oldest nano reef setup

[safemode]

I was just wondering what the oldest continuous setup was where no new things were added or removed (unless it died) and no changes of the equipment and re-organization of the reef itself. I want to see what a reef is gonna look like a year + down the road, not all these 2 month old setups every photo shows. Pictures welcome... But i'm just as interested in what was actually done to keep a long lived reef alive without completely changing and replacing everything every few months.

[Daemonfly]

All it takes is good planning, patience & dedication.

Imho, don't cut corners. Plan your setup, get good, quality equipment, and don't experiment. Also, many people seem interested in just setting up a nano, not really thinking about long-term.

My custom acrylic 2.5g was started in Dec '05 and would still be up and running just fine if not for a seam separating 2 weeks ago. Everything was doing very well. I just put in what I wanted, and let it just grow on it's own - didn't constantly put in & take out corals.

My 5.5g is 2x as old, but I made the mistake of letting grape caulerpa into the tank . It was one of my first, (2nd official nano) and I went with 5.5g standard, AC500 modded into fuge, and 96w quad lighting. Not really a great setup, imho. I'm currently reorganizing & planning and will rebuild the 5.5g better, hopefully running it for years. 5.5g standard, tank-length overflow as well as closed loop manifold, and fully seperate fuge. 70w MH lighting.

[steelerguy]

Daemonfly makes some very good points. Do a lot of research before buying too much stuff. Decide what you want and how you want it set up before you purchase and then when you do purchase get things of high quality. I'm not saying to buy the most expensive equipment, but buy high quality equipment that has worked for others.

Once you get everything, set your rock work up in a stable way. You would be surprised how much crabs and snail can move stuff around if it is not stable. Create "shelves" or areas where you can place frags. Try to keep rocks far enough away from glass that you can clean all areas of the glass.

Lastly, be patient. Let your cycle happen, put livestock in slowly, and leave room for growth.

I can't say I am an expert but my 12g nano has been up for over a year without any problems or anything more than rearranging a couple rocks.

[dragonforce]

Originally posted by safemode
But i'm just as interested in what was actually done to keep a long lived reef alive without completely changing and replacing everything every few months.

If you are replacing and changing everything every few months you are doing something very wrong. Fish and inverts should live for YEARS and corals should live...indefinatly. Equipment should be vigorously researched for quality and be purchased accordly.

[Tex007]

to quote a fellow reefer in the SPS forum:

SPS = stability promotes success

tank husbandry is the key people!

[safemode]

then why is it that most of all the tank pictures i see are only like 3-6 months old?

[chelskisw6]

i think its because nano reef set ups are a relatively new thing... i remember a few years back having people laugh at my 2.5, 10, and 20 tanks, thinking that i was crazy to try a set up like that....

that being said, listen to the advice above, its all very good advice when it comes to nano tanks. Do not rush anything!

[Diatome]

Since I leave my tanks alone I don't really take many pictures. My Nano Cube has been moved three times but has been setup for my twin 3 year olds, without change, since they were 1. It's just live rock, some macro algae, limpits, snails and a pseudochromis. It was started mid 2003 and only change came when I upgraded to the 37 in March 2005. Stayed the same since then. Simple but fun.

My 37 gallon has all my corals, macro algae, variuos inverts and some fish and has been moved twice but has the same rock layout and same livestiock since it was started January 2005. I have so many sponges I am scared to change the rock work and the sand is full of various worms (spagetti worms are my favorites) so I don't put anything new in. I do have the issue of my zoanthids and mushrooms multiplying and I have had to pull several out but I levae the mother colonies alone. Even my hydnophora decided to split off a piece, that I had to move.

[Agu]

I've had the same setup since late '02 but there have been changes. A reef tank is organic , it has to change. Still have the original Black Oscellaris clowns and most of the original corals though .

Late '02

http://montipora.com/agu/imagepages/P1010008.htm

A year ago.

[safemode]

I'm not saying they aren't allowed to change. I just want to know how rare is it to see a small reef aquarium that hasn't had to have it's livestock replaced over time (except for obvious things), it's tank changed, it's layout manipulated in such a way that the tank that you now have isn't consisting of the same things it started out with. Basically, asking the question of if a small reef aquarium is sustainable or if it's owners are artificially sustaining it by continually replacing and altering things as they die / fail.

Obviously, you plan things out and pick all the right hardware and correct organisms to put into the aquarium...but just how rare is it to find someone who has done that and not had to do anything but daily maintenance since then? And if those tanks exist, what do they look like? With enough money, anyone can make a 3 month old reef aquarium that looks amazing, but money wont help you create a setup that is able to last with only daily maintenance for years.

I'm not saying it can't be done or can, I just wanna see what those aquariums look like, if they exist at all and the info related to them.

[Doglover_50]

I can only partially answer your question, but I bought my 12gallon JBJ nano from a prior owner who had it set up almost 2 years with no special equipment additions and rock, corals, inverts, and 2 chromis. I traded out the chromis and put in 2 osc. clowns. I've had tank now for ~9 months. Lost some shrimp here and there (probably lost 2 pepp shrimp, current one is around 5 months old), no different than my 70gallon on that front. Corals that came with the tank were mostly softies (mushroom, xenia, zoo's, etc...) and a torch--it was pretty well loaded. I added one SPS. So corals are thriving, and thus all of it except 2 clowns have been thriving that long. Seems sustainable to me.
It's low maintenance, and about every 2 months I have to clip back xenia--that's about all.
I'm no master and my tank doesn't looking amazing, but I'd say very attractive.
I have a 16g at work with mostly ricordia, xenia, zoo's, kenya tree, etc...also around 9 months--thriving and requires occasional trimming of soft corals. 2 Fish in there 5+ months and counting....
sorry I don't have any pix to share--they are attractive, but not in the "amazing" category.

[albie611]

i have had a 20 gal reef set up for 10 years..... went back and forth from fowlr to full reef twice due to tank crashes.
one from a faulty heater and most reciently(2-14-07) a 2nd time due to a power failure for 2 days .
after each crash it took weeks to restabilize the tank and each time it rebounded nicely.
im just getting started with replacing what i lost with frags from my friends on RC..........the RC comunity rocks......
so it can be done long term.....just need to have lots of tlc and patience

[Kogo]

i posted this same question 2 years ago. not many of the "experts" had anything older than 9 months.

of course one of the exceptions was AGU. and as you can see, he is still going strong today. he is also probably one of the only names i recognize from when i first subscribed to this forum.

i also ended up with some of his frags indiretly from another reefer (thanks AGU)

anyways, my point is.... when you come accross nano reefers that have had a stable tank for years, take thier advice.


my tank after 1 year.
lots of fragging and rearanging.

[ezcompany]

my tank is approaching one year, been keeping sps for around 7-8 months

[Doglover_50]

it may not be that tanks don't mature naturally, but rather a methodological issue. Perhaps people get out of nanos/the hobby, perhaps they move, perhaps they move on from this forum and only a rare few elders stick around (kinda like The Shadows).
FWIW, this Forum seems to have LOTS more newbies than my area (Phoenix) forum, where there are many old timer experts.

Is there any reason NOT to think that a well-planned nano could be self-sustaining? Other than odds for catastrophe are inherintly higher in a smaller system?

[Shekki]

I think this hobby by nature requires constant attention. When your tank gets to the point where you're not really doing much besides husbandry, you want to change something for the sake of change. I'm no different. I had one nano, then another. Now I have a 75 and a 56 in my living room. Things are going well so I had to set up one of the nanos in my office.

I think the reason you don't see very many OLD nanos is that people want more and just don't have the room. I'm already looking for another house with enough room for a 300 gallon inwall and a fish room!

[smketyr]

FWIW, I have had the same nano running for 2 years, and it has gone through several mutations. I took down a 120 gallon tank and sold off most of the live stock, what I could not sell and some I did not want to sell all went into the 10 gallon nano. Now it looked good but there was a lot of warfare going on and had to thin it out. The nano needed more attention than the 120g. More water changes, more testing, more frequent thinning. I have looked at pictures of it and it never was the same tank, most of the livestock was the same, but through prunig and rearrangement (coral fighting), it evolved differently. I had to keep a frag tank because of this. I now have a BioCube 29 and it is more species specific and each species has it zone and each coral has its space. I will add to it and subtract from it, but it will be in the general plan. This is the first time I spent a lot of time planning it. I have spent less money and everything right now is very healthy and growing nicely. This will be my last tank and other than a QT tank, will be my only tank.

[Agu]

Here's the tank today,



Same fish, most of the corals are the same. Notice the m digitata, zoanthids grew up the skeleton, it branched out, reached the top of the tank and grew back down.

BTW, other than upgraded lighting (diy to 96w coralife) and an additional powerhead none of the equipment has changed.

Added a couple of pieces of live rock but otherwise rockwork is identical.

Had to get rid of two peppermint shrimp, they got too big and aaggressive.

It's a minimal maintenance tank. If I want more corals and more variety I set up a new nano. Contrary to popular opinion there are people who set up long term tanks.

[GSMguy]

allot of nanos get upgraded to bigger tanks within a year

[Agu]

Originally posted by GSMguy
allot of nanos get upgraded to bigger tanks within a year

Going bigger isn't necessarily an upgrade . I enjoy my nanos more than the labor and money intensive 180 I used to have. It's more challenging to create a micro environment and have it thrive long term. Anybody with enough money can set up a big tank with a gazillion dollars worth of equipment and make it work.

[Sugar Magnolia]

My 2.5 is over three years old now, but has been rearranged a couple of times due to overgrowth of vermetid snails, hydroids, "tulip anemones", corals that got too big...etc. In these small spaces, you have to account for growth, and some organisms like vermetids and hydroids can grow and spread very quickly. Vermetids and hydroids, left to grow to trememdous proportions tend to irritate and/or kill nearby corals. I prefer my corals to nuisance organisms, so I choose to remove and replace any pieces of LR that have too many vermetids on them. Haven't had any issues with hydroids or those annoying "tulip anemones" that I had at one time, since removing those two years ago.

[tiffrobbins]

I asked this same question about a month ago and got some pretty hostile responses. I think I asked it with the same intentions as safemode. We just would like to see some older tanks instead of the new set ups. I understand that many people upgrade when they get to a certain point.
I personally have done things the other way. I had a 55gal set up for about a year and I decided that I could better achieve the things that were important to me in a nano. Everything about my tank that I loved is better showcased in a smaller tank. Plus I can monetarily go higher grade. People always say that the cost is the same, but lets face it - 24 inch lights are cheaper that 48 inch lights.
BTW, even the newer tanks look awesome so keep them coming.

[Victoria]

Here it is today:


Here it is April 2005

[tiffrobbins]

Congratulations!
That's the kind of tank that inspires me to want a nano.

[mskurdah]

Right on Victoria! Cool tank