Wet My Feet With Nano

[pscl227]

Hi,

Planning on creating a large feature tank in my living room but would like to have a go with a nano in my office first to see if i am cut out for reef keeping (also in the future it will make for a good quarantine tanke for my larger tank!)


There seem to be a fair few nano all in 1 kits around ranging from £130 - £700!! Are any of these any good? I would ideally like something around the 60-80L mark.......would absolutly love some Bangai Cardinals, but i think this setup will probabaly be a little on the small side for them!

Thanks for any help! I hope to get this project off the ground in the coming days!

cheers,

Paul

 

[Craig B]

I think the AIO nano's a superb and a great entry into the hobby, just don't expect it to be cheap!

Do you know what Corals you would like to keep? Have you researched them at all?

I know folks that keep Bangaii Cardinals in 24usg nano's so there's no problem there.

On the current crop of Nano's I like the 28usg D-D Nano Cubes although the HQI version with the metal halide lighting can run very warm and require a chiller, would you want

A) the expense of buying a chiller? around £300
B) what is in essence a small fridge buzzing away in your office?

There's also the new 28usg Nano Cube with a 105w PC light, the CF quad which should run cooler but obviously hasn't got the light intensity of a metal halide but should be ok for even SPS corals on paper.

The filter units on the 28usg Nano cubes have been very well thought out and are more like a refugium, D-D are even producing a small LED light that fixes on the back of the tank to enable you to grow Chaeto without making any modifications, Nice.

The Red Sea Max is about the biggest of the Nano's at 34usg and well spec'd but you pay for the privalige, cheapest I've seen is £580 new where as the D-D's are £400. They come with 2x 55w PC bulbs and can support SPS corals but a lot of folks complain that both the fans and Skimmer are noisy.

Due to a set of restrictions laid down by the better half I am looking for an RSM atm, albeit second hand, that's always an option and there's always plenty around.

I run a Betta Lifestyle 90, great tanks but the lighting is quite weak (2x 24W PC) and unreliable. I was thinking of upgrading to an Aquaray Tile for the lighting but at £200 I could just get the RSM and have increased capacity.

Simon, Simonas on here runs a River reef, so he could give you an opinion on that and both Seffie and Trod on here ran Orca 130's and rate them highly, I'm sure that they would give you an honest opinion on that one.

For me personally (currently lacking funds), If I could get a D-D Nano Cube CF Quad second hand for the right money I would go for that only because I know I would never get away with having a chiller in the living room for a HQI but like I said I'm looking for an RSM because the missus like the look of the complete unit

 

[seffieuk]

to the salty side

As Craig said both my sister and I started off with the orca 550 at around 26 gallons - its an excellent tank to learn from and must admit I rue the day I sold mine when I upgraded to a five footer, wish i had kept them both!

Seffie x

 

[steelhealr]

All in ones, like everything in life, have plusses and minuses. The companies have to provide a little bit of everything and make it easy. ON the other hand, it can also be fun to modify them or make them better.

Overall, I still think that a good ol' 10 or 20G long tank is the best starter tank to build on. See if you can find some threads here with the particular tank you are interested in. SH

 

[simonas]

I can only praise the River Reef 94 that I run

My journal contains a lot of info about it and pictures which may help you

It has uprated pumps and a further powerheadfor more flow and a cheap Boyu skimmer

I;ve managed to creat a nice litle reef with a fair amount of corals in there. Clearly with a nano your not going to be able to keep all the fish you;d like but then its a nano and you get a llittle slice of the ocean for a fraction of the price of the big monster reeef tanks

You see a lot of river reefs for sale as complete units on second hand sites for cheap prices, may be worth a look

Good luck

Simon

 

[seffieuk]

Oh my goodness, look who is here, are you ok our old friend?

Seffie x

sorry for hijack of thread