Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I am wondering what I should do about a 10 gal nano filter. I have seen people use a skilter 250 (some one gave me one but the pump is bad) do they work good? I have also bought a whisper 5-15 gal from walmart for about $10, and I have also here of not using a filter. So my question is what does everyone use so I can get an idea for what I should do about a filter.

Who needs a stinkin' filter ? A 10 gallon should just have live rock, sand and a power head. No filter needed.

Ok no filter. Where can I get a cheep but good power head, and how often should I do water changes?

Powerhead ? Try a Maxi Jet from www.petwarehouse.com and as far as water changes that is just personal preference. I personally have not done any since February, but really have not felt like it.

Here are a couple of pics of the new nano that I set up.

What sort of lighting is in there?

I am using the same light that Josh is using in his nano


http://www.mbrk.com/viewtopic.php?t=1137

pretty cool!! Now get a peacock mantis.

I have a mini-jet 404 I'm not using. It has some dead as dead can be coralline on it. Trade it for softie frag

Friends don't let friends do nano without a real protein skimmer.

You let one little anemone run himself through the powerhead and without a proper skimmer you'll have 10 gallons of scum soup before you can say "Damn, that tank was clear this morning when I left for work and now it's solid brown and everythings dead and...!"

Oh...uh... Sorry, I was having a flashback.

But seriously a nano is not immune from the same needs as a big tank. In fact since things happen so much quicker and there is less water volume to forgive mistakes, it's really more important.

If you want to keep it simple. consider a counter-current skimmer. Some work off a powerhead and air pump, some just require the air pump. Since venturi, downdrafts, beckett, etc. skimmers came along, the lowly counter-current has been almost forgotten. But that old-school, low tech marvel was small, silent, cheap, super efficient, and may just be the perfect solution for todays nano-reef.

Isn't the purpose of a nano to keep it simple? I don't think you need the skimmer. If an anemone goes through the power head you'll need more than a skimmer to fix it. You'll be doing the water changes anyways.

We don't run skimmers on any of our nano's...

Snoopdogs nano tanks are awsome and He doesn't use any skimmer. I would think that a skimmer on a nano would just cause too much water evaperation. I don't run one on my nano either.

Nano's don't need skimmers... they DO need constant small water changes. Keep it simple.

One day I should create a device that will do auto water changes..

have two containers...one filled with new saltwater...the other tied to a drain line.

Make it where run every week for a certain amount of time. Have a pump in the old water container run for X mins. (x=# of mins it takes to empty out the amount of water to be changed. When the pump is done...It can activate the filler that will fill until float sensor senses that the tank is full. The to keep the filler from dumping in saltwater everytime the water level goes low...when the float sensor reaches max, it will start a timer (to make sure that the tank is in fact full and that the sensor wasnt just acidentally tripped by a ripple) for 1 min and after that 1 min is up, the units power will be shut off untill the next planned water change.

All the keeper has to do is make sure that there is ample new SW in the holding tank. And to keep the tank from going bad...we can install a small powerhead.

this would not require much more than a control unit with power outlets (for removal pump and additive pump), 3 small powerheads, large container(new SW), small container with drain hose, and an electronic float valve.

Would make things easier for us nano reefers...And I bet that I could build the units and sell them. only programming would be timers and switches.