# thinking of getting a nano tank



## baggylettuce (May 3, 2010)

i've been keeping tropical fish for a few years now and am thinking of moving to a coral reef tank. heading towards a nano to start with. The Orca TL-550 around 125 ltr takes my fancy.

was wondering how much live rock i would need for a tank this size? also what sort or corals would be good to start with? and finally how many fish would i be able to keep within the tank? 

wanting to do as much research and get enough information about fish stocking and coral keeping as possible before i take the dive into marine fish.


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## Adam98150 (Jan 12, 2009)

baggylettuce said:


> i've been keeping tropical fish for a few years now and am thinking of moving to a coral reef tank. heading towards a nano to start with. The Orca TL-550 around 125 ltr takes my fancy.
> 
> was wondering how much live rock i would need for a tank this size? also what sort or corals would be good to start with? and finally how many fish would i be able to keep within the tank?
> 
> wanting to do as much research and get enough information about fish stocking and coral keeping as possible before i take the dive into marine fish.


As a minimum, the recommended amount of liverock per 10 litres is 1 kilogram. Thus 12.5KG should be adequate, but it'll look pretty bare in there. I suggest buying around 20KG+ if you have the funds.

Make sure you have plenty of flow! As for corals and such, start with softies / hardier species - mushrooms, ployps, leathers, xenia (pulsing and green star). They will survive with minimal lighting.

Fish, well, it depends what fish really. I'd say around 4 - 5 of moderate size, I was planning to put only 6 in my 160 litre reef.

Look into fish well, since you can only have a set amount. For example, everyone goes for clownfish, why not try something entirely different? Like a predatory reef with dwarf lionfish / hawkfish. Just a suggestion! : victory:


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## CollaredLizardGal (May 17, 2010)

you could check out the ultimate reef forum, beware there can be some really clicky folks on there but they are good for pics and advice, take everything they say with a pinch of salt, there are dedicated nano threads! enjoy!


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## baggylettuce (May 3, 2010)

thanks for the advice, will check out that forum. i was thinking of trying to avoid clownfish, love them but they are super common.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

i would join monsterfishkeepers.com their not just for monsters they have a stunning marine section with some very nolegable members im curently a member "monsterberry"
i would get about 8 2"-3" fish 
or 5 4"-5" fish 
or 3 5"-6" 
i wouldnt get to much live rock i tend to just get say 2lb and add a tone of ocean rock to it and it will be live in no time and will save you loads of £££.
allso type your desired aquarium model in on ebay and theirs loads of them for sale at discounted prices insted of you paying shop prices
make shore you do invest in circulasion as this is a big part of your system you can get a decent size wave maker of ebay very cheaply


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

oh and allso i would invest a large amount of my budget on the lighting as i think this is the key to succes with reefs


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*key*



berry1 said:


> oh and allso i would invest a large amount of my budget on the lighting as i think this is the key to succes with reefs


That along with water quality and flow for coral


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

berry1 said:


> i would join monsterfishkeepers.com their not just for monsters they have a stunning marine section with some very nolegable members im curently a member "monsterberry"
> i would get about 8 2"-3" fish
> or 5 4"-5" fish
> or 3 5"-6"
> ...


im sorry, but i have to disagree here.
in a 125 litre tank 8 fish is waaaay too many!

i have a reef setup in a 180litre and i have 6 fish, and i have uv steriliser, external canistor, 2 koralias, a powerhead, internal box filter, 40kg roughly of LR and 6 is still probably too many.
a pair of perc clowns, 2 blue damsels, a bicolour foxface and a pyjama cardinal. i did have a dragon wrasse in there too, but he died 
i have a cleaner shrimp and a fairly large CUC.

in a 125 your looking at about 4 fish max, obviously depending on size.
id recommend some perc clowns, maybe a wrasse of some kind, and maybe some firefish.

the stocking levels of marine tanks isnt set in stone like freshwater and you do have some freedom to experiment, but in a tank that small the water conditions can change so rapidly and with that many fish its only gonna end badly.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

Pearson Design said:


> im sorry, but i have to disagree here.
> in a 125 litre tank 8 fish is waaaay too many!
> 
> i have a reef setup in a 180litre and i have 6 fish, and i have uv steriliser, external canistor, 2 koralias, a powerhead, internal box filter, 40kg roughly of LR and 6 is still probably too many.
> ...




didnt you eaven read my post corectly i said
8 2"-3" fish that means small fish like watchman gobies and some damsiles it doesnt mean fox faces that grow way to big for a 125 and dragon wrasses fox faces and dragon wrasses are only suted for 150 litre upwards aquariums and what makes me so pi**D of is wen people say ive got all this fancy equipment and im still over stocked i have 5 marine aquariums and all are over stocked one is a 500g reef and a nother is a 5g reef ive kept these aquariums for 5 years not loosing any fish they dont have skimmers all they have is a good sump a wave maker or power head and some good heating and lighting
ive succesfully kept 8 fish in a 60 litre they all maxed out at 2" and all lived 10 years before i upgraded them you dont need a load of fancy equipment you can overstock as long as you dont slack with maintance (i do 50% changes weekly)


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## si-man (Aug 25, 2010)

Try thesaltybox as well. Got really good advice on there when I had my 90L nano.


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

berry1 said:


> didnt you eaven read my post corectly i said
> 8 2"-3" fish that means small fish like watchman gobies and some damsiles it doesnt mean fox faces that grow way to big for a 125 and dragon wrasses fox faces and dragon wrasses are only suted for 150 litre upwards aquariums and what makes me so pi**D of is wen people say ive got all this fancy equipment and im still over stocked i have 5 marine aquariums and all are over stocked one is a 500g reef and a nother is a 5g reef ive kept these aquariums for 5 years not loosing any fish they dont have skimmers all they have is a good sump a wave maker or power head and some good heating and lighting
> ive succesfully kept 8 fish in a 60 litre they all maxed out at 2" and all lived 10 years before i upgraded them you dont need a load of fancy equipment you can overstock as long as you dont slack with maintance (i do 50% changes weekly)



you have been lucky then.
ive kept marines for over 15 years, from a small 2ft reef to a 7ftx3ftx3ft.
the larger the tank the less problems you will get but a "nano" tank is way more unstable.
im only going on experience and what ive learnt while working with others who keep and breed marine fish and inverts.

for a new starter to marines your advice is totally wrong and also contradictory.

im not doubting that what you say is true in your case, but it isnt going to be for everyone.

id be interested to see your 500g reef tank by the way. cos 50% water changes on that will cost you a shit load of money, which most average marine fish keepers or even most average humans wouldnt be able to afford.

why not post some pics of your tanks and setups? that way we can see how you do things, instead of just taking your word on it with 6 posts.


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

oh and also, where is the logic in not adding all live rock? ocean rock will not turn fully live, not as well as other types, and even if it does go live it takes between 6 months to a year to be of any use as filtration.


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## owlbassboy (Jun 26, 2008)

or you could come to the uks active dedicated nano reef forum The Nano Reef: Big Forum-Small Tank • Index page


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

i will post some pics of my set ups im getting a new camera this week then ill post some pics no offense mate but if you can offord the costs of marine fish to stock a 500g which i can why cant you offord the costs of water i get good deals on water as im best buds with the owner of the shop but i understand that not all of us do no people in shops 
my advice would work perfectly fine as long you do heavy water changes and maintance with very good filterasion
what leads to disaster with marine aquariums is when wast builds up and polutes the aquarium and stunting the fish heavy maintance will keep the water in tip top condition
and heres what you said in one of your posts

i have a reef setup in a 180litre and i have 6 fish, and i have uv steriliser, external canistor, 2 koralias, a powerhead, internal box filter, 40kg roughly of LR and 6 is still probably too many.
a pair of perc clowns, 2 blue damsels, a bicolour foxface and a pyjama cardinal. i did have a dragon wrasse in there too, but he died :sad:
i have a cleaner shrimp and a fairly large CUC.
first problem you have a fox face that can get over 10" a dragon wrasse that can be quite aggressive you have cardinal cardinals need to be kept in a minimun of 3s idealy 6s
now you have 6 fish one that gets over 10" and and the others get over 3"
tell me what the difference with 8 2"-3" fish in a 125 or 6 fish that get over 3"-10"
no ofense mate but i think your being a bit hipocritical you have 6 fish that 2 that will out grow it and your saying 8 2"-3" fish in a 125 is to much come on just think of what your saying
a fox face makes more bioload than 8 2" fish


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## Adam98150 (Jan 12, 2009)

berry1 said:


> didnt you eaven read my post corectly i said
> 8 2"-3" fish that means small fish like watchman gobies and some damsiles it doesnt mean fox faces that grow way to big for a 125 and *dragon wrasses fox faces and dragon wrasses are only suted for 150 litre upwards aquariums* and what makes me so pi**D of is wen people say ive got all this fancy equipment and im still over stocked i have 5 marine aquariums and all are over stocked one is a 500g reef and a nother is a 5g reef ive kept these aquariums for 5 years not loosing any fish they dont have skimmers all they have is a good sump a wave maker or power head and some good heating and lighting
> ive succesfully kept 8 fish in a 60 litre they all maxed out at 2" and all lived 10 years before i upgraded them you dont need a load of fancy equipment you can overstock as long as you dont slack with maintance (i do 50% changes weekly)


It needs to be much larger than that . . considering Dragon Wrasse can reach 12" and need a good amount of swimming room.

And anyone could say the above.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

Adam98150 said:


> It needs to be much larger than that . . considering Dragon Wrasse can reach 12" and need a good amount of swimming room.
> 
> And anyone could say the above.



yea any one could say that but im not any one i was saying a dragon wrasse and a fox face wasnt sutable for an aquarium of that size wen a nother member said they had 6 fish in a 180 litre one was a fox face and a nother was a dragon wrasse


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

ive kept marine for 5 years and i now plenty about them so your saying 8 watchman gobies would be to much in a 125 litre aquarium


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

Adam98150 said:


> It needs to be much larger than that . . considering Dragon Wrasse can reach 12" and need a good amount of swimming room.
> 
> And anyone could say the above.



and ya now i think you havent even got a marine aquarium as for you to say any one could say that a munckey nows its own tricks


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

i have teh foxface in the 180 litre, but i also have 3 40x24x15 setups and when i move next month will be getting another 6x2x2 setup.
the foxface is only about 3 inches at the moment, and by the time he needs a larger home ill have one ready.

i also have another setup with a volitan and a red toothed trigger, they will need a larger home too, and this is something i will also havge remedied by that time.

at the end of the day everyone keeps marines differently, but in my experience it is better to try and keep the fish happy in a suitable home. by that i mean make sure everything is ok for them without needeing constant maintenance.

what happens if you have to go away or are unable to do the required water changes on your tanks?

you also didnt answer the live rock question... live rock is better than ocean rock by miles, so why not fill a tank with all live? if you have the money for it, then surely its best


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

its 100 times better to start with an aquarium filed with LR i personaly allways now fill my aquariums with live rock but when i first started in marine 12 years agow i didnt have a tone of funds and i wasnt shore if it was going to be a hobbie or not allso when i started i didnt no shit about fish keeping i jumped in the deep end & i got my first 60 litre aquarium i was advised to get about 8 fish (overasly this is far to much for a 60 litre) i got all the corect equipment like skimmers and filters beacose i didnt no much about them i didnt now how many fish or what types so i got advice of the shop and i ended up with 8 fish maxing out at about 1-2" after a year or so i started learning more and doing more reasarch and i realised it was to full the shop wouldnt take any back and i couldnt offord a nother aquarium so i just done very regular maintance as thats all i could think of doing after about 10 years i branched out and started adding to the aquarium i had first i got a 125 litre and put my 8 marines in their then i wanted more as i descoverd the corals and interesting inverts i ended up with a nother 3 marine aquariums 1 was a 500g that i made my self out of ply and i was so used to the heavy maintance i still over stock to this day overasly nothing like 8 marines in a 60 litre im allso very into tropicals ive got a red tailed tiger shovel nose a tiger oscar a 12" jumbo parrot cichlid 2 pink fined cigar sharks tin foils silver dollars large gouramis id sharks and quite a bit more ive learnt a lot about bigger aggressive tropicals as their what im into on the trop side im just saying how i keep marines as i have been succesful overasly this might not work for every one but im not critisising you in any way im just trying to get my point over that over stocking a little does no harm as an aquarium can look quite bare and that few extra fish can realy do the job
allso why dont you look into jaw fish their quite interesting and not to big allso if your feeling like a chalenge why not try a mandarin their possible in a 125 but very picky eating habits


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

i used to have jawfish, but im not too keen on deep substrate and they need this to be happy

i know my reef tank is/was overstocked but like i said ill be migrating to larger tank when needed.

i was simply stating the basics as the person who originally posted is new to marines, and i wouldnt want someone to jump in the deep end and overstock without knowing the ins and outs of having a marine aquarium

what do you mean you made a 500g out of ply??


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## Adam98150 (Jan 12, 2009)

berry1 said:


> and ya now i think you havent even got a marine aquarium as for you to say any one could say that a munckey nows its own tricks


You sound like a complete moron. Please speak english . .

I don't have a marine aquarium, I DID have one. It contained a Fu Manchu Lionfish, White Ribbon Moray, as well as a Scarlet Hawkfish.


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## baggylettuce (May 3, 2010)

getting a bit confused now lol. i think i will follow Pearson Design advise as your giving honest advise and willing to help with my set up, also i have seem your previous posts and threads where you have successfully helped others and i have seem your marines and they look amazing. so would i be better to get i slightly larger tank i have room for around 180-200g tank i just thought maybe a nano would be easier but if they are going to be more unstable then i would rather spend more and make sure i get it right. in terms of fish im not looking to ram pack the tank just looking for a decent stocking levels for a reef tank of that size. clowns and firefish are what im looking at i know their common but the more research i have done into them then the more i think they would be a good start for me. so if i did go for a larger tank around 180-200 what equpiment would i need? just want to make sure i have covered everything before i jump into it.


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

baggylettuce said:


> getting a bit confused now lol. i think i will follow Pearson Design advise as your giving honest advise and willing to help with my set up, also i have seem your previous posts and threads where you have successfully helped others and i have seem your marines and they look amazing. so would i be better to get i slightly larger tank i have room for around 180-200g tank i just thought maybe a nano would be easier but if they are going to be more unstable then i would rather spend more and make sure i get it right. in terms of fish im not looking to ram pack the tank just looking for a decent stocking levels for a reef tank of that size. clowns and firefish are what im looking at i know their common but the more research i have done into them then the more i think they would be a good start for me. so if i did go for a larger tank around 180-200 what equpiment would i need? just want to make sure i have covered everything before i jump into it.



thankyou i appreciate the compliments 

ok, first off are you sure you mean 180 - 200 gallons, or is it litres? if its gallons then that is a big big tank compared to a nano lol

anyways, onto equipment
if i start by saying how i have setup my reef tank it will give you an idea of one way to do it.

i have my reef in a 180 litre jewell rio 180. its roughly 3 foot in length
heres a current picture










and here is a pic of my reef tank just after i added the base grotto rock  you can see how i built it up, and the difference between the start and finish. its very rewarding









im running an external eheim pro 2 canistor filter, a 2 foot tmc uv steriliser, 2 internal koralia fans and the internal jewell filter box and powerhead for partcile pickup.
with the external canistor, power head and 2 koralias im getting around 4000 litres per hour flow which has done my corals no end of good 

i have around 35-40 kg of live rock in the tank, maybe more. built the reef base out of grotto rock, most of which is now live aswell.

for lighting i am running the built in jewell rio T8 with one marine white and one marine blue. i also have 2 extra T5 marine whites inside the hood.

i have kenya tree, finger leather, leather, trumpet, pulsing xenia, pussy coral, feather dusters, acropora and a few other corals in my reef and they have all flourished, with the exception of the acropora. its a hard coral and came from a tank which was running high output halide lights, so going from that to my smaller amount of lighting didnt do it any good unfortunately 

ok. 
you do have different options though of course.
some people say you dont need the external canistor because if you have a large amount of live rock this will act as your filtration. that is true, but ive always had an external on all my marine tanks.

protein skimmers are another thing that people recommend. i myself have never had one on any of my tanks so i cannot comment on whether they are helpful or not, but im going to say they are.
i have always got by without them but every case is different.

you will need to get salt. i used to use TMC salt but now use Kent marine. this is the only salt available that doesnt need to be mixed for 24hrs before being added to the tank. you can prepare the water and mix it in properly for 20 minutes to an hour then add it. NEVER ADD SALT TO THE LIVE TANK! salt is very caustic and can burn the fish and corals.

you will need a hydrometer/refractometer - this measures the salt level (or specific gravity) in the water. 1.024 is the perfect amount for a reef tank.

im not sure if you are aware of this or not, but if your having a reef tank you cannot ever add any medication that contains copper, this is very very bad for corals and can kill them very quickly.

im sorry if this is a bit jumbled lol, im trying to think of everything and keep getting caught up in thoughts lol

right, i think that covers everything for now.

oh, the fish. clowns and firefish are fine, but firefish can be a bit iffy in new tanks. id recommend the clowns to start then maybe moving onto some bangaii cardinals or something equally sized. cardinals like being in groups, so 3 or more is perfect. i have 2 pyjama cardinals, one in my reef and one in my coral grow on tank. ive tried to catch the reef one but its impossible lol, so he has stayed in there for now.

if you have any more questions then please feel free to ask 

heres some more pics of my tanks as they are now


















































this is one of my new started coral tanks. 
there is a volitan lion








a red toothed trigger and a pyjama cardinal too



















the floating breeding trap is housing my 1.5inch mantis shrimp for now. he will be moving to his own tank when i move house 
i love them, they are so so fascinating to watch 


this was my 4ft fish only tank before the burglery happened, and it was smashed 









so then, hopefully thats enough to get you started, but feel free to ask any questions at all. no question is a stupid question, we all had to learn and ask them once too


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## baggylettuce (May 3, 2010)

thanks for the advise, lovely setups by the way .

i'm i little confused about the importance of protien skimmers some people have said they are essesntial, but other such as yourself have great set ups and a perfect tank without theym so i dont know what to do about them lol.

I know they need a large water flow but how is it possible to measure it or is it just an estimate from the equpiment used? also final question, would it be possible just to run of two T5 lights or do you need a mix of T5 and T8?


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

you can use two T5s no problem, its just the hard corals and more demanding corals that need more light. for a proper setup with hard corals you really need halide lights, but they are expensive to buy and expensive to run! 

as for protein skimmers, ive never used one. am thinking of getting one on my coral frag tanks but only because i want to kinda overdo the filtration to make sure they grow fast and well.

i have plenty of marine friends who dont use skimmers, but the ones with sumps tend to have them.


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