ok i know everyone wants big tanks “yes i do”. after moving my tank crashed and burded, im looking a fluval spec 5. Im looking to have a tank i need to have a tank but i dont have the $ or the room for a lorg tank, im looking for a book shelf or under 10gal. like i sed in looing a fluval spec 5 and a orbit marine led 18" light i plane on a scoter bunny mushroom and some polips. so can anyone tell me if this setup would work or if i should use a nother setup?
You can make any size set-up work, it’s just going to require more maintenance if you’re going the nano route.
Evaporation will be your biggest nemesis. Plan on topping off daily in order to keep salinity fluctuations to a minimum. I’d also make sure to have fresh saltwater made up in the event something dies in the tank. With that low of water volume anything that goes south can quickly wipe out the whole tank.
I’d also recommend bare bottom or a very shallow sand bed.
Mushrooms, palys, and zoas will do well under that light as will GSP, kenya trees, and other low light softies.
I agree with what Cdangelo said completely.
with that said, from my personal expereince, the smallest I would ever do would be a 20L plumbed into another 20L sump(more likely the smallest I would do is a 29). I dont personally like the look of LED, but when you get below 55 I think they are the only lights for the job. As CD said, any size “can” work, its just a matter of how much time and energy you want to put into maintaining the tank. when I upgraded from a 20L to a 55 bare bottom a huge amount of problems I was having went away.
Like you said, everyone wants to go bigger and bigger, but I really think there is a nice sweet spot between 55 and 120. just a thought, but you can pick up a 20L or a 29 at a 5$/gal petco sale. you can also usually find 55s pretty darn cheap as they are not optimal for aquascaping.
My 12g biocube was the most difficult tank I ever owned. Just my :TWOCENTS
i new small tanks are hard, my last tank was a 20L with a home made sump20L. the auto topoff would not stop while i was at work witch hurt the tank" i know auto top off floots suck so hard" the a mouth later i moved and it died. i would love a 40 short and i know petco has $1 a gal sales but im looking to put this tank in my stereo room witch is small hens the 5 gal size. i have a 90gal and stand im going to set up this spring with a basment sump i mover 2 mouths ago so it will take time for that. i know size helps do to volume of water for pollution to be diluted its just what i came afford rit now. thank u all for the in put.
I probally know the answer to this question, but if your gonna setup a 90g why not just wait till you can put that up? Even if it only cost 50$ to set up a 5g tank. Trust me you will need way more then that when you setup that basement sump!( I know i have a big basement sump)so why not wait instead of posibly risking money on live stock that will be hard to maintain and the extra money on the equipment you need to purchase for this little project. :TWOCENTS
I currently have a 16 Nuvo while waiting for the new Red Sea Reefer 350 to come out in feb. These things are pretty simple to maintain, not much more effort than my old 55. Making sure you top off every night is the worst part.