Nano vs. 90gal

[20yrs90gal]

I'm traveling way more than I have in the past and I'm gone 3-4 days a week now. My 90 gallon is suffering significantly from lack of attention - I know the problem/problems, just don't have time for maintenance. Also, I only feed once/twice/week due to schedule.

Does anyone know if the Nano would require much less maintenance like everyone says?

How long can you go without water changes on Nanos if fish are kept to bare minimum?

[stevelkaneval]

who cares ill trade you my 20 for your 90 straght up. haha

[zma21]

I keep one fish in my NC12, and I change water every two weeks.

I only change it every two weeks to restore some trace elements for my zoa's and trumpets.

I hand feed him, so I control the nutrition going in, and honestly if I wanted to i'm sure i could go for a month or two without changing the water if i wanted to.

[20yrs90gal]

Thanks,

But I was thinking - maybe 3 months w/o water changes. . . That's what my 90g is now suffering from

I read somewhere on a thread that they didn't change their Nano at all, just added RO when needed and a few trace elements.

I've tried that over the years with my larger tanks and never had any success - always have had to do water changes to keep corals healthy.

I guess I'm answering my own question - - - lol - - - just in denial

[johno4]

I havent changed the water in my tank for years, I just top it off (with tap water). I dose B-ionic once a week thats it. As far as your feeding schedule, why not get an automatic feeder? I would think a 90 would leave more room for error than in a 20.

[brandon7491]

tap water? can u show us a pic of ur tank

[chem-e]

I'm on the road pretty often as well and I haven't had too many problems. I think my success is keeping the system simple and putting everything on timers or making things automated. Of course the lights are on timers, but my topoff is also automatic. I just need to make sure I fill up my top off reservoir with kalk water and I empty my skimmer cup before a trip.

I also have a small bioload, so I think this also helps me out a little. My tank is mainly corals with three fishies.

I would think that having a smaller tank would be even tougher because of the smaller system volume.

[m2434]

My 20g is WAY more work than my 75...

[Laddy]

Ya it really has to do with a number of factors on how long you can leave a tank unsupervised, however, in general the smaller you go, the more work they become and the less time you can be away from regular maintenance.

This is for a number of factors, also. Mainly due to the volume of water you're working with......also the fact that nano tank support (i.e. hardware manufatured in mass) is a fraction of output by the industry.

[Michael L.]

Smaller= harder. Things go wrong so much faster when there is less water. Can you give us some info on your 90 gallon and someone can advise on how to make it manageable.

[Laddy]

If you do have a 90, go to the Reef Tank section and post a "automation" type email, which would give you suggetions on how to automate some of your routine while you are away.

[20yrs90gal]

THanks everyone, I'll go to the reef section. I thought smaller was harder -- but you can always dream for the effortless reef

The 90 gal I have set up is follows:

90gal with stand/canopy
Canopy has 4x110w VHO 2 actinic, 2 white, set to 8 hrs/day
auto top off using a slow pump and a 5 gal bucket to pull from
about 125-150 lbs live rock, substrait is crushed coral
some lps, leather coral (most coral dead now)
Blue tang, damsel, royal gramma, one pseudo; 2 clowns (ocellarious);

Running an old Amirical Wet/dry with skimmer (rarely runs since I'm using RIO 800 and they always lock up) External magnum filter; using 1200 GPH external pump split 4 ways, using SQUID wave maker between 2 of them, the third goes directly to tank, the last one goes through regulated flow and a UV filter. 350w stainless "pro heat" heater; 800 gph overflow with air lifter. Finally, have a power auto shut off should water level in wet/dry get too low.

[Michael L.]

It sounds like a decent setup to work with. I would cut down on the fish and only keep the smaller ones and have a good CUC. Then I'd get a new skimmer pump that is reliable enough so you know it is skimming when you want it to. I'd pull out all the wet/dry media and throw a light over it to make a simple refugium with chaeto and 24/7 lighting.

My 90 gallon can go several months (maybe even a year) without a water change and it's seriously overstocked IMO. It's that way because it's not actually my tank, and I just maintain it and operate it for my parents. It is set up as follows:

Lighting: 2X250W 10,000K with 2X96W PC Actinics (Upgraded from 2X150W with same Actinics

Sump: 37 Gallons with 'Fuge (Chaeto and 24 hr. lighting)

Skimmer: CSS 225

Chemical Filtration: Rena XP3 Canister with carbon in all conmpartments, 2X Phosban Reactors with Phosban and Purigen

Live Rock/Sand: 200+ Pounds Rock, 2" Sand Bed

Topoff: JBJ ATO

Livestock: 2 Percula Clowns, 2 Regal Tangs, 1 Yellow Angel, 1 Purple Tang, 1 Mandarin Dragonet

CUC: 5 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, 5 Turbo Snails, A Few Small Hermits, 5 Peppermint Shrimp, 5 Glass Shrimp

Corals/Clams/Etc.: Xenia, Open Brain, Galaxy, Zoas, Hammer, toadstool Leather, Clove, Kenya Tree, Some SPS, Other LPS, Crocea Clam, a few Tube Worms, Etc.

Of course it can be done many ways differently, but I've had success with this tank so far and it requires little maintenance (feeding once a week, water change once every few months). The trick I think is the refugium, (wet) overskimming (if that's possible), and all the live rock.

[20yrs90gal]

Thanks Michael,

I'm going to have to read up on refugiums, The wet/dry will be interesting to remove, I have my carbon, phosban and purigen in the wet/dry. I guess I'd have to move those to an external filter?

Do you have a pick of your refugium and your tank? How often do you add trace elements/kalc, etc.?

I saw chem-e put Kalc in his top off tank? Haven't done that, always been afraid of spiking PH, but I guess the top off is doing so little water each fill it would be fine (less than a gallon on a 110+ gal set up (90 gal + 20 gal wet/dry.

[Michael L.]

I guess I'd have to move those to an external filter?

Phosban reactors work great for those kinds of media and are supposedly more efficient. They are also cheaper BTW. Two or three of them plumbed together and run by a Maxi-Jet 600 work well.

How often do you add trace elements/kalc, etc.?

I never add trace elements. Well, I do once in a while, but not nearly as often as most people do. If I walk past the tank and think "oh I should add some trace to the tank, I'll do it, but that thought doesn't occur that often.

Kalk is added to topoff water at 1/2 tsp. per gallon. My sump has 3 equal compartments and limewater topoff is pumped into the first one so it dilutes. I also have a bit of a recirc. going on the sump. The Rena XP3 intake is placed in the last compartment and the outflow is in the first compartment. That makes about 1/3 of the sump flow go back to the first chamber so when the kalk goes into the tank, it goes in very slowly. You'll also see in the FTS that the locline in the tank isn't pointed at anything living, so if there was a concentrated squirt of kalk, it wouldn't really hit anything.





Sorry about the messy tank. The xenia needs a bit of a trim and everything is a little overharvested for my other tanks.

[20yrs90gal]

Very nice!!

Wish mine looked 1/2 that nice. Mine is in seriously bad shape. My reef looks more like your sump than a reef tank.

Maybe I'll get motivated and do a refug like your's, just don't have as much space to work with as I have to stay within what will fit in my stand. so won't have space for both fuge and external filter/s.

I tried to research refug's but the search feature is down tonight. I'll try again later. Still have questions about wet/dry vs. refug.

Thanks much!

[Helfrich’s Chic]

IMO if your having issues with the 90 you will hate a nano. Nanos are a special breed, and while many of us NRers have very little maintenance schedules the fact is there is MUCH less room for error. In a 90 if you over/under dose a bit you have a large volume of water that will help buffer the mistake. In a nano you have no room for error and things can go bad fast. I think that people say its easier beacuse its cheaper and the WCs are much smaller lol. Just MO HTH.

[20yrs90gal]

Thanks, I'm sold, er rather dissuaded from a nano now. I think the way to go is to add some TLC to my 90g. Going to a refug may be a more long term solution and keep my water changes down. Carrying 20 gallons of water from the garage to the other side of the house is getting really old each month (or rather used to be) - it's been 3 months since I've done a water change.

I've got to maintain the calcium levels better and manage the hair algae better -

I think the refug will solve the algae and the Kalk in the top off might be the solution to the other.