My Nano Tank

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I got a small 50L nano tank that has been running for close onto a year now.
so far my biggest problem is keeping algea under control. I think it might have to do with to much sun that is coming into the room so i am looking to move this tank into a shadier corner hopefully this will help a little :)

Currently i am using the built in filtration system. but what i would like to know is should i perhaps get an external filtration system ? I have also been told by one place i should have a protien skimmer and when i went to another place was told the tank is to small to have one.

as soon as i got my camera working i will post a pic of the Algea problem i am having
water changes are done about every 3rd week. I buy pre mixed water.

feeding is done in the mornings with frozen food.
and i have a pair of clown fish in there. I tried having coral but with the algea problem they would not survive. I also thought that perhaps I have to much LR in the tank as i have one huge rock that takes up about 90% of the bottom of the tank and then i have arranged about another 4 pieces of LR around it to give the clowns somwhere to swim under and around.

one last thing, what would be the next logical tank size to move up from a 50L tank ? as a thought was perhaps migh be easier to work with a bigger sized tank
 
Hi Darksun! Any idea what is the TDS of the water that is being used for making up your SW?
 
unfortunatly not sure. I have been told that they use ORA or how ever you say it water in the SW mix.

on a side note when i do a water change it is usually about 10 - 20%.
this time tho been told due to the Algae issue i should do about 90%
 
Darksun, I would recommend increasing your waterchange regime to 20% every week.
I run a 130l tank with no sump. I do have a HOB Skimmer and an in tank DSB.
I do waterchanges weekly and hardly ever skip a week. I have no problems with algea.

You dont mention what you use for top up, RO or Tapwater

What is in your built in filtration system?

PICs would really help, because at this point I am just guessing.
 
I use RO pre-mix when i do top ups / water changes.

as soon as i can get my camera hooked up and working to my laptop i will post a pic

for the filtration that is built in -
1st chamber has 2 Sponges in it
2nd chamber has charcole and a form of Bio beads ( if i remember right )
3rd chamber is just has the pump to pop water back into the tank and the heater is in there
 
Hi Darksun,a skimmer would assist greatly in the over all health of your system.Too much of liverock can cause algae issues,If you don't have enough flow to remove detritus that get stuck in crevices.I would recommend a Tunze 9002 nano skimmer for your setup.Also,how often are you changing your filter pads and carbon.
 
Do you have a Boyu Nano or something similar?

Check out what the guys around here do with their Boyu tanks. Normally they chuck the bio balls and sponge. Bio balls turn into Nitrate factories and can be part cause of your problems. Replace this with Phospahte remover, carbon, LR Rubble and maybe one of the small boyu skimmers.
Have a look at Manic's thread, link below, hes done some serious mods. No need to go all the way but look at his Back Compartment (Filtration) setup.

My Boyu TL-550 (With Mods) - Nano Tank advice
 
hi dark sun:) I have a 60l tank which i am running at the moment and the skimmer is really poor, but helps a little. Im able to run the tank fine as a mixed reef, although i dont have any fish in there yet.

by the sound of things you have a few problems, all related to water quality.

i am sure your internal flow will be a problem. I have a small tunze nano stream in my 60l and thats made a HUGE difference to getting the detritus out the rock work. I have also packed the rock as tight as I can as i want to cycle the rock more than run it as a pretty reef, so I had to increase the water flow. Look into this section if i was you.

How often do you clean your sponge? It sounds like they might be dirty and casuing water quality problems. They must be cleaned weekly at bare minimum.

I would remove the bio balls (and I suspect ceramic rings in a bag under them??) as they cause troubles with a build up of detritus and thus an increase in nitrates. Not good.

you water sounds a little straneg to be honest, will you go through in detail waht YOU do when you do a water change, and then again what YOU do when you have to top up.

Note its a trick question the two processes are very different, but explain what you do and we can see if thats a problem:)
 
yea just had a look at it now. given me some interesing ideas :)
yea my tank is similar to the Boyu nano tank. will hopefully be able to post a pic tonight of the compartments in the rear as well as the front of the tank.

@ Aslam. Sponges get cleaned when water is changed and Carbon is replaced once a month. Yea i was thinking that perhaps the amount or live rock i had was causing a problem so going to take out my large rock from the tank and keep the smaller ones and see how it goes.
 
@ Crispin.
water change - i use a tube to remove about 10 - 20% of of the water. then i use the pre-mixes SW i get from my local aquarium shop and replace what I have removed.

for the top up - when i see the water level is getting a little low i use head on down to the shop grab some pre-mixes SW and top it up.

tho i really do not have to top up that much as my lights are currentl only on for about 2 hrs in a day. as i was told that the algea build up was due to the light been on from 8am to 6pm. so i cut it back to feeding time which is @ 8am and then this gets turned off at 10am.
 
Darksun you should never top up using salt water unless you trying to raise salinity of your tank for some reason. Top ups must be done with RO and waterchanges with salt water.

As the water evaporates the salt level (salinity) of your water will increase because the salt does not evaporate with the water. That is why you should use clean RO for top up.
 
Forgot to add,feeding frozen food everyday is not good as you don't have a skimmer and frozen food adds to high phosphate levels.You should thaw out the frozen food 1st,remove thawed out water,then feed.Feed as much as the fish will eat in maximum 5 minutes.
 
Don't use the frozen food at all. Maybe as a treat. I read somewhere that when the food is frozen is losses most of it's nutritional value. I used to use frozen food in my nano and the nitrates just kept on going up. Switched over to flaked food and my nitrates are now zero. My fish love the flaked food aswell. I use the omega one food brand.

Do you have any water parameters for us?
 
@ Crispin.
water change - i use a tube to remove about 10 - 20% of of the water. then i use the pre-mixes SW i get from my local aquarium shop and replace what I have removed.

for the top up - when i see the water level is getting a little low i use head on down to the shop grab some pre-mixes SW and top it up.

tho i really do not have to top up that much as my lights are currentl only on for about 2 hrs in a day. as i was told that the algea build up was due to the light been on from 8am to 6pm. so i cut it back to feeding time which is @ 8am and then this gets turned off at 10am.
Ok i thought there might be slightly crossed wires here, hence the question :)

water change is fine, although i would like you to know what the SG of the tank water is and what the SG of the water you buy is. Thats a VERY important point, and one I made the mistake of overlooking when i started. Think that you have a MARINE tank...ie it has salt in it. now the amount of salt you have in and the amount of salt that the LFS (local fish shop) has will be different. Just taking out 30% of you water and then putting in water which might have a different SG will cause HUGE shock to the system, especially one as small as yours. In the long run i would honestly sugest getting a RO unit, some good salt and a Refractometer so you can do water changes yourself. Indeed I would go so far as to say its essencial to keeping a system well for an extended period.


Top up water is VERY different. Water evaporates...the speed is dependant on a number of things and indeed evaporation can be a good thing. But ALL that evaporates is fresh pure clean water. Salt stays behind.

so ALL you replace is fresh pure clean water. Thats RO water with a TDS (total disolved solids) of below 5 if you can, but def below 10.

Top up water plays a bigger role than most people stress. It is the way we keep the level of water in the tank as constant as possible. If the water is constantly at the same level you will be able to set your skimmer to skim at optimal skimming. the heater works for that level, the internal flow works best at an internal level, your return pump works best at that level ETC ETC ETC. Keep the level as constant as you can, using RO water (NOT TAP WATER!!!!!!!), and things will be much better :)
 
I would suggest buying the only the RO water from your Lfs and then mixing it with your own salf, bacause I know that a lot of dodgy Lfs's sell their own water that they have taken out their own tanks from water changes. They also don't use the best salf for their pre-made salt water.

Also if possible can you tell us what you are measuring your salinity with. I had a hydrometer (The small one with thermometer built in and one with a needle) and they both said the sg was 1.024 when it really was 1.030. I cannot stress how important it is to get an expensive, accurate device for measuring your sg.
 
Don't use the frozen food at all. Maybe as a treat. I read somewhere that when the food is frozen is losses most of it's nutritional value. I used to use frozen food in my nano and the nitrates just kept on going up. Switched over to flaked food and my nitrates are now zero. My fish love the flaked food aswell. I use the omega one food brand.

Do you have any water parameters for us?
Nitrates or phosphates manic?
 
strange that you should measure both increasing so fast. But I do agree you should definatley remove the water you have defrosted the food in and just feed the defrosted food. Also, ive always been told that most of the frozen things actually have a high nutritional value, with the exception of mysis but thats best fed alive and newly hatched anyway.

what corrals will only eat defrosted squid?
 
My big mushrooms and my frogspawn. When I give them krill or anything else they dont close over it.

I was just told it is better to either feed non-frozen fresh food or flakes as when they process the food most of the nutritional value of the food is leached into the water they are frozen in. I might be wrong though...
 
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