Basics for a 25 gallon

[joejoe]

I am planning on setting up a 20 gallon nano in the near future, but I have been getting different answers everywhere. I plan on having coral plus one....maybe two fish in there. I'll add some shrimp and crabs and what not as the tank progresses and settles in. I hear people saying to get a filter, others saying I won't need a filter. Could someone or a couple of you come to agreement with what would be required for a nano, minus the tank/stand/canopy w/ lights? Thanks!!

 

[aggie05]

Lights depend on what corals you want and how much money you have. If you only want softies then PC light will be fine, I would shoot for around 125 watts. If you want SPS and money is not a big deal then definitely get metal halides. Filtration is a big deal and it all depends on your setup. If you have say 30 pounds of live sand and 30 pounds of live rock in the tank then you will be doing good. If you only plan on getting two small fish then you may be able to get away with only a hang on the back power filter with some carbon in it, as long as you do weekly to bi-weekly water changes of probably 2 gallons. If your bioload gets to be too big though, you will definitely want a skimmer. The biggest thing to remeber is not to cheap out, if you do it right the first time you will end up investing less money than if you had to go back and fix your mistakes.