Best Mini Reef Aquarium

[hotard]

I asked this question in the Reef Forum and was kindly redirected over here. I have been running a Community tank for a few years and want to explore doing a reef tank. Do you guys have any suggestions on what Nano tank would be a good starter tank for me to get my feet wet?
Thanks in advance.
:help:

 

[jlbubbles]

Depending on how many corals you plan on keeping i would suggest a 24 gal nano dx. (72 watt power compact ighting and moon glow LED lighs)That is what I have currently have and it is not too small, so there wont be temp or salinity flucuations like in a 10 or 12 gal tank. aquapods are actually a good tank as well. How big was ur other tank?

 

[bonebrake]

When you say you have a community tank and you want to move on to a reef I assume you mean a saltwater community tank? Regardless, read everything you can get your hands on or eyes on online and research, research, and research some more. Make sure whatever you read is from a reputable source, there is probably more untrue, outdated, and just plain bad information than good.
The easiest way to start a nano is to buy a 10 gallon or a 20 gallon long, purchase a Maxijet 900 or two, buy a small 50-100 watt titanium heater, some live rock, some pure aragonite sand or live sand, a decent lighting setup, salt mix and RO/DI water and get it up and running. The all-in-one nano tanks are not truly all-in-one. Many have design flaws that need modified; they are not plug and play. For less money, a small inexpensive glass tank can be turned into a beautiful nano. However, if you like the design of the all-in-one tanks and do not mind doing some modifications they still make great tanks!
:joy:

 

[the j.o.p.]

i agree with Bonebreak. i just did a 15 gal. just like tha

^^^

 

[jacksonpt]

I've got a 12g aquapod. And to clerify bonebreaks comments... it IS completely plug and play (just buy a heater), but there are some ways to improve it. Are they necessary improvements? No, probably not, but they do make the tank better.

 

[hotard]

I have a 55gal Hex, and I would love to do a larger reef/fish tank, but I want to start small to see if I like doing corals.
Is there any good places to do research on setup? I have went through the posts here and most are issues with pre-existing tanks.
Every setup nano I have seen have been Nanocubes, I hadnt even heard of the Aquapod till I posted.

 

[chipmaker]

Personally I think the typical factory m ade nano tanaks (aqua POd, JBJ, Bio Cube etc) all suck big time. They are nortorius for problems one way or another. They limit yu unless your satisfied to butcher or cut apart the setup to mod and do lots of additional items, or yu just have to be content to use whats made for them. I find them extremely over priced for what yu get as well. Best bet IMHO is but a 10 or 15 or even a 20 gal glass tank and perhaps a coralife quad bulb 96 watt bulb and maybe a clip on moon light, add a MJpowerhead of 600 or 900 or 1200 size and go for it. Lots of stuff yu buy for the setup like a skimmer for examble a Aqua C or CSS can also be used on a larger setup, whereaas a skimmer for the NANO tanks are useless on anything other than those nano's and midiocre at most then......Save a bunch of money and headaches with leaking and cracked cubes, improperly wired, poor quality cheap lights, and fans and go with a regular all glass tank for a fraction of the cost, and not worry about cracked tanks, poor fans or lights and powerheads.......

 

[bonebrake]

Originally Posted by hotard
Is there any good places to do research on setup?
Go to the Archives & FAQ section on the main page of the Saltwaterfish.com Message Boards. Detailed and relevant posts for beginning a tank can be found there.
Or you can click here: Archives & FAQ
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