Is A Nano Tank Suitable For Beginners?

A beginner is more likely to make mistakes than when some experience has been gained. That is true for most things including keeping a marine aquarium.

A larger aquarium, as large as can be fitted and afforded, has always been the normal advice to a beginner. This is because if the aquarist makes an error with, say, an additive there is more seawater to absorb the error. Also, if the fish are overfed, which is a common ands understandable mistake, the effect on the seawater will not be so severe so quickly. Routine water changes should be being done, but nevertheless water quality would suffer. In addition, a larger volume of water is less subject to variations in outside temperatures. If warm weather arrives then a small amount of water will heat up more quickly than a larger amount.

As Peter once put it, a spoonful of sugar in a cup has more effect than a spoonful in a bucket.

Overall, I suppose the larger aquarium is still the better choice? I am no longer so sure. Surely no aquarist is going to apply an additive to the aquarium without reading the instructions to obtain the application dose rate. If overfeeding occurs, then a small aquarium will have less fish than a larger one and so the danger from overfeeding would be evened out maybe. The question of water temperature increase hasn’t changed of course.

There are advantages to the smaller aquarium. A beginner may be tempted to skip routine water changes now and again, as they take preparation and need a fair bit of salt for a larger tank. A Nano is easy, as the gallonage involved is small, so there’s no problem with preparation, storage or application.

Another thing about the small aquarium is that it is cheaper to set up. If the beginning aquarist wants to see how it goes for a while then the outlay is minimised. Also there is less to look at, so attention is drawn to the fewer livestock in the tank and any problems are more likely to be seen.

So, as said, I have mixed feelings. There are many beautiful tanks, big and small. Some of the big ones are stunning in their impact. Many small ones are beautiful in their detail. Also many new aquarists do keep small aquariums and succeed.

So, if anyone asks me ‘What size aquarium should I go for?’ my response is likely to be two questions: how much room have you available, and what do you fancy?

Is the ‘largest tank’ advice out of date?

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Tags: Equipment, home-aquarium, marine-aquarium, Nano Reef, nano-aquarium, nano-tank

The Nano Reef Tank - Is It Suitable For The Beginner

When a beginner starts to research this hobby cost obviously becomes a factor and for very good reason.

The larger the aquarium which is chosen the more equipment which is required, more water, more lighting, more salt etc.

The list goes on and on.

For this reason the potential saltwater aquarists heads one of normally four ways.

1. The decision is made not to progress any further into the hobby.
2. The decision is made to either save money for the purchases or purchase gradually over time
3. The decision is made to cut corners
4. The decision is made to start a nano reef tank

Option 1 is a shame if this decision is chosen. Although it may appear that the aquarium is going to cost the earth it does not have to be that way - unfortunately though there are a lot of people who do choose this option.

Option 2 is normally a hard one to take but is one which is worthwhile doing. A good aspect of this option is that it tests one valuable aspect of the aquarist - patience.

Option 3 unfortunately is chosen a lot and corners are cut to save money. Corners which will over time turn around and bite you. Therefore over time the aquarium actually ends up costing you more.

Option 4 in my opinion is a great option to choose. There are a lot of aquarists choose from the outset to keep a nano reef tank rather than opt for a larger saltwater aquarium.

So I guess the burning question is how hard is it to keep a nano reef tank and can a beginner do it?

With a nano reef tank there are considerable savings to be made. With the aquarium being of a smaller size then the physical purchase price of the aquarium will be less, less aquarium filtration (live rock for example) will be required as well as salt, water, water pumps/powerheads,lighting, heating etc.

It is not just the purchase price either which is cheaper. The running costs of the aquarium are considerably lower as well.

On the other side of the coin though there are areas which the aquarists will need to concentrate on - aquarium care and aquarium maintenance.

With the aquarium being of a smaller size it will hold less water. With their being less water in the aquarium there is a lower volume for pollutants etc to mix with, therefore it can be harder yet not impossible to maintain the excellent water conditions required. Another area to consider is that the water will heat up and cool down quicker, therefore the aquarist will need to keep a careful eye on the temperature to ensure that stability is maintained. Again with their being less water in the aquarium water evaporation can affect the aquarium more as the salinity can change quicker than in a larger aquarium, to combat this the aquarist will need to ensure that regular water top ups are performed.

On another note less corals and fish will be able to be kept in the nano reef tank. Some people who keep a nano reef tank do not have and fish but prefer to keep corals only. In some instances shrimps etc are added. The reason for this is the waste which is produced by the fish and the fact that we need to physically feed them. Keeping fish in an aquarium means that there will be pollutants, pollutants by physical waste from the fish as well as any uneaten food. This does not mean that you cannot keep fish in a nano reef tank - you can as long as you are careful with your selection and do not overstock.

In a way have fewer corals, fish etc in the aquarium is actually a blessing. The bigger the aquarium the more corals and fish you can keep, however it is hard to watch them all. With a nano reef tank you can carefully study each coral, watch it grow and learn more from it that you probably can with an aquarium which has 50, 100, 150 + corals in it.

In the future of course if you so desire then you can upgrade to a larger aquarium. You do not need to - you can keep the nano and watch it grow into an item of beauty - nature at it’s finest. If you do choose to upgrade at a later date then you may have then opportunity to be able to re-use some of the aquarium equipment - the heaters for example could be re-used or possibly the actual aquarium could be used as a refugium.

So yes a beginner can do it - they can start a nano reef tank as long as they are diligent.

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Tags: aquarium-setup, marine-aquarium, Nano Reef, nano-cube, saltwater-aquarium, saltwater-aquarium-setup

Does A Nano Reef Need A Protein Skimmer

Nano reef aquariums are now very popular, because their size means they can be fitted almost anywhere in the home, and there are ready built systems that can be matched in to the home décor. Nano reef systems are small, meaning that they can be anything up to a net 50 gallons. Some are very small, only 10 gallons or so.
[Read more]

Tags: nano-cube, nano-cube-aquarium, nano-fish-tank, nano-reef-aquarium, nano-reef-tank, nano-tank

The Nano Reef Tank - Should You Keep Fish In Them

The answer to this question depends upon your definition of a nano reef tank?

To me a nano reef tank is an aquarium which is less than 20 gallons in size.

There are some people which define a nano reef tank as being less than 55 gallons, personally I would classify these as micro reefs.

For the purpose of this post I will base the definition of a nano tank as being less than 20 gallons in size. [Read more]

Tags: Nano Reef, nano-aquarium, nano-cube-aquarium, nano-reef-aquarium, saltwater-aquarium

Nano Systems - They’ve Been Categorized - But They Still Need Looking After

We all know what is meant by a nano system, don’t we? It’s a very small marine system of, say, 10 gallons or less that is dedicated to a fish or two, and a piece or two of live rock.. That’s right, isn’t it?

Well, no, it isn’t. It may be that I’m uneducated (and I’m not saying that possibility is unlikely!). A nano system is now placed into any of three categories.

First of all, the nano is a system under 50 gallons. I’m not sure if this refers to the gross or net capacity of the aquarium. [Read more]

Tags: nano-cube, nano-cube-aquarium, nano-fish-tank, nano-reef-aquarium, nano-reef-tank, nano-tank

Setting up a nano reef tank

Poking around on You Tube (what a great site that is) I found a video which I believe will be useful for people thinking about starting a nano reef aquarium (sometimes also know as a mini reef tank or a micro reef aquarium).

This is a video which has been created by Practical FIshkeeping which is an aquarium magazine from the UK and actually is quite good. [Read more]

Tags: aquarium-nano-reef, mini-reef-aquarium, nano-reef-starting, nano-reef-system

Thinking about a nano reef tank

I was sat in my home office today doing some work and I thought to myself ‘you know what, a nano reef tank would look really nice in here.’

I can’t have been enjoying the work I was doing as I started to plan out in my mind exactly what I would need, what I could keep in it etc.

I think that this could be a great little project for me and my son to do together. We don’t see a great deal of each other so it could be a source of some really valuable father and son time. [Read more]

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