Trying to start a small nano for a few friends need some help!

[peejfish]

Hi everyone, I wanted to start small nanos that would be not too expensive to setup, and I want to do 3-5 of them for each of my friends to get them into saltwater...
I was thinking one nano tank with orange gorgonians and pipe fish possibly and a sea urchin or something...
One tank with a few corals and a neon goby or something
one tank with a mantis shrimp...and some corals probably
one tank with an arrow crab as the centerpiece and some other inverts, possibly some corals
one tank with Frogspawn and Torch coral with a few sexy shrimp or anenome shrimp and some zoo's
thanks a lot
-PeejFish
also what do you think would be the cheapest way about getting all of the tanks and which heaters and DIY projects that would make things easier? thanks a lot

 

[clown_nut]

how big a tanks are you looking at? I've seen some very nice mini bowl 5's around this forum.

 

[peejfish]

the mini bow five eh? I've used the 2.5gal before and liked it...how do people make the lights stronger in the 5gal mini bow? and how do they get filtration without using that big bulky filter..? and does a 50watt heater do the trick? and what is the most bioload that would be safe?
thanks a bunch
-PeejFish

 

[clown_nut]

I've seen people just plug a single 20w 50/50 bulb into the factory fixture or do creative and create there own dual fixture for two 10w 50/50s...also a cheap HOB from Wal-Mart should do the truck for filtration and circulation..as for a heater a 50w would be great...Also as far as bio-load?? Well Not much! I've seen a single percula Clown..but highly discouraged...maybe a clown goby or two.

 

[peejfish]

oh cool, can you mate clown gobies in a mini bow 5?

 

[j trigger]

Can you make a list of all the items you would need to start one of these cheap little nanos?
Thanks!

 

[cliffrouse11bas]

I dont recommend the minibow 2.5 or 5 because they will scratch very easily because they are acrylic. I recommend the minibow 7. It is glass and very easily modified.

 

[cliffrouse11bas]

I say get
7 gallon minibow (44 Bucks)
32 Watt Retro kit (50 bucks)
Sand (20 bucks)
10 lbs Live Rock (50 Bucks)
Aquaclear 200 (15 Bucks)
Surface Skimmer ( 7 Bucks)
25-50 watt Heather (15 bucks)
Digital Thermometer (7 Bucks)
Mini jet 404-606( 15 Bucks)
That comes up to $223
Then you will need some test kits and a hydrometer(I say go with a refractometer, but if you are on a budget I guess a hydrometer will do) Also need some salt I say oceanic or istant ocean.
This hobby is a never ending money hole. It also depends on what you want to keep. Let us know what you want to keep and keep us informed and post some pics when you get it setup.
Good luck...

 

[peejfish]

hey thanks for the tips, Well the LS and LR won't be a problem because I plan on taking it from my 40gallon reef and I also plan to make a LR propogation tank thats abuot 300 gallons in the near future...so I think i shoudl be okay...as for the scratching I'm not so sure that will be a problem in these cases because there won't be any sea urchins or anything that will scratchup the glass in the inside, they'd just have to be careful on the outside i suppose!
thank you very much
-PeejFish

 

[xenoyahweh]

I would just buy an existing tank from someone.