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windcoast reefs
04-08-2012, 08:14 PM
Several years ago I came accros a 5 gallon nano cube that was absolutely stunning. It said that it had 100% water changes 2 times a month and that it was the simplest tank that he had ever created. So now it's my time to give it a try.

The basics:

This tank will have a very very low bioload. Meaning there will be no clean up crew, no fish and no pests that make there way into the tank, so basically I will have low light soft corals and some zoa's. I realize how hard this might be, but I'll explain as I go how I will do this.

So instead of taking the Berlin method of reef keeping and using live rock, sand, clean up crew and heavy skimming, I'm going the exact opposite, no live rock, no sand and no skimming. I am instead going to use man made live rock and use carbon as my filtration. The main reason behind no skimmer is that it will hold 20% of the water volume and be way to much flow for a 5 gallon tank, let alone the microbubbles.

Nano
04-08-2012, 08:16 PM
100% water changes?

windcoast reefs
04-08-2012, 08:21 PM
So now that ive got around the basics, I will try and explain the water chemistry and the %100 percent water changes. Basically there will be no testing of the water, just maintaining the salinity and temp. I think this is possible because I will have in theory no bioload, maybe some excess goop from the coral and maybe some higher phosphates. But I'll explain how this is going to balance out. The %100 percent water changes should in theory reset the system. 2 times a month I will drain at least 90 percent of the water 2 times a month. This will be achieved by mixing the water 2 days before and matching salinity and temp very closely. Again I may sound crazy but this is an experiment. If things go wrong all corals show distress they will be removed and put in my 120 display again.

windcoast reefs
04-08-2012, 08:23 PM
100% water changes?

Yup it may sound weird but I know of a couple great tanks that are doing that.

Here is the example I'm following!

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/4/aquarium

I'll post more later today!

sphelps
04-08-2012, 08:26 PM
A couple things to consider:

Base rock will become live, not much difference, it will still become biological.

Be careful what you see, many of these guys running small tanks have large tanks as well that they actually use to sustain them.

100% or very large water changes in a nano need to be done with caution, for example if you purchase a pail of salt and only mix up small amount at a time the levels will vary greatly each time. Large changes with inconsistent make up can be detrimental.

Use carbon with caution in nano tanks.

Personally I think you'll have better success with a large biological system that uses some sort of highly efficient bio media and water changes in the 50% range but never the less best of luck.

windcoast reefs
04-08-2012, 08:32 PM
A couple things to consider:

Base rock will become live, not much difference, it will still become biological.

Be careful what you see, many of these guys running small tanks have large tanks as well that they actually use to sustain them.

100% or very large water changes in a nano need to be done with caution, for example if you purchase a pail of salt and only mix up small amount at a time the levels will vary greatly each time. Large changes with inconsistent make up can be detrimental.

Use carbon with caution in nano tanks.

Personally I think you'll have better success with a large biological system that uses some sort of highly efficient bio media and water changes in the 50% range but never the less best of luck.


I totally understand your hesitation, and I have many concerns as well, but check out the link it's a cool concept. As for the carbon, there will only be a tiny amount in the filter. Any using the man made rock will hopefully reduce the amount of junk in the rock, since it's not as porous as real rock.

Again it's just an experiment, if it doesn't work I'll just remove everything and rethink the concept and try again.

Myka
04-08-2012, 09:01 PM
It sounds like a fun project (I like projects). I don't think you will see anything remarkable though. As sphelps said, whatever rock goes in will eventually become live rock, unless it is plastic rock of course.

I think the key thing will be low bioload which means you won't be able to feed any of the corals. It doesn't matter how food gets into the water, food is food, and it all ends up either rotten or as poop.

I have a similar thing going on with my 10 gallon temporary tank. It has a Green Mandarin in it (that eats frozen food), and the tank is an utter algae bloom. It's a disaster in that tank. I do twice a month 60% waterchanges. Maybe I could get a handle on the algae if I did more waterchanges. The tank is just temporary though, so I'm not bothered enough to do much about it.

Borderjumper
04-08-2012, 09:14 PM
Cool project. I'm very interested to see ow it progresses.

I have two 6 gallon tanks running. they do really well with minimal algae, and minimal water changes, BUT the key to these tanks is aptasia:mrgreen:. One is my nudi rearing tank, and the other is my aptasia rearing tank. I don't have any corals in them, other than some blue cloves. Thr rock is full of pods and brittle stars. I feed the tanks quite heavily with all flake food I have left over, it's either crumbled to dust or the fish just wont eat it. It's amazing how aptasia really do filter the water.. Too bad they are such a pest!

I know which man made rock your planning on using and also know its been curing for ages..BUT I'm wondering if it ever really stops off gassing? In a tiny tank like that it will become apparent quickly if it is still leaching. I did a background in a 20 once, and even after 2 years it was an algae magnet.

Keep us informed and lot of pics please!:mrgreen:

windcoast reefs
04-08-2012, 09:24 PM
Cool project. I'm very interested to see ow it progresses.

I have two 6 gallon tanks running. they do really well with minimal algae, and minimal water changes, BUT the key to these tanks is aptasia:mrgreen:. One is my nudi rearing tank, and the other is my aptasia rearing tank. I don't have any corals in them, other than some blue cloves. Thr rock is full of pods and brittle stars. I feed the tanks quite heavily with all flake food I have left over, it's either crumbled to dust or the fish just wont eat it. It's amazing how aptasia really do filter the water.. Too bad they are such a pest!

I know which man made rock your planning on using and also know its been curing for ages..BUT I'm wondering if it ever really stops off gassing? In a tiny tank like that it will become apparent quickly if it is still leaching. I did a background in a 20 once, and even after 2 years it was an algae magnet.

Keep us informed and lot of pics please!:mrgreen:



I will get some pictures up ASAP! If this is the stuff from blue worlds I'll take a closer look into that. I'm hoping I won't have to feed but that is still an unknown.