18*10*10 good size to start?

[stegoodall]

hi
i have a 6 foot marine, 4 foot tropical, 3 foot tropical and 18*10*10 tropical, i am thinking of making the 18*10*10 into a nano, would it be a good size?

stephen

[MrFish]

Assuming you mean inches then yes it would be fine, people make nano's out of all different size tanks.

:)

[stegoodall]

yep, inches. would it need a skimmer

[MrFish]

yep, inches. would it need a skimmer

With regular water changes then not essential, but a skimmer is always a good addition.

[clippo]

Unless you are planning to have it connected to the larger system, I think that understanding stability is key to running a system when you start getting down to this size. The importance of this factor depends to some extent on the livestock you intend to keep. If you want to keep sensitive organisms, then you will need a very stable system. If you are only planning hardy organisms that are adapted to changing temperatures and salinity then it isn't as important. Obviously though this does have implications on the way you run the tank and the equipment used. I think the decision on the skimmer depends on livestock too.

[stegoodall]

It will be a separate system and for stocking i was thinking of maybe a pair of clowns OR a goby OR a firefish, possibly 2, i also wanted to put some zoo's in and maybe some small frags of soft corals like xenia and GSP.

[bleedmarshall]

pair of clowns

Ha! That made me laugh

Thats alot to ask of a 18x10

[clippo]

I think you might be alright actually provided you get a very small pair of tank bred clowns. Hopefully the xenia will soak up nutrients - maybe add some macro algae and run a skimmer too.

[stegoodall]

Ha! That made me laugh

No to the clowns then, it was only a thought. Can 2 firefish be kept together? Any other suggestions for some colourful fish that dont eat corals? Preferably not damsels though.

I didn't know xenia soaked nutrients up, i saw loads in the TOTM sump but didn't read it all.

[bleedmarshall]

No to the clowns then

Sorry! I did'nt wanna put you off the idea. Sorry :( :( Feel quite bad now.

Go for 2 small clowns if you like! Just means more work :p

Personally i wouldnt go for 2 in a 18x10.But thats just me, id rather understock than overstock :)

[stegoodall]

Don't worry about it bleedmarshall, i thought it might be borderline for them. I prefer understocking aswell, its better for the tank, maybe with one fish i can have more corals, i suppose it also means my skimmer doesnt have to be brilliant, maybe just a small air driven one. If i figure out how they work :p
If i buy a new tank, i would go a bit bigger and probably get 2 clowns but i've decided to not get them for this tank. How much LR will I need? I can nick it from the downstairs tank if its not loads :D . Might get some rubble to use instead of sand, is this feasible? or a bad idea? I was thinking it will help spread xenia and zoos.

[MrFish]

I agree two clowns would be difficult to maintain. You won't need a lot of LR, maybe 3-6KG will do and plenty of flow.

The Rubble in my opinion is a bad idea, it will act as a detritus trap, just use a thin 1-2cm layer of very fine coral sand.

Something to consider is cooling, small tanks heat up quickly and need a stat controlled fan over them.

Auto top up is another thing as evaporation will seem high and it becomes a pain doing it several times a day in the summer. Because of the small water volume, the evap cause large SG swings if not controlled.

:)

[clippo]

I had a 150watt halide plus 24watt actinic on my 15gal with a 6 inch fan for cooling. Even during the hottest periods, the evap rate was only about a litre. Constructing a simple dripper bottle allows steady addition of the required amount of RO/Kalk, thus avoiding instability. It also precludes the need for a bulky auto-top up that has the potential to malfunction. Something to consider. BTW, firefish are notorious jumpers if I recall.....