cmoreland

Hello, I would like to buy a 6 or a 9 gallon Nano reef tank. I was looking at the nano cube or the Aquamedic line...which is better? Can I get one for under $100? This will be for an office desk so it needs to be small. I know the smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain, but I'm willing to babysit it as I'll be right next to it for 8 hours a day every day...

Thanks!

fishpie

There expensive start out with a 5-10 gallon tank and put tropical community then work your way up (get glo-fish if you find them)

au01st

A 5.5 gallon from PetCo should run about $12. A few pounds of sand (you may have to buy a whole bag but that should be about $10). A HOB filter can run $10-$30. live rock will be $3-$4 a pound, and you'll want 5-10lbs depending on the shapes of the rock and space you want to fill. You can buy pre mixed saltwater at the store, or buy RO or distilled water from the grocery store for around $1 a gallon or so and get your own salt mix. I don't know the pricing on this but these should be relatively cheap.

Now we get to the lights. Assuming you went middle of the road on the filter at $20, got 8lbs of rock at $25, the tank for $12 and salt/water for $20, this could be your budget breaker. What kind of things do you want to keep in the nano? If it's your first then I would recommend just softies and a goby or two. You could go with Compact Fluorescent lighting and support some easy corals, but I doubt you'll find one for $20 (also, I don't know the width of a standard 5.5 gallon.

travie

My main question/concern is, how do you plan to maintain it on the weekends or if/when you have a day off or a couple days off in a row? Not topping off a tank that small even for one day will probably be catastrophic to all coral and most fish if not all fish. Just something else to think about.

cmoreland

Just wanted to let you all know that I bought an AquaMedic Nanowave 9 about a month ago and it's been doing great! Please check out my log w/ pics! http://cmoreland.blogspot.com

Only real problem is heat, that thing generates a LOT of it...temps soar to almost 85F with the lights on...

au01st

Desk fan will cool that down.

cmoreland

Yeah I was thinking about something like that, but where should I put it? On the top or where?

Mike

Very nice. My 28 gallon nano was doing the same. Is there any open area in the top/back of the tank? If so, place the fan so that it blows across the water. Should help with evaporative cooling, but will need more frequent freshwater top-offs.

cmoreland

The Aquamedics design is so tight (fitting) that there is very...i mean, VERY little evap. I add a tiny bit of kalkwasser with my top-offs so I'd like to have a bit more evap actually. It should help the coraline and other calcium dependent species in there...thanks!!

Franklin

Check this out,
http://www.nanocustoms.com/product_i...roducts_id=150

Where did you get your tank?

cmoreland

Hey Franklin, that's a nice mod!! I got the tank for $90 at Aquarium Wholesale Direct, then some office buddies saw it and for the price they immediately ordered their selves one! I think they are sold out now and that aquarium is not being made any more as I understand it.

One of those, helluva deal right place at the right time kindof things...I really love it!