Nano/ Pico Path to Success?

[penguinexdeus]

I've tried a few AIO Nano/ Pico tanks and always seem to struggle with them, mainly dinos and algae... just really long and bad ugly stages... with what I'm guessing is because of limited space for equipment and small room for error due to smaller water volumes.

Just picked up an eshopps 7g deskmate Mariana - and I want this one to be a success... so what tips/ tricks suggestions do you have or what would you do if you had it to make sure that it was successful and feel good about the tank in a year? Walk me through a vision you have on how you'd make it a success or if you have a succssful deskmate tell me how you got there..

-What would be your theme? Shrooms? Zoas? SPS? Packed in or Sparse?
-What Fish would you have?
-What inverts would you have?
-Would you use ocean live rock, dry rock, or a combination?
-Sand? What kind?
-What light would you use?
-Powerhead? or Just the Return?
-What 'upgrades' from stock would you make? filter cup vs sock? would you add the eshopps nano skimmer? What's 'under the hood'?
-What would your maintenance and dosing plan be like? 2 part, all for reef? Just water changes?
-Whats your timeline look like? When would you add fish, turn lights on, add coral?

 

[Narideth]

So I'm only three months in and I don't have the eshopps tank specifically, but I do have a 3 gallon pico that I've been nurturing with pretty decent success so far. I have not (fingers crossed) encountered any uglies, but it's still a young tank.

Honestly, I primarily attribute this success to a couple of things. I added a gravity fed ATO immediately, and the addition of the live rocks I cultured for a couple of months ahead of time in a different tank. I also used bottled bacteria but... it was goopy and thick and I don't even know if it was good. I only used a little. I did add pods, a few rounds of microbacter 7 and small doses of phyto here and there, all in an effort to build a strong foundation of biological support.

Regular black aquarium sand, cultured rocks, some dry rock and a variety of small fish that have used it as a temporary home have all added to the biodiversity. I added a piece of GSP within the first month to test the light and the tank, found some interesting magnetic frag holders to add additional space for corals, and just finished adding all of the acans I'd gathered for this tank.

I don't dose other additives, though I will be keeping an eye on calcium with this many small LPS colonies. I have hard water so even after the RODI is done, my calcium is high. I made certain that even in my tiny tank, the flow is pretty decent and tried to reach all corners. I put a flat nozzle and an RFG nozzle to split the flow around and have it clash a little.

I only recently decided to let my yasha goby live here, as he got sucked into the overflow and was lost in the filter media of my larger tank for 3 days. I was so happy to find him alive. He's happy here.

Otherwise, the tank hosts two small astrea snails, one nassarius snail, one blue legged hermit and a small skunk cleaner shrimp. Corals consist of 7 different acan colonies, a golden hammer, a trio of button scolys, a few zoas, GSP and firework cloves. There's also a growing bush of red gracilaria hayi macroalgae. I figure if I can include some macroalgaes in the display then it'll work the same as a refugium for a larger tank.

All in all I think biodiversity is the key to success in these tanks, and however you achieve that - live rocks, cultured live rocks, additives, all of the above - will give you a very small padding for error.

 

[JoJosReef]

To make it a success, I would purchase a Tampa Bay Saltwater treasure chest and start the tank with ocean live rock and sand. Dinos and algae will have a hard time competing with that unless water parameters are grossly mismanaged.

 

[Narideth]

To make it a success, I would purchase a Tampa Bay Saltwater treasure chest and start the tank with ocean live rock and sand. Dinos and algae will have a hard time competing with that unless water parameters are grossly mismanaged.

I freaking live near Tampa Bay... clearly I need to go take a walk.

Big agree on this though, lots of good natural things going on here.

 

[JoJosReef]

I freaking live near Tampa Bay... clearly I need to go take a walk.

Big agree on this though, lots of good natural things going on here.

If I lived there, all of my rocks would be ocean rocks. The shipping can get a bit steep, but if you can do local pickup...

 

[Hooz]

So everyone always says, "all you need to do is weekly water changes for nanos and picos". That is true for the most part, but I will add a couple refinements/clarifications to that.

Test. Your. Water. Don't start your water changes until you have SOME nutrients. Having ZERO nutrients is as bad (in some cases worse) than having too much. If you're not testing your water, you might be inadvertently stripping out all the nutrients. Ask me how I know.

I have a Nuvo 10 (holds an actual 7g of water) that has been running successfully as an anemone/clown tank for almost 3 years now. I got a rocky start, though, because I started my water changes too soon and did them too frequently. Once your tank is running, you'll find it's rhythm, but only if you're paying attention (testing).

 

[Keko21]

I love the idea of adding macro algae to the display. I just got my deskmate cycling about a week ago and I'm obviously in the planning stages. Check out my thread "The Winter Reef".

 

[Sourdoh]

So I currently have the Eshopps deskmate 4.8 and the tank has taught me a lot. Let me start off by saying tanks this small are tough but not impossible. Mine has been running for about 6 months now and the tank is finally settled in. Now to answer some of your questions from my experience.

As far as what types of corals for a tank this small I would stick to softies and lps. Sps is not impossible to take care in a tank this size but requires a lot more attention to parameters. Swings are a lot more likely therefor sps can be much harder to keep. I had a few sticks in my tank and recently sold them as they were not seeming to do well in the tank. My sofites and lps hwoever have been thriving and growing at a rapid pace especially over the past few months.

As far as fish, I can't fully speak to the 7 gallon but for mine, I had one tailspot blenny in it and he did not do well. IMO just don't. I'll just leave it at that.

Inverts you can really go with a lot of different options just know since its a small system some inverts may need spot feeding to thrive depending on what it is. A shrimp or two wouldnt be a bad option. Just research nutrition requirements for them.

For rocks and sand I used carib sea liferock and fiji pink sand. Nothing but good thinks to say about either. Both work well in the smaller system.

As far as a light I'm personaly using the AI Prime 16 HD which could be considered overkill but I really like the control you get and functionality of AI products.

I just use the return for flow in the tank however you can def upgrade to a sicce micra if you want a little bit more flow through the tank.

As far as upgrades the things that helped a lot with maintenance were the kraken reef filter floss cup as well as the kraken reef lid. The cup makes replacing the fliter floss very very easy and the lid cut down a lot on how much water was needed to top off the tank. Third would be my auto topoff which isn't necessary but is soooo nice to have especially with a smaller tank like this. I also have a bag of ceramic media in the rear chamber for bacteria colonies to grow on.

As far as dosing and water changes I only dose magnesium and rarely at that. Only when I see it start to get low wwhich isn't very often at all. I find that a 1-2 gallon water change is more than enough to keep parameters in check. Just don't start water changes too early in the start of the tank. Once a week I also spot feed reef roids and have noticed very good results in growth.

Wait at least two months to add coral even if the cycle completes. Rushing into corals is a good way to kill coral and lose money. If you are dead set on a fish I would probably get that first but again I haven't had any good luck with that. Lighting is gonna be dependant on the corals but I currently run a schedule from pennywise on the AI prime facebook group. He has lighting schedules for most setups and will even make a custom one for you. I woiuld dm him.

Hopefully this helps!

 

[Landshark34]

I also upgraded to a Deskmate 4.8 and transfered everything from my 2gal jar to it over a month. I switched out the pump for a Sicce Nano and added an rfg. I use 2 Kessil A80, both at 40% intensity or less. I cover the tank with a polycarbonate lid to minimize evaporation and I manually top off every few days.

For fish, I have a single clown and plan to add no more fish.
For corals, I would probably stick to lps and softies. All my lps is doing well, but my monti frag is just "staying alive".

I really like the open back chamber that is not sectioned off into 3, such that I was able to convert the entire sock and skimmer sections into a refugium. In the fuge, I just have chaeto, and an overkill of bio filter media: a pack of marine pure gems, 2 marine pure bio-balls, 6 maxspect bio-balls and more rock rubbles.

Chaetos are growing thick, and I have not had any algae explosions between my jar and this Deskmate. I have a handful of bubble algae scattered around but not growing in numbers and my rocks have a layer of bio film, but I have also never had a dedicated CUC except bristle worms, a few limpets and asterina stars.

I just started dosing all-for-reef and would like to see if I can reduce the amount of water change, but thus far I have been changing 1gal of water a week.