Nano Tank Question

[Pjy95]

When you catch your co worker on the verge of tossing a nice 5 or 10 gal rimless cube tank in the dumpster you have to take it right?

I know the upkeep is going to a be lot more involved than a bigger tank but are there any low maintenance ways to set them up ? I'm not going for anything over the top just something simple to add to my dining room

 

[nano10to40b]

that's how I got my old 10 gal in my office in Boston! I honestly just did an oversized hang on back filter and a cheap t5/led light ran it for like ten years, 6 in the office. It did way better there because I was looking at it all the time. water changed probably 50% once a month. I was always told it would be hard with a small tank, but it did well.

 

[Jbissell1289]

Main issue is evaporation I would say, especially if you're just doing basic softies. I had a fluvial ego 13.5 for a while and had a very nice softy set-up with some lps in there. Now I'm struggling with my classroom 20 gallon to keep it consistent. I'm about to order a reliable ATO.

 

[Chris.Reef]

If you are looking for a reliable Ato for a nano I would try a Tunze 3152. My 3155 has been bulletproof.

 

[Pjy95]

that's how I got my old 10 gal in my office in Boston! I honestly just did an oversized hang on back filter and a cheap t5/led light ran it for like ten years, 6 in the office. It did way better there because I was looking at it all the time. water changed probably 50% once a month. I was always told it would be hard with a small tank, but it did well.

Perfect! Hoping I can have the same luck with this one

 

[Pjy95]

If you are looking for a reliable Ato for a nano I would try a Tunze 3152. My 3155 has been bulletproof.

I also can agree on this I’m running the 3155 on my main tank and haven’t had any issues

 

[Pjy95]

Main issue is evaporation I would say, especially if you're just doing basic softies. I had a fluvial ego 13.5 for a while and had a very nice softy set-up with some lps in there. Now I'm struggling with my classroom 20 gallon to keep it consistent. I'm about to order a reliable ATO.

Going to be as basic as possible hahaha well that’s the plan anyway but we all know how that goes. Like Chris said the tunze ato is probably the way to go I have it on my main tank and it’s worked flawless for me

 

[afboundguy]

I have had "nano'ish" tanks for the past 10+ years and as mentioned biggest issue is evaporation which is pretty easy to combat with an ATO. I also noticed that I didn't really "need" to do any dosing and 2-4 water changes a month was more than sufficient to keep calc/alk/mag levels in check with my LPS and softy dominated tanks.

 

[Rainsong]

I had a Fluval Evo 13.5 and evap was one of the biggest issues. I have the Duetto2 ATO and it's been good so far.
Like others said, an HOB filter, good lighting and regular maintenance and it should be good!

 

[GiannisK]

When you catch your co worker on the verge of tossing a nice 5 or 10 gal rimless cube tank in the dumpster you have to take it right?

I know the upkeep is going to a be lot more involved than a bigger tank but are there any low maintenance ways to set them up ? I'm not going for anything over the top just something simple to add to my dining room

Get a seachem tidal HOB filter, they’re super quiet and self prime and you can get them really cheap on Amazon. They have great media capacity. I use a smart power strip (Kasa on Amazon) as a poor man’s controller, lets me set the filters and powerheads on timers, and I can easily turn off whatever necessary when I’m doing a water change. Also acts as a check on the ATO as I can turn it on for 5 minute intervals at a time.