Smallest Successful Reef?

[SpeaksWhale]

New member; considering reef setup.

I understand the meaning of nano as in nano reef.
But how small is nano in the reef world?

Any related info is also welcome...

Thank you,

Rick

 

[Nonmouse]

20 gallons or less is the 'usual' definition for a nano reef. Under 5 gallons can be referred to as a pico reef. I've got a 2 gallon pico reef, and I've seen them considerably under a gallon. The smaller they are, though, the more 'twitchy' they are, though, as very small changes can have relatively large effects on the tank chemistry- having one fish or coral die, that would pass unnoticed in a 55 gallon reef can cause an ammonia spike that would crash a 1 gallon tank. In that vein, I've been having trouble with my nitrate levels, so I just added a ~1.5 gallon cryptic fuge to my pico to give it a little more volume and more biological filtration.

http://www.nano-reef.com/ is a great resource for information on nano and pico reef tanks.

 

[saltwaterB]

I had a 1 gal. goldfish bowl setup as a reef for about 6-7 months. It just had a few polyps and shrooms in it. 1 tiny goby and an anemone shrimp. The biggest problem I had was evaporation. I felt the daily amount of evaporation was ultimately causing to much stress on the inhabitants inside, so I took it down. Not too mention it was getting tough to scrape the sides of a rounded goldfish bowl, especially when it came to coraline. It was fun for a little bit, but not worth the work, effort, and stress on life inside.

Other than that I had a 5.5 gal in our kitchen at one point. That was pretty easy to keep. Heat issues where the biggest problem. Well then the wife put her foot down, and said NO tanks in her kitchen. I had to kindly oblige, as she did put up with the other 15+ tanks we had all over our 2 bedroom apt.

Smallest tank I would personally do at this point would probably be a 20 gal. long. I think they have great potential for a nano. good surface area, and shallow enough to light very easily.

Best of luck, let us know what you end up doing.


-B-

 

[bigdog]

i beleve i seen a 2or 3 gallon at skiptons but i could be wrong

 

[chew*]

I have a preety sucessful 12g nano/frag/quarantine SPS tank pushing a year old, you can read about it here.

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showpost.php?p=588498&postcount=61

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showpost.php?p=588500&postcount=62

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showpost.php?p=588507&postcount=63

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showpost.php?p=588511&postcount=64

 

[alpha0r]

A 10g was my first reef tank. I think you can be successful with any size. However, the smaller the tank the harder it is to keep and the more work involved. I think a 30g oceanic cube with a 150w MH would make an awesome tank for a first timer who wants a small foot print.

 

[Mrs. Cheetos]

I started with a 2 gallon pico and then upgraded to a 5.5 gallon and just upgraded again to a 12 gallon cube (don't have pictures of the 12 yet). The only reason I upgraded was I wanted more stuff.

My first pico 2 gallon.

My 5.5 gallon.