Is A Nano Tank Suitable For Beginners?
March 19, 2008
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Is the ‘largest tank’ advice out of date?
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The Nano Reef Tank – Should You Keep Fish In Them
September 11, 2007
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.
I am going to throw the proverbial hat into the ring by saying that under no circumstances should a fish be introduced into this type of environment.
Let me explain my reasons…
Keeping reef fish in a small amount of water is exceptionally difficult even for advanced aquarists never mind the beginner to this hobby. The majority of reef fish by their very nature are territorial which in a smaller aquarium can become problematic if not disastrous.
Introducing fish into an aquarium of this size where it is already hard to maintain excellent water conditions make it even harder to accomplish. With a fish you have to feed it which creates waste which the filtration therefore has to deal with. Even without feeding the fish are ‘breathing’ therefore adding aspects to the water for the filtration to deal with.
All of this adds up to water which is becoming harder and harder to maintain stability.
A better alternative in my opinion is rather than adding fish to a nano reef tank is to add invertebrates for example shrimps. They add motion to the aquarium and add little bio load to the filtration.
I would have to carefully consider the addition of the larger grazing animals to an aquarium of this size. By larger grazing animals I mean the likes of starfish, cucumbers and urchins. They will quickly eat all of the food and you will have to add supplementary food in order to keep them alive. Any of this food which is uneaten will break down and cause the filtration to work harder.
The addition of hermit crabs etc should be ok as long as you do not put to many into the aquarium. Hermit crabs etc are opportunistic feeders but you will need to keep an eye on them and add small amount of additional food if required.
Even without adding a fish to a nano reef tank you can have an absolutely wonderful aquarium. In some cases it can be better than having an aquarium with fish in. Without having a fish in the aquarium there is little if no predation, therefore the various pods can multiply and grow – these are fantastic to watch in your own little ecosystem plus they can be a great food source for the corals and invertebrates in the aquarium.
There are aquarists who do successfully keep a fish (sometimes more!) in a nano reef tank and have been successful in keeping them. The question that jumps out to my mind is that is it fair to keep an animal locked up in such a small space with little room to swim.
If you cannot create and maintain the perfect environment for the animals which entrust their lives to us (and this does not just include fish) then the answer is simple.
Don’t do it.
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