What are the bare minimal needed for a zoa tank. Can you go bare bottom, Whats the minimal needed for filtration. Things I already have on hand are. are a 20 gal tank, A T5 light, a small hob filter very small. and about 30 pounds of sand. How much flow would I need? would the hob filter be enough.
bare minimal tank requirements for zoas
- Thread starter pfcreed
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TX..r33f
New member
Zoanthids are really easy to keep. And they look nice and grow fast(under rite conditions). You lighting is good and for flow you might need a little power head. I mean like a cheep $15 one. you can put bare bottom ,but you need other rock for them to spread and grow on. The hob filter should be okay if its just a zoa tank. Make sure to still do water changes!
reef kid96
New member
I would also add some live rock too, just for added filtration
gemini aquarius(t)
Always Learning
no difference in my experience
TropTrea
New member
Not knwing what your considering as tank size you can have anything above 10 gallons. While it is extremly touchy going below 10 gallons is also possible. Keeep in mind the bigger the tank the more stable the conditions remain in the tank and the better chances of you reacting if something does go wrong.
Different Zoo's like different amounts of water flow. With a directional power head the aiming of the power head can allow you adjust the flow in the area of the zoos to meet there individual requirements. I would look at one around 15 X your tank volumn for size.
If we are talking a small tanks of 10 gallons that is 150 gallons per hour if we are lookin at something like a 30 gallon tank 450 gallons per hour. Or for a 75 Gallon tank about 1,200 gph.
Filteration a minimium of a protein skimmer designed for the size tank you have or even a little larger. Ratings on protein skimmer can be deceiving as they rate them for gallons of tank while in reality the actual bioload is what determines how big of one you need. As kimmer rated at 50 gallons can be insffecient for a 30 gallon tank with a large bioload while it can more than enough for someone with a 75 gallon tank with a very low bioload.
Lighting. Again different Zoo's have different requirements. With small tanks there is less difference in the tank from one location to another so placement of the zoos is not as critical as selection of proper lighting. Here for a small tank I would suggest a DIY LED lighting set up with adjustable drivers so you can turn up or down the actual amount of light to meet the requirements of the Zoo's your selecting.
Live rock would be a near must for its ability to filter out some of the harmfull chemicals in the water and the nitrogen cycle. It will aslo help in your landscaping ability.
Other creatures I would recommend Nassarius and Astrea Snails. Some small fish look at the adult size they grow too and calculate about 1 inch of fish per gallon. But stay with small fish that grow to a max a 3" and are considered reef safe.
Different Zoo's like different amounts of water flow. With a directional power head the aiming of the power head can allow you adjust the flow in the area of the zoos to meet there individual requirements. I would look at one around 15 X your tank volumn for size.
If we are talking a small tanks of 10 gallons that is 150 gallons per hour if we are lookin at something like a 30 gallon tank 450 gallons per hour. Or for a 75 Gallon tank about 1,200 gph.
Filteration a minimium of a protein skimmer designed for the size tank you have or even a little larger. Ratings on protein skimmer can be deceiving as they rate them for gallons of tank while in reality the actual bioload is what determines how big of one you need. As kimmer rated at 50 gallons can be insffecient for a 30 gallon tank with a large bioload while it can more than enough for someone with a 75 gallon tank with a very low bioload.
Lighting. Again different Zoo's have different requirements. With small tanks there is less difference in the tank from one location to another so placement of the zoos is not as critical as selection of proper lighting. Here for a small tank I would suggest a DIY LED lighting set up with adjustable drivers so you can turn up or down the actual amount of light to meet the requirements of the Zoo's your selecting.
Live rock would be a near must for its ability to filter out some of the harmfull chemicals in the water and the nitrogen cycle. It will aslo help in your landscaping ability.
Other creatures I would recommend Nassarius and Astrea Snails. Some small fish look at the adult size they grow too and calculate about 1 inch of fish per gallon. But stay with small fish that grow to a max a 3" and are considered reef safe.
+1 to what TropTrea said. Even though keeping the zoas "alive" is pretty easy, it is not necessarily easy to have them retain their colors that you paid the big bucks for. They all seem to have different light / flow requirements.
I would say make a tank like you normally would in terms of filtration (sand bed and/or live rock for natural filtration + additional HOB filter if you wanna play safe), plan for moderate flow, and a light that will give you different light intensities at different parts of the tank, so you can move the zoas around to where they like to be best
I would say make a tank like you normally would in terms of filtration (sand bed and/or live rock for natural filtration + additional HOB filter if you wanna play safe), plan for moderate flow, and a light that will give you different light intensities at different parts of the tank, so you can move the zoas around to where they like to be best
TropTrea
New member
+1 to what TropTrea said. Even though keeping the zoas "alive" is pretty easy, it is not necessarily easy to have them retain their colors that you paid the big bucks for. They all seem to have different light / flow requirements.
To me the protein skimmer is a must regardless of the size of tank. Unfortunatly there are few small protein skimmers for small thanks that are realy effecient. But some of the 3rd rate skimmers for medium sized tanks do work well on tanks 1/2 the size they are realy rated for. I believe a RED Sea Prism is one that could be considered in the 30 or less gallon range to do a good job even though it is rated for the 50 gallon range.
I would say make a tank like you normally would in terms of filtration (sand bed and/or live rock for natural filtration + additional HOB filter if you wanna play safe), plan for moderate flow, and a light that will give you different light intensities at different parts of the tank, so you can move the zoas around to where they like to be best
Yes flexability in lighting does help. On the cost basic I'm moving to DIY myself for reasons like this. For a 30 Gallon tank your talking under $150 and you can set the LED's colors and distribution to suit your needs and personal taste.
Using 3 Watt Cree LED's I'd put in
10 Gallon tank 4 Blues, 4 Royal Blues 4 Neutral whites ($78)
20 Gallon tank 6 Blues 6 Royal Blues 6 Neutral Whites ($117)
40 gallon tank 8 Blues 8 Royal Blues 8 Neutral Whites ($156)
Also keep in mind that going small does not always save you that much money. It is not a straight cost per gallon buy any means. Actualy building 112 ten gallon set ups will cost you trice what it would cost to build a 120 gallon set up. Noting on the lights cost going 4 times bigger only doubles your lighting cost. This is also ture for filteration.
So it may cost you $250 to do a 10 gallon, $325 to do a 20 gallon, and $490 to do a 40 gallon. But if you look at cost oper gallon it would be $25 for the 20 gallon, $17.50 for the 20 gallon, and $12.50 for the 40 gallon. When you start getting very large though at a point the oposite starts happening.
TropTrea
New member
The problem with sand for filteration is that in a small tank the most effecient use is when it is a deep sand base. With a tank 10" tall you surely do not want a 6 " deep sand base which is where it is its most effecient. Years ago someone posted that if a 6" sand base had a filteration value of 600, the 5" base would be have a value of 450, a 4" base would be 288, a 3 inch base would be 150 and a 2" base would be only 60.
with live rock this is not the issue and the more live rock you have with adequate but not excessive water movement the better.
I do have a 4" sand base on my 40 gallon breeder tanks however I'm seriously considering doing away with that for more tank volumn. On a tank that was 12" or less in heights I would not even consider it. Water changes do become more important on smaller tanks.
What is your budget?
Are you willing to buy used?
Will it be an AIO or do you want a sump etc.?
Are you willing to buy used?
Will it be an AIO or do you want a sump etc.?
Friday Night
New member
Tank live rock power head lighting
That's all I run BB and no filter or skimmer
That's all I run BB and no filter or skimmer
i would love to see a pic...
TropTrea
New member
Yes it can be done but you have to have some form of water circulation, very minimal bio load, as well as frequent water changes.
I used to run a hospital tank like that. But I was doing 20% water changes every day. Nothing was in the tank except for one fish that most reciently purchased or a couple corals that I had reciently purchased.
If you do away with the skimmer you generaly are increasing your work load on the tank by multitudes. One thing I found is that people who try saving dollars and make the tank more work for them have a tendency to give up on the hobby after a short period of time.
For a while I bread and raised show Bettas. But I would spend 2 hours a day on changing water and cleaning roughly 300 bowls every day, as well as another 4 to 6 hours every weekend sorting fish. Eventualy I got burned out by it and gave it up. This is roughly when I switched to all salt water. I still love the bettas but when ever I think about them my wife reminds me of the work I had to put into them to get them to show quality.
That doesn't sound like very much fun.
TropTrea
New member
The thing is it is a hobby. Different people put different amounts of effort into there hobbies. With the bettas it was not only a hobby but a profitable one. When you send 30 Bettas to a show and they are auctioned off at the show there was a financial return. Then there was the good feeling of pride when you hear that several of your fish won 1st places in there classes against the best fish in the world.
But to drive people wild there was a time where I did have over 100 tanks going in my basement with different rare and unusual fish that I was or trying to breed. Ten near the end I also had opened up a store with another 100 fish tanks in it. I had roughly 2,000 gallons in fish at home and 4,000 gallons in the store, besides my Bettas. First the other tanks at home decreased, then I stopped breeding Bettas and eventualy leveled out with only a half dozen tanks at home with water in them plus the store.
I have meet a few people like yourself over the years and they always enjoyed doing it.
Congrats on your accomplishments.
Congrats on your accomplishments.
