just curious...sort of

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#1
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
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San Ramon, CA
#1
was at the lfs and saw what appeared to be an eclipse system 6 nano-saltwater tank. Had a clown fish and anenome on some live rock in it. Is this actually viable? Can this be sustained for an extended period of time, especially by a beginner? The reason I ask is that my father took a fancy to it and, well, christmas is coming up ya know?

Kevin
 

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colesea

Superstar Fish
#2
Oct 22, 2002
1,612
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NY USA
#2
The smallest Eclipse Nano I've seen are 12 gallons. That doesn't mean a six isn't possible, but either size WILL TAKE A WHOLE LOT OF WORK!!

I do not recommend it for a beginner.
~~Colesea
 

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mrfootball70

Medium Fish
#4
Oct 22, 2002
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#4
a small clown would be ok in a nano for a while...but anenomes are only for very experienced...if he likes the look of anenomes try a star polyp, much more hardy...but clown may not "adopt" it....
 

cody

cody

New Fish
#5
Jan 6, 2003
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#5
I have to disagree. This is a very viable system for a beginner, as long as water changes are carried out weekly with Reverse Osmosis Water (can be bought at grocery stores...very cheap for a small setup). The only thing you will need to do is replace the standard bulb with a 50/50 or actinic bulb.

The only thing that is undesirable with this tank is that it has a bio-wheel filter. Some feel that they are bad for SW setups as they are nitrate producing machines and SW fish are much less immune to nitrate. You may be best off removing the bio-wheel and just picking up some live rock. That will be enough filtration for this tank. You would need about 6 lbs of live rock. For substrate, use a thin (1"-2") layer of aragonite. Good Luck.
 

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Pooky125

Large Fish
#6
Oct 22, 2002
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#6
It's quite possible... www.nano-reef.com and check out there members photos, some awesome ones, very small. The member of the week tank, is a 2.5 gallon.. amazing. However, I do not suggest using the 6 gallon eclipse. The 7 bowfront made by aga, is a much better tank for less money. Buy a 32 watt fixture, 5-10 pds of live rock 10 pds of live sand, a mini jet 404, and a reliabel heater, and you've got yourself a small, easy, realivly cheap setup, for less then 200 bucks.. Adding corals will be trickeyer, I suggest joining the nano-reef board for that (sorry johnny, but, there's a much wider variety of reefs over there, then over here!) and buying sum cheap starter corals. Mushrooms, zoos and polyps are great starter corals. You could get away with atleast 1 clown fish, but, I'd stick to just false or true percuals, anything more would put to much stress on the system, and no anenomes please, atleast not for a few years. Youc ould also add a small shrimp (such as a cleaner, or peppermint) and a few turbo snails to keep up with algae.. I
 

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wayne

Elite Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
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#7
Pooky, Cody - what do you think is easier - a 10 or a 30? I guess for the 10 water changes are much easier, but it's going to be so unstable....., and so limiting - one clown , or one goby , or.... I don't even believe there's that big a difference in price either. And frankly speaking I don't think price should be a big deal here when you're gambling with fishes lives. Nanoreefs look amazing, but I would never dare to try one, not without another much larger tank I could use as a source for 100 % water changes when things go west.
 

cody

cody

New Fish
#8
Jan 6, 2003
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#8
Of course a 30g will be easier. That wasn't the poster's question, though. I'm sure he understands the difference as he wouldn't be asking if it is true that nanos are so difficult if he didn't.

As for price, I have seen both nanos and 30g+ setup and (depending on what you are setting it up for) a 30g is much more expensive. From what I understand, this poster wants a low maintenance tank. A 6g eclipse with the biowheel taken out and the bulb changed is rather low maintenace (topping off with fresh water and doing water changes on such a small tank is very easy.). It also costs less than $100 to set it up and get the live rock.

As for corals for a tank like this, I would suggest a Bullseye Mushroom Coral or Hairy Mushroom Coral. You could also probably get away with some of the colony corals but you would want to house them alone as they can take over an entire tank.
 

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