View Full Version : r nanos easy to maintain ?
i am thinking of setting my a nano . has anyone got any advise of things to look in to please
i am running a 6x2x2 with no problems
you have to make sure you do the maintance more regular like every week for a water change, so its a little bit more time then a bigger tank.
if your running a nano as a first tank, and you dont have any other tanks then imo they are far harder than larger tanks
1. you will have issues with heat
2. you will have issues with waterloss due to cooling efforts and basic evaporaton
3. its harder to keep the tank in ionic balance with ref alk and cal
4. the tank will fluctuate more and cause more stress on the livestock
5. the feeding can be problematic as you dont want to
foul the water quality
6. you will need as much equipment {in the form of ancilary items ie test kits} so the reduced cost is not as good as you may first think
but if you all ready have a tank then they can be much easier, i just used to do 50% water changes weekly from my main tank, and found as long as this high water change was carried out the tank was fine as the parameters didnt have time to drift to far
bleedmarshall
26-11-06, 00:46
i just used to do 50% water changes weekly from my main tank
Woaft! :p
Y do you feel that the water from your main tank would be better for your nano?(rather than fresh mix thats been correctly prepared )
Woaft! :p
Y do you feel that the water from your main tank would be better for your nano?(rather than fresh mix thats been correctly prepared )
simply due to the fact it was mature and allowed me to carry out large water changes, and therefore due to the size fo changes allowed me to ironicly keep it very very stable.
and the main tank was sps dedicated and very clean, due to heavy skimming and a large fuge with a tiny bioload :D
im not saying people have to do this size just it worked for me, and due to the constant upkeep of that it wasnt stressfull as the basic water was very similar with no real changes.
oh and that was only half an ro barrel when you put it that way it doesnt seem so big
bleedmarshall
26-11-06, 00:56
yer jimmyjays i understand 100% where your comming from! :)
Any additional elements added to the change over water?
The only main dif i can see is the temp eh? But that must of only been by .something :p
If you did view both tanks as the same (well u no wht i mean) would it not of been better doing a total of 50% over the week? Like 8Ltrz a day?
Scott
yer jimmyjays i understand 100% where your comming from! :)
Any additional elements added to the change over water?
The only main dif i can see is the temp eh? But that must of only been by .something :p
If you did view both tanks as the same (well u no wht i mean) would it not of been better doing a total of 50% over the week? Like 8Ltrz a day?
Scott
i did start with a coke bottle daily but found that i let the salinity in the big tank drift by this a little as i gave it the thought its only 2 litres, andi will fix it later and later never came, but yes this is far better
bleedmarshall
26-11-06, 01:10
I just re looked over what i typed lol ........... where did i get 8Ltrs from? lol!! :p(you have to excuse the spelling/general daftness as in on the Becks :p)
if your running a nano as a first tank, and you dont have any other tanks then imo they are far harder than larger tanks
1. you will have issues with heat
2. you will have issues with waterloss due to cooling efforts and basic evaporaton
3. its harder to keep the tank in ionic balance with ref alk and cal
4. the tank will fluctuate more and cause more stress on the livestock
5. the feeding can be problematic as you dont want to
foul the water quality
6. you will need as much equipment {in the form of ancilary items ie test kits} so the reduced cost is not as good as you may first think
but if you all ready have a tank then they can be much easier, i just used to do 50% water changes weekly from my main tank, and found as long as this high water change was carried out the tank was fine as the parameters didnt have time to drift to far
Jimmyjayz,
Alough many of your points are valid in some cases but they are not necssary in all, points 1 and 2 are not necessary valid on all nano tanks, i have the deltec 24 gallon unit and it has two fans built into the hood so it keeps the lights cool so not overheating the tank, also as i has a sealed hood the water loss is more or less does not hasppen, now i do apprecate that this unit may be a one off but there is options around your first two points, point 6 you would only need the same amount of test equipment as you would a large tank, so you are saying you test for less on a large tank, should test for the same on both setups, again number 5, you will be feeeding around the same again as a large tank due to keeping a nano tank you would have maybe 4 or 5 small fish but in a large tank you may have 20 of the same fish, you will only feed a little to the small tank and small water volume but feed a lot more in a large tank with more fish, i do not see this to be a factor unless you are overfeeding, point 3 will be kept reasonably in balance due to water changes being done weekly so the loss if any in the week will be replaced by the water change, point 4 where you say it will fluctuate more, again this will only be due to poor house keeping on water changes ect.
After all said in done having a nano tank will mean a lot more weekly work but as other nano tank owners will tell you the end result is just as spectacular and in some cases i have seen nano tanks that blow you away with there finish, i would not be put off having one but i will say you need to be on your toes, even more so then a big tank imo.
Jimmyjayz,
Alough many of your points are valid in some cases but they are not necssary in all, points 1 and 2 are not necessary valid on all nano tanks, i have the deltec 24 gallon unit and it has two fans built into the hood so it keeps the lights cool so not overheating the tank, also as i has a sealed hood the water loss is more or less does not hasppen, now i do apprecate that this unit may be a one off but there is options around your first two points, point 6 you would only need the same amount of test equipment as you would a large tank, so you are saying you test for less on a large tank, should test for the same on both setups, again number 5, you will be feeeding around the same again as a large tank due to keeping a nano tank you would have maybe 4 or 5 small fish but in a large tank you may have 20 of the same fish, you will only feed a little to the small tank and small water volume but feed a lot more in a large tank with more fish, i do not see this to be a factor unless you are overfeeding, point 3 will be kept reasonably in balance due to water changes being done weekly so the loss if any in the week will be replaced by the water change, point 4 where you say it will fluctuate more, again this will only be due to poor house keeping on water changes ect.
After all said in done having a nano tank will mean a lot more weekly work but as other nano tank owners will tell you the end result is just as spectacular and in some cases i have seen nano tanks that blow you away with there finish, i would not be put off having one but i will say you need to be on your toes, even more so then a big tank imo.
well how long have you had this unit for arrows as i can tell you the fans do almost jack all when the temp around the tank go up in summer, fans only work if the tank is open top by driving up the evaporation rate, lovely gimic those fans but thats all they are, why do you think they remove the hood and offer the viper halide option !!
no im not saying you test leson a big tank, im saying you still need to buy all the test in the first place and that cost can be a high percentage compared to the setup cost imo
arrows you obviously havent kept tanks for a long period of time, its fact that the larger the volume of water the more stable it is, you can get away with overfeeding in a larger system as the system will be more able to cope with it
by no means do i think they are impossible, they arent its just points that need to be raised and thought of, personally i think the nano you have is poor, just a rebranded china piece of tat, there is no skimmer, the fans will become louder overtime, and if they go the whole hood has to be changed.
the tunze nano is a better choice imo but imo you will need an auto top up for it to stabalise the salinity
well how long have you had this unit for arrows as i can tell you the fans do almost jack all when the temp around the tank go up in summer, fans only work if the tank is open top by driving up the evaporation rate, lovely gimic those fans but thats all they are, why do you think they remove the hood and offer the viper halide option !!
no im not saying you test leson a big tank, im saying you still need to buy all the test in the first place and that cost can be a high percentage compared to the setup cost imo
arrows you obviously havent kept tanks for a long period of time, its fact that the larger the volume of water the more stable it is, you can get away with overfeeding in a larger system as the system will be more able to cope with it
by no means do i think they are impossible, they arent its just points that need to be raised and thought of, personally i think the nano you have is poor, just a rebranded china piece of tat, there is no skimmer, the fans will become louder overtime, and if they go the whole hood has to be changed.
the tunze nano is a better choice imo but imo you will need an auto top up for it to stabalise the salinity
Sorry mate your barking up the wrong tree if you think i am new, nearly 20 years of keeping marines, i have had the nano unit the first day d&d realised it here and as yet not had one problem with temperture, its in my boys bedrooms which are normally warm and the tank sits stable, your opionon of the nano tank being poor please explain why you have these thoughts, there is a surface skimmer ok not as good as a full skimmer i agree, the tunze unit is a good unit but your answer has raised the problem with them, top up and evaporation, two things that most nano tanks position alone dictates a problem, when people by nano tanks they do it as they are small, compact, neat and tidy not to have buckets of water sitting next to them for top ups ect.
Do not get me wrong i think your oints are valid, as i said in some cases you will have this problem but in others your have another problem, what works for some does not always work for others.
Intested to know why you thin the d&d nano is crap though?:D
Jimmy I agree with alot of your points but the fans aren't a gimmick, I've been using fans in a closed hood now for over 1.5yrs and they work wonders, especially during summer.
Sorry mate your barking up the wrong tree if you think i am new, nearly 20 years of keeping marines, i have had the nano unit the first day d&d realised it here and as yet not had one problem with temperture, its in my boys bedrooms which are normally warm and the tank sits stable, your opionon of the nano tank being poor please explain why you have these thoughts, there is a surface skimmer ok not as good as a full skimmer i agree, the tunze unit is a good unit but your answer has raised the problem with them, top up and evaporation, two things that most nano tanks position alone dictates a problem, when people by nano tanks they do it as they are small, compact, neat and tidy not to have buckets of water sitting next to them for top ups ect.
Do not get me wrong i think your oints are valid, as i said in some cases you will have this problem but in others your have another problem, what works for some does not always work for others.
Intested to know why you thin the d&d nano is crap though?:D
well the build quality for one the hood supports snap far to easily as they are to thin, the fans will not aid in cooling like people think they will {the reason that aquamedic are not releasing there unit !!}
a surface skimmer cant be compared to a protien skimmer, the internal filter is pointless, why they didnt build it as a fuge with a built in light i dont know. and remember this is not a deltec product they had nothing to do with the build they simply rebranded it afaik, so you loose what deltec are best at straight away {building high quality items}
and the fact the light are not eu approved are only suitable for china {info from this site on a thread you have posted on arrows, whilst complaining the lights turn off when you lift the hood}
Jimmy I agree with alot of your points but the fans aren't a gimmick, I've been using fans in a closed hood now for over 1.5yrs and they work wonders, especially during summer.
they may help cool the lights down but they wont cool the water, how can they, they cant move the air around the tank surface
i think in 4-5 years when the led lighting has become trully thought through nanos will be amazing and fairly simple to do, but till then i find them a pain my self
I'm sure the design could be improved upon, but you can't argue with its track record, if you go on american nano sites there's literally 100's of successful tanks identical to the D&D.
The fans cool by increasing evap exactly the same as an open top. The lids are closed but not air tight.
I'm sure the design could be improved upon, but you can't argue with its track record, if you go on american nano sites there's literally 100's of successful tanks identical to the D&D.
totaly but most houses in america in hot climates have aircon in the rooms as standard, i just feel when the next heat wave hits it may cause issues, but you say you havent had any problems, fair enough, but the other points on build quality you cant argue with ;)
In alot of ways keeping a nano is much simpler than a larger tank. My tank for example uses just liverock for filtration, there's not even any filterfloss. It's just liverock and lots of flow. I do a 10% water change twice weekly and top up evaporated water morning and evening, a total of less than one litre a day, the tank is 100 litres so thats less than 1% (thats with an open top). My calcium is always over 390ppm with a good few LPS corals. I am going to be adding SPS soon, so I may have to start dosing calcium then.
I have had a few problems with temperature, but I do have a 3400 litre pre hour pump adding heat, along with a 150W Metal Halide. I also live in a one bedroom flat and the kitchin is in the same room as the living room. When the oven is on the room can get warm heating the tank up. I doubt I would have any heat issues in a 'normal' living room.
Most people running the D&D NanoCube ditch the filter media and just use liverock. There are mods that can be done to put a cheato growing fuge in one of the chambers etc. The cooling fans work by drawing out warm air from around the lights in the hood, so it cant pass that heat to the water. I've not owned one, so I dont know if it works:rolleyes:
they may help cool the lights down but they wont cool the water, how can they, they cant move the air around the tank surface
Most tanks heat up when the lights come on due to heat from the bulbs ect so any cooling is better then none at all, but you are right they will not and are not claimed to lower water temperature, they just lower light heat build up.
totaly but most houses in america in hot climates have aircon in the rooms as standard, i just feel when the next heat wave hits it may cause issues, but you say you havent had any problems, fair enough, but the other points on build quality you cant argue with ;)
one thing i will say and this is agreeing in some ways to your build quality point is that the pumps are not good enough, as for deltec build quality, lets not forget they use other makes pumps on most of there equipment so nothing new there then.
I have to agree with arrows on this one. I've been keeping what has become known as a "nano-reef" for about 7 years. I've also had an AM Chromis in my time too, which whilst it is not a large system, it is bigger than most nano's.
I think that evaporation and overheating are not that much of a problem. Before I got my D&D I had 2 55W compacts in a modified hood with NO fans and ventilation at the back of the hood and the temp never went above 28 degree's. Evap has not been a problem on any of my nano systems. Ok I've not had my D&D over the summer, but I live in a centrally heated home thats just as warm as in the summer and its not been a problem yet. And my water temp is yet to creep above 28.
I test my water once every week or two and do weekly water changes with TM pro-reef. Before I get shot down for this, I'm not advocating it as the way forward, especially when ya just starting. My calcium is usually at 600, and my nitrates are 10 and phosphate less than 0.25. I feed my fish only enough that they can eat in 5 mins, using a syringe. Make sure you rinse the food first to get rid of the useless stuff that doesn't get eaten. If ya feed them piece by piece and eveything gets eaten then feeding is no big deal.
Not having a skimmer has made little difference. I think for many years, marine fishkeeping has been very snobby and in some cases having the best of everything was the only way as we didn't understand what we were doing as well as we do now. There's still lots to learn, but I think the days of having to have a huge lagoon in ya living room and all the hi-tech equipment under the sun are over.
My advice is keep it simple, only have the minimal number of fish, regular water changes, and do plenty of reading about ya inverts before you buy and you should do fine. I would avoid sps for nano's, and IMO softies and lps are just as special.
rockpoolie
26-11-06, 19:00
For what its worth
My 24 g nano with 2 additional pumps maintains 26degC. The fans are to emove excessive heat from the lights which would incease the water temp if the fans were not there, so DO offer a net decrease in temp. Why would you need to replace the hood if the fans fail its a realtively simple job to replace the fans. I assume the Viper was introduced for people who want halides no tdue to heating problems with the covered PC option.
As far as I know the AM nano heating problem is due to the circualtion and skimmer pumps not the lighting.
I have very little evaporation and wish I hadnt bought the auto top off, As for water changes I certainly find it easier to change 6 litres of water a week in my nano than 10 gallons as I used to in my old 120 gallon system.
Personally I wouldn't recomend a 50% water change, and alos have concerns about using old tanks water fro whatever system, new water add trace elements deplenished from the system, as well as exproting nitrates so if old water is used you then get into trace element additions which I would be worried about in such a small tank with no skimming.
As for skimmers I've to be convinced of the need on a nano if regular water changes are adhered to.
The issue of the flickering lights although not universal is easily rectified.
There may be a weakness in the plastic housing the front flap but without rough, careless treatement tehn they should be ok. Ive seen some damaged ones in clones, but they have been disply ones in store and taking a lot of mishanndlling.
No theyre not German build qulaity but I'm more than happy with mine and how it's turned out.
rockpoolie,
i agree, mine is fine and the hood is in one piece i have no issues apart from i may upgrade the pump unit but this is not something i need to do in a hurry, one thing i like is all the filtration is out of sight and there is plenty of room in it to add further filter material.
Yes it may be a jb unit in the states but look on some american nano sites and the same tank is being used with some stunning displays.
Just my 2p worth,
Heat issues: Before setting up with SW i used tap water set the heater up and recorded the temp. it stayed stable untill i put the lights on (2x 55 watt T5's over an old 70l Jewel) This raised the temp alot in a short space of time something like 4c in one hour. I installed 2x 12v PC fans and connected them to the light timer everytime the lights come on so do the fans. I ran it like this over a weekend checking temp every half hour, The temp only raised 0.5c with the fans running with lights on.
Evaporation:
Also whilst 'wet testing' with tap water i measured how much water i lost, this turned out to be 600ml every 24 hours, I simply top up by hand everyday into a small plastic bottle which drips into the tank via some air line. Just some tips..
My nano is my first venture into SW, I researched and planned my set up after being told it would not work, 15 months later everything is great. TYhe only problems ive had was when i went on holiday and left a 'mate' to look after it!
nano's are great although i am upgrading :)
The other side of the argument is, If they are harder to keep isnt that better to learn with? Although i suppose, for this to be true you have to be dedicated and do alot of research, and keep ontop of things, which i did.
Jay
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