Nano Tank

[danzer]

Hi. I plan to setup a nano tank(less than 1ft). Will be getting a liberty100 for my filteration and will be using the sand and live rock from my 2ft tank. There are some question I am still in doubt.

1. I be buying seawater directly from LFS. I find it easily as I do not need to test and measure the salinity. Is it recommended??

2. Do I still need to cycle the tank b4 I introduce fishes to the tank?

Wat I intend to do is to buy the water, fishes( 2 fire goby) and 1 cleaner shrimp from the same LFS and introduce to the tank immediately. Can I do that?

[bubble_gum]

cycling ur tank 1st bro. smaller tank smaller margin for error

[danzer]

Okie... but the water is directly from the LFS and not from the water mix. So I am very puzzled.

[SBS_Transit]

hmm, maybe cycle for a while, your sand is new 1 or take from old tank ?

how many gallons is your tank ?

[danano]

How long have you had your 2ft tank?

[trader_best]

IMO it is better to mix salt water yourself, sea water from lfs may contain harmful bacteria....

think better to cycle the tank lor....more safe this way

my 2 cents

[danzer]

Okie. I thk I will cycle for abt a week. As for the sand, it have been in my tank for 6mths. I will go to PR or SL to buy the water coz I feel much safer. As the tank is 2 small, I scared that changing water will have a great impact on the water chemistry. T Y I prefer buying water from the same LFS, at least the water chemistry is constant. Any advice?

[terryansimon]

danzer...

just because the water comes from a LFS doesn't mean that the water chemistry is consistent. they make take it from Source A this week, Source B the next, and Source Z if Source A and B are out of the option. in fact, you'll have a higher safety latitude if you mix the saltwater yourself.

one week for cycling....there is no such thing as one week for nano, two week for two feet...so on and so forth. the cycling will only be "complete" when your NH4 and NO2 are at zero levels, with NO3 as close to zero as possible. like Rumor once told me, change up to 50% water after you reach zero for NH4 and NO2 to bring down the nitrate levels. this time frame depends on individual tank. no two tanks are alike.

my two cents. and no, I'm not trying to shoot you down.

[Kalib]

There's no fixed time frame, some tanks cycle faster, some longer.

Use testkits to determine if its ready for the 1st fish or that it needs more time. Guessing is not good.

You should cycle again, the transferring of sand/LR from your current tank to the new tank is likely to kill of bacteria.

[Dispar_Anthias]

hmm, maybe cycle for a while, your sand is new 1 or take from old tank ?

how many gallons is your tank ?

If you not really sure... pls dun give comment as that will misleed others

[typrobin]

i think for LFS, the seawater tat they use for their tanks and the ones that they are selling are different....

the ones tat they are selling are retrieved from the ocean and stored, not too sure if they are using the same for their tanks....u might wanna ask the owner b4 purchasing...and not forgetting the seawater that they use for their tank has very low salinity, check b4 using it....

[fnscasey]

You can try to get some bio mediums from the mature tank to shorten your cycling periods.

[Terryz_]

Dun try to shorten the cycling process... Best to go through the whole cycling process... Nano tank water para is very difficult to stablise in the intial stage.. After that it will be quite easy liao...

[danzer]

Okie. i will let it cycle and test all the water parameter. I don wish to have dead fishes at the end of the day. After so much debate on the seawater.. i thk I stick to salt mix since the volume is not hugh.

There are some more advice I need from the senior.

1. Thot of buying a liberty filter, is liberty 100 sufficient for a nano tank of 24cm x 15cm x 24cm. or should I oversize it and go for a 150?

2. I won be putting a skimmer into it. will be going for a small weekly water change. can I put in corals like mushroom after testing all my water parameters are okie?

Seriously have not tried a nano tank b4, so need to take all precaution b4 going into it. Thanks for all advice.

[terryansimon]

best to oversize your filter. get the 200...if I remember correctly. or the largest you can get.

[Terryz_]

Ya... Best to oversize the filter... If space allows get a small air stone skimmer... Better than no skimmer... IMO...

[Kalib]

There are some more advice I need from the senior.

1. Thot of buying a liberty filter, is liberty 100 sufficient for a nano tank of 24cm x 15cm x 24cm. or should I oversize it and go for a 150?

2. I won be putting a skimmer into it. will be going for a small weekly water change. can I put in corals like mushroom after testing all my water parameters are okie?

Seriously have not tried a nano tank b4, so need to take all precaution b4 going into it. Thanks for all advice.

1. Get the biggest model possible. Its always better IMO, better to have more than sufficient filtration than to have insufficient filtration.

2. Since its a nano tank, i think like what Terryz has mentioned, better to get a small skimmer. It helps in removing wastes in the water, hence aiding in filtration as well. So long as you use a wooden air stone with a powerful airpump, you should be able to get decent skimmate. I have ever managed to collect brownish skimmate on my Orca air-pump driven skimmer.