Automatic Water Changes to a Nano Tank

[itzmrtristan]

Hi everyone, I have just bought my first every saltwater tank after just doing research for about 6 months, so hoping to have a VERY basic level of knowledge rather than rushing in!

I have bought a Waterbox Cube 10 to sit on my desk with a small cupboard below to house various forms of kit. I want to be able to have a mini automatic water change set up but won't be buying a sump as I simply do not have the space.

Therefore, I have had an idea to modify 2 10L containers, one for new shop bought saltwater (will make my own further down the line) and one for the waste water being removed from the tank. My thoughts are getting either the Kamoer X2S or GHL Doser 2.2 Maxi Standalone, connecting it to both containers and have it perform the change directly to and from the tank.

My question has anyone done something similar before, and does this sound like a suitable small scale setup to automate 10% weekly water changes? Whatever pump I get I would like to ideally also use as a doser in future but as I'm new to this I thought I'd reach out for some advice.

Thanks everyone

 

[Rhetoric]

Hello and welcome!

I am a nano reefer, so welcome to the darkside.

Just a couple of quick thoughts to consider.

One of the brilliant things about nano tanks is how easy water changes are. In your situation a 10% water change is less the 1 gallon. My first saltwater tank was 90 gallons and required conserably more effort and (5gallon) buckets to change water.

Perhaps in the beginning as a new saltwater aquarist, manual water changes may help you "be in tune" with your new tank. More specifically a siphon tube allows you to "suck up" unwanted detritus and ugly "stuff" Manual removal of unwanted algae is (I'm my opinion) the secret to success in this hobby.

A 1 gallon water change once a week will take you less then 10 mins (much less after the process is established)

Take the $$ you would spend on auto exchange and buy coral!

Words of caution - if "they" are selling you Anything (Equipment, chemicals, filters, or something in a bottle) to solve problems do more research. Manual removal will fix a lot.

My 20 gallon has an Auto top off and that's it no filters (no skimer/sock/roller ect.)

Cheers

 

[lapin]

Take a coffee cup and scoop out 1 cup a day. Then under your desk scoop out fresh salt water. 3 min at max. I would caution not to drink the dirty salt water by mistake.

 

[itzmrtristan]

Hello and welcome!

I am a nano reefer, so welcome to the darkside.

Just a couple of quick thoughts to consider.

One of the brilliant things about nano tanks is how easy water changes are. In your situation a 10% water change is less the 1 gallon. My first saltwater tank was 90 gallons and required conserably more effort and (5gallon) buckets to change water.

Perhaps in the beginning as a new saltwater aquarist, manual water changes may help you "be in tune" with your new tank. More specifically a siphon tube allows you to "suck up" unwanted detritus and ugly "stuff" Manual removal of unwanted algae is (I'm my opinion) the secret to success in this hobby.

A 1 gallon water change once a week will take you less then 10 mins (much less after the process is established)

Take the $$ you would spend on auto exchange and buy coral!

Words of caution - if "they" are selling you Anything (Equipment, chemicals, filters, or something in a bottle) to solve problems do more research. Manual removal will fix a lot.

My 20 gallon has an Auto top off and that's it no filters (no skimer/sock/roller ect.)

Cheers

Thanks for the warm welcome and great advice! Sounds like $300 on a AWC may be a waste of money for such small amounts at a time.

A lot of the AWCs on offer seem to have a ATO built in. Would you recommend still getting an ATO and having that set up or is that still overkill for a 10 Gallon?

 

[TehBrainz]

Perhaps in the beginning as a new saltwater aquarist, manual water changes may help you "be in tune" with your new tank. More specifically a siphon tube allows you to "suck up" unwanted detritus and ugly "stuff" Manual removal of unwanted algae is (I'm my opinion) the secret to success in this hobby.

This way you also get to taste the ugly stuff for proper identification!

All jokes, of course. But you will taste some salt at some point. I guarantee it!

 

[itzmrtristan]

Take a coffee cup and scoop out 1 cup a day. Then under your desk scoop out fresh salt water. 3 min at max. I would caution not to drink the dirty salt water by mistake.

Thanks Lapin!

 

[TehBrainz]

Thanks for the warm welcome and great advice! Sounds like $300 on a AWC may be a waste of money for such small amounts at a time.

A lot of the AWCs on offer seem to have a ATO built in. Would you recommend still getting an ATO and having that set up or is that still overkill for a 10 Gallon?

I've never had a nano tank long term, but I use a gravity assist ATO on my QT.

 

[Rhetoric]

A lot of the AWCs on offer seem to have a ATO built in. Would you recommend still getting an ATO and having that set up or is that still overkill for a 10 Gallon?

Keeping salinity stable is important for all salty tanks but IMO super important for a smaller tanks. Smaller volume of water means bigger changes in parameters due to evaporation.

If you are running a solid lid (reducing evaporation) manual top off could be an option.

I wouldn't run a nano with out some kind of top off option.

 

[fish farmer]

Thanks for the warm welcome and great advice! Sounds like $300 on a AWC may be a waste of money for such small amounts at a time.

A lot of the AWCs on offer seem to have a ATO built in. Would you recommend still getting an ATO and having that set up or is that still overkill for a 10 Gallon?

I agree with doing manual changes on such a small tank, with a 5 gallon bucket you could do 50 percent water changes with ease, having the ability to siphon crap out during WC is nice as well. I assume with the bigger tanks utilizing automatic water changes also have sumps with roller matts/socks/skimmers/etc. for their waste management.

Lots of simple options for ATO, gravity drip "hamster bottle" type systems to doser pump systems.