New To Saltwater, 5g Nano?

I have a year of experience in freshwater. While far from an expert, I understand most everything in regards to cycling, species compatibility, and live plants. I run 3 freshwater tanks, one of them a high tech with injected CO2, high lighting, and a fertilizer regiment.

I work at a pet store that specializes in fresh and saltwater fish, with aquarium maintenance on the side. Having spent more and more time around the saltwater tanks and learning how they work, I was wondering if a 5 gallon nano would be doable? Here is my understanding thus far:

-when water evaporates, you must top off with RO water
-ideal salinity is 1.023 - 1.025
-1 pound of live sand and live rock per gallon of water
-cycling is essentially the same as freshwater
-as with any tank, smaller volumes experience parameter fluctuations more easily

The stock I am considering is inexpensive inverts such as hermit and emerald crabs, astrea snails, and perhaps a centerpiece specimen such as a fire shrimp. At my job I can get premixed batches of saltwater, such as Instant Ocean, so having to worry about salinity and mixing my own isn't an issue. I don't own a hydrometer but I can easily get one.

As a saltwater beginner with lots of freshwater experience, would this work?

 

Here is just my opinion based on looking into doing a nano myself, I opted to not.

The tank is still the cheapest part of the whole deal, and nano sized equipment (especially saltwater specific things like skimmers) are more expensive than their normal sized counterparts. If you are looking to do salt and keep the price down I would shop equipment first, and decide on the tank last, and get the largest one your equipment can support.

You can do a lot of things with height in salt water too so maybe look into even like a 15 gal that has a small footprint but is tall.

 

Agreed; get the largest tank you can have because like with any tank, the bigger it is the easier it is to maintain.

But a 5 gallon nano is doable for what you want to keep. And there are fish options for the nano if you'd like to have one; or if you just want to keep inverts.

Do you plan on some corals too?

And as for the RO; you want to top off with RO water that has salt to maintain the salinity. You probably were going to do this anyways; by from the post I wasn't entirely sure

 

Agreed; get the largest tank you can have because like with any tank, the bigger it is the easier it is to maintain.

But a 5 gallon nano is doable for what you want to keep. And there are fish options for the nano if you'd like to have one; or if you just want to keep inverts.

Do you plan on some corals too?

And as for the RO; you want to top off with RO water that has salt to maintain the salinity. You probably were going to do this anyways; by from the post I wasn't entirely sure

Is a protein skimmer necessary on a saltwater tank? As far as I know we don't even use them on our frag tanks at work.

I considered corals, but given the price of a single frag ($29.99 at work) I wanted to get my feet wet with some inexpensive inverts first.

I use a hydrometer daily at work, so I have a good understanding of when to add saltwater and when to just use RO. Though I thought when water evaporated, salt stayed behind, so adding salt is only necessary during water changes. Is this correct?

 

Is a protein skimmer necessary on a saltwater tank? As far as I know we don't even use them on our frag tanks at work.

I considered corals, but given the price of a single frag ($29.99 at work) I wanted to get my feet wet with some inexpensive inverts first.

I use a hydrometer daily at work, so I have a good understanding of when to add saltwater and when to just use RO. Though I thought when water evaporated, salt stayed behind, so adding salt is only necessary during water changes. Is this correct?

I am not sure if a skimmer is NEEDED, especially in an invert only type tank, it will help keep your Nitrates under control, but if you don't need them near 0 maybe you could skip it - I am not saltwater expert

But yes, salt does not evaporate (see the salt flats in Utah for proof ) so you only need to add RO when topping off.

 

Is a protein skimmer necessary on a saltwater tank? As far as I know we don't even use them on our frag tanks at work.

I considered corals, but given the price of a single frag ($29.99 at work) I wanted to get my feet wet with some inexpensive inverts first.

I use a hydrometer daily at work, so I have a good understanding of when to add saltwater and when to just use RO. Though I thought when water evaporated, salt stayed behind, so adding salt is only necessary during water changes. Is this correct?

You could get away with no protein skimmer if your just running inverts; their protein buildup isn't as massive as fish. And to what Bizarro252 was mentioning, protein skimmers don't get rid of nitrates, but help remove the organic wastes that would become nitrates.

As for topping off, using the RO is fine but I was thinking about sumps and stuff lol. I'm used to having a lot of salt buildup on sumps/filters in the bigger tanks, thus decreasing salinity once in awhile, but you are right, the salt will stay and since your system is smaller, it'll be fine with just topping off

Oh, and as a side note/forewarning, if you ever want to get corals, avoid the hairy, blue-legged hermit crabs. They eat corals and are EVIL (lol...okay not evil, but they will decimate your corals).

 

My firs sw tank was a 16g, it was the best. Size wise it was perfect, not small enough to crash or hit disaster easily and not too big to re-set if things were going wrong. No skimmer just rock sand power head and a £12 hob for water polishing.




Some inspiration for you. The 5 gallon is do-able but I personally would not want it long term. Hermits would do good in there though 2 or 3.

 

I don't know if you're planning to keep fishes there or not but I think that probably I have more experience and reading than you. And, I'll not get a tank that small for freshwater fishes, let alone saltwater. In my opinion try get a 10 or 15 minimum to make it easier for your pets and yourself. A tank that small is like bathing with a bottle of water, where you actually need a bucket of water.

 

Hydrometer's are about as useful as a chocolate frying pan,
that's the cheap atc refractometer £15. I used that since day 1, best thing you can add to your saltwater starters shopping cart.

 

Blue leg crabs do not eat coral. At least all of mine since I started this hobby idk how many years ago have never eaten any of my coral in any of the 10 different tank setups I've had. Crabs will kill snails for their shells though. Something to keep in mind. The RO conversation was corrected. For a tank this small an ato is a must for me. If not you will be manually refilling RO everyday. Personally if this is your first saltwater tank I'd go with a 15 or 20 gallon. Bigger being better but the bigger you go the price tag goes with it. I've had tanks ranging from 27-180. I've currently settled on a 30 gallon shallow tank as the right one for me. A drilled tank being the most ideal if possible

 

Blue leg crabs do not eat coral. At least all of mine since I started this hobby idk how many years ago have never eaten any of my coral in any of the 10 different tank setups I've had. Crabs will kill snails for their shells though. Something to keep in mind. The RO conversation was corrected. For a tank this small an ato is a must for me. If not you will be manually refilling RO everyday. Personally if this is your first saltwater tank I'd go with a 15 or 20 gallon. Bigger being better but the bigger you go the price tag goes with it. I've had tanks ranging from 27-180. I've currently settled on a 30 gallon shallow tank as the right one for me. A drilled tank being the most ideal if possible View attachment 336865

As a side note; the dwarf blue crabs are *reef safe*, but it seems to be the consensus/trend that the larger ones can cause some damage

 

As a side note; the dwarf blue crabs are *reef safe*, but it seems to be the consensus/trend that the larger ones can cause some damage

I'm sure like everything else in this hobby every fish/invert has it's own personality. I'm just giving my experience. Do they do it to certain types of coral or do they just get destructive towards everything. Personally I like to keep snails in my display and crabs in my fuge. Just because of how opportunistic crabs can be

 

I'm sure like everything else in this hobby every fish/invert has it's own personality. I'm just giving my experience. Do they do it to certain types of coral or do they just get destructive towards everything. Personally I like to keep snails in my display and crabs in my fuge. Just because of how opportunistic crabs can be

True, they have their own personalities and I always hope for the best lol . As for range, it seems they can be a bit annoying to almost everything; I do know that they are less fond of the ones with the sweeper tentacles that come out at night (like torches) but that won't necessarily stop them during the day. My uncle had one of these blue crabs and it decimated about a 1/4-1/3 of his massive leather coral in almost a week before we figured out what happened lol. It even bothered his nems until the clownfish that it was hosting would chase it away

 

True, they have their own personalities and I always hope for the best lol . As for range, it seems they can be a bit annoying to almost everything; I do know that they are less fond of the ones with the sweeper tentacles that come out at night (like torches) but that won't necessarily stop them during the day. My uncle had one of these blue crabs and it decimated about a 1/4-1/3 of his massive leather coral in almost a week before we figured out what happened lol. It even bothered his nems until the clownfish that it was hosting would chase it away

Lol makes me remember back when I first started I ordered a hermit crab with anemones from reefs2go I believe. Their website says reef safe so I ordered one. Get the shipment in and a giant 3" crab shows up. No big deal right it's reef safe. Toss it into my 29 gallon come home from work the next morning to my tank demolished and him snacking on some coral. Luckily I was able to get some money from the damages he did but that was definitely a learning experience. Unfortunately Mr. Krabs is no longer with me but I think once my fuge is established with plenty of algae I'll order another

 

Lol makes me remember back when I first started I ordered a hermit crab with anemones from reefs2go I believe. Their website says reef safe so I ordered one. Get the shipment in and a giant 3" crab shows up. No big deal right it's reef safe. Toss it into my 29 gallon come home from work the next morning to my tank demolished and him snacking on some coral. Luckily I was able to get some money from the damages he did but that was definitely a learning experience. Unfortunately Mr. Krabs is no longer with me but I think once my fuge is established with plenty of algae I'll order anotherView attachment 336896

Holy poop! He's huge!!! Oh man, I'd love to have seen how big he could be rn. Look at him; nothing about him looks reef safe haha; you can see it in his eyes "mwuhahaha. Little does anarchy know that I AM the true anarchy!"

Edit: Argh, sorry for hijacking! I get a little lost in the threads sometimes

 

Holy poop! He's huge!!! Oh man, I'd love to have seen how big he could be rn. Look at him; nothing about him looks reef safe haha; you can see it in his eyes "mwuhahaha. Little does anarchy know that I AM the true anarchy!"

I'll look back through my old 29 gallon build thread and pull some crazy pics of him lol

 

anarchy just looking at your old hermit crab tells me he's going to be up to no good haha.

 

He looks troublesome haha, labels are just labels, peppermint shrimps get a bad rap if you google but I had mine in a 16g with lots of coral and he was an asset to me I want another and I will get one he was a bit of an impulse if id have read all that crud on google and on other forums id of not got him. Just another example for you guys but like said above it can vary specimen to specimen I'm just going off my exp.

 

grantm91 yeah. Agreed. Same with my clownfish. Not everything is text book. My clownfish are very docile and arnt mean to any of their tank mates at all. So it varies from fish to fish and invert to invert.

 

I have a year of experience in freshwater. While far from an expert, I understand most everything in regards to cycling, species compatibility, and live plants. I run 3 freshwater tanks, one of them a high tech with injected CO2, high lighting, and a fertilizer regiment.

I work at a pet store that specializes in fresh and saltwater fish, with aquarium maintenance on the side. Having spent more and more time around the saltwater tanks and learning how they work, I was wondering if a 5 gallon nano would be doable? Here is my understanding thus far:

-when water evaporates, you must top off with RO water
-ideal salinity is 1.023 - 1.025
-1 pound of live sand and live rock per gallon of water
-cycling is essentially the same as freshwater
-as with any tank, smaller volumes experience parameter fluctuations more easily

The stock I am considering is inexpensive inverts such as hermit and emerald crabs, astrea snails, and perhaps a centerpiece specimen such as a fire shrimp. At my job I can get premixed batches of saltwater, such as Instant Ocean, so having to worry about salinity and mixing my own isn't an issue. I don't own a hydrometer but I can easily get one.

As a saltwater beginner with lots of freshwater experience, would this work?

So a 5G tank doesn't actually need the 1 pound per gallon, it's as much as it takes to get everything into balance.
I'd say salt are harder and need more care, but any person who is has a large fresh water tank could easily care for a nano tank. And don't rush your tank or over crowd it.

 

One word in this hobby: PATIENCE