Are nano tanks harder to keep?

[Liberty_Girl]

I'm new to salt water tanks. I know with fresh water tanks small tanks are harder to keep than the bigger tanks. Is this true with sw? What is the best size tank for sw?

The internet elf

[fishdude07]

i bet its the same with salt water tanks...the water and temperature is just harder to keep stable in a smaller tank. someone correct me if im wrong.

[1979camaro]

you are correct fishdude...and nano SW is even more difficult than nano FW because the water quality must be higher for the health of the organisms you keep...not to mention there are simply more variables

to further make things a mess, if you want to do a nano reef the lights really play havoc on temperature and evaporation

an ideal starter size (imo) is between 40 and 75 US gallons...a 55 is always a good choice because they are cheap (relatively) and a lot of different equipment is available for them

but, your best bet is to get a few good books. i would reccomend checking out the general SW stickys for more information

[chomper]

They are also harder because the water evaporates fast in salt water tanks so you have to keep up on everything. At least that is what I have learned. But small ones are really neat to have.

[S.Reef]

I would go with a bigger tank if you can afford it. More room for fish and corals...however nanos will light up a small corner of the kitchen or end table.

[zanoshano]

nanos are harder to maintain balanced water paramenters because there is less water volume in your tank. Rememeber that they are usually around 10 gallons. If you are just starting out, i would recommend a larger tank if its possible for you. Because when there are changes in the water parameters, they take a lot longer to develor because there is more water.

[AndyL]

Just to be difficult...

I'm going to say the opposite

My 2.5g nano is actually my least maintenance intensive tank I own. Maintenance, is weekly to scrape the coraline off the glass, daily feedings, and every 5 days I refill the 2L for the auto top-off. Oh - and I have to remove the salt creep weekly or whenever it annoys me.

Anytime I do have a problem with pH, alk etc - a simple 2-4L water change solves the problem. (25-50%) A big reef tank can require what 30-40g of prepped salt water to do the same - I have a 2L pepsi bottle of prepped water sitting on my bookshelf "just in case". In some ways being small helps.

Once my corals really start growing - yes I could be fragging weekly... I can't keep much in there (2 hermits, a nassarius snail, and a red headed goby is pretty much my limit (though I like to push those - so I'm going to add a sexy shrimp or two when the LFS brings them in)).

I will say however I spent a good 6 months researching and designing the system... You can't just throw something together and expect it to be quite that maintenance free...

Andy

[Liberty_Girl]

Thanks for the comments. I have another q. for you guys. Maintnance wise, are sw nanos harder to keep up with than fw nanos?

- the internet elf

[Shipley18]

back to your earlier question right now i have a 5.5 gal nano sw tank and i haven't had to add a drop of water to it in two weeks...it just isn't evaporating..at all, or the amount is very minimial and my salinty has stayed constant for two weeks as well, so for me thus far very little matienence is necessary. i have a tiny whisper power filter on the back to help the LR with mainting a clean tank and this also helps create a suffient current for my tank. my heater is over sized just the way i like it and does a suberb job at keeping my water at a baumy 77 F. So Idk if this helps you at all but for me very little trouble so far but I'm looking to add some shrimp and other animals soon so I'll let you know then.

LIke i said for me Maintenece is realitivly easy maybe i'm the exception or I'm doing somethign wrong..lol

[AndyL]

Nobody's gonna argue with me? Damn do I swing that much weight around here (OK NO FAT JOKES!)?

Ok, let me explain further my reasoning why a sub 10g nano might be better than a 50g SW tank for a newbie.

Firstly lets look at cost, I think my 2.5 with all the gadgets bells and whistles cost me less than a 50-55g tank and stand. That includes livestock and stand - thus if there was ever a major crash - honestly I'd probably just dump the contents and start over. A major crash in a 50g tank - could result in needing to replace 500+$ alone in live rock.

Secondly, in a very small nano you notice all the little creatures. Not just the 'showpiece' fish. I can ID various copepod and amphipods now that I've owned this 2.5. Because those little critters cruising the sand become more noticeable in a tank this size - thus you're more likely to notice quickly when some parameter goes on the decline... With fewer things to look at you have fewer distractions - and have to pay more attention to what is in the tank.

You learn more about husbandry in a small tank, you're less worried about fiddling with the (non existant) skimmer etc or other hardware. More worried about overall condition of the tank - and you're quickly trained that the solution to every problem is a water change (And those water changes aren't going to set you back 30$ or more just in salt mix). Additives are little worry - cheaper and easier to do a water change than buy XYZ "Super duper reef chemical", a good habit to get into - I know many tanks that have crashed because some dummy added too much iodine, molybdenum, kalk, strontium the list goes on and on and on...

Because you're dealing with such a small volume of water, you tend to make sure you're getting the best test kits, a refractometer (hydrometers are hard to use in a tank as tall as the damn hydrometer). Setting yourself up for better success in the long run.

While the "Bigger is better" is probably a good motto for stores - since they get to sell you all the "Crap" you "Need" to keep your tank running, is it really true? Yes I can't exactly leave my tank unsupervised for a week at a time - which might not be a problem with a 180g tank, but who really needs that ability? And if they need that ability - should they really be getting into reefs?

Andy