I love that word of encouragement! I downsized from a 75 display to a 20 gallon display and a 20 gallon frag tank and love it so far. I'd rather not go up in size unless I had a fish room.
This is an absolutely beautiful nano!
Thanks for the advice! I have been in the hobby for years and my current setup is a 180 with 100 gallon sump. The cost of running it alone is out of control. I probably have 30000 plus invested “ all the bells and whistles “ . Would definitely be nice to have a somewhat simpler tank to enjoy and keep the little ones interest growing. I think she is somewhat intimidated by all the work that goes into the display. I’m excited to see her doing the research on what will work for the nano. She’s only 8 but really has a pretty good grasp on how species and corals interact. The other day I was looking at a purple tang and she told me that I cannot get it because I already have a and I quote zebramosa in my reef .You're welcome! Can't hurt to give one a try
One thing to consider is that a nano tank doesn't require all the 'bells and whistles' to be successful, just a thorough understanding of what the inhabitants require (proper temp, water flow and chemistry, lighting, nutrition, etc.) and how to best meet those needs as simply as possible. A good dose of patience is helpful to allow the system to settle down and mature naturally once it's stocked.
Good luck!
Lol yes she is. And I really love hearing stories like this ! Hope to see the tank in another 9.Wow, that's a good sized reef aquarium indeed and it sounds like quite the set up. But yeah, costs add up (and keep on going) even with the more efficient technologies used today.
After having had multiple salt/reef tanks of various sizes over the last 40 years, I guess one could say that I've come full circle back to my beginning roots with this nano (my first reef tank was a completely homemade 8g with a 12g gravity fed sump back in 1984/85). I had set up that simple system with plastic trays of lava rock and sand (wet/dry setup) for filtration and predominately used actinic NO T12 bulbs, mostly based on a magazine article from Europe. It was a great time for aquarist innovation and experimentation as very few manufactured reef specific products had made it over to the USA, yet, and what little did make it over was exorbitantly expensive.
Sounds like your daughter is 'all in' and it'll be a wonderful learning experience for her. Also sounds like she's a prime candidate for the Tang Police Squad...when she gets a little older
