The salty side

[Deano3]

Hi everyone, i know some of you on here do both sides of the hoby, i am keen to start looking more into that side as would love a nano reef tank only small as dont have the room but dont know how hard/different it is etc. I would love a pico all in one setup.

Any pictures of your setups ?

Dean

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[X3NiTH]

Fluval EVO



Betta Trio


TMC Signature 600


Evolution Aqua MarinPro 900s


🙂

 

[X3NiTH]

The Fluval EVO started from a seed tank which was a Dennerle 10L.



This was the ugly beginning with Dino everywhere!



🙂

 

[Nick potts]

Lovely tanks X3NiTH

As for difficulty, it really does depend what you want, X3NiTH's tanks above are mostly what I would class as the "low tech" side of the SW hobby, they are mostly hardy corals that don't need the light and perfect stability. Then if you take the SPS reefs like this


These are like the high tech side but on steroids, these tanks have insane amounts of light, flow and water parameters that are usually meticulously tested and adjusted, the slightest issue can cause big problems that are hard to recover from. Corals take much much longer to grow and fill out etc.

I nice reef doesn't have to be hard though, simple corals etc can all be kept with no more difficulty than any planted tank (easier in some cases imo). Larger systems are better in general, for the same reasons as FW, also marine animals have adapted to very stable water conditions.

Couple of my SW inhabitants

 

[X3NiTH]

Love it!

Mine are works in progress, I’ve not yet properly dabbled in branching or encrusting hard corals yet but I’m working up to it! The TMC is a new addition from last week, a complete system in need of rescue from someone that no longer had the time to nurture it properly! The evening before I was offered this tank my daughter announced that she wanted the responsibility of her own tank, she woke next morning and said to mum that she felt it was going to be a good day, 10mins later I was on the phone asking if she wants it (it’s got a Bi-Colour Blenny in it, of course she wants it).

🙂

 

[Deano3]

Some lovely tanks there, i know bigger is better but dont have the room so was wanting a small nano plus be cheaper with RO water only want hardy corals glad to hear they can be easy any links or advice ? I know has to be RO water and salt needs added for salinity.

I would love a great all in one system so dont have exter filter or ugly internal, was looking at IM nuvo 10 but thats even larger than i wanted, and i would only want easy corrals thats look good and sway in the water and maybe a clean up crew and a nice looking fish like a clown.

Any other pics welcome
Dean

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[Nick potts]

Some lovely tanks there, i know bigger is better but dont have the room so was wanting a small nano plus be cheaper with RO water only want hardy corals glad to hear they can be easy any links or advice ? I know has to be RO water and salt needs added for salinity.

I would love a great all in one system so dont have exter filter or ugly internal, was looking at IM nuvo 10 but thats even larger than i wanted, and i would only want easy corrals thats look good and sway in the water and maybe a clean up crew and a nice looking fish like a clown.

Any other pics welcome
Dean

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The innovative marine tanks are very nice, or the fluval evo tanks also

For soft corals only (and fish) you could likely get away with tap water, RO is always preferred but not always necessary

Check out ultimatereef.net, a great reef dedicated forum.

Some more pics of my tanks (sorry I don't have many full tank shots), as you can tell, I like close-ups 🙂

 

[X3NiTH]

The absolute best All-In-One tank in the Nano range at the moment is the Fluval EVO 57L, comes with a decent pump and light unit that is capable of growing all the softies and some of the hard corals, for less than £160, the minimum extra equipment spend on the tank after a few months will be a skimmer (around £70) for the first filter chamber, Fluval make their own that fits in a cutout on the filter chamber cover panel, I opted for the TMC NanoSkim 50 because of the recommendation that it’s a more efficient/robust unit, it has proven to be the case, the Fluval skimmer is effective though.

The tank is small enough that one 25L Jerry can is enough for a near 50% water change for emergencies, 5L water replacement each week can be covered easily by a 10L Jerry can.

You can chose your water source, for those that want to have control over the salinity and type of salt used and don’t already have RO units at home then you can easily find an external source of RO water from an Aquatics retailer. If you’re not that bothered about which salt is used then the retailer will supply you ready made salt to an average salinity of 35ppt and dKH somewhere around 7-8 (standard reef salt), it’s twice the price of RO water at MA, easily affordable £7 for 25L, the only downside is you gotta hump the Jerry cans about.

Your expectation of having Clown fish in a Nano tank will need to go I’m afraid they require a tank in excess of 100L. Now that I’ve said that the eagle eyed will already have spotted the Clown pair hosting the Anemone at the back of my Fluval, these were introduced to the tank as very small juveniles and allowed to grow out, the intention when purchased is that they are going into a bigger tank (EAMarinPro900s). Certainly you can have juvenile Clowns in a Nano as long as you intend to move them into a larger tank as they mature.

There are numerous other Nano fish out there that are well suited for this tank. The smaller Blennies for instance also many goby species, my personal favourites are Eviota Gobies.

If you give me a bit I’ll spam the thread with a bunch of pics if you like!

🙂

Forgot to say - www.nano-reef.com

 

[Aqua360]

Fluval Evo, now decommissioned, moved all my coral to an aqua nano 30 and loving it, mixed reef only, not even inverts, yet!

 

[not called Bob]

im using my former reef tank as the planted tank.

you can go as high tech or as minimal as you wish, the less you put your hands in the better it will be as always with tanks. I ran for ages with just popups of ro and some bicarb, in time I moved to dechlorinated tap water for this and it continued to thrive, took the skimmer offline as well, but it was run with a low number of fish.

ultimate reef is a good forum

 

[foxfish]

Although not a direct answer to Dinos question, I would like to ask why all you marine keepers don’t keep local marine tanks?
There are some complications like temperature control but our own shores can offer a lot of beautiful and interesting creatures all for free!
I have not kept a full on marine tank for 25 years now although I was pretty obsessed at one time, I ended up specialising in cold water marines in a double glazed, insulated and refrigerated 50 gallon tank.
However from an early age and for 20 odd years, I kept small, locale marine, cold water tanks that cost me very little money!
(I do live close to the sea)

 

[Wookii]

Although not a direct answer to Dinos question, I would like to ask why all you marine keepers don’t keep local marine tanks?
There are some complications like temperature control but our own shores can offer a lot of beautiful and interesting creatures all for free!
I have not kept a full on marine tank for 25 years now although I was pretty obsessed at one time, I ended up specialising in cold water marines in a double glazed, insulated and refrigerated 50 gallon tank.
However from an early age and for 20 odd years, I kept small, locale marine, cold water tanks that cost me very little money!
(I do live close to the sea)

I've always fancied a Cornish rockpool style marine tank, but I don't really live close enough to the coast to make it easy enough to set up.

 

[Joel S]

My 35l scapers tank with macroalgae, mangroves and soft corals, recently upgraded from a 20l AG tank which ran for just under a year. 50w heater, eheim surface skimmer with top removed (just acting as circulation/slight mechanical filtration, with a random flow nozzle attached), gravity ato, kessil a80 light (mangroves lit by sunlight). Tropic Marin Bio actif salt. Nitrate, phosphate, and Brightwell chaetogrow dosed daily. Magnesium, when needed.

 

[SRP3006]

This has got me very interested, I have a spare 55l tank 🤔

 

[shangman]

My 35l scapers tank with macroalgae, mangroves and soft corals, recently upgraded from a 20l AG tank which ran for just under a year. 50w heater, eheim skimmer with top removed, gravity ato, kessil a80 light (mangroves lit by sunlight). Tropic Marin Bio actif salt. Nitrate, phosphate, and Brightwell chaetogrow dosed daily. Magnesium, when needed.

View attachment 170417

Stunning 😍

I really love macroalgae tanks, will definitely try it one day. It feels a bit more like familiar territory, but with even more amazing colours!

 

[SRP3006]

I'm following with interest, bit mind boggling with the equipment to be honest.

 

[sparkyweasel]

, I would like to ask why all you marine keepers don’t keep local marine tanks?

I've done that, but not recently. There used to be quite a few of us in Leicester, in spite of being quite a way from the sea. One guy even had a saltwater pond. 🙂

 

[Nick potts]

I'm following with interest, bit mind boggling with the equipment to be honest.

I lot of the equipment you will see is not needed and simply a nice gadget to have. A lot of the people on the salt side are gadget lovers and they are well catered for.

 

[Nick potts]

Although not a direct answer to Dinos question, I would like to ask why all you marine keepers don’t keep local marine tanks?
There are some complications like temperature control but our own shores can offer a lot of beautiful and interesting creatures all for free!
I have not kept a full on marine tank for 25 years now although I was pretty obsessed at one time, I ended up specialising in cold water marines in a double glazed, insulated and refrigerated 50 gallon tank.
However from an early age and for 20 odd years, I kept small, locale marine, cold water tanks that cost me very little money!
(I do live close to the sea)

I have thought about it a few times, I live in a great place for marine life and only a minute or 2 from some of the best beaches in the UK. The main thing that puts me off (especially with the really hot summers we have been having) is keeping the tank cool, which will really need a chiller, which then means running it through walls from outside.

 

[SRP3006]

I lot of the equipment you will see is not needed and simply a nice gadget to have. A lot of the people on the salt side are gadget lovers and they are well catered for.

Thanks, I was thinking that, some equipment is a must for some and not for others I'm quickly seeing.
I'm guessing that apart from the light most of the equipment that you seem to accumulate when keeping freshwater fish is suitable for saltwater, within reason.