Want a tank again

[reefkeeper78]

Hey guys. It's been a few years for me since I've had a reef tank. My last tank was big and complicated. I had some success but in the end it went south and got parted out.

I'm toying with the idea of another saltwater setup and want thoughts and opinions of nano tanks. I'm leaning toward 30 gals ish. Small enough to manage easier but not so small to be impossible to maintain.

My goal would be zoos, and a couple sps or lps. Haven't decided yet. I want easier maintenance so probably zoos. I want a few fish. No chromis, no clowns. Easy colorful peaceful. I love mandarins and may try again.

Can people give me some guidance on where to start. I know reading is a huge but I value experience more.

 

[JVan82]

I have 2 a biocube 32 and a innovative marine 25 lagoon. I started with the BC 32, and recently got the lagoon as a frag tank. The biocube is a nice starter tank, if I have to do over I'd have started with the lagoon probably the lagoon 50. A lot of the BC stuff will need replacing for sps corals. I had a crap time with an led retrofit, so I ended up going hoodless and running an ecotech XR15, which I also have on the lagoon. Patients and maintinence are vital on smaller tanks.
I've had good success keeping a mandarin in my 32, I added a small refugium for pods to live, added a few bottles of live pods weekd before introducing my mandarin. Used a feeder with live brine shrimp to fatten him up, was skinny when I bought him. Now just maintain pod population with bottles pods.
I went the apex route, it's expandability, ease of use are great. Being it was my first tank I wanted to have every fail safe possible. Looking back it's not a need, but I'll never not have one. Hope this help, let me know if you have any questions.


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[reefkeeper78]

Thanks for the reply jv. What are you running for a skimmer, biocubes model? If so how does it work? I really want to keep the hood on for noise reduction and without seeing one, I have no idea what room I will have for skimmers and other equip.

My last tank had an apex unit. Made things super easy until a power surge hit the house and fried it. Make sure you’re is plugged into a quality surge protector. Cheap insurance for the cost of an apex and what it will do to your tank.

 

[JVan82]

As of now no skimmer, I just bought the aquamaxx WS-1... but haven't installed it yet. I was told it's a true skimmer for being a nano. A member here has it (ReefWreck) in his BC. As far as noise the only thing that was nosey on my BC was the fan in the hood. A $10 replacement from Amazon fixes that issue easy enough. I never wanted to go hoodless, but after doing so my temps are a lot easier to maintain, with evap being higher.

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[aznflyfisherman]

Depends if you want a close hood or open tank.
I would recommend the nuvo 20g if you want an open top rimless, 29 or 32g biocube for hood type. I have the 29g coralife biocube n i install a hydra52 inside it. I also have the nuvo 20g but havent set it up yet. IMO there no need to have a sump, skimmer on these all in one, unless you just want it. I like to keep it simple n least possible equipement, which means less point of failure. Plus i get lazy...i do water change maybe every 3 to 4 months.