Thinking of a nano ...

[Anonymous]

Ok so even tho I'm still setting up my first reef *grin* I am thinking ahead to a nano tank. I have two 10 gallon aquariums that fit on a double rack stand - the iron type you see where one is almost on the floor etc. I was thinking of using them to make a 10 nano with a 10 sump/fige. What kind of equipment would you recommend for this setup?

• skimmer
I don't know much about skimmers. On popular recommendation I purchased a AquaC remora for my 30g that I am setting up. I think this model might be a little large for a nano. Thoughts? It would be cool to hook it to the sump though, so the only things in the display tank would be the in/out siphons for the sump flow action.

• pump / plumbing for sump?
Other than that, it would be pretty simple. I have spare lighting, etc ... all I would need to figure out would be how to install baffles in the 10g tank that serves as the sump and how to construct plumbing that won't leak in case of power failure (this is a very big concern as i live in a place that gets about 1 outage a week, damn ghetto!)

 

[bdelaney]

Hi, Hwarang. I think I may have answered a few posts about your 30g in another forum.

Skimmers: Many people run nano's without skimmers and do larger water changes every week or every other week. The bioload is generally small on these tanks, so they do fine (and might benefit) without a skimmer. If you do decide on a skimmer, the AquaC or Prizm might be a good choice. Other options are the tiny air driven picolo skimmers. They are very small, cheap, and would fit nicely in a 10g sump. Air driven skimmers require more maintenance as the wooden air stone needs to be replaced often.

Plumbing a sump might be a little difficult. Drilling the tank and fitting some bulkheads would take up the least amount of space. I would think most hang on overflows would be too big. I know the lifereef overflow box on my 29 gallon is a bit large.

Are you going to run these tanks with an open top or sealed? If open-top, you might want to consider some kind of auto top-off. Evaporation happens quickly in smaller tanks and throws off the salinity faster.

What kind of lighting will you use?

 

[Anonymous]

I have two spare 32w PC light strips (1/2 actinic), one for the main and one for the fuge. Not going to be sealed, no drilling is going to happen. Me + drill == recipe for disaster.

Hm.

 

[shalegac]

Be carfull with that iron stand. They are not friendly to the salt. They rust up on you.
You can definatley get away with no skimmer. I have no skimmer or sump on my 10g. But be wary of bioload. Top off is never all that bad unless you are running a whole lot of lights.
Good luck and keep us informed!
Shaun Legacy

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, if you're not drilling at all then having a sump will be tough. All the overflow boxes take up a sizeable chunk of real estate in a 10 gallon. CPR overflows are pretty slim, but I hear bad things about them.

I take it these are glass tanks? One option that I've seen used is to replace one of the small panes of glass with a piece of pre-drilled acrylic. A friend showed me how, although I've never done it myself. He cut away the old silicone with a razor and removed the top brace. Then he removed the glass, replaced it with 1/4"thick acrylic, applied a ton of silicone, and replaced the brace. Just a thought.