Nano build

I have a 2.6 gal mixed reef with softies and sps. It is easy. Let me tell you how I do it.
Go heavy on the rocks. It's your filtration. I also have a sand bed but to each his own. I use activated carbon, a filter sponge and some bio media. I have the fluval spec 3 with a built in refugium.
Next is your water and quality. I use of course RO water mixed with instant ocean reef crystals. I mix to 1.23. I know it's low but hear me out. Because I have a sps tank I dose C Balance A and B. I do a half cap Monday, Wednesday, Friday nights and only when lights are off. If I keep my salt lower I don't have pH spikes or death... ever. If you are only doing zoas and softies lights should be fine with no dosing necessary with the water changes weekly. There is enough nutrient in the new salt water for zoas and softies. If you start putting in sps start dosing and you will have some crazy growth. My nitrates are under 1 and my nitrites and ammonia are 0. I also do a 100% water change every Sunday. All our good bacteria is in the sand and rock, not the water, so it doesn't cycle your tank. If you do this it maintains an incredibly clean and coral happy environment. My growth is crazy.
You said you want to diy an led lighting system. That's great. My first light was an abi par 38 led. It had white and blue leds. The coral grew and grew. But didn't have great colors. They were washed out and not as colorful as I knew they were. I upgraded to a reef breeders nano light basic. It's like 85 bucks or something like that. It has white, royal blue, and violet. It really makes the colors pop. I would get something with violet in it somewhere or a combo that will help the reds pop more. But again to each his own.
The science of Nanos and picos is different than big tanks. For some reason they don't scale correctly. If you go into a nano thinking 10% to 20% water changes every other week is fine, you won't make it more than 8 months and have a crash. Dont treat it like your big tank. It just doesn't work. Remember when in doubt change the water. It doesn't hurt our little tanks a bit. If you have any more questions ask. I know I left stuff out. Good luck and have fun!
-Brian

 

If you go a bit bigger, I really like the innovative marine setups. I went with a 20 gallon tank from them and really like the back separation that you don't get with a regular tank. I know they have a 10 gallon but I think that's as small as it goes.

I would also recommend starting with live rock - not dry rock - as that has helped with preventing algae issues for me.

 

It scared the crap out of me at first but it works really really well. I've never had a mini cycle. You could probably get away with 50 percent seeing as it will be a zoa tank.

 

My .02 is to run bare bottom. Clearly some nano’s are run with sand and it works great, but in my experience I had troubles at the 8 month mark roughly. I eventually found that because there was a lot of rock and the coral had grown so much I physically couldn’t get the sand clean and eventually it became full of detritus and it took me a while to figure out why my little reef was having problems after cruising along so well.


If you really want sand I would recommend a very fine layer you can blow around, but I really strongly advise BB with a powerhead aimed or near the bottom and no rocks piled against the glass so you get great flow in every single spot and in between the rocks.


Starting off like that will go far. I also did this easy trick, I would make a 5g bucket of salt water and put a lid on. Then every week I would take a cut off milk jug and scoop out maybe 3/4g and add that 3/4g from the bucket. In a 10 gallon reef with maybe 7 gallons water volume that’s an ~10% WC that takes all of 2 min and the 5g bucket lasts a month. Could do it 2x a week too.

I eventually did add dosers, but for a long time I just used kalk in my ATO. I never had issues with 10%wc weekly being too small, but I sure didn't skip it. I also had chaeto in the rear chamber (biocube).

 

Everyone has their own style and how they like to do it. I don't think there is a right or wrong way. Good luck and take pictures!

 

This is anot older photo of mine. It looks different. When I got married this summer I neglected the tank. Many died because of it. Now I have nicer ones. I'll post a pic after I do my change this sunday.

 

I take out a cup or two in my 10 gallon and replace with a 1/2 gallon of 1.023 every night so my salinity stays at 1.025-1.026. I just keep a bucket with 1.023 next to the tank to make it easy, I scrub the glass as needed, and that's pretty much it. Alkalinity doesn't jump as much now that I am consistent. I built the sump for added water volume and filtration since I don't have any rock in the display. I'm upgrading to a custom 38 gallon all-in-one setup soon if you are interested in this setup

 

Mostly sps. It's a 2.6 gal. I have a green slimmer added now that's doing well.

 

This is a 10 gallon that I had set up last year.

It started getting too crowded so I upgraded. I let the protein skimmer and refugium do most of the work. I only did a 50% water change every couple of weeks. The only time that I would do one sooner is if I noticed something in the tank wasn't happy.