Starting off with a Nano Aquarium

[TheAllKnowingAnkylosaurus]

Hello, reader. Later this year, I will be off to college and my college of choice allows small fish tanks to be kept in the dorms (no more than 10 gallons). I definitely want to keep a tank in my dorm, and I’ve been considering saltwater.

I’ve been meaning to start up a saltwater aquarium for years now. I’ve done a ton of research but the timing and money have never perfectly come together. One topic I haven’t researched into is nano aquariums, since I never considered one until now. I do know that they have a “no-beginners” stigma around them. How difficult would they really be for a beginner? What would I be facing if I decided for a saltwater 10 gallon instead of a freshwater 10 gallon? Thank you for taking the time to read my thread, by the way.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Welcome to R2R!! Maintaining a 10 gallon shouldn’t be to difficult if you just keep it simple. I would look for a all in one tank and just stick with easy corals and fish.. you need to keep in mind that marine tanks are a lot more time consuming than freshwater and not near as forgiving so things can go south quickly if neglected. You would also need to consider in a dorm environment your tank could be exposed to hazards from room mates or visitors and also what’s going to happen to your tank during school breaks.

 

[Captain Quint]

Welcome to R2R

 

[Wheeljack]

I can't speak of the difficulty involved in smaller tanks, but look up InappropriateReefer on YouTube. He did a budget build of a 10g that I'm using as a blueprint for two quarantine tanks. It's a simple setup and won't break the bank if that's a concern. I'm sure there are other good simple builds floating around too, so hopefully someone can chime in with more.

 

[TheAllKnowingAnkylosaurus]

Thank you both very much! I’ll look into it more.