NANO MARINE AQUARIUM KEEPING

YouTube is loaded with great examples of how desktop aquarium owners have taken small tanks and adapted quality lighting and other equipment to grow coral, and support small marine fish species very well.

Convenience + cost + set-up time: The benefits of going nano or mini for a marine tank are undeniable. That said, the smaller aquarium does trade off important, inherent advantages versus going big, the most important is stable water quality, which is key for healthy marine fish and coral.

Required Maintenance

While small tanks mean less volume to deal with, they also mean much greater frequency of maintenance activities. First will be the daily water top up using R/O water to keep salinity levels stable. If you allow too much evaporation before topping up, the variation in salinity will negatively affect coral foremost and fish to a slightly lesser extent. Make sure you do this daily.

Water Changes

A weekly water change is your target for nano tanks; this is non-negotiable too. The upside is that it’s a small volume of water and so it takes minutes to do, but make sure you do it. A small bucket and some pre-mixed quality marine mix and you are good to go.

Removing Waste

Same deal as a larger aquarium but quicker and easier to complete. Take a small power head and give the corals and rock surfaces a power current cleaning to ensure all waste is liberated. You could do a quick stir of the sand bed too. Complete a partial water change right after and siphon visible debris as much as possible. We also suggest using a filter polishing (polyester) pad in a filter for a few hours to clear out the remaining particulate matter. The ocean has massive currents that regularly clean reef structure and corals; you do need to do this.

Dosing of Supplements

Do this very carefully, making sure you understand the net volume of water your nano holds. A 5 gallon tank could easily be less than 4 gallons after adding live rock and sand. Also, make sure to have an inventory of basic test kits: Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, KH, and Calcium.

Regular testing is more important in a small tank as conditions do change at a faster rate, so the sooner you are aware of a change, the better. The parameter that will change most rapidly in a mature healthy tank with coral growth is KH. After some time and accumulated experience you will see which parameters are most important to check more regularly.

Daily Check of Temperature, Pump And Skimmer Operation

Marine fish and corals demand consistency.

To summarize, with regards to maintenance, it is important to follow through with all the recommended activities to ensure the best end result while also preventing issues before they begin.

Feeding Fish

Do this twice daily. We recommend a variety of food, and make sure you include dry as well as frozen foods.

If you’re going to be away from your aquarium for at least a few days, and your fish are feeding well on dry food, the use of an automatic feeder is a good option.

Feeding Coral

The target feeding frequency for many species of LPS is a twice a week affair. Shut filters and pumps off and allow them a solid 20 to 30 minutes to take in their chunks of mussel or krill. Don’t forget to restart pumps and filters.

Fish and Invertebrate Choices

There are many non-aggressive fish and corals to choose from when stocking a mini or nano aquarium. You’ll find a number of reliable and easily available online sources to educate you so we won’t provide a detailed list but here are some broad recommendations.

Fish

Stocking a mini or nano marine tank usually entails selecting between 3 to 6 fish, usually not more (depending on tank size and volume). Small, non-aggressive species are readily available.

There are some fish that are more likely to be a little territorial versus most of the rest; they need to be added to the aquarium last. Aggressive species are not good choices for small aquariums.

Coral

Similar to fish, there are corals that are really aggressive and send out long, sweeper tentacles to sting neighboring corals, and animals such as frogspawn, favia corals, elegance, etc. In a small tank, allowing enough space between animals might be a challenge, so make sure you know just how aggressive they can be.

Some corals also deplete alkalinity and calcium way faster than other groups, such as SPS (short polyp stony); the level of supplementation required may be impractical. Although you may see stunning nano tanks online featuring SPS coral, it is not recommended. Stick to zoanthids, mushrooms and some LPS. There are a variety of shrimp and other invertebrates that may be kept as well.

Enjoying a really cool marine tank at home or at work can be done in nano and mini formats, successfully.