Basic Items Needed For Nano Tank With One Clown Fish

New here! I've seen a lotta videos with heaps of equipment in their Saltwater tanks, and heaps with barely any equipment, so I'm becoming confused. I already have a filter and a light (and the tank obviously), so what now? I'm planning on buying live sand and live rock, but what else do I need? I will be doing 50% weekly water changes like with the rest of my Freshwater tanks, so is a filter really needed? I've heard the live rock is the only needed filtration. Would this be the case with one fish? Apart from actual equipment for inside the tank, what equipment will I need for maintenance or testing? Thanks guys

 

There are so many ways to set up a saltwater tank it is definitely confusing! Our setups all have live rock, argonite sand, a filter sock, a protein skimmer, reactor (sound cooler than they are, just a container with a pump that pushes the water through carbon and/or GFO (granular ferric oxide which removes phosphates), and power heads. Can a tank be run without a skimmer? Yes, but that requires larger, more frequent water changes especially if you plan on keeping a fish.

What size nano are you planning? If the tank is less than 20g, I would not recommend putting a clownfish in there. If the tank is less than 10g, I would not recommend keep any fish, just inverts.

Live rock doesn't provide filtration, it provides a surface for the nitrifying bacteria to populate. At a minimum I would run carbon in the filter to keep the water crystal clear! It may not hurt to put GFO in the filter as well as a water polishing pad to grab the large particles.


What are you planning for circulation? Where you planning on mixing your own saltwater? Do you have an RO/DI unit or somewhere you can buy RO/DI water? If you are planning on making your own, do you know how to mix it?

For maintenance, you should have a refractometer and at a minimum test kits including ammonia, high range PH, nitrites and nitrates (we use API test kits). If you are planning on keeping hard corals, test kits for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are a good idea (we use Red Sea). There are always the standard drain tubes and buckets but if you have any tanks you probably already have those.

 

New here! I've seen a lotta videos with heaps of equipment in their Saltwater tanks, and heaps with barely any equipment, so I'm becoming confused. I already have a filter and a light (and the tank obviously), so what now? I'm planning on buying live sand and live rock, but what else do I need? I will be doing 50% weekly water changes like with the rest of my Freshwater tanks, so is a filter really needed? I've heard the live rock is the only needed filtration. Would this be the case with one fish? Apart from actual equipment for inside the tank, what equipment will I need for maintenance or testing? Thanks guys

For one clown? You could do a 10 gallon. Or, in a 10 gallon, you could do some type of small goby. Although, for about the same price, you could get a 20 long, get 2 clownfish, a firefish, and a goby. For a 20 long FOWLR (fish only with live rock), you need:
Tank
Live rock
Substrate
Powerhead
Heater
Salt and Mixing powerhead OR on a nano its often just as easy to buy premade saltwater from your LFS
Ro/DI unit OR buy RO/DI water from your LFS.
Refractometer
Saltwater test kit
Thermometer
Light
AC50 (for refugium. Not needed, but VERY useful)

So in a saltwater aquarium, its completely different then a freshwater. Your live rock is your biological filtration. It has lots of nooks and crannies and is very porous. Just like some people put lava rock in there freshwater filter for biological filtration, we just use live rock. The amount of live rock you need varies. If its very porous, like Pukani, you only need about 1/2 lb per gallon. Other rocks, you might need 1 lb per gallon.

So you have your live rock, bio filtration right? How do we get water flowing over it? With a powerhead! So a powerhead and live rock is your filtration. People that run sumps will often have mechanical filtration, and chemical, but nanos wihtout sumps generally either don't have mechanical filtration and chemical filtration, or they have a HOB filter that they modded to be both filtration and a refugium.

If you have light stocking, and an HOB that is modded to be a cheato refugium, you'll only need to change about 4 gallons every two weeks. Or, better, 2 gallons every week.

 

Agreed with everything SecretiveFish and Culprit have said. To reiterate, your rock will provide biofiltration, but an HOB or small sump would provide you with so many other things. Mechanical filtration for particles, as well as nitrate and phosphate removing 'stuff' can go in there.

I have a 20 gallon long with plenty of rock, in addition to a large Aquaclear 70 HOB that contains Seachem Matrix (additional biofiltration), a filter pad, (mechanical filtration), macroalgae, (nutrient export/nitrate removal), carbon (sometimes, for removal of toxins produced by corals and water clarity). It seems like a lot, but it's all self contained in the Aquaclear and works quite well at keeping my tank stable. Along with 25% weekly water changes.

As far as other equipment. There are pumps in the tank to provide flow, as well as a heater. The macroalgae in my HOB needs a light to grow and export nutrients, so that's a small light in addition to the tank light. The tank light can be simple if you're really staying fish only. If you ever want to provide the clown with an anemone or put some corals in the tank, well, then you'd need a reef light. AI Prime HD's are very nice over a nano.

Please share your tank details with us and we'll be glad to answer any other questions you might have. Congrats on the new saltwater setup and.... Welcome to Fishlore!!!

 

What size tank do you have for it?

 

15g

 

1 or 2 clowns will work.

 

My first was also a 16g


A great place to start, I learnt the basics on that tank, managing salinity, topping off, mixing the sw. I loved that little cube.
Just get stuck in and set up, there is no learning like hands on learning.

 

My first was also a 16g


A great place to start, I learnt the basics on that tank, managing salinity, topping off, mixing the sw. I loved that little cube.
Just get stuck in and set up, there is no learning like hands on learning.

 

If you get two clowns, try to get them young and from the same tank. You'll get the best chance of them pairing that way.

 

Do you have a pic of your tank? Do you have any additional equipment so far? You’ll need a heater, thermometer and powerhead at the minimum. I recommend Salifert or Red Sea test kits. ApI are great for freshwater but there are better kits geared towards sw on the market. If you get into corals, which many do, you’ll want to keep on top of more parameters than just a fish only tank (as mentioned above). Not everyone runs carbon/gfo but it can be helpful in some cases.

I also recommend quarantining everything that goes into the tank. Fish at the very least ... should be QT for a minimum of 6 weeks and I recommend prophylactically treating for things like crypt (sw ich) and internal worms ... many fish can be carrying parasites but have somewhat of an immunity to them and it may not show until the fish is stressed and once introduced to your main setup will infect the display and you’ll have to run it fallow for 12 weeks to wait out the lifecycle. (Crypt). Doesn’t matter where they come from ... any fish can be carrying a pest that goes unnoticed. Anyway ... one example is I just bought a new Clownfish. I introduced my existing clown and the new one in QT together since it was neutral territory. Well, I’m now treating for flukes. New clown didn’t show any signs of illness but had I put it in the display I would have to worry about it too. I’m prophylactically treating with chloroquine phosphate for the major 3 (crypt, brook and velvet) as well as using PraziPro for internal worms and the flukes. The CP is a 30 day treatment then they’ll stay there for a couple more weeks for observation and any subsequent treatments that may be necessary.

It is also a good rule of thumb to dip all coral! Best to dip then QT then dip again before putting in DT to catch any unhatched pest eggs ... but dip once at the very least. Doesn’t matter if it comes from the best fish store or your best friend ... dip all corals.

This is a great little community so ask lots of questions. We are here to help!