Nano for <$500

[cjk76]

This post is a challenge. I've seen some great nano tanks that have controllers, top of the line LED lights, Ecotech pumps, and dedicated dosing systems. Personally, I think that kinda defeats the purpose of having a nano tank (please don't take offense ). I would like to see some successful nano tanks that cost less than $500 (including livestock).

Be sure to include what you did to cut costs, any DIY projects, lighting, flow, and maintanence. And let us know how long the tank has been running!

 

[ryeguyy84]

My 4g was about $300. DIY led light $60, tank $150, rock were stolen from my other tank (DIY?) top off $40, all coral was grown in my other tank or bought from local reefer for cheap.

View attachment 213114

Only pics I have

View attachment 213115

 

[KafudaFish]

5.5 gallon had
MJ1200 had
AC 50 had
Stealth heater had
Desk lamp had
LED par 38 bulb from rapid $90
Socket and wiring had
ATO had but have only used it for 4 days over the last 2.5 years
Sump food container from walmart $7
Bulkhead had
Strainer $5
DIY skimmer and air pump $3 for a missing part and had the rest
Polyfilter pad $10
DIY rock hydraulic water stop $15 and Southdown sand had
Eggcrate for rock structure had
RO/DI unit had
Pickling lime had

Live stock:
3 lbs. live rubble had
Clean up crew had
One zoa frag $15
Tailspot blennies (2) $15, $25
5 mangroves $5

No stand but may make one soon.

Looks like I spent around $150.00 on this tank and that was on the cheap.

If I had to buy everything that I already had it would have been another $500.00

Pretty ironic huh? We keep nano tanks in order to cut costs but if you look at cost per gallon, nano tanks can be more expensive.

If you had to add in a sump, other equipment like a skimmer, reactor or dosing equipment and plumbing then you are easily at $1000.00

 

[Postyoa28]

Great thread idea. While I practice the low cost nano idea, I don't agree with the fact that nanos are "supposed to be" done cheaply. To each their own little slice of reef with whatever ability they can accomplish.

I will update later with a breakdown of the cost of my 10 gal. nano.

 

[sponger0]

Used 14g Biocube $75

Had the rock already. Added 4 lbs of pukani type rock. $8

Left over ATO $0

100w Heater sitting around. $0

Got some eggcrate to make a media rack from a local reef club member $0

Small Magnet cleaner used $5

Total, not including corals, $88

 

[Grandlotus]

Check your local craigslist. There was a local guy here that was selling his established nano for $300 with some very nice corals.
I would go 10 gallon for your nano.
1x jagr heater $20
1x hydor nano powerhead $20
1x ac 70 or 50 filter - $50?
skimmer(optional, i dint have one at first and just did weekly water changes)
10lb live rock ($50?)
live sand $20ish
i would go with a 24 inch lighting system. could get away with $100 here.

should be simple to stay under $500.

 

[dublo8]

10g display, 10g sump, Rio return pump, rapid led fixture, k nano 425 x 2, BRS Eco saver rock (25 lbs), BRS reactor, ato and that's under $500 with a little room to spare.

 

[dublo8]

I think you should be more clear in the op as to how the items were aquired. Technically I had all of my items already but priced out its under 5 bills. I don't think "I had this $1700 nano lying around" or "I got this on Craigslist" should count. Just my 2 cents.

There are a lot of viable options for a nano tank in the "nano price" catagories. Just look at all the DIY lighting options we have available, nano skimmers, nano powerheads etc. That are all available cheaply. Heck you can buy nano tunze powerheads for $40 and a nano skimmer for $60. You don't need a plethora of super high end controllers, wavemakers etc. To make a nano run and be successful (it does make things easier though) It's about the husbandry.

 

[FTDelta]

ATO had but have only used it for 4 days over the last 2.5 years

Wait.... what? You used an auto top off for 4 days in the last 2 1/2 years? You never saw the need for an ATO? OR does ATO mean something else? Sorry if that's a stupid noob question on my part.

 

[cjk76]

My 4g was about $300. DIY led light $60, tank $150, rock were stolen from my other tank (DIY?) top off $40, all coral was grown in my other tank or bought from local reefer for cheap.

View attachment 213114

Only pics I have

View attachment 213115

Nice Tank! I like how you modded the light that came with the tank (I think I read that on another thread). I'll have to remember that if I start my small tank.

Other than LR, do you have any filtration? Or just water changes?

 

[sponger0]

Live rock is your primary from of filtration and water changes are for nutrient export and trace element replenishment

 

[KafudaFish]

Wait.... what? You used an auto top off for 4 days in the last 2 1/2 years? You never saw the need for an ATO? OR does ATO mean something else? Sorry if that's a stupid noob question on my part.

No it isn't a stupid question. People get caught up in the big picture and sometimes it is the little things that make or break a system. Even though these are smaller systems one would think it was easier to keep everything in check but for me the less I have to worry about, the more likely I am going to stay on top of things. I am as obsessed as the next reefer but this is a hobby and is suppose to be fun vs. just another thing to take care of throughout my day. If my system crashed today I would be upset about it but I would try and figure out what I did wrong (we really are the weakest chain in the link when it comes to our systems).

When I built this system two things I wanted were simplicity and flexibility.

I DIY all the rock and the two sides and backwall are rock attached directly to the glass. I made a "box" to hold the top off if I ever needed one and my powerhead is hidden on the other side. If I see equipment in a tank I tend to watch it like I am waiting for it to do some kind of trick instead of enjoying the beauty within.

Twice now I have had to leave the tank alone for more than one day and the first time was over a 3 day weekend at work and now last weekend. Normally my tank sitter would be available but he was with me so I had to hook one up.

So you are probably wondering why when it makes things easier right? I agree, it can make your life easier but at the same time it can make you lazy.

The tank uses around one gallon of top off per week and has always been the same regardless of season. How do I know? I have a row of zoas at the surface of the tank that if I go 24 hours without they can become exposed. They are still wet but are out of water like at low tide.

This makes me check everything everyday and I usually spend one minute a day taking care of the tank. For example last night my zoas were closed so I spent a few minutes looking things over and realized the water temperature was higher since the heat was on so I turned my heater down. My midnight the water temperature had dropped 1 degree and more zoas had opened up.

When I go make coffee in the morning I check on the tank, if it needs water I top off and when I go to bed at night I repeat the process.

The other reason why I do this is because the top off is mechanical and at some point mechanical equipment can fail. Either a snail will teleport itself onto the switch flooding everything, the calcium buildup will make it stick or maybe a comet flying would cause gravity to reverse itself. I was gone Th - Sun so I added only enough water for those 4 days plus one to minimize an issue if something did go wrong.

I have read numerous tank crash horror stories because of the ATO but I don't think I have ever read about a tank crash because the salinity changed from 35 to 34.5 ppt over the day.

Sorry this was so long but if you are like me and at work what would you rather be doing?

 

[cjk76]

5.5 gallon had
MJ1200 had
LED par 38 bulb from rapid $90

Sump food container from walmart $7

DIY rock hydraulic water stop $15

3 lbs. live rubble had

Looks like I spent around $150.00 on this tank and that was on the cheap.

If I had to buy everything that I already had it would have been another $500.00

Pretty ironic huh? We keep nano tanks in order to cut costs but if you look at cost per gallon, nano tanks can be more expensive.

If you had to add in a sump, other equipment like a skimmer, reactor or dosing equipment and plumbing then you are easily at $1000.00

300 GPH in a 5.5G tank? Or is that from your sump to the tank? I like the idea of using a food container though. I am planning on using a measuring pitcher and ATO to do automated water changes. How is the light (color and coral happiness)? Also, I think I'll use rock rubble to make my rock this time. I don't know how you would fit the giant rocks I got into a 5G.

Yeah, I can't believe how much my 55G cost when I got rid of it.

 

[cjk76]

Great thread idea. While I practice the low cost nano idea, I don't agree with the fact that nanos are "supposed to be" done cheaply. To each their own little slice of reef with whatever ability they can accomplish.

I will update later with a breakdown of the cost of my 10 gal. nano.

After thinking about it, people keep nanos for different reasons. When I start my nano, it will be because I am between large tanks and because I want something in my bedroom that is a simple zoa/ricordea tank (my favorites besides a few LPS). Some people already have a tank or 2 and want a special tank. This would definitely merit adding the tank to the reefkeeper/ATO/water changing system/MP10/LEDs that you used in other projects. So I definitely agree with you, but not for this project.

 

[KafudaFish]

Here are a few pictures, one showing a fts during a water change and some top downs so you can see the boxes. In the second picture the ATO box is on the left, the aqua clear is centered and the MJ1200 is on the right. Looking directly into the glass the only equipment you see is the intake tube of the aqua clear. I could hide it with some additonal rock but it isn't that big of a deal. The MJ faces downward and sits on eggcrate. Coming off the the nozzle is a few inches of clear tubing. Water pumps down and under the "floating" rock bottom that sits on a few pieces of eggcrate as well. If the MJ was on the side like normal, water would shoot out of the tank but it is deflected throughout the tank. In the bubbles picture the bubbles are coming from underneath the floor and exit on the sides. Want to know your flow patterns in your tank? Grab some flake food or a straw and watch the bubble pattern.

I ran a sump for a few months just for the heck of it and wanted to see how well my DIY skimmer worked. The sump was taller than the tank so I had a small tunze powerhead 80 gph sitting in the aqua clear pumping water up into the sump and the outflow dumped back into the ATO chamber. I decided to pull it because I wanted to get back to things being simple but again I can always add it back.

Here is a picture of my skimmer that was a take off of a mame one. You could build one out of clear acrylic tubing for maybe $30 and CalmSeaQuest has one on his tank in the reef discussion forum.

One thing I forgot to mention was this was suppose to be a fish closet build. I wanted to build a small tank to test out some ideas that I have been pondering for a long time using what I had sitting around gathering dust.

If I was going to do another nano I would probably go the other route and make it as clean as possible with bells and whistles but right now that is somewhere down the road.

 

[cjk76]

Used 14g Biocube $75

Had the rock already. Added 4 lbs of pukani type rock. $8

Left over ATO $0

100w Heater sitting around. $0

Got some eggcrate to make a media rack from a local reef club member $0

Small Magnet cleaner used $5

Total, not including corals, $88

Buying the biocube new would still be less than $500. Any mods? I really like all the polyps in this tank. How long has it been up?

 

[cjk76]

10g display, 10g sump, Rio return pump, rapid led fixture, k nano 425 x 2, BRS Eco saver rock (25 lbs), BRS reactor, ato and that's under $500 with a little room to spare.
View attachment 213228

Was that a reactor between your sump and your tank?! haha. Nice setup. I was hoping to have my nano on my nightstand, so probably no sump for me. The most I could do is to have a seperate chamber of the tank for heater/pumps/filter. This is created easily enough with black acrylic and some silicone.

 

[gbru316]

10g aquarium: $10
DIY LED: $150
Hydor Slim Skim nano: $100
Maxijet 900: $20
Ebo-Jager heater: $20
Misc DIY supplies: $50
Vortech MP10: $200

Over $500, but price would have been cut in half if I wasn't planning on an SPS dominant tank.

 

[sponger0]

10g aquarium: $10
DIY LED: $150
Hydor Slim Skim nano: $100
Maxijet 900: $20
Ebo-Jager heater: $20
Misc DIY supplies: $50
Vortech MP10: $200

Over $500, but price would have been cut in half if I wasn't planning on an SPS dominant tank.

This could have been for alot cheaper.....even for an SPS dom tank.

The vortech isnt needed but helps.
And cheaper lighting solutions are out there.
Skimmer also isnt necessary.

So for the OP this could have been alot cheaper, but not to knock your decision on the equipment you went with.

 

[gbru316]

This could have been for alot cheaper.....even for an SPS dom tank.

The vortech isnt needed but helps.
And cheaper lighting solutions are out there.
Skimmer also isnt necessary.

So for the OP this could have been alot cheaper, but not to knock your decision on the equipment you went with.

I'm aware it could have been done for a lot cheaper. I like gadgets.


To do it cheaper, don't use 34 LED's, an mp10, or a skimmer.