Nano owners help me out....

[corruption]

Rob i also think you should lessen the water changes.
I have had my nano up for almost a year now.
Its a 5.5 gallon with a false wall, 2x9watt PCs, and biowheel filter.
I do like 30% water changes every month and everything has been fine.
I currently have a snowflake eel, 2 stripe damsels, and a clownfish in there all living strong.

...I really hope you're joking


My biocube sits on the floor of an IT company -- temperature fluctuates a lot, depending on how many people are in the building... Relying on ambient temperature wasn't a choice for me. A 50w heater set to the proper temperature has made all the difference in the world. If I let my tank stay ambient (especially after the LED upgrade), it would range anywhere from 60 degrees up to 74 at any given point of the day. As it stands now, I hold steady at about 77 degrees all the time.

One of the smartest changes I made to my BC8 was the LED upgrade... my evaporation went from about a liter a week, to absolutely 0.

-Justin

[txg8gxp]

One of the smartest changes I made to my BC8 was the LED upgrade... -Justin

[ReefCube]

i have tried to have the more exotic fish to themselves with no luck! My perameters are perfect I find what helps a lot is when you have other fish such as chromis or any others in the tank with them that are very easy to take care /hardy and loves to eat. I feel this will help the clowns feel more comfortable and less stressed. My 2 cents

[Bill S]

I kept the pair of clowns and RBTA that Ace has at school rignt now in an 8 gallon nano for over 2 years. All stock, except that I used no bioballs and I instead used the blue & white filter material. Added a small heater. It has 3 x 8w T5s on it.

The tank was heavily planted with razor caulerpa.
I changed about 50-60% of the water every couple of weeks. I hate to say this, but I didn't even worry about matching the temp - I just dumped it in. Those guys THRIVED in the tank.

Not saying what I did was right, but it worked...

[Regric25]

Okay even though I'm a noob here I'll chime in. I had a 8 gallon BC and I ran live rock in the middle chamber. I had a small heater to keep the temp stable at night when the lights were off. I did weekly 10% water changes. I also dosed with microbacter7 which seemed to help. I hope THIS helps.

Oh yea and I took out the stock mechanical filter and put a water polisher pad (that I change weekly) over the stock tray in the middle chamber.

[justahobby]

I think what works great for teens and adult fish isn't working for a juvie. They are much more fragile. You didn't mention what your husbandry was like..... please indulge us (and i'm not talking about whisking the kids and wife off for snow in Waco LOL!).

[StevenSeas]

Ok even though i am a newb here I will also chime in. In my 29 Biocube I did a few different stages of upgrades through the few years I had it. The different stages of set-ups that I had running on it was as follows:
1st chamber - originally put the fluval filter pads (for their canisters) in front of the Oceanic filter, I felt the stock filter clogged way too quickly and thus got air bubbles blown everywhere, this helped to act as a prefilter and catch the larger debris stopping this from happening. Second upgrade I did was remove all filter pads as well as the false floor and put in the cheapest easiest airstone powered pvc skimmer I could make, and then jammed my heater in right next to it.
2nd chamber - Originally removed all the bioballs but layered from bottom to top polyfiber, chemi pure, carbon, hagan aquaclear sponge for their 110 filter. Next upgrade was to remove the false floor again and then essentially stand the media vertical and keep them in the same order but pressed against the right side. Then I cut the drip tray to extend only as far as this column of media. Then cut a piece of 1/4 inch plexi about 1/8th of an inch short of the width of the chamber front to back and then the height was from the bottom to 1/2 inch above the drip tray, then cut a square section out of the bottom. Then wrapping the sides of this with EPDM weather stripping slide it into place. This forced the water down the drip tray through the sponge, carbon, chemi-pure, polyfiber then under the baffle and up. From there I put in live rock rubble and a ball of chaeto. after that made another baffle that was 1/4 in away from the wall of the 3rd chamber. The rest was stock.
This last configuration worked well for me as far as filtration goes, could go a month or so and nitrates still stay at 0 ppm. Now that I think about it, it was probably over kill, specially now that its just sitting at home empty and my new tank is getting all the attention . . . Hope some of this helps I know that you probably cant get all of this into the back of it but maybe the first set of mods I did will be helpful.

[The Butcher]

Well considering that I am lucky enough to have your custom Nano, I have had no problems. Considering that you basically ripped out the entire back section of the tank, all I run is blue/white filter floss, chemipure, a good heater (my house temp fluctuates tremendously), a bigger pump (MJ1200), and 2 Koralia's. I was running a skimmer, but quit since the bi-weekly water changes have worked out fine...so far.

[cbianco]

...Here's the tank:
...

I really like the tank. I like all the macro in the tank. Are there coco worms in those tubes, or are they just for show?

I would image that the macro would help to stabilize the water, in it, of it's self. The macro would help to "clean" the water. If the fish are young, having a stabile environment would help bring the fish into adulthood when they will be a bit more hardy. So temperature, WC and appropriate feedings will all contribute towards husbandry.

JMO.

Christopher

[Mr Cob]

I think what works great for teens and adult fish isn't working for a juvie. They are much more fragile. You didn't mention what your husbandry was like..... please indulge us (and i'm not talking about whisking the kids and wife off for snow in Waco LOL!).

Thanks for all the replies. It's really nice to view an array of "what worked for me" responses.

Yes, Justin, I think you nailed it. The juvies seem to be much more fragile versus the hardy teen or adult.

I'm thinking my large water changes is what did them in the first time around. That and the temp swings. I did not have a heater on the tank and still need to pick one up this weekend. This time I will keep the heater around 74 and only run the 10k lights until the temp hits 76 and do most of my lighting with just actinics. This should keep the swing down.

With that said....depending on how I feel when I get them, I still might send them directly to the main display.

But, Bill's post did give me some hope again....especially since his system was pretty much the same with the same livestock I intend to keep minus the anemone.