Why go Nano??????

[joedirt54]

I'm Just in the final stages of setting up my 30 cube...

My friend and I built a sweet custom cabnet(it's very hard to build a stand for a sump for most square tanks). My stand is a 36" tall and 24"x24"(so I can fit a 10gal sump), and also to provide for a 2'x2'x2' cube later on. I just built a black DIY center overflow(6"x4") and it looks pretty good.

I'm running a 10gal now with 35lbs of LR, some zoas, a clam, a small frogspawn, pompom zenia, and a few shrooms and rics with no fish.

I'm running that tank with a single 150w DE MH 20K, Remora skimmer and a powerhead.

Everything has been doing great in that tank for 9 months...BB, no fish, A remora, B-ionic, quality lighting, and a little skill and daily topoffs with zero TDS RODI water =A nice slice of ocean picotope.

Anyways, I'm just wondering why you guys choose to go with a Nano tank.

For me, I had a 75gal mixed reef up for a lot of years and never seemed to have all the money or time to make it what I wanted. This time I will not skimp on anything I know I need, nor will I die if all goes bad(My 75gal crashed when I lost power for 3 days one winter). I had corals in that tank that were older than my kids are now and that ended my reef keeping for four years.

I will have probably 5K in this reef when it finally makes it into a 2' 50+gal cube with only about $30 a month in elec, salt, and test kits. It will never crash do to a power failure because I'm buying a generator.

So, why Nano? IMHO, it's because we can.

Dirt

 

[BiggySmalls]

joe dirt is on tv right now, arent u happy?

 

[flipteg]

i've had my current reef tank for about 13 months now... it is a 30 gallon cube... although this is my first reef tank, i've had a few tanks in the past all freshwater except for one saltwater fish only set up...

this 30 gallon tank is the first tank i've ever had where i do not feel the need nor the desire to upgrade the size... i just love the shape and the size of it... with the past tanks i had, i used to always loose sleep thinking when i will be able to upgrade... this time, i do not have the desire to maintain anything larger... when i was planning on the size of the reef tank, i know that there will be periods of time when i will get tired of the tank and it will get neglected... a bigger tank will need more work and therefore the maintenance are more likely to be neglected... i wanted to go as small as possible without it being too small... i wanted to keep a dwarf angelfish, and that's how i settled with 30 gallons...

it's pretty nice not having to contantly think about upgrading... i can put all the resources into the current tank... i can buy equipment that is just right for the tank rather than buy equipment for a larger tank in the future that may or may not materialize... and besides, the spending and the time spent on a hobby has to end somewhere...

 

[CPT. MURPHY]

I think most new to salt water reefers go nano because of cost. I go nano because of the challenge. Also the small size makes them perfect for apartment living.

CPT.

 

[cmiani2002]

I went Nano because the wife said: I do not want that monster of a thing in the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was looking at a beautiful 75G!!! sigh!!!!

 

[Ryanqk]

I started this hobby with a six gl nano, i think its a good idea to start off with a small tank the first time you do reefkeeping to get a feel for how sensitive an ecosystem you are managing. I learned alot of lessons before upgrading to 10, 30 and 55gl systems, however i wanted to try my skill at a 2gl nano first to harbor loose frags of shrooms and zoa's, but also to get a feel of maintaining life in such a small volume of water. I notice tiny life forms in this tank that otherwise would never be seen in a big system. I'm very happy with my 2gl and its really magical to me how sea life can thrive in such a small space and how it interacts. Also how many other people have a coral reef as the centerpiece on the dining room table?
Ryan

 

[Dr.FuManchu]

I started a 10 gallon reef because I wanted it on my kitchen counter. A 10 AGA was the biggest I could fit in the space I wanted it to go.

 

[Agu]

Before we moved to Fl I had a 180, 37, and 40 breeder + sumps, prop tanks, and refugiums that totaled about 360 gallons. Sold most of it when we moved.

First ten gallon was a mixed reef just to tide me over, that was four years ago and that tank is still up. Then I wanted an LPS tank so one was set up just for LPS, then came the mantis tank set up as a caribbean biotope, then came the shrimp/goby tank.

One day I realized I enjoyed having diverse small tanks and really didn't need the expense and work of a big tank. Maybe I'll get the bug for a big tank again but it's not in the near future.