Wildfire's 20G Nano Experiment (1 Viewer)

[Wildfire]

I found that my 265 was eating me alive, so I pulled an old 20g out of the garage, washed it down real good, bought a new set of lights, filled it with water, rock, and corals from my big tank (in the process of tearing it down) and I'm at day #1. Here is a link to my tracking site:

http://www.wildfire-tech.com/~matt/tank/20g-Nano/index.html

I've got some decent moon-light pictures from this evening. However, I am already considering buying a chiller for this tank (MarineDepot has two or three manufacturers who make nano / micro chillers running 1/20, 1/15, or 1/10 HP). I don't have a lot of lights and would, quite frankly, rather work with fans than a chiller.

Anyone have ideas on keep this guy cool that are practical, quiet, and effective?

Also, I am thinking about keeping the following fish in the tank:

1 Percula Clown (Already residing there)
1 Coral Beauty (about 3" long, from my 265)
1 Blue/Green Chromis (about 4" long, from my 265)
1 Long-Spinned Urchin (the baby that was spawned in my 265)
2 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Fire Shrimp
Assorted snails and hermits.

Does anyone see any problems here?

Thanks, and I look forward to this as a learning experience.

 

[Melodyepta]

Hiya Matt! The only problem I see is the number of fish you plan on keeping. If you add the Coral Beauty and the chromis you'll be waaaay overstocked.

Using the 1" of adult sized fish/every 5 gal of water rule of thumb, you're nearly at the limit now with the perc. Also the 20g isn't enough swim space for a chromis or coral beauty. They need more roaming space.

Remember that on a nano (because of the smaller water amount) the water parameters will go down the tubes much faster as you have a smaller margin for error.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

[jhand]

Looks like a great start Matt!
I've got some nice BTA's if you need one down the road.
John

 

[landfish]

looks like a good start to me.

I would check out some fans before getting a chiller. You can go to Fry's and get some silent running 12V fans that they use for computer cases that work well.

 

[Wildfire]

THanks Melody. You gave me what I needed (honest criticism) so that now I am re-thinking some direction.

John, thanks for the offer. I held onto 3 for this tank, but I'll let you know if I need a buy back.

I'll check out Fry's this weekend and see what I can come up with for fans....

 

[dreamersdisease]

If you use the 265 as a sump/refugium you can keep as much stock as you like in the 20!

I like the idea of a chiller and a nice size refugium. More water volume and cool water with less evaporation. An auto top off device is a must on small tanks, I speak from experience as I top off my tank every day manually. The top off will keep your salinity stable and you could hide it all in the sump/refugium. Even if you skip on the chiller, get the auto top off.

 

[Hurdicuss]

Hey Matt!

I second the notion to leave the coral beauty out of the equation. Also, since you are planning to incorporate the shrimp i would leave the hermits out of the equation too and utilize the shrimp and snails for clean-up/scavengers. Just a thought from an outside source. I plan to leave hermits out of my future tank set-ups.

-J

 

[Wildfire]

After careful consideration, review of my desires and talents, and general "getting my head out of my behind"edness, I have decided that the 20g is a "temporary" tank for me. Ina short amount of time I will be moving it's contents into a 40g breeder w/ 15 g sump + refugium. This should allow me a little more flexibility.

Thanks to all that responded!

 

[Style23]

im not sure how it will work in the 40, but i had 2 urchins, one that looks like the long spines but the spines are shorter (do not know of the technical name) in a 10g that was about the size of a golf ball, and then a blue tuxedo urchin the size of a marble in a 20g and they both perrished what im assuming is because of lack of food...i have lost very few inverts and loosing 2 urchins made me come to that conclusion that they should be treated just like starfish...maybe someone will chime in otherwise but....