Managing nutrients in a Nano Tank

[Joel_155]

Hi all,
So curious about a Nano tank and how nutrients are managed. I've had my 60gallon cube for a 18 months now and I seem to always fight hair algae. I have a move coming up in the near future ( within the next year) and I was thinking of downsizing to a Nano. My main question is how do you manage the nutrients? I know they make small protein skimmers but I can't imagine they are all that efficient. I've seen super small fuges roo but again I'm not sure how much good that would do. Is it all water changes? Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Wmich2008]

Water changes and watch how much you feed. That will help most problems. Turn the pumps off when feeding and make sure you stick with water changes.

 

[Nano sapiens]

^^ this

And I would add regular detritus removal (assuming a shallow sand bed) as an invaluable tool in limiting organic material buildup as well as keeping the substrate open to advective flow to supply elements to the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria.

 

[Joel_155]

That makes sense. I look at those amazing picos and as far as I can tell they are only using a pump for water movement and that's it. They look amazing and I would hope to have that one day

 

[Nano sapiens]

One thinks of Picos not having much, but same can go for a Nano. A pump, heater, live rock, live sand, water changes and detritus removal are all I've used with my 6+ year old 12g.

Best of luck when you start one up.

 

[Space heater]

I'm far from an expert, but I haven't had a nutrient problem at all in either of my 5 gallon aio after the initial algae bloom. I do a 1-1.5 gallon waterchange weekly and change the filter floss a couple times a week. After doing a lot of research it seems like waterchanges are the best and esiest way to manage nutrients.

 

[Nano sapiens]

As time goes on detritus buildup becomes an issue for most Nanos. A bit of detritus removal with each water change goes a long way in keeping one going long term.

 

[Mason91]

When you say deterius build up, what exactly are you referring to? The small amount of algae build up on top of the sand?
Would not an effective CUC remove this? Say a strombus snail?

 

[Hentz]

Agreed with above. Feeding and Water Changes are the way to go. Also start dosing Kent Marine Mag. I've heard that helps with hair algae. Just dose a capful or 2 daily. I do 2 caps daily in my 75. No signs of hair algae, except a tiny bit on my MP.

I run a Super simple system, protein skimmer, fuge, and that's it aside from the daily dosage of mag. Never had a problem with algae unless I over-feed

 

[22engine]

Running a nuvo 8. Filter floss and chemi pure in the chamber and a heater. I do one gallon a week water change using Petco saltwater.

 

[Nano sapiens]

When you say deterius build up, what exactly are you referring to? The small amount of algae build up on top of the sand?
Would not an effective CUC remove this? Say a strombus snail?

Detritus is basically the grey-brown 'Mulm' that collects in the tank. Can be anywhere, coarse or fine, but usually it's in the sand bed and live rock as well as in low flow areas. When you stir up your sand and a cloud come out, that's detritus.

The CUC can dislodge some detritus so that a mechanical filter can capture it (if one is used) and the material is then exported once the filter is cleaned. They can process food particles, algae, cyano and detritus, but they can't physically remove anything from the tank themselves (unless they crawl out). Some of the nutrition they derive can go into their growth and possibly spawning, but most of what they eat is excreted as waste back into the tank and then utilized by other organisms. Eventually, the detritus material becomes fairly inert, but the problem as I mentioned is that detritus physically impedes water flow to the beneficial bacteria in the substrates that are nitrifying and denitrifying...and so nitrates tend to accumulate. Phosphate is a more complicated matter, but regular detritus removal can also help keep it at low levels by removing food particles and fresh detritus that has advected into the substrate as well as encouraging bacterial and higher life form growth which sequesters phosphate (all living things need phosphate to grow).

For smaller tanks not using a DSB (Deep Sand Bed), some type of periodic detritus removal is especially important to help prevent 'old tank syndrome' which tends to occur much more rapidly in Nanos than in large tanks.