welcome to the nano club, Jeremy.
Live rock is a definite. For a 5 gallon, I'd go with one pretty large piece to make a sort of island and go for 5 or so pounds for the tank... rule of thumb for live rock bio filtration is a pound per gallon. The more porous the rock, the better, and also the less heavy... heavy, solid pieces have less surface area and less chance of cool hitchikers emerging.
A lot of people use Eclipse systems for nanos. However, that wouldn't work for me because I live in an un-air conditioned home and it gets way too hot in the summer. I use an open tank, with the light fixture raised an inch or so off the top of the tank. This creates air flow. All summer, my nano tank stayed around 82-84, while some of my other closed tanks pushed 86 degrees.
You'll want a small heater and to take out ALL filter media in the filter. Sponges and cartridges that catch stuff in mechanical filtration are nitrate factories... and in a saltwater tank you shoot for ideally zero nitrate, but realistically 5 or under.
I use a biowheel on my ten gallon and haven't noticed any nitrate spikes, though a lot of people say they cause them. It'll have to be your call on that one, but I'll tell you I am in the minority, at least on here, for keeping biowheels.
Depending on how your live rock is arranged, the water flow from the main filter may be sufficient, but you can never have enough flow. I recommend in investing in a small powerhead, like the minijet. I currently use a microjet in my 1 gallon reef vase and I swear by the thing. It was affordable and puts out a lot of power for a tiny little powerhead. Also, the company has sent me free suction cups as spares.
For a substrate, you could go bare bottom, but I personally think that detracts from the tank. I use an inch or two of playsand in mine. Once again, a lot of people claim this produces too much silicates and leads to algae outbreaks. While I've had my fair share of algae, it's been nothing I can't live with.
Also you wouldn't need much so-called "marine friendly" aragonite sand for a 5 gallon. This stuff is coarser and most reefers and mariners use it in their systems.
Skip the "live sand" because your cured live rock will seed your tank and get it ready for a fish and some inverts.
Now for fish. On nano-reef.com some people actually put two small gobies in a five gallon, some even a clownfish, but I say that's pushing it, unless you're commited to very frequent water changes and water monitoring. And I say definitely pass on the clownfish (percula) as they can get several inches.
But there are many pretty gobies and other small fish you could pick out. Firefish are really neat, as are the purple firefish. But put some egg crate (light diffuser, the plastic grids under ceiling fluorescent lightstrips) over the tank if you go with an open hood as they will most likely jump out.
Inverts. You could easily and affordably get enough light to sustain soft corals. In my 1 gallon reef vase, I keep green star polyps and have kept zoanthids successfully. And I only use a ten watt 50/50 screw-in light bulb. This provides some ten watts per gallon.
You could swap out the bulbs in an incadescent hood with two ten watt 50/50s and have 20 watts over your tank, totaling 4 watts per gallon, and that's enough for most soft corals. You could also overdrive a regular fluorescent fixture and get enough light too.
Some soft corals are mushrooms, green star polyps, zoanthids, to name a mere few.
Moving inverts that would work are dwarf hermit crabs, shrimp, small fromia starfish, and probably a lot more I'm not thinking of right now.
Good luck!
Live rock is a definite. For a 5 gallon, I'd go with one pretty large piece to make a sort of island and go for 5 or so pounds for the tank... rule of thumb for live rock bio filtration is a pound per gallon. The more porous the rock, the better, and also the less heavy... heavy, solid pieces have less surface area and less chance of cool hitchikers emerging.
A lot of people use Eclipse systems for nanos. However, that wouldn't work for me because I live in an un-air conditioned home and it gets way too hot in the summer. I use an open tank, with the light fixture raised an inch or so off the top of the tank. This creates air flow. All summer, my nano tank stayed around 82-84, while some of my other closed tanks pushed 86 degrees.
You'll want a small heater and to take out ALL filter media in the filter. Sponges and cartridges that catch stuff in mechanical filtration are nitrate factories... and in a saltwater tank you shoot for ideally zero nitrate, but realistically 5 or under.
I use a biowheel on my ten gallon and haven't noticed any nitrate spikes, though a lot of people say they cause them. It'll have to be your call on that one, but I'll tell you I am in the minority, at least on here, for keeping biowheels.
Depending on how your live rock is arranged, the water flow from the main filter may be sufficient, but you can never have enough flow. I recommend in investing in a small powerhead, like the minijet. I currently use a microjet in my 1 gallon reef vase and I swear by the thing. It was affordable and puts out a lot of power for a tiny little powerhead. Also, the company has sent me free suction cups as spares.
For a substrate, you could go bare bottom, but I personally think that detracts from the tank. I use an inch or two of playsand in mine. Once again, a lot of people claim this produces too much silicates and leads to algae outbreaks. While I've had my fair share of algae, it's been nothing I can't live with.
Also you wouldn't need much so-called "marine friendly" aragonite sand for a 5 gallon. This stuff is coarser and most reefers and mariners use it in their systems.
Skip the "live sand" because your cured live rock will seed your tank and get it ready for a fish and some inverts.
Now for fish. On nano-reef.com some people actually put two small gobies in a five gallon, some even a clownfish, but I say that's pushing it, unless you're commited to very frequent water changes and water monitoring. And I say definitely pass on the clownfish (percula) as they can get several inches.
But there are many pretty gobies and other small fish you could pick out. Firefish are really neat, as are the purple firefish. But put some egg crate (light diffuser, the plastic grids under ceiling fluorescent lightstrips) over the tank if you go with an open hood as they will most likely jump out.
Inverts. You could easily and affordably get enough light to sustain soft corals. In my 1 gallon reef vase, I keep green star polyps and have kept zoanthids successfully. And I only use a ten watt 50/50 screw-in light bulb. This provides some ten watts per gallon.
You could swap out the bulbs in an incadescent hood with two ten watt 50/50s and have 20 watts over your tank, totaling 4 watts per gallon, and that's enough for most soft corals. You could also overdrive a regular fluorescent fixture and get enough light too.
Some soft corals are mushrooms, green star polyps, zoanthids, to name a mere few.
Moving inverts that would work are dwarf hermit crabs, shrimp, small fromia starfish, and probably a lot more I'm not thinking of right now.
Good luck!
Welcome to the SW world 
If this is your first SW tank you are going to attempt then I would highly recommened starting with a larger tank, as a Nano is a little more tricky in terms of keeping your water chemistry stable. It can be done but usually nano's are recommended for those with previous experiance in the SW world.
With that word of "caution/advice" aside nano tank in my opinion like all tanks need to be carefully planned out, but more so than others as you are dealing with significantly smaller volumes of water which greatly limits your tanks stocking capacity; so you really need to decide what kind of tank you are looking to keep...fish only, inverts, reef w/fish etc. In this size tank you are going to be limited to 1 maybe 2 "MAX" very small fish, as well you can keep corals and inverts in nano tanks and there is long list of them to chose from.
Here is a list of some fish suitable for some Nano tanks:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=2124
and this is their home page:
http://www.liveaquaria.com
Use these as a general guide!
But always RESEARCH before you buy anything.
I personly have a 10gl Nano tank and you can see some pics of it to get an idea of what can be done in these small spaces:
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32878
Regards!
Ps. LR is a definit YES and like Lordroad stated at least 1lbs per gallon.
If this is your first SW tank you are going to attempt then I would highly recommened starting with a larger tank, as a Nano is a little more tricky in terms of keeping your water chemistry stable. It can be done but usually nano's are recommended for those with previous experiance in the SW world.
With that word of "caution/advice" aside nano tank in my opinion like all tanks need to be carefully planned out, but more so than others as you are dealing with significantly smaller volumes of water which greatly limits your tanks stocking capacity; so you really need to decide what kind of tank you are looking to keep...fish only, inverts, reef w/fish etc. In this size tank you are going to be limited to 1 maybe 2 "MAX" very small fish, as well you can keep corals and inverts in nano tanks and there is long list of them to chose from.
Here is a list of some fish suitable for some Nano tanks:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=2124
and this is their home page:
http://www.liveaquaria.com
Use these as a general guide!
But always RESEARCH before you buy anything.
I personly have a 10gl Nano tank and you can see some pics of it to get an idea of what can be done in these small spaces:
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32878
Regards!
Ps. LR is a definit YES and like Lordroad stated at least 1lbs per gallon.
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Typically "NO" as Mandarins need to have a very well established mature system with lots of LR to support certain cryptic creaters that the Mandarins feed on. I beleive if you have a decent sized Nano w/sump & refugeium you may be able to get away with it. Lordroad would be the best to talk to on the Mandarin subject...Lordroad after you!
Spike, I'd only do it if you could find a mandarin that is eating prepared foods like live brine at the fish store. Also spotted or target mandarins appear to eat prepared foods more readily. (Note: live brine does not sustain a fish, but it's still a good sign. You could wean the fish onto mysis or cyclo-peeze with a little work.)
I tried harvesting pods and that was just too much of a pain and the two online sources I ordered culture kits from were crap. However, if you set up a small system with a powerhead and some live rock, you could have a little pod farm, but again, it's a real pain to move the pods to the main tank. But it's definitely doable if you're determined...
Shop around and call around and see if some stores will let you experiment with different foods in their tanks for the mandarin. Mine eats roe, the fish eggs on sushi, and cyclo-peeze.
I tried harvesting pods and that was just too much of a pain and the two online sources I ordered culture kits from were crap. However, if you set up a small system with a powerhead and some live rock, you could have a little pod farm, but again, it's a real pain to move the pods to the main tank. But it's definitely doable if you're determined...
Shop around and call around and see if some stores will let you experiment with different foods in their tanks for the mandarin. Mine eats roe, the fish eggs on sushi, and cyclo-peeze.
Wow. Thank you folks for all the great info. And I do know to study up on the fish I plan to have. And you all gave me a lot to think about. The only reason I was thinking nano was for price concerns. Limited income and all. Is there an average price range I would be looking at for what you mentiond lordroad? Just so I could plan a little. If I do start one, it wouldnt be for a month or so anyway. So I do have plenty of time to study up. Thanks again everyone for your help.
Let's see... When I began my nano reef, I already had the ten gallon and penguin mini hang on the back and the heater. I bought nine pounds of live rock, which is expensive where I live... this was the biggest expense, coming to around 70 dollars IIRC. Bag of Instant Ocean salt, playsand, hydrometer, high range pH test kit... all of this was around 25 dollars. Then a Regent Wal Mart brand powerhead, which was moderately priced.
Almost forgot the lighting. Got the 96 watt coralife fixture... a very large expense at 90 dollars. But I could have easily waited and used a regular fluorescent bulb until I was ready for corals.
If you buy a reef-ready nano system, I'd say be ready to spend up to 200 dollars for everything you need.
I also disagree about nanos being poor for saltwater beginners. Personally, I'd never launch a reef tank larger than 29 gallons. Too much of an investment for me, plus all the equipment... protein skimmers, to buy a plumbed tank or not, then a sump, etc... I'm just not into all that. I like nanos because they are simple and once you understand what you're doing and get a routine going, I find them no more difficult than my 55 gallon freshwater setup.
And the biggest reason, the price of setting up a large reef system. I simply could not afford that.
Almost forgot the lighting. Got the 96 watt coralife fixture... a very large expense at 90 dollars. But I could have easily waited and used a regular fluorescent bulb until I was ready for corals.
If you buy a reef-ready nano system, I'd say be ready to spend up to 200 dollars for everything you need.
I also disagree about nanos being poor for saltwater beginners. Personally, I'd never launch a reef tank larger than 29 gallons. Too much of an investment for me, plus all the equipment... protein skimmers, to buy a plumbed tank or not, then a sump, etc... I'm just not into all that. I like nanos because they are simple and once you understand what you're doing and get a routine going, I find them no more difficult than my 55 gallon freshwater setup.
And the biggest reason, the price of setting up a large reef system. I simply could not afford that.