8 gallon hex: good for nano?

[zachofalltrades]

So i've been cleaning out "the fish room"* over the past couple of days and have found all sorts of fun stuff. There was an 8 gallon hex tank full of random rocks that I emptied out and filled with water to see if it leaked and it appears all good. In my ventures I found a hood for it and some old 12" t-5 fixtures... but of which are generally useless if I decide to use it as a nano reef but it did get me reading. I then found a small eheim canister filter that's a slower flow rate but I forgot what it was already. While I had the tank filled with water I stuck some hoses and plugged it in to find that it works just fine, with no leaks or anything. Hmm....

So does this sound like a good starting setup? I'm thinking drs F&S has a 12" compact fluorescent fixture with 50/50 bulbs (36w) for $55, use that canister filter, and then I just have to start putting LR in it? Never set up a tank this small before but I have a 30 gallon saltwater also. I'm not sure the dimensions of the tank are ideal but hey I have it already, therefore it's free lol. it's about 12" from one flat side to the other and 18" deep. Still not entirely sure I'm going to set it up, or where....


* explanation: GF's father was a fish breeder as a hobby, and set up a small room to keep his 20 some tanks in, a sink, and all his equipment, so I've been cleaning it out/looking for cool stuff lately.

[zachofalltrades]

well... i thought it was an easy question.... too long winded?

Bump...

[Rosseau]

Sometimes getting a response is hit or miss :) Welcome to Reef Central.

So far you seem to be on the right track in my opinion. Here's a few things to think about.

-You'll probably want to have something skimming the surface water. Proteins and other gunk can build up here.

-How's the flow on the canister filter? Some people don't really like them, they say they trap a lot of detritus leading to nitrate bulild ups. I think it is ok as long as you keep your eye on things and change the filter media often.

-Do you have a skimmer? Plan on putting a refugium in? These will seriously decrease future headaches for you.... small tanks are much more volatile than the bigger ones. Though, if you keep up with water changes you'll be alright.

-Finally, I wonder about how much light will reach to the bottom of the tank at 18" deep. It is certainly do-able and there are a few other hexagonal nano's on here to prove it.

I say go for it but read up as much as you can on these - it will save you in more ways than one.

Good luck!

[reefman13]

That sounds like a great idea. I think you are on the road to your first mini-reef!!!

[stevelkaneval]

i would use metal halide for 18 inches deep unless yor only gonna keep softies. you could probly get a 70 watt one for just a little more i would also run the canister without any media in it put maybe 16-20lbs of liverock in the tank and do a small water change every week and like rosseau said fuge or sump definitly more water means less headachs plus you can keep all the ugly stuff in the sump or fuge:strooper:

[zachofalltrades]

Hey guys thanks for all the feedback! In terms of the canister filter with no media, did you mean just to use it for water circulation? Or maybe a basic filter material just to change often and skip the bio media that they're normally filled with?

Also, I had planned on using around 15-20lbs of liverock and kinda building it up like a tower in the middle of the tank, so I figured if I did get anything that needed a lot of light it could go towards the top and the soft stuff could go towards the bottom of the tower.

I had thought about a refugium for some macro algae but something really small, I didn't want to do any fancy overflow plumbing so I was going to get a bulkier H.O.T filter and just put a grate in it and fill it with macro algae. I could use the little 9 inch T-5 lights that were for the tank for the fuge.