My nano iTank - Newbie

[Harryfocker]

I am new to saltwater aquarium. This is placed in the office. I have many people to thank to make this possible as I am clueless - Atmos, Eric, Henry and Jackie and all the advice I got from this forum. The fish only iTank has just completed the nitrogen cycle and the max is I will add two more fishes and it is done. Everything is done s-l-o-w-l-y and I follow the instructions given by the gurus (almost like an IPO advisory panel haha). I call it iTank because it is black and white and very Mac-like, especially the LED lights. The only thing that marred the look is the newly added white 3/8 inch water tubing for the cooling device. I am trying to source for black PVC 3/8 inch tubing so that the background is totally black. Having a saltwater aquarium is one of my bucket list and now looking at the tank is like mental therapy. Look forward to everyone's advice and comment. (If I misspost, apologies.)

Equipment

1.5 foot tank with live rocks and deep sand bed

Tunze Reefpack 200 (Tunze 3162 and Tunze 9004)

Tunze 3163

Tunze nanostream 6025

Micmol LED lights (thanks Sani)

Thermoelectric cooling device (cheapest compromise as the summer heat outside at 35 degree was stressing the livestock)

SICCE Micra Plus pump (for cooling device)

IKEA Micke drawer (perfect size for the 1.5ft tank and storage of all the growing accessories)

Filter media and additives

Pura Complete

ESV Activated Carbon

Polyplab Bio-sphere

Kent PH Control Plus

Ammonia detox and conditioner

Lots of filter wool

Livestock

2 False clown fish

2 Fire red shrimps

2 Cleaner shrimps

4 Bumblebee snails

2 Turbo snail

1 hermit crab

Test kits

Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH

[Clement Chen]

Nice tank, are you going for corals?

[Harryfocker]

Thanks for the comment. I dont think so. The weather is hitting 35-36 outside. And the tank is hovering 29 to 30.5 with the thermoelectric device on. Of course, I dream of corals and anemone and start salivating at the LFS tanks.. but that means a proper chiller, feeding the corals, more additives and my business partners think I am not working anymore hehe.

Then again, I started the fun project with the simple specs - the lowest cost 1 ft nano aquarium possible with little maintenance and only two fishes... am I wrong!

[Clement Chen]

Anemone probably not ba. Cause ur lights is quite good, maybe can keep easy corals like zoas and mushrooms. Dun need much additive and feeding

[Harryfocker]

Will do some research there. Super thanks!

[qianjun]

Ya add some corals that are more hardy. .. brings more life to your tank. ..=)

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[kenyee]

Can go for dwarf angel like flame, flameback, etc..they add colours to ur tank..

nice little tank..

[jackiee]

Welcome Mr Fock to the salty world! !!

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[Harryfocker]

Thanks for all the great advice and thank you Jackiee :-)

[Harryfocker]

Dear All,

Did some research as promised. Thanks to all your subliminal (hahaha) suggestions, I realized the limitations of my little tank is temperature. (Not to mention the size.) As long as it hovers around 30 degree, I cant do much. Even with the aircon on as it is a work environment, the water is above the safety range and therefore I can only keep a FOWLR (assuming I get the abbreviation correct) tank. So.. drumrolls... what kind of chiller? My tank actual water volume is a mere 8.43 UK gallon or 38.35 liters and that includes the Tunze 2 filters and skimmers. Which means the actual volume is around 36 liters. This is what I found out. 1) The running cost of a thermoelectric device (running at 100w) is HIGHER than a chiller but chiller is more expensive. 2) JBJ Artica is quieter than the China brands but there are exceptions like Hailea 28a 3) My e-bill will kill me running nonstop at 100w. So if I switch to a chiller at 150w, what would be the bill (rough estimate)? 4) My partners keep telling me this - buy cheap buy twice. So is there a sweet spot in this selection of chiller? What are no no brands? I dont mind the PC fan noise but a buzzsaw sound will affect my work and the fengshui :-) 5) Just buy second hand?

Then I can have the corals, anemone and all that stuff you lucky guys have hehe. Look forward to your advice. And yes, I have read most of the links and I really dont want to ask the same questions repeatedly. But it seems to me as a newbie most hobbyists complain about getting a noisy chiller plus a host of bad thermometer problems.

Harry

[xeneryx]

i think your tank suits a royal gamma!

[titustitus]

bro why not run fan instead of chiller and maybe u can keep corals haha. i had a nano and ran 2 small fans and was able to keep temperature between 27-29 degrees celcius without aircon environment. managed to keep zoas and surprisingly even multiplied their polyps. i even had clams and sps inside.

[Harryfocker]

3 months old tank :-)

[Harryfocker]

3 months old tank :-)

[Admiraltian]

Nice nano.

[Planted]

Very nice! Your tangs look healthy! Are they feeding?

[Harryfocker]

The Tang eats everything - purple nori (seaweed), Hikari mysis shrimps and Crab Cuisine. And it nibbles the live rock non-stop. I think I should alternate-day feed it.

[Harryfocker]

Thanks to equipment addiction, I have gotten an Arctica chiller (thanks bro!!!). I had a near disaster when I added a green anemone (against the advice of my two aquarist Sifu). For unknown reasons, the yellow tang, blue tang, 2 cleaner shrimps were wiped out. Only the fire shrimps and the two clowns survived. I had to remove the anemone. The photo is the new replacement. Ok, anemone is BAD. However, I am still hoping to get an alternative coral in which the clowns can symbiote with it. Carpet anemone (i read) is just as bad. As my tank is small, I cant increase the bio-load. Any advice?

[asg]

Clown fish will host torch coral at times. Can give it a try ya.

[Snoopyhamburger]

Clown fish will host torch coral at times. Can give it a try ya.

Torch needs chiller ahem

[asg]

Torch needs chiller ahem

29 - 30 degree stil can

[Harryfocker]

Thank you. Will hunt for it.

[Harryfocker]

My current chiller brings the temp to 27. Will give it a shot!

[Harryfocker]

Got the chiller. So I bought a torch and a hammer. The third is a prata like coral which I am not sure what is that. Going to add a bubble coral and some fun stuff.

[Harryfocker]

I have difficulty posting so if you see repeat post, just ignore them. Hammer, Torch and prata-like coral added.