NANO! :o

[Hazzamaya]

Does anyone have ideas for what i would need for a 5 kgall nano tank with a clownfish and anemone + probably live rock?

[arcab4]

what i see people do with nano tanks is have a small display nano tank but it's connected to let's say..a 20gallon sump. so that gives you the water capacity of a 25 gallon all into a 5 galloN!

i'm not too well verse in nano tanks but you can check out nano-reef.com i think. hope that helps.

=)

[toodles]

I can tell you this.....the only anemone that will stay small enough for a 5g is the flower anemone which is a non-hosting species. Believe me when I say that the clownfish you want does not need an anemone. They do just fine without one!
Also you should know that keeping anemones is not for the beginner (I have no idea how long you have been keeping saltwater so forgive me if I am mistaking you for a newbie). Better to get your feet wet before attempting an anemone.
Even though you can start out keeping saltwater with a smaller tank, to be brutally honest, you will do much better starting out with a larger tank, say a 20g or 30g. A 5g tank will fluctuate quite a bit and if you are just starting out, you will have problems with it.
HTH

[Hazzamaya]

thnx, i am a n()()b, i have just been saving £5 a week and was thinking of getting one

[Hazzamaya]

+ this would be my first, the reason i want small is because i don't have thousands of pounds to spend on it. Over here a 20gall marine setup without stand is £500+.


What i realy want to know is what hardware (filters, heaters etc)+i probably won't get an anemone if they're really that hard to keep

[Hazzamaya]

++ what about a bubble anemone?

[Hazzamaya]

+++how long should it be cycled++++mabye go for a 10ukgall

[arcab4]

if this is your first tank, i would suggest saving more money and get the biggest one you can afford. reason being is that if something goes wrong, it happens alot faster in a smaller tank than a bigger one. plus once you get into saltwater, you'll want to keep more. haha. so its' better to do all your research and be patient. =)

toodles is right. clownfish don't need anemone. plus anemone are very sensative to the water quality and they do produce quite a bit of waste for a coral.

cycling of the tank varies. you should buy a test kit and test your tank until all the parameters are correct.

hope that helps!

Johnny

[toodles]

A 10g is better. I do understand about not having the money for this kind of thing. Really though, the only anemone that will not outgrow this size tank is a flower. Even bubble tips get large, so do condys, and carpets get huge.....
Another thought is that all anemones require good lighting. For a 10g which is a shallow tank, you could get by with PC's (power compacts) for a flower anemone. PC's are rather expensive, more so than regular fluorescents but they will be worth it in the long run.
You also need to realise that all anemones sting. All of them. Some are fish eaters. In a small tank, this can be a real problem. I'm not saying that you should never get an anemone, just maybe wait awhile until you get some experience with saltwater set ups, and can provide the right home for one.

Things you need for a 10g include lighting (we'll talk about this later), heater, thermometer, hydrometer, 2 powerheads, filter (which many consider optional in a small tank. Instead, many believe that weekly water changes and the live rock in the tank will replace one. Frankly I don't go with that. I like having a filter on the tank, not only does it provide a place to run carbon/floss but it also provides another current), live rock anywhere from 5 to 15 lbs of it, sand, test kits.
Cycling can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months....depends.
I would use the fishless method to cycle the tank. Simply drop a piece of raw fish or shrimp into the tank and let it decay. This will provide the ammonia as it dissolves. Many people use a live fish like a damsel to cycle their tank with. The fishless method not only saves you money on buying the fish, it saves the fish from the stress of cycling (and maybe it's life as many die during this), and it saves you the frustration of catching a fish when you no longer want the damsel in your tank.
Lighting....even without an anemone, I would still go with the PC's if you can. This way you could keep just about anything in there without worry and without the hassle of upgrading later on.

Things to consider....
Even with a filter on the tank, I would still do weekly water changes. Things can go wrong quickly in such a small volumne of water.

Be very careful not to overstock your fish. In a 10g I would not keep any more than 2 small fish, and I do mean at adult size they are small.

Start out with hardy inverts like featherdusters, mushroom corals, button polyps.......

It might be a good idea to go with some macro algae too, like feather calupera. They will help to take up excess nutrients.

Read, read, read!

HTH

[Hazzamaya]

WOW! By the way i am only 12 so thats why i can't afford a huge tank. So i wouldn't need a protein skimmer.... over here they cost £70+ and possibly not a filter which is £30+ and i was expecting only to have 1-2 really small fish or mabye a really small seahorse I would definately go with clownfish cos they are just SOOOO cool. all i really want is a little chunk of live rock and a few hermit crabs a shrimp some coral and 2 clowns. i agree with u on the anemone thing, i have dun sum research and they do need alot of room. i don't really know the difference between all the different types of corals, they all look the same to me.

I probably would have a filter on it because for the extra £30+ it saves ALOT of hassle in a house as small as mine. What i really want is lots of little organisms with little living things that you can see crawling in and out of holes and such, it just really appeals to me, as long as it's not boring and times when nothings happening.

I would prefer stuff thats not poisonous, but hey i'm not picky. I would much prefer a tall tank, they're more compact.

Does a marine tank have to have fish in it to have stuff like coral and inverts?



Well thats all i have to say for now.