Advice for nano/pico tanks?

[ichthyogeek]

Just conceptualizing a nano tank at the moment (either standard 2.5 or 10 gallons), and would love input. I really like the beauty of small tanks, and would love to go nano in the future due to lack of space currently. But I started out saltwater fishkeeping with a 29 gallon and upgraded to a 55. I know that you have to be more careful about water parameters like with any other nano tank...but what else is there to know? Just off the top of my head:

If I hook up the display tank to a much larger sump...does that still make it a nano? If so...how would you do that? Do they sell like, .5 inch solid pvc pipes or something, or super tiny overflows/return pumps?

Is there a list of nano fish/mobile inverts you can keep in a 2.5? In a 10?

How do you deal with equipment? I don't think the tiny little clipon lights will work..and a kessil might be vastly overpowered. Do they even manufacture protein skimmers for that small of a size? Additionally, how do you account for

Are there any taboos in the nano fish/coral keeping community? Aside from the obvious things like don't keep high waste fish or fish that will outgrow the tank.

Bare bottom? Or sand? Since water volume is (I assume) prioritized, is it recommended to even have rock in the aquarium?

How do you do water changes?!?!?! I go against conventional standards of 20%/week, and do 50% water changes every day for a week whenever I'm back home...but that seems impossible given how much water volume would need to be changed in a 2.5 gallon or so...

 

[Danny_15]

Chill out bro i got a 10 gallon no sump or skimmer and everything is great. Not as bad as people say it is to have a nano. Pretty much all you gotta do is waterchanges and your set, everything will drive by itself.

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[Bagabaga]

Ato ato ato, without this I'd be pouring water in all day instead of running a kitchen in a hotel.

 

[Danny_15]

Buy a glass top and you wont have to do that

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[BaltimoreFish]

Keeping your bioload low makes everything so much easier. I only had a shrimp, and a small amount of coral, for the first year. Now my tank is very stable and it easily handled the addition of a small fish.....no algae at all.

Also a consistent water change schedule. Figure out an easy way to make saltwater and do it every week.

 

[lilyost4290]

definitely get yourself an ato, and stay on your water changes

 

[ajm83]

Buy a glass top and you wont have to do that

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No, but you have to keep cleaning the glass instead, and when you lift the lid up all the water pours off everywhere. :spin2:

 

[luis55277]

Water changes are the most important part of a nano, you can get away with not having fancy equipment with a 20-30% weekly water change, I did this and my 10g was successful until I got lazy at that point I lost a couple of coral. I was able to get back on schedule and nothing else died or looked in healthy

 

[ajm83]

Water changes are the most important part of a nano, you can get away with not having fancy equipment with a 20-30% weekly water change, I did this and my 10g was successful until I got lazy at that point I lost a couple of coral. I was able to get back on schedule and nothing else died or looked in healthy

Yep, that works well until you get to the point you need to dose alk/cal.

ATO IMHO is critical and I use a SmartAto Micro for this.

 

[twitchy]

I had a ~2.5gal fluval spec up for a while before I moved, an ATO is 100% the best thing you can get. I made a simple air powered ATO using a glass bottle and that gave me enough water for a couple days. I did weekly-ish 40% water changes, but I used the "dirty" water from my larger tank as the water change water for the pico.

Originally was used as a time out tank for a Dotty back until I was able to give him away. After that I just housed snails, porcelain crab and a peppermint shrimp. Tank did a lot better after the fish was removed.