85g Reefer Starting New Nano Reef: Pointers?

[SilentRacket]

Hello everyone,

 

I have lurked on this site for a little bit, but have decided to start a nano reef so I though it might be a good time to make my own account!  Very excited to join your community!

 

For some context...

 

Several years ago I ran a fairly successful 85g reef aquarium with a 25g sump.  I can't remember exactly what I kept in it, but I had a handful of beginner fish (yellow tang, clownfish, pair of bangaiis, some other small assorted fish), a few easy corals (mushroom, pulsing xenia, star polyps) and a bunch of various invertebrates (feather duster, small conch, snails, brittle star).  Due to life stuff, I had to tear it down awhile ago, but I kept all of the equipment.  This included a heater, overflow with durso, protein skimmer, in sump bio ball chamber, uv sterilizer, a ton of live (now dry) rock, RO/DI unit, LED light bar, powerheads, and that little device that is supposed to maintain suction in the overflow. 

 

Since then I've moved to a new city and have been thinking about getting back into the hobby.  However, my new space doesn't have room for a 85g display plus all of the equipment needed for water changes (no place to store a trash can for holding water changes).  My main considerations for this new tank are ease of maintenance, reliability, and NOISE.  My 85g was noisy as hell.  My new space is a little smaller and there isn't really a place for a crazy noisy tank.  Also any kind of flood due to pump or overflow failure would suck hard.  I am hoping to go with a 30g tank, but may go a little smaller.  I want to grow some easy corals, keep a fish or two, and maybe graduate to an anemone way down the line.  

 

That being said, would you guys consider a sump being absolutely necessary for running a nano tank?  I've read a lot about how these things are pretty important to control water quality in such a small volume of water.  If I skipped the sump, I would skip out on protein skimmer (which would be waaaaay overrated for the smaller tank, idk if this is bad) and bio balls.  But hopefully this would eliminate the noise problems and the potential for a catastrophic flood if anything failed.  If I ran the sump, how loud is the bean animal overflow?  I've heard and read good things.  How much of my old equipment would translate to a smaller aquarium?  Would my stronger, larger lights for 85g be an issue on a smaller aquarium?   Additionally, if any of you have any pointers or pieces of advice for a previous reefer getting into nano aquariums, I am all ears!

[M. Tournesol]

Welcome to nano-reef 😉.

4 minutes ago, SilentRacket said:

That being said, would you guys consider a sump being absolutely necessary for running a nano tank?  I've read a lot about how these things are pretty important to control water quality in such a small volume of water.

No, you don't need a sump for a nano tank. 10-20% Water change a week is your weapon. Some even keep coral in a jar (.5 or 1 gallon) by doing 100% water change once a week.

If your tank is heavily stoked, you could still go for an algae reactor or run your skimmer at night.

8 minutes ago, SilentRacket said:

Would my stronger, larger lights for 85g be an issue on a smaller aquarium?

If your light is dimmable, no. If not, you could still put it higher. My light (not for small nano) is at 50% and my sps frags seems happy.

9 minutes ago, SilentRacket said:

Additionally, if any of you have any pointers or pieces of advice for a previous reefer getting into nano aquariums, I am all ears!

I am too new of a reefer to give you small pointers or pieces of advice. 
Maybe, have fun? 

[M. Tournesol]

To get inspiration, don't forget to look at https://www.nano-reef.com/featured/

 

 

 

[SilentRacket]

Thanks for the advice.  I think I just strongly associated reef tanks with sumps, skimmers, filters and gadgets and didn't even think a ton about just using a weekly water change which I guess wouldn't even be a big deal on such a small tank.  Haha its tough to do a 20 gallon water change once a week on the 85g.  Looking at the featured helped tons, especially looking at their equipment lists and maintenance routines and it seems fairly common to forgo the skimmer.  If anyone else has a nano without a skimmer please chime in!

[M. Tournesol]

5 minutes ago, SilentRacket said:

 If anyone else has a nano without a skimmer please chime in!

me 😆

Edited August 20, 2021 by M. Tournesol