Starting up Nano Reef + breaking down old tank

[Chris_Noles]

Hi, here is my situation. I am moving into a new place and my 25 gallon is not going to work in my new apartment and I’m looking to downsize to a 4-5 gallon aquarium. A lot of the equipment I have will be overkill for something that small. Here are some the questions I have:

• How sustainable is it to have a 4-5 gallon reef? I know fish options are non existent. Any example set ups?
• Breaking down and setting my tank. Should I sell it all in one go to my LFS? Part it out on ebay? I have a Clownfish and Royal Gramma so regardless I have to sell them to the LFS
•Anything I should keep from my old tank? I assume my rock?

 

[Gretchacha]

I have had trouble with tanks less than about 10G. The AIO Fluval Evo 13.5 I got on sale from Amazon has been trouble free.
You could possibly keep your ATO, heater and powerhead. Keep your rock in a five gallon bucket.

 

[Chris_Noles]

I have had trouble with tanks less than about 10G. The AIO Fluval Evo 13.5 I got on sale from Amazon has been trouble free.
You could possibly keep your ATO, heater and powerhead. Keep your rock in a five gallon bucket.

Is it a stability issue? At this point it’s a space issue for why I want to set up a 5 gallon

 

[Gretchacha]

It’s an equipment issue. Getting the right amount of flow is a problem in a small aquarium. Small powerheads are bulky and too much flow, and hang on back filters are too little flow, and tend to introduce air bubbles as well. I think a lot of the problems come from equipment, not fitting well in a small aquarium. I’ve also had problems finding appropriate lights for a small aquarium. But I guess if you’re willing to spend $150 on a standalone reeflight, you’ll be doing fine.

I actually keep a 3 gallon tank, set up all the time for emergency purposes, and I have some macroalgae and soft, coral and hermit crab and snails in it,
But it’s always dirty and I end up breaking it down periodically and rebooting it. I’m on my second or third one and have tried multiple filters and power heads and lights, so it hasn’t been inexpensive to keep the small tank up.
Here’s a picture of how ugly it is right now and I have to turn this light on manually every day and put blue film over the light. The metal light holder corrodes, and I have to add water daily by hand. It’s not a tank I can use while on a trip. There is no way to add a feeder or keep the light on a schedule or keep the salinity up. And water and salt creep out badly.

Compare that to this 13 G Evo, which I spend almost no time maintaining and actually fits a fish and a bunch of coral and some cool inverts. I can add equipment and timers to keep it working while on vacation, too. It’s not perfect, but it’s way simpler, cleaner, easier to use equipment than the 3 G. All of my aquarium under 10 gallons have not been easy to maintain.
Here is the 13 G on the same size cabinet at the 3 G.

 

[Haggisman14]

I'm having GREAT SUCCESS in a 5 gal Deskmate Classic. I'm currently using the original pump that came stock with a RFG (a lot of people will upgrade the pump to a Sicce.

I don't run a skimmer, just do weekly 1 gallon water changes (every single Monday). Lit by a Radion XR15 Gen 4 (75%), and I"ve got a thriving mixed reef. Tank has been up and running since February of this year, and corals in it for the last 6 months. Definitely sustainable. I"ve got a pair of clowns in the tank, and a bunch of snails and some hermits

 

[Gretchacha]

I'm having GREAT SUCCESS in a 5 gal Deskmate Classic. I'm currently using the original pump that came stock with a RFG (a lot of people will upgrade the pump to a Sicce.

I don't run a skimmer, just do weekly 1 gallon water changes (every single Monday). Lit by a Radion XR15 Gen 4 (75%), and I"ve got a thriving mixed reef. Tank has been up and running since February of this year, and corals in it for the last 6 months. Definitely sustainable. I"ve got a pair of clowns in the tank, and a bunch of snails and some hermits

A pair of clowns in a 5 Gallon? That’s gotta feel tight….

 

[Chris_Noles]

I'm having GREAT SUCCESS in a 5 gal Deskmate Classic. I'm currently using the original pump that came stock with a RFG (a lot of people will upgrade the pump to a Sicce.

I don't run a skimmer, just do weekly 1 gallon water changes (every single Monday). Lit by a Radion XR15 Gen 4 (75%), and I"ve got a thriving mixed reef. Tank has been up and running since February of this year, and corals in it for the last 6 months. Definitely sustainable. I"ve got a pair of clowns in the tank, and a bunch of snails and some hermits

Thanks for sharing! Exactly what I was looking for. Have you had good success with your acros growing? Are you testing alk, calcium? Or is the 1gallon water changes supplementing that? I have a pretty established 25 gallon so I’ll hopefully be able to get some of my old live rock in there to bypass the cycle.

 

[Chris_Noles]

It’s an equipment issue. Getting the right amount of flow is a problem in a small aquarium. Small powerheads are bulky and too much flow, and hang on back filters are too little flow, and tend to introduce air bubbles as well. I think a lot of the problems come from equipment, not fitting well in a small aquarium. I’ve also had problems finding appropriate lights for a small aquarium. But I guess if you’re willing to spend $150 on a standalone reeflight, you’ll be doing fine.

I actually keep a 3 gallon tank, set up all the time for emergency purposes, and I have some macroalgae and soft, coral and hermit crab and snails in it,
But it’s always dirty and I end up breaking it down periodically and rebooting it. I’m on my second or third one and have tried multiple filters and power heads and lights, so it hasn’t been inexpensive to keep the small tank up.
Here’s a picture of how ugly it is right now and I have to turn this light on manually every day and put blue film over the light. The metal light holder corrodes, and I have to add water daily by hand. It’s not a tank I can use while on a trip. There is no way to add a feeder or keep the light on a schedule or keep the salinity up. And water and salt creep out badly.

Compare that to this 13 G Evo, which I spend almost no time maintaining and actually fits a fish and a bunch of coral and some cool inverts. I can add equipment and timers to keep it working while on vacation, too. It’s not perfect, but it’s way simpler, cleaner, easier to use equipment than the 3 G. All of my aquarium under 10 gallons have not been easy to maintain.
Here is the 13 G on the same size cabinet at the 3 G.

Thanks for sharing, money isn’t the issue, I am going to get rid of my AI Hydra 52 which should pay for the whole set up and live stock. I’ve had a 10 gallon before and really just want a tank to focus on coral, space will be tight so a 5 gallon is probably what I’ll roll with.

 

[Chris_Noles]

A pair of clowns in a 5 Gallon? That’s gotta feel tight….

Agreed…

 

[Haggisman14]

If you check out this post, it shows growth on my corals over the last 8 months.

I"ve actually had GREAT growth on all my acros with the exception of my Grizzly Adams (it's encrusting but that's about it).

My only 2 corals that really haven't grown at all are my 2 red lords. Other than that everything has grown exceptionally well!

I don't test for ANYTHING aside from salinity.

Nano Build - Comeback Tour - Haggisman14's Eshopps Deskmate Build

There's no actual file attached

www.reef2reef.com

My clowns are also pretty dang happy from what I can assume (they've grown, gotten great coloring, and eat well!

 

[Haggisman14]

The deskmates also have a marina drop off tank (I believe 7 gallons), and then a deskmate Florida which is a 10 gallon tank (same width as the classic I have, but double the depth.

 

[Chris_Noles]

The deskmates also have a marina drop off tank (I believe 7 gallons), and then a deskmate Florida which is a 10 gallon tank (same width as the classic I have, but double the depth.

No flow issues with acros with just a return pump?

 

[Haggisman14]

In my opinion, none what so ever. I do slightly alter the angle of my RFG nozzle (random flow generator @Vivid Creative Aquatics), after every water change to keep the flow random and everything happy. As things continue to grow I am entertaining the idea of upgrading my return pump to the Sicce, and then putting a DUAL RFG setup on the tank

Random Flow Generator Flow Kits | Vivid Creative Aquatics

vividcreativeaquatics.com

 

[Chris_Noles]

Thanks, I have random flow generators on my current tank that I can use. Do you have an AI prime on there? or whats your light setup

 

[Haggisman14]

Rocking a Radion XR15 Gen 4 Pro on my tank, and absolutely love it. I"ve got a custom light schedule that runs from 7AM-6PM. Quick ramp up from blues to whites by 9:30, heavy photo period that runs until 2PM, and then heavy blues from 2-6.

I run the program at 75% intensity, I previously had it at 90%, and started to bleech out my cyphastreas, a leptastrea, and one of my favias. I also noticed that some of my zoas were not opening as much and shrinking. Since dialing the light back everything has started coming back and coloring up again, without negatively effecting my SPS.

Unlike a bigger tank, the Radion being on the RMS mount, it's 8" from the LEDs to the waterline, and 16" to the sandbed....on most big tanks the lights aren't hitting the corals until they've had at lest 16" of penetration to get to the corals.

If you check out my thread, I"ve tried to really go in depth on all that i've done on the tank, but always happy to andwer questions!